Barnabas Collins by PATRICK DEAN

Part of the fun of collecting sketches at comicbook conventions is discovering new talent. PATRICK DEAN is not an artist I was familiar with before attending this year's HeroesCon in Charlotte, N.C. It was actually my wife who first spotted his work and asked him for a sketch of Dr. McCoy from STAR TREK. After seeing his take on "Bones," getting a sketch from him of Barnabas Collins became a moral imperative. Here's the final result ... what do you think?

You can see more of his work at his official website. He's got a story available to read for free called "Knocked 'Em: A Charming Tale Told Without Words of One Man's Journey Into the Night to Find Something Dear and Wonderful for his Wife Who Seems to Enjoy the Night Air as Much as He."

DARK SHADOWS among "Most Riveting Moments in TV History"

TV GUIDE MAGAZINE published its list of the "60 Most Riveting Moments in TV History" in the Aug. 12, 2013 issue. At the top of the list was the birth of "Little Ricky" on I LOVE LUCY, the first appearance by THE BEATLES on THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW, and McLEAN STEVENSON's nasty exit on M*A*S*H. The first ten were ranked in chronological order, with the remaining 50 published in alphabetical order (probably to avoid fistfights in the TV GUIDE bullpen, if such a thing still exists.)

Among those remaining entries was "Barnabas Collins arrives on DARK SHADOWS" in 1967." Thanks to VILA WOLF for the pic!

"Puppet" Barnabas Collins by VAN JENSEN

VAN JENSEN, the writer of GREEN LANTERN CORPS for DC Comics and the PINOCCHIO VAMPIRE SLAYER graphic novels, was a guest at the Charlotte HeroesCon this year. Even though he's a writer by trade, Van still knows his way around a pencil, and provided this sketch of "puppet" Barnabas Collins for my collection.

We spoke with Van and his PINOCCHIO VAMPIRE SLAYER partner DUSTY HIGGINS back in February for our podcast, which you can listen to HERE.

BARNABAS COLLINS by Aaron Campbell

More from my sketchbook: BARNABAS COLLINS by Aaron Campbell, the illustrator of the first three issues of Dynamite's DARK SHADOWS comicbook series. This was drawn at the 2013 HeroesCon in Charlotte, N.C., for those of you keeping score at home.

BARNABAS COLLINS by John Febonio

Artist JOHN FEBONIO is auctioning an 11x13 oil painting of JONATHAN FRID as Barnabas Collins. Had I not just blown my budget for art at last weekend's HeroesCon in Charlotte, N.C., I'd be competing for this piece. Sadly, I'm out of the running. If you're looking to add some original art to your collection, though, Febonio's portrait currently stands at $22 on Ebay. The auction ends June 13, 2013.

Good luck!

BARNABAS COLLINS by Francesco Francavilla

Francesco Francavilla.

I spent the weekend at the annual HeroesCon in Charlotte, N.C., most of which was devoted to the pursuit of sketches and signatures from the creators in attendance. By the end of the weekend, I managed to add a few more DARK SHADOWS themed drawings to my sketchbook, and plan to share them here over the next few weeks.

It seemed only proper, though, that I lead off with this beauty: BARNABAS COLLINS by artist Francesco Francavilla. Francavilla won the 2012 Eisner Award for "Best Cover Artist" for his work on DARK SHADOWS, THE LONE RANGER, THE BLACK PANTER and others, and created this sketch of Jonathan Frid for me from memory.

While I've been a little hard on Dynamite's various DARK SHADOWS comics, Francavilla has certainly not been part of those books' various problems. He's a terrific artist, one who manages to evoke influences as diverse as Jack Kirby, Eduardo Barreto and Frank Miller without looking very much like any of those guys (if that makes sense.)

You can see more of Francesco Francavilla's work at his official website, www.francescofrancavilla.com.

How "Barnabas" are you?

Samantha Lienhard is conducting a survey about "audience attitudes towards fictional villains," and the first on the list is none other than BARNABAS COLLINS. Linehard is interested in finding out how audiences feel about a very specific moment in the character's history: The time he kidnapped MAGGIE EVANS and kept her lock in his basement for several months, eventually driving her mad.

Now, this isn't one of those Facebook quizzes that will spit out a funny "badge" for you to share with your friends. This is an empathy test, of sorts. Think of it as an online version of the Voight-Kampff test from BLADE RUNNER, only there are no right or wrong answers (and nobody much cares if you're a Replicant.)

Also part of the survey are questions about Raistlin Majere from the DRAGONLANCE series, Lord Voldemort and a few others. The survey is constructed to allow you to skip the characters you're not familiar with.

What are you waiting for? GO TAKE THE SURVEY!

LINK: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FictionalVillains

Barnabas Collins among TV Guide's best of the worst

The March 26, 2013, issue of TV GUIDE has a look at "The 60 Nastiest Villains of All Time." Our own BARNABAS COLLINS comes in at #8 on the list: "The Dracula of daytime TV was a spooky and tragically romantic 200-year-old vampire (Jonathan Frid) who haunted Collinsport and pursued the local female population fangs first."

Special thanks to Nancy Eron, who brought this item to my attention at the CHS Facebook site!

An interview with DARK SHADOWS writer Joseph Caldwell

Tor.com has an interesting interview with DARK SHADOWS writer JOSEPH CALDWELL, who is credited with writing about 60 episodes of the original series. Caldwell joined the show during the duel between Barnabas Collins in 1967, and stuck with the program until it's final year in 1970.

The TOR interview makes a serious mistake of getting caught up in the "Who Created Barnabas Collins?" controversy by naming Caldwell as the character's sole inventor. The line of people seeking credit for creating the vampire is not a short one, and the truth is that Barnabas Collins was not the product of any one mind. That's not how television works. Even though Caldwell is credited with writing dozens of episodes of DARK SHADOWS, it's likely that he assisted in the writing of many more episodes, just as other writers worked on the episodes he's credited with. And it would be foolish to discount the role that JONATHAN FRID played in developing the character, though he's not credited with ever having penned a DARK SHADOWS screenplay.

That's not to take away from Caldwell's work. He was an important figure on the development of the series, and had this to say in the interview about the show's approach to character:

“We never wanted to play to the metaphor, but instead, play the vampire straight. We felt the audience wouldn’t connect with Barnabas if he didn’t seem like a real person, with real problems…we were always trying to figure out a way to make the stories better, more engaging, more ordinary. In a way, we almost wanted to make you forget he was a vampire sometimes…or as we used to say; ‘stop me before I suck more!’”

Read the entire interview HERE.

Mego-style DARK SHADOWS toys available in May

It looks like the long wait will finally be over in May.

After teasing an extensive line of DARK SHADOWS-themed action figures a few years ago at the San Diego Comic Con, the company released only three figures before disappearing. Spectre was even in the process of polling customers on which figures they'd like to next see added to the line (Dr. Hoffman was fairing well in the race, if I remember correctly) but then POOF! Nothing. The company's website disappeared and we heard nothing more about the project. At least we got action figures of Barnabas Collins, Angelique and the Collinsport Werewolf before things went tits up.

Then, last year, Spectre began to solicit new DARK SHADOWS toys online through websites like Entertainment Earth. The second wave of figures included Quentin Collins, Josette DePres and Willie Loomis, and were originally slated to be released around the time of last year's TIM BURTON movie. The release date for these toys was again delayed, this time until May, 2013.

So far, we've been given no reason to believe this date will be again delayed, but it's anyone's guess how many units of these toys are being produced. I've sold quite a few of these items on my site as "pre-orders" during the past six months, and it's not impossible that some of these toys will sell out quickly. The Barnabas Collins figure, for example, vanished from the market long ago, prompting Spectre Toys to add him to this second wave of toys.

That being said, you can still find the original Angelique and "Comic Con Exclusive" Werewolf figures for sale at retail price, but I suspect interest in the new line of toys will boost demand for those toys, as well. If you want any of these items, it's not a good idea to wait. The original Barnabas Collins figure has routinely been selling for several times its retail value since initially selling out, so procrastination will likely prove to be costly for DARK SHADOWS collectors.

Here are direct links for each DARK SHADOWS Mego-style toy:

THE COLLINSPORT WEREWOLF

BARNABAS COLLINS

QUENTIN COLLINS

ANGELIQUE BOUCHARD

WILLIE LOOMIS

JOSETTE DUPRES

Moonlight Maxims

Moonlight Maxims

Now animated!

Adam Ant as ... Barnabas Collins?

It happened. Sorta.

In 1993, Adam Ant appeared in a movie called "Love Bites," a comedy about a vampire named Zachary Simms who awakens from 100 years of sleep to find himself in a very strange (and inexpensively staged) world. He rousts himself from his coffin, with a costume that includes an inverness cape, black ring and forehead locks.

What, you ask, does this have to do with DARK SHADOWS?

That's right. Malcolm Marmorstein, a writer for the original DARK SHADOWS series who's among the many people to claim credit for creating Barnabas Collins. I've go no intention of wading into THAT dispute here, but Marmorstein wasn't the only talent involved with the show to try to spin off concepts into other programs. Ron Sproat was involved in the "Canadian Dark Shadows," STRANGE PARADISE, while Dan Curtis, Sam Hall and Lela Swift got in on the action with the failed primetime pilot, DEAD OF NIGHT.

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp might have saved themselves the trouble of making an intentionally funny version of DARK SHADOWS had they bothered to watch LOVE BITES, which appears to depend on the same "Rip Van Winkle" jokes of the 2012 film. You can watch some of LOVE BITES in the video below. Don't say I didn't warn you. (Special thanks to the good folks at the WILLIE LOOMIS SAVES COLLINSPORT forum for bringing this to my attention.)

Sylvester Sparrow Jack Majoor as Barnabas Collins

Above is Sylvester Sparrow Jack Majoor, a Johnny Depp impersonator who added Barnabas Collins to his bag of tricks earlier this year. You can find him on Facebook HERE.

Johnny Depp threw cosplayers a curveball with his interpretation of Barnabas Collins, which relied heavily on prosthetics to make him look more like Jonathan Frid. In a sense, Depp was doing his own cosplay in DARK SHADOWS, which means fans are doing third-generation tributes to Jonathan Frid ... whether they know it or not.

Barnabas Collins by Lyddie Violet

Lyddie Violet has created some amazing dolls, which you can see over at her Flickr stream. There are a lot of Tim Burton-inspired dolls featured there, including an interpretation of vampire Barnabas Collins. I'd love to see a stop-motion animated DARK SHADOWS series done in this style.

"I picked a Taeyang (a kind of Asian fashion doll) doll Nosferatu to re-style him as Barnabas," Violet said. "First I had to change his eye chips and wig. I bought a new wig and then set it for him. After, a necklace and a walking stick were needed. Finally, it was time to make some outfits for Barnabas! I chose two outfits that appeared in the movie, one was a set of ancient costume and another was a set of indigo suit. I kept Taeyang Noferatu’s shirt, scarfs and shoes so I didn’t have to worry about making too many stuffs. That’s all!"

Dark Shadows: The Video Game

Here's something I created a few weeks ago for my Tumblr account: a fake "start screen" for an 8-bit DARK SHADOWS game. It seems to be pretty popular, so I thought I'd share it here. There was also a little confusing among the people sharing the image, so let me repeat: the game doesn't exist. The picture is just a bit of wishful thinking on my part.

Barnabas Collins by Daniel Horne

Artist DANIEL HORNE is working on a pretty amazing sculpture of actor JONATHAN FRID as BARNABAS COLLINS. He's got several photos of this unfinished sculpture at his website, Daniel Horne's Monster Show. A number of his previous busts have been made available for sale, so it's possible some of us will have the chance to add this little beauty to our DARK SHADOWS collections.

Barnabas Collins by Jodi Cain

Artist JODI CAIN recently completed this doll inspired by Johnny Depp as BARNABAS COLLINS. The doll is 22 inches tall and completely hand stitched. You can see more of Cain's work at Jodi's Creepy Dolls, which includes interpretations of Lily and Herman Munster, a zombie Alice in Wonderland and lots of dolls with knives. (You can also find Cain's work for sale at Etsy.)

Custom-made Barnabas figure wins the Internet

Charles Richards onmissed out on the Majestic Studios BARNABAS COLLINS figure that was released a few years ago. The figure routinely sells for more than $100 on Ebay these days, which was more than most people are willing to spend on a toy. So he found an interesting alternative:

I missed out on the Majestic Toys version of the Barnabas Collins action figure several years ago, and most that currently appear on eBay are grossly overpriced. So... I was resigned to not having a sixth scale Barnabas in my collection.... But then a few weeks ago, I saw a custom Barnabas head offered on eBay that looked much better (to me) than the Majestic version (the plain face...not the vampire). I won the auction and within a week, using a spare body, a suit and overcoat set, and shoes I already had, I set out to do my own 1/6 scale version. I removed the sleeves to the overcoat to make the Inverness coat, and sewed the cape portion myself. I also made his cane from a wooden dowel and Sculpty. 

As the owner of the Barnabas Collins figure produced by Majestic, I've got to say his creation is superior to the figure produced by Majestic. It's a terrific likeness and steers away from the habit of merchandisers of always putting Barnabas in a brown suit.What think you?

Barnabas Collins by Andy Belanger

 

I attended the HeroesCon in Charlotte, N.C., last month, and collected a number of original pieces of art featuring characters from DARK SHADOWS.

Among that art was this wonderful piece by Andy Belanger, a freelance artist from Toronto best known for his work on Kill Shakespeare and Black Church.

Andy was also showing off a Richard Corben/Meat Loaf parody to be featured in the upcoming sequel to Henry and Glenn Forever. It was fairly hypnotic, kinda like Van Gogh's Starry Night ... only more metal.