Bret M. Herholz illustrates THE NIGHT WHISPERS

Artist BRET M. HERHOLZ, whose name is mentioned here from time to time, has posted a few pages of art illustrating the Big Finish audiodrama DARK SHADOWS: THE NIGHT WHISPERS. The episode marked actor JONATHAN FRID's only appearance as BARNABAS COLLINS following the cancellation of the original TV series in 1971, and co-stars JOHN KARLEN and BARBARA STEELE. Written by STUART MANNING, the episode won a Rondo award in 2011.

Here's what Herholz has to say about the art:

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Frid's voice had aged a great deal when he took on the role again, but it sounded absolutely perfect for the story. You got the impression of an older graver Barnabas Collins. Long since freed from the vampire curse and living the remainder of his unnaturally long life in the Old House.

Stuart gave me permission to adapt a few of his marvelous play into comic book pages. You can see a few of the finished pages above.

Although, I didn't make Barnabas appear "older" because the opening dialogue mentioned him being "unchanged".

You can see all three pages art from THE NIGHT WHISPERS at the artist's blog. Meanwhile, Herholz has a pretty terrific DARK SHADOWS print for auction at Ebay. It's signed, and the auction ends soon. So hurry!

DARK SHADOWS original art auction

Artist BRET M. HERHOLZ, who was mentioned on this site back in January, is auctioning a piece of original art on Ebay. Depicting vampire BARNABAS COLLINS and the witch ANGELIQUE, the print will be limited to a single edition, with colors inspired by the recent restoration of THE CABINET OF DOCTOR CALIGARI.

"The way this auction works is once a winning bid has been made, a print of the image will be made on a high quality glossy cardstock and signed personally to the winning bidder and dated," Herholz says on his website. "The original digital file of the image will be deleted making this print ONE OF A KIND. But, along with the print, you will also be bidding on the original artwork I used of Barnabas and Angelique. Which will also be signed to the winning bidder and dated." Visit his website for more details on the auction.

I love this guy's work, and you might wind up competing against me in the auction, which ends this weekend. Never fear, though. I'm a broke-ass blogger who can't afford to be too competitive on Ebay.

Berholz has a number of books available on Amazon, including Sherlock Holmes: The Painful Predicament of Alice Faulkner, and Memento Mori. Check them out!

Sample pages from Bret M. Herholz's proposed DARK SHADOWS comic series

Last summer, artist Bret M. Herholz posted several DARK SHADOWS comicbook pages he created as a proposal for a new series for Dynamite. I think this is the most fascinating comicbook interpretation of the series I've seen outside of the work of George Caltsoudas. Obviously, Dynamite decided to go in a more conventional direction with its DARK SHADOWS comic, but I hold out hope that they'll try something a little more daring (and interesting) before their license on the property lapses. This is the closest thing we'll ever get to an Edward Gorey comic.

Here's what Herholz had to say about the work:

"Dynamite has a really great roster of titles and the cult classic gothic soap Dark Shadows is one of them. Although I am aware Dynamite's portrayal of Barnabas Collins is his much later incarnation which he is cured of his vampirism I'm just more fascinated by the dynamics of his earlier Dracula/Renfield redux relationship between himself and Willie Loomis. And being a fan of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, I decided to render the pages in sepia tones."

You can see more sample pages at his blog.