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Post by dem bones on Nov 18, 2007 10:09:22 GMT
Ron Goulart - Vampirella 1: Bloodstalk(Sphere, 1976) Vampirella is her name … and she lusts for blood!Who is She? Beautiful, slick, deadly. An animal of prey stalking the streets, hunting for a victim.
Where does she come from? From the blackness of space itself. Pulled from her native planet by a secret Earth space probe, she is Earth’s first extraterrestrial visitor.
Why is she here? Trapped in a world far from her own, Vampirella must drink blood to survive. She must kill - or adapt - or die!"I took the 15-20 page comic stories and turned them into 160-180 page novels. This often took great cunning and ingenuity." - Ron Goulart, quoted in Greg Cox, The Transylvanian Library: A Consumer's Guide To Vampire Fiction, Borgo Press, 1993. A plane crashes in the snowbound mountains on a trip to California. There are only two survivors, the badly injured Kurt Van Helsing and barely-a-scratch-on-her Vampirella! She doesn't want to do it but has no option. She plants her fangs in his neck and drinks his blood! Staggering through the blizzard, Vampirella is rescued by a hairy creature whose face has been obliterated and, when next she gains consciousness, she's propped up in a four-poster at the Westron Sanatorium. A smarmy fellow who introduces himself as Dr. Tyler Westron informs her that she's recovering from a fever. She babbled some interesting things in her sleep, inspiring him to quickly rustle up a blood serum. His efforts on her behalf are not entirely selfless. Although he already has a (very) long-term and rarely clothed girlfriend, Lenora, he ditches her with the minimum of ceremony and spells things out to she of the stupendous globes. "The situation, to make everything clear ... You are to remain here, and to be, shall we say, obliging to me. Do that and you get your blood sub. Otherwise it's out in the snow with you!" Vampi suffers him a peremptory boob-fondle, her mind already set on copying down the secret formula and getting the Hell away from this sleaze. The matter becomes even more pressing when she discovers that he isn't who he claims to be. He's turned the real Dr. Tyler Westron into a faceless ape- thing, stolen his identity and the Sanatorium is now a front for the Companions Of Chaos! Lenora hasn't taken being ditched at all well. She engages and, improbably, triumphs over Vampi in a piss poor cat-fight, and now our heroine is sprawled across an alter, the dumpee and her cowled brethren preparing to sacrifice her to Nuberus and raise him from the Nethervoid. The bogus Westron can't bear the thought of those mouthwatering melons going to waste, weighs up his options and stabs his ex. Now he reveals the truth: "I am Ethan Todd ... I was a warlock, a sorcerer, in 17th century New England. Lenora and I were lovers then, in Salem, and we have been ever since. Lenora has the last laugh, though. Her death is just as acceptable to the Gods as would have been that of the intended sacrifice. With the advent of Nuberus the cavern collapses and the Cult members are given cause to regret that they'd not worn something more flame-proof. The real Dr. Tyler Westron is mortally wounded in the conflict but he saves Vampirella (and) and gives her a copy of the formula. Now she will never have to feast on human blood again! But ..... the aged, invalid Conrad Van Helsing is already onto her. He witnessed the plane-crash in a premonition because he's got ESP ("The gift I have instead of vision") and is convinced that it wasn't the accident that killed his brother, but a vampire. A female vampire. He persuades a mortician with the onset of Tourette's syndrome to show him the mangled, bloodless corpse and, sure enough, the tell-tale twin puncture marks on the neck that everyone else has over-looked! He and his son, Adam, will hunt this foul creature down to the very bowels of Hell if that's what's necessary! Isn't that right, Adam? But first, a stake through the heart for the dear departed ..... II The action shifts to Fendenville where Vampi is on the trail of the Companions' Bible, The Crimson Chronicles, the exceedingly rare volume which every hood in the story seems to own a copy of. As luck would have it there's one in the Jethryn Memorial Library and nice Mr. Howard is only too keen to locate it for her. No sooner has she settled down to read than he's out back squealing her up to wheelchair-bound moaner old Ma Jethryn, a big shot in the local chapter of the Companions and mother to hapless lunkhead Lem, five years out of his grave and loathing it ("I wish I was dead again. All I am is a toady, running errands and killing people"). You can see his point. The old bat decides they don't want the mystery girl snooping around and instructs her zombie son to kidnap her when she's having a shower. He can destroy her after they've all enjoyed some playful interrogation fun. Meanwhile ... The Van Helsings have also arrived in town, mission much the same as Vampirella's. Despite all evidence to the contrary, Conrad Van Helsing insists that the girl is in league with the Companions and must be destroyed. He has a pathological hatred of the undead because the recently deceased Kurt is not the first family member he's been obliged to smash a filthy great lump of wood through. His dear wife having fallen victim to a bloodsucker when Adam was a child ... To his eternal credit, Van Helsing junior isn't so quick to judge. In fact, the very second he claps disbelieving eyes on Vampi's humongous mammaries in the library, Adam realises his mole-like old man is just a sour, embittered, raving bigot like most old-timers! For her part, Vampirella is - for some mysterious reason - fair smitten with Adam! Unfortunately, just as it looks like we might have a much-needed hanky panky episode to enjoy our heroine goes all businesslike, hypnotises Adam and departs. The episode ends in farce with Lem finally getting his wish, the Companions turning on each other and the last one standing confined to an insane asylum for the rest of their natural! To be continued .....
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Post by dem bones on Jan 26, 2008 8:29:02 GMT
III When we first meet him, the Great Pendragon is a burnt out alkie plying his tenth-rate act with Blackston's Mammoth Carnival. Young Eve Millerton has been hanging around site asking awkward questions about the disappearance of her uncle. Blackstone doesn't like it. Some years earlier he, Pendragon, the Strongman, Bearded Lady and sundry freaks got hold of a copy of The Crimson Chronicles and summoned forth Asmodeus. Under the terms of their pact, the Carney will stay afloat just as long as Blackston provides souls to the demon via the Hall of Mirrors - and none of the dabblers are allowed to leave. Blackston sends his freaks after Eve and they soon have her nicely tied to a chair in the decrepit Chamber of Horrors to be tormented by Major Archie, the randy midget. Adam Van Helsing investigates only to be trapped behind the glass of one of the soul-stealing mirrors. Will Pendragon's self-loathing and guilt get the better of him? Will he help Vampi rescue everybody who should be rescued and punish those who should be punished?
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Post by dem bones on Aug 26, 2012 21:25:36 GMT
Ron Goulart - The Assault On Childhood (Victor Gollancz, 1970) Jean & Andrew Robertson - Introduction: The Child is Father to the Man. The Assault on Childhood The World of Barbie War Toys Pandora's Toy Box Disneyland The Fad Makers The New Improved Santa's Workshop "When You Sell a Kid" Kids' TV; or, "I Guess That'll Hold the Little Bastards." Superman, Inc. Delicious and Nutritious Autocrats of the Breakfast Table Overthrowing the Kid Business
Bibliography Index "..... There's a book with smiling children/ Nearly dead with Christmas joys/ And smiling in his office/ is the creep who makes the toys ..." - Frank Zappa & The Mother of Invention, Uncle Bernie's Farm. Hows this for cheek? The man who would give the world the Vampirella novelisations-of-comic-books, Cheap Thrills: An Informal History Of The Pulps, The Great Comic Book Artists, Gadget Man & Co., coming over all Frederick 'Seduction of the Innocent' Wertham and complaining about the damaging effect "fetishistic" comic characters ("junky storm-trooper entertainment"), SF novels, pulp fiction and the like has on little kids. It's even possible that he's absolutely sincere - writing in Cheap Thrills, he seems genuinely appalled at the shudder pulps. None of which is quite enough for Jean & Andrew Robertson: "Ron Goulart does us too much credit when he says that in Europe the "comic format magazines specifically for kids" are "usually well done, excellently drawn and beautifully printed." It is hard to believe that he has not been sent a bundle of back numbers of Eagle, Girl, and Robin, the Hulton Press family of comics which answered the higher minded demands of the 1950's in Britain. The low level children's comics in this country have never been beautifully printed, or they would have cost too much: nor conspicuously well drawn, because no reasonably capable artist would like to be associated with such trivial output."Too easy to laugh and dismiss without giving it a fair crack of the whip - we all know it all these days, right? - so will try find time to read over coming .... weeks.
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Post by dem bones on Jan 15, 2022 11:08:16 GMT
Learned from pulpscans that the impossibly prolific Ron Goulart died yesterday morning aged 94. RIP Mr. Goulart. Thanks especially for An Informal History of the Pulps (he sure disliked the weird menaces) and the delightful 'Vampira' novelisations.
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Post by andydecker on Jan 15, 2022 16:43:46 GMT
How sad. R.I.P. Ron Goulart.
He wrote so many novels and stuff. I wasn't a fan of his kind of writing, to put it mildly - still hate it with a passion - but I salute his ability to make a living in this difficult profession for so long.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jan 15, 2022 17:17:28 GMT
I am not sure I ever read anything by Goulart, although I have books of his somewhere (for a while in the 70s I bought all DAW books; do not ask me why). I now notice he wrote a series of mystery novels featuring Groucho Marx. Some people, I am sure, think that that sounds like a brilliant premise.
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Post by andydecker on Jan 15, 2022 18:47:28 GMT
I am not sure I ever read anything by Goulart, although I have books of his somewhere (for a while in the 70s I bought all DAW books; do not ask me why). I now notice he wrote a series of mystery novels featuring Groucho Marx. Some people, I am sure, think that that sounds like a brilliant premise. Oh, this must be a nice collection. I love those early DAWs. It was a great idea to establish such a recognizable book-line and, more important, to keep at it. I only have a few of the series books, Akers, Tubb and some Carter. As a fan you always had the impression that those editions were made by people who really cared about them and the genre.
Groucho Marx as a detective? Oh boy, another one of my pet hates. There are many similar series, and lot of mystery fans consider it fun, if Eleanor Roosevelt or Emperor Nero solve a murder, but I never could understand the appeal.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jan 15, 2022 19:50:47 GMT
I love those early DAWs. It was a great idea to establish such a recognizable book-line and, more important, to keep at it. They were numbered. I think that was a large part of the appeal for me. Some time ago I tried to reread some of the "Alan Burt Akers" stuff. It is basically unreadable, like Edgar Rice Burroughs's Mars novels with all the sense of fun removed and dubious religious overtones added. Tubb's "Dumarest" series is ok. Lin Carter I think we all know how we feel about.
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Post by andydecker on Jan 15, 2022 20:38:52 GMT
Some time ago I tried to reread some of the "Alan Burt Akers" stuff. It is basically unreadable, like Edgar Rice Burroughs's Mars novels with all the sense of fun removed and dubious religious overtones added. Tubb's "Dumarest" series is ok. Lin Carter I think we all know how we feel about. I wouldn't go so far where Bulmer/Akers is concerned. (Of course I am biased in his case.) It is nothing more than a Burroughs pastiche, this is true. Which in itself is nothing wrong. But I honestly never had the impression that there was something like religious overtones in the novels. Or any religion. The hero is a puppet in the hands of some mysterious godlike aliens, but there is no worship of any kind.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jan 15, 2022 20:46:32 GMT
I wouldn't go so far where Bulmer/Akers is concerned. (Of course I am biased in his case.) Oops! Some quick research suggests that you are his German translator. I had no idea. I am sure he reads much better in German!
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Post by andydecker on Jan 15, 2022 22:32:03 GMT
That's nice of you to say, but I wouldn't go so far. I was the second translator and basically did the rest till Bulmer got ill, but it was my first regular series and I often cringe in memory how much editorial had to do. But I am a bit sentimental about it, even if I couldn't defend the series as being strongly plotted at the time any longer.
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Post by andydecker on Jun 17, 2023 12:15:39 GMT
This is the original Warner edition: The coverart is from the original magazine. Frontcover is originally the cover of Vampirella #19, drawn by Gonzalez and Enrich. It later became a life-size poster and has become one of those iconic things. Back is a cut-out from #37, drawn by Enrich, who did maybe most of the Vampirella covers.
And here is another one: This cover was originally done by artist Sanjulian in 1974 for #36. The back is again by Enrich, a cut-out from #29, minus the usual monster.
A few words about the magazine. While Vampirella was in theory a serial of mostly one part stories, the rest was filled with random 'horror' stories, written by American writers and drawn by mostly Spanish artists. A story by story review of most Warren Magazines can be found on the Barebones blog for those who are interested.
The cover-art was way better than the content. A great collection is The Art of Vampirella: The Warren Years from Dynamite. An oversized hardcover it has all the covers without the layout with short commentary and some recollections of the artists if possible.
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Post by dem bones on Jun 17, 2023 18:11:25 GMT
I love the Sanjulian cover. Shame they didn't use these for the UK Deadwalk.
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