For sci-fi/horror/fantasy nerds like me...
...summertime is "go to the air-conditioned movies and watch kool flicks" time!
One of my childhood favorites was this Ray Harryhausen spectacular that was re-released to theatres every few years!
We'll discover how the Cyclops feels about returning visitors...
Adapted by Gaylord DuBois and illustrated by
John Buscema, this never-reprinted story from
Dell's Four Color Comics #944 is an absolute delight....but with a couple of major codicils!
Because the comic was produced while the movie was in production, it's based on an early version of the script.
Plus, Columbia Pictures apparently provided very little photo reference to Dell for either actors or Harryhausen's monsters.
(This was a major problem with special-effects-laden films.
If you look at the comic adaptation of George Pal's 1960
The Time Machine, the vehicle itself looks
nothing like what appeared in the movie, though the close-ups of the machine's control panel, shot by a second unit, are dead-on!)
So
the Cyclops as seen here is
not the cloven-hoved, beastial creature of the movie (a kool one-eyed demon/satyr)...
..., but more along the lines of the traditional mythic giant humanoid with one eye (though he does have a horn on his forehead, like the stop-motion creature).
And the characters are somewhat stereotyped "squared-jawed handsome hero", "snake-like bald villain", and "generic beautiful princess".
(Not that I'm complaining!
Buscema does his usual dynamic job with them!)
Be here tomorrow as we continue the re-telling of the tale!
