Captain's Library: LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Heroes (and Heroine)...

Art by Brian Lewis

While lecturing at a university in Chunking,  Professor Van Helsing mentions a legend about a Chinese village terrorized by vampires.
He is then approached by a student, Hsi Ching, who tells him the story is true, that the bloodsuckers still rule the region, and requests that Van Helsing aid in destroying the menace!
Van Helsing, his son Leyland, Vanessa Buren (their financial benefactor), plus Hsi Ching and his siblings (including his beautiful sister) begin their journey.
But, there are those who do not wish them to reach the village...

The comic adaptation was written by Steven Moore and illustrated by Brian Lewis (who also did the cover painting).
The movie has gone thru several incarnations including radically-different running times and titles including The Seven Brothers (and Their One Sister) Meet Dracula and Seven Brothers vs Dracula and running times ranging from 72 to 89 minutes.
Plus some versions have scenes of topless virgins being drained of blood, in others, the women are clothed.
The now-OOP DVD from Anchor Bay has the uncut (89 minute) version as well as one of the shorter (72 minute) releases.
It also has the audio for an lp story album (with music & sound effects) narrated by Peter Cushing.

Next week:
More Monster-themed movie/tv adaptations!

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Captain's Library: LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES Part 1

What happens when the top horror movie studio and best kung fu flick studio co-produce a film?

They create a cross-genre classic, that's little-remembered today!

And you'll need to be here tomorrow for the astounding conclusion!

In the mid-1970s, with diminishing returns on their once-popular horror films, Hammer Studios began experimenting with new elements to attract the audience back, including nudity and, in this film, kung fu!

It was also Hammer's first co-production with another studio, in this case, Shaw Brothers, who were already doing co-productions with several other European studios.

Taking elements of both European and Asian vampire lore, writer Don Houghton (no stranger to genre material with credits including the Dr Who tv series and several Hammer Dracula films) created a cross-genre story that combines the disparate (and sometimes contradictory) elements of two cultures' myths and makes it work logically (for the most part).

More details tomorrow!

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Captain's Library: FRANKENSTEIN Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Monster...

Dr Frankenstein reanimated a body composed of parts from various recently-dead men.
Unfortunately, the brain used in the Monster was not normal, but that of a criminal.
The Monster escapes, and accidentally causes the deaths of a young boy and girl.
The enraged townspeople burn the doctor's castle and laboratory to the ground, but Frankenstein, his aide Fritz, and the Monster escape thru a secret tunnel and make their way to the docks, where they board a ship to America...

While Dell did publish Frankenstein #2-4 in 1966, it went even further from the concept of the novel and book, making the Monster into a superhero (I'm not kidding!)

You'll be seeing him over at Hero & Heroine Histories™ during our October salute to Frankenstein  in the comics.

The adaptation we've just presented was written by Don Segall, penciled and inked by Bob Jenney (who did a number of movie adaptations for Dell, including The Mummy and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians).

Next: 

Van Helsing enlists martial arts masters to battle vampires as we present the never-reprinted comic adaptation of the final Hammer Dracula movie...

Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires!

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Captain's Library: FRANKENSTEIN Part 1

Based (very loosely) on the 1931 movie and original novel...

...and updated to the then-present day of 1964!

What will happen when Dr. Frankenstein, Fritz, and the Monster reach America?

(Watching your dvd/vhs of the movie won't help since this part of the comic is totally-new!)

Be here tomorrow for the answer!

The Universal Monsters experienced a resurgence of interest in the mid-1960s due to airings on late-night tv and weekend Creature Feature-type shows with funky hosts like Zacherley, Vampira, and Svengoolie. as well as the hit tv show The Munsters, based on humorous versions of the monsters, and the full-color (and gorier) Hammer Studios versions of the characters playing in movie theatres.

(Oddly, there was very little US merchandise based on the Hammer versions in the 1960s, at least in America!)

A slew of new merchandise based on the Universal "classic" versions was issued including t-shirts, model kits, and, of course, comics.

Adaptation written by Don Segall, penciled and inked by Bob Jenney (who did a number of movie adaptations for Dell).

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