"Lost" DARK SHADOWS comic promised a return of the Phoenix

There’s an auction currently on Ebay that provides some tantalizing clues as to the direction the DARK SHADOWS “revival” series might have gone — had it received a second season.

When DARK SHADOWS was cancelled in 1991 it left a number of plot threads dangling: Joe Haskell was dead, presumably making way for actor Michael T. Weiss to return the following season as “Peter Bradford;” Victoria Winters had returned to her own time aware that Barnabas Collins was a vampire; and the identity of David’s absent mother was still a mystery.

It's that last detail that has remained the most interesting to me. Based on nothing more than the plot details spilled early in the series, I've always assumed a second season would have delivered us some combination of Laura Collins and Cassandra Blair/Angelique Bouchard. After all, pyromania seemed too pat of an answer for David’s preoccupation with fire. And it seemed economical to bring back actress Lysette Anthony as Laura Collins, setting up a number of potentially interesting developments in the second season.

Alas, none of that came to pass. NBC prematurely pulled the plug on DARK SHADOWS, leaving fans with just the comic spin-off from Innovation. That, too, came to an end near the end of 1993, when Innovation shuttered its doors for good.

Innovation had published a pair of four-issue arcs, with the first issued of a third — titled “A Motion and a Spirit” — hitting stands in November, 1993, before the company went out of business. In all, they had produced nine issues of DARK SHADOWS.

But it appears Innovation had much more planned for the title. Now available for auction on Ebay is the cover art for a DARK SHADOWS storyline titled "Remember Martinique," which the seller says would have told “the long-awaited tale of Barnabas and Angelique's romance before he was forever cursed to walk the earth as a vampire, never made it to press.” The artwork appears to be the work of Hector Gomez, who provided the covers for the “Lost in Thought,” Innovation’s second DARK SHADOWS arc, as well as the lone issue of “A Motion and a Spirit.”

Here’s the thing: The abbreviated “A Motion and a Spirit” was set in modern day Collinsport and focused on Maggie Evans, David Collins and the ghost of Sarah Collins. Which begs the question: Had Innovation progressed so far that work had already begun on a fourth storyline in the series? If so, does that mean that the remaining issues of “A Motion and a Spirit” are sitting in a drawer somewhere — unpublished?

There are also no details about the creative team working on "Remember Martinique." (The identity of the cover artist is just an education guess on my part.) I've heard rumors that actress Lara Parker, who had loaned her likeness to one of the characters in the second DARK SHADOWS series from Innvation, had been asked to write a story arc for the comic. Is "Remember Martinique" the story that eventually became Parker's novel, "Angelique's Descent?"

None of this means that the art you see above, which shows a brunette Lysestte Anthony going all Jean Grey, has anything concrete to do with the unproduced second season of DARK SHADOWS. But Dan Curtis Productions and the series' license holders were actively involved in managing the editorial content of the comic, and it’s not unlikely that undeveloped plot elements from the show were fed to the writers at Innovation.

Via: Ebay

The inevitable DARK SHADOWS/DARK SHADOWS crossover

Do you remember the time Lara Parker made an appearance on the 1991 DARK SHADOWS "revival" series? No? Well, it sorta happened.

As producer Dan Curtis was making the promotional rounds for the series, he occasionally mentioned the possibility of cast members from the original television series making guest appearances on the new program. In his memoirs IN AND OUT OF THE SHADOWS, actor David Selby says he was invited by Curtis to reprise his role of Quentin Collins on the revival. "I told Dan that I was too old to play Quentin, who never ages thanks to the Dorian Grey portrait," he recounts. While Selby would visit the set of the series to speak with actress Jean Simmons, he admits he refused the role out of respect for his experiences on the original series.

Lara Parker/Lara Hoffman.

The new DARK SHADOWS lasted only twelve episodes, which was hardly enough time to accommodate any kind of appearance by members of the original cast. (Now that I think about it, Jonathan Frid would have made an awesome Professor Stokes.) But the opportunities for cameos didn't end with the television series.

As with the show's previous incarnation, the "revival" was accompanied by a comicbook series. Unlike the Gold Key comics published in the 1960s and '70s, though, Innovation's tie-in to the 1991 series was lush, imaginative and created by people with a clear understanding of the property.

And, in the November 1992, issue of the Innovation series, Lara Parker loaned her likeness to "Lara Hoffman," the aunt of Barbara Steele's "Dr. Julia Hoffman." (Parker is only two months older than Steele, but whatever.)

Innovation made a splash a few years earlier with an adaption of Anne Rice's THE VAMPIRE LESTAT. A 12-part mini-series, the comic was a hit and placed Innovation on the industry map. Unfortunately, publishers misinterpreted the success of that book, turning its lushly painted style into a company wide aesthetic. Almost every book by Innovation was made to look like the Anne Rice adaption, whether if worked with the story or not. When it came to books like THE MASTER OF RAMPLING GATE (another Rice adaption) and DARK SHADOWS, the style was a perfect fit. With adaptions of properties such as QUANTUM LEAP and LOST IN SPACE? Not so much. Within a few years, the novelty of THE VAMPIRE LESTAT had turned into a cliché, and few of Innovation's titles came close to matching the success of its first hit. (I've also heard stories that editors had a passion for cleavage that would have made Hammer Studios blush, routinely kicking back pages to artists with instructions to "SHOW MOAR BOOBZ!" Although the memos were probably phrased a bit more professionally.)

With DARK SHADOWS, Innovation lucked into series that was a good match for its company aesthetic. It helped that the book's writers were willing to take stories in strange new directions, rarely relying on any incarnation of the TV series for guidance. It introduced new villains, explored existing relationships and filled in a few of the gaps created by the television show's rush to introduce Barnabas Collins into the mix. For fans of the show, Innovation's book was required reading at the time.

Unfortunately for all involved, DARK SHADOWS was cancelled in early 1991. A few of the show's actors have made appearances on Big Finish's terrific line of audio dramas, but the TV series' final episode remains one of televisions great unresolved cliffhangers. As with Gold Key, Innovation's DARK SHADOWS lived longer than its inspiration. The company completed a pair of four-part series before going out of business in 1993. Sadly, Innovation folded after the ninth issue of DARK SHADOWS, leaving yet another storyline unfinished to this day.

If you're interested in tracking down this series, all nine issues are inexpensive and easy to find through outlets like Ebay and Amazon. Visit the DARK SHADOWS WIKIA for details about the individual issues.

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Welcome to DARK SHADOWS REVIVAL SUNDAY! To get things started, here are a few images from the 1991 revival series, created to be used as banners on the new Facebook "timeline"" design. These images use artwork from the Innovation Comics series.