Dynamite's Dark Shadows: Year One condenses the 19-week television storyline into six issues and, I must admit, does a pretty good job of it, eliminating most of the meandering soap opera storytelling. It is not, however, canon. What writer Marc Andreyko and artist Guiu Vilanova have done is to take the same characters from the 1795 storyline and reshuffle them into an almost entirely new alternate vampire origin story, one that doesn't take a full 48 hours to experience in its entirety. [Similary, MPI Home Video has also condensed those same 19 weeks into a 210-minute "movie" (titled The Vampire Curse) by eliminating all sub-plots except the main one. Still, three and a half hours of unrelenting vampire plot is a lot. I watched the whole thing straight through once, but I probably never will again.] The difference between the Dark Shadows: Year One comic book and the soap opera is similar to the difference between The Walking Dead comic book and TV show (except in that case, the televised version came first). In other words, in either case, even if one is familiar with the original version, one can still experience the alternate and still be surprised.
Dark Shadows: Years One ends with Willie Loomis releasing Barnanabs Collins from his coffin in the "present day"...
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...which brings us up (sort of) to the Gold Key comic book series. Western Publishing released 35 Dark Shadows comic books between December 1968 and February 1976. The uncredited writers included Denise Van Lear, Donald J. Arneson and Arnold Drake. They were illustrated by Joe Certa with cover paintings for #8-35 by George Wilson. (#1-7 featured photo covers.) The only characters from the TV show to appear were Barnabas Collins, Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, Roger Collins, Dr. Julia Hoffman, Quentin Collins, Professor T.E. Stokes, Angélique, Willie Loomis and the Reverend Trask.
It is my intention to go through this series an issue at a time, providing summaries (by Jeff ZThompson) and, whenever possible, providing links to Danny Horn's very funny posts which deal with individual Gold Key issues from his "Dark Shadows Every Day" blog. His blogs will be well worth reading, even if you are unfamiliar with the comics.
ISSUE #1 - "The Vampire's Prey"
A descendant of Reverend Trask comes to Collinsport to solve the mystery of his ancestor's disappearance nearly two centuries earlier.
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ISSUE #2 - "The Fires of Darkness"
The ghost of Angelique engulfs Barnabas in "hellfire," a type of fire which baffles Collinsport Fire Marshall Marc Hull.
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ISSUE #3 - "Return for Revenge"
Barnabas journeys back to 1769 in an attempt to put to rest the vengeful ghost of Setauket, a murdered native American. Setauket has come to the Collinwwod of the present day as gardner Charlie Tauket and makes four attempts on the life of roger collins. Barnabas wills himself back in time two centuries and observesthe lives of Thomas collins and his sons, Jebidiah, Jeremiah and Seth. When Barnabas rights the wrong that the Collinses inflicted upon Setauket, the ghost's curse of the family is broken.
NOTE: In Dark Shadows #3-7, Barnabas Collins is no longer a vampire. the only explanation given for this change is Barnabas' line in #4 about "the day Angélique's curse dissolved." then, on the splash page of #8, Barnabas laments his "unholy affliction." He is a vampire again for the duration of the comic book series.
ISSUE #4 - "The Man Who Could Not Die"
Barnabas time travels to London in 1665 to free the soul of Devlin Collins, a wandering immortal. then many spirits that haunt Collinwood become restless and violent after the arrival of Devlin Collins, a tall Englishman who was born in 1640 and has never died. In 1665 London, he sold his aoul to Satan to avoid dying of the Black Plague, and has roamed the Earth ever since. Now Devlin seeks to snatch Barnabas' newly normalized soul in order to find peace. Instead, the former vampire draws Devlin back through time with him to the time of the black Plague. While barnabas fends off the Evil One, Devlin dies of the disease.
ISSUE #5 - "The Curse of Collins Isle"
William Starbuck, a werewolf, escapes his confinement on Collins Isle, off the coast of Collinsport.
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Posting here so I can find this thread more easily later.
ISSUE #6 - "Awake to Evil"
Barnabas and werewolf Quentin Collins battle an Egyptian mummy and superstitious townspeople. Unbeknownst to the collins family, the body of the 19th centure explorer Nathanial Collins is not resting in his coffin. What does lie there is the huge mummy of the Egyptian sorcerer Amen-Ra. When the mummy comes to life and gors on a rampage in Collinsport, the superstitious villiagers blame Barnabas for the terror. In the exciting climax, Barnabas battle the mummified Amen-Ra, while Quentin, in werewolf form, combats Ka-Ran, the 86th living descendant of Amen-Ra. Ka-Ran is in Collinsport to switch Nathanial Collins' body with the mummy.