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Praise for the Work of Steven A. Roman

Praise for the Work of Steven A. Roman

Praise for the Work of Steven A. Roman

LORELEI: SECTS AND THE CITY “Steve Roman’s is sexy, wild, and entertaining! A page-turner with a real punch.” —Elizabeth Massie, Bram Stoker Award–winning author of Sineater

“Obviously, you’ve got a sexy character here, but you didn’t stop at that. You’ve got a real story going with real characters. These people kind of sneak up on the edge.” —Neal Barrett Jr., Writers of America Author Emeritus;on you—semi-normal author of The appearing Prophecy for Machine a while,, andThe thenHereafter you find Gang they’re, and rightPink Vodka Blues

“Kudos to Roman for capturing the essence of 1970s fare like . Filled with ghouls, chicks, and some strong artwork, this is a title that might’ve piqued Hammer Studios’ interest back in the day.”—Dread Central

“A satisfying romp that feels like it would have made an excellent seventies fullhorror volume.”— film (especiallyStrange Amusementsone made by Hammer). The story is funny at times, graphic at times, and horrific at others, and it’s always delivering its stuff at “Roman’s writing is effective and propulsive. The story moves along quickly and convincingly; it’s a fast-paced adventure whose story will leave readers eager for more.”—Cemetery Dance

THE SAGA OF PANDORA ZWIEBACK “Far and away one of the best young adult supernatural novels released in the last few years. . . . Pan is exactly the kind of teen heroine that readers should be standing up and cheering for.”—HorrorNews.net

“Blood Feud is a roller-coaster read; the action never lets up. Roman has an incredible gift for running lateral plotlines that intersect with a glorious crash.”—SampleMonster Librarian file FINAL DESTINATION: DEAD MAN’S HAND how their lives intertwine in the run-up to their own, personal brush with “Roman and does revealing an excellent what happens job here, thereafter, delineating as the terriblefive characters, truth dawns showing that they haven’t escaped, only delayed the inevitable.”—The Third Alternative Sample file FROM THE STARS…A VAMPIRESS

AN UNAUTHORIZED GUIDE TO VAMPIRELLA’S CLASSIC HORROR ADVENTURES

STEVEN A. ROMAN SampleFOREWORD BY SEAN FERNALD file www.starwarpconcepts.com NEW YORK, NY From the Stars…a Vampiress copyright © 2020 Steven A. Roman

Foreword copyright © 2020 Sean Fernald

Vampirella® is a registered trademark of and copyright © 2020

All images copyright their respective owners. The inclusion herein of such images is strictly for journalistic, informational, educational, and/or commentary purposes and use of the same is in no way intended to imply transfer, authorization, ownership, or other claimant rights other than for such use.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, by recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system—except for review purposes—without the express written permission of the publisher.

This book is unofficial and unauthorized. It is not authorized, approved, licensed, or endorsed by Dynamite Entertainment or any of its licensees.

StarWarp Concepts P.O. 4667 Sunnyside, NY 11104

Visit us online: www.StarwarpConcepts.com

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019904901

ISBN: 978-0-9982361-4-8 (trade ) ISBN:First StarWarp 978-0-9982361-5-5 Concepts Edition: (e-book) February 2020 Front cover photograph © Anna Subbotina, under license from Shutterstock. com

Cover photograph is for illustration only, and any person depicted is a model.

Frontispiece by BatSample icon courtesy of Open Clipart file Edited by K. C. Winters

Cover and interior design by Mat Postawa

Printed in the USA This one’s for Vampirella’s two dads, and

With thanks to the talents who brought ’ greatest outer-space vampiress to “life”:

Archie Goodwin Jose Gonzalez Enric Torres-Plat Manuel Perez-Sanjulián Clemente Gonzalo Mayo Bill DuBay Barbara Leigh Mike Butterworth T. Casey Brennan Rich Margopoulos John R. Cochran Jose Ortiz Rudy Nebres Leopold Sanchez Sample file For s.f. comicbook fans [Forrest J Ackerman] has created a character which we will call the “Draculady” if he doesn’t think

featuresof it first, her and name: favorite VAMPIRELLA. “swordcery” artist Frank Frazetta brings her to life on the cover—William of the first L. issueCrawford, of the editor, magazine Spaceway which1

If you’re au courant with the comicbook scene, you know

wasTrina created. Robbins. Between Frank Frazetta and Herself (my favorite sylph of yesteryear) the eroticostume—Forrest for J Ackerman,Vampirella2 Cocreator of Vampirella, editor of Famous Monsters of Filmland

I don’t recall when the publication of Vampirella started, but any red-blooded adolescent male was crazy about the cover

know, and boots and everything. anyway because she was wearing this kick-ass—Stephen hot outfit, King, you3 Bestselling author of It, ’Salem’s Lot, The Shining

Vampirella with that costume. You know you can’t spell “titillating” without. . . . —J.J. Abrams,4 Director of : The Rise of Skywalker,

Vampirella is so cool. . . . As a kid I got into Vampirella because if you were scared to buy skin books, you would go and buy [her comics]. —Grant Morrison5 Award-winning comics writer of All-Star , Vampirella

Vampirella owes her true birth to the wet dreams of countless and horror fans, for whom the notion of a sexy

has always been beyond provocative. Sampleand scantily clad who fights the forces of filedarkness6 —Comics reviewer Tom Knapp ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

a vacuum. Sure, you can pore through books and magazines and run Internet searchesIt’s an undisputed to compile fact information, that nonfiction but bookssome arematerial never just completely can’t be written accessed in without much-needed assistance. And so here are the folks I’d like to thank smoother. for their invaluable help—they made the journey to the a whole lot First off, thanks go to Richard Boom, owner/publisher of the news site Comics for Sinners. When I contacted him about the earliest notion of this book, I asked if he knew any Vampirella fans who might own a copy of the long-discussed but little-seen screenplay for the unproduced 1970s Hammer Films adaptation meant to star Barbara Leigh and Peter Cushing. He said he knew of only one person who could help with that, and pointed me to . . .

Sean Fernald, who didn’t just have access to the —Peter Cushing’s personal copy, in fact!—but who’s known far and wide in Warren fan circles as

Vampi’s cocreator, Forrest J Ackerman. Sean dug through the Ackermonster’s the Official Vampirella Historian, and who was the longtime business advisor to pages; he even wrote the foreword. Thanks for all the help, Sean! photo collection to provide some great images that you’ll find within these Bob Larkin, who provided the awesome frontispiece, has not only been a aboutfriend everyfor over Warren twenty years (and title, the coverincluding Vampirella for a good. When number I saw of themy incrediblenovels!) but Vampi was onesketch of thethat amazing became talentsthis book’s who frontispieceprovided cover among art afor batch just of his pencil drawings, I knew I had to use it. Ya still got talent, kid! It was Bob who put me in touch with . . .

Benjamin DuBay Warren creation, the time-traveling Rook. Ben answered what he could about Bill’s time as a Vampirella, keeper ofwriter, the flame and provided for his uncle some Bill’s incredible, most well-known invaluable behind-the-scenesSample information about the file bankruptcy of the 1980s and Warren’s lawsuit against a decade later. But mostly we just correspond about the Rook, my second-favorite Warren character. I’ still waiting for Sam Elliot to play that ornery gunslinger, Dane, in a movie, Ben—make it happen! The late Tom Sutton embodiment of the phrase “what a character!”—regaled me back in the 1990s with some stories of his—Vampirella’s Warren days, and first pointed interior me artist in an andunusual the direction absolute to look for a possible little-known inspiration for her “true” .

Hammer Films legend Valerie Leon was kind enough to respond to my query about the long-told tale of how she was considered for the lead in the studio’s 1970s Vampirella movie that never happened.

Producer and author John Scoleri things about another Hammer legend, Caroline Munro, and her involvement in Hammer’s Vampirella, but also provided not only scans helped of methe figure photos out of oneMs. Munroor two

Formeryou’ll find Warren in this Publishing book. editor John R. Cochran was no doubt surprised when I tracked him down to ask a couple of questions about his sole Vampirella writing credit, but was gracious enough to tell me what he could.

Warren Publishing super-fan Allan Pollett answered my questions about a never-produced Vampirella animated project. Yes, a Vampirella cartoon was considered, and Allan owns the cells to prove it.

Mikhail Ilyin has an awesome B-movie-dedicated website called Wrong Side the place to go to for images of the of the Art (wrongsideoftheart.com), and it’s cream of the crop in forgotten low-budget, cult, and exploitation film posters. You should definitely check it out. Mat Postawa for putting this whole thing together. Mat and I have worked together for—what, twenty yearsAnd finally, or so?—and thanks it’s to alwaysdesigner a pleasureextraordinaire doing a project with him. Thanks for all the hard work, Mat! Sample file CONTENTS

Foreword by Sean Fernald xi

Introduction xv

Part I: The Vampire Who Fell to Earth: A History 1

Part II: The Vampirella Episode Guide 33

Part III: Vampi Goes to Hollywood 133 Queen of Blood: Vampi’s Space-Age Predecessor 137

Vampirella A.D. 1976: The Unproduced Hammer Films Adaptation 143

Vampirella A.D. 1996: Thirsty for , She’ll Settle for Being Awful 169

Part The IV: Anime(ted) The Literary Vampi? Vampiress: 183 Warner Books’ Vampirella Novel Series 185

Part V: Vampirella’s Warren Era Checklist 201

Epilogue: Warren Publishing Lives . . . Sort Of 237

Recommended Reading 245

Notes 247

BibliographySample file266

Index 284

About the Author 289 Before she was Vampirella, she was . . . Mary Mayhem?!

James Warren’s March 1969 memo (with hand-drawn sketches) to Forrest J Ackerman, outlining the company’s new horror-host character. Ackerman scrawled a few potential names at the top of the page to get the ball rolling.

Scans from the collection of Forrest J Ackerman, courtesy of Sean Fernald, Vampirella SampleHistorian. file xiii FOREWORD BY SEAN FERNALD

I’ve got to admit, it’s been a lifelong love affair. Vampirella’s detractors can scoff all they want, but there’s no denying it: this “vampire from the stars” has real staying power. I was in the ’60s and haveI are enjoyedin our 5th Vampirella’s decade together, adventures as the (and character the gore-geous celebrates artwork her 50th that Anniversary.accompanied them) for as long as I can remember. It’s fitting that Vampirella When I look back at my childhood in the ’70s, I can’t remember a time when Warren Magazines weren’t on my mind and my desktop (I’m talking brandabout theof horrorwooden fare: kind). Famous Growing Monsters up in Hawaii, of Filmland I’d bike, down, Creepy, to Pali andDrugs, of course,the local Vampirella corner-store. The that elderly became Japanese the pusher woman for my who regular minded fix of Warren’sthe cash

register. . . after carefullyalways regarded looking throughme (and the my stack monster-kid to pick out fiends) the nicest with copy, curiosity though as we invariably ended up purchasing the same issues (sometimes all together) order of business was to lay out all of the issues we had, and photograph them allI’m together not sure to why document it mattered. our treasures You see, tothe share moment with we’d unbelieving get home friends. the first Or perhaps just for the fun of it. I’ve always favored the Vampirella issues featuring ’s tales, and of course the beautiful covers and interior art by Spanish masters Jose “Pepe” Gonzalez, Manuel Sanjulián, Jose Ortiz, Esteban Moroto, Enric Torres-Prat, and so many others. These issues weren’t censored, so it’s safe to say that Vampirella and her exploits helped introduce me to the fairer

To me, Vampirella has always been about the eternal fascination between sex(or isand it deadlier?)death, and sexas a during lifelong my horror formative fan I years.found this particularly intriguing. I believeSample that’s really at the core of her enduring appeal. Thefile human animal is—and always has been—at its core driven by these two primal forces, so combining them in such a powerful manner has helped propel the character’s appeal through the decades via a devoted base of fans. It doesn’t hurt that the character resembles the archetype of the dark and bewitching “devil girl,” like the seductive Dragon Lady from Terry and the Pirates, or the iconic xiv horror- Vampira. From pinup queen Bettie Page to the more recent “mistress of the dark,” Elvira, all of these characters have tapped into this fertile vein . . . and mined fanboy/fangirl gold! origin story, which combined horror with “Sci-Fi”—the term coined by Vampirella’sAnother cocreator, interesting Forrest aspect J thatAckerman. sets Vampirella He was challenged apart is her by publisher (original) James Warren to come up with a “sexy mod witch” as a horror-host companion to Cousin Eerie and Uncle Creepy, who hosted Warren’s other two horror anthologies. Ackerman combined the vampire archetype with his passion for

With Ackerman’s backstory in mind, Warren turned to renowned artist Frank science fiction and came up with the concept of a vampiress from the stars. for the character, Warren put Frazetta on the phone with Trina Robbins, a comicFrazetta artist to paint friend the of cover his from for theNorthern first issue. California. While Shesketching described up various the costume looks in detail . . . and Vampirella was born. adding his signature puns to the dialog, making the tone of Vampi a bit campy Ackerman imbued Vampirella’s first two issues with his sense of humor,

(sorry, couldn’t resist). It wasn’t until issue #8 that writer Archie Goodwin Vampirella’s(and later Bill readership DuBay) established and popularity the gothic-horror grew over the tone years, (later quickly accompanied rivaling Warren’sby Jose Gonzalez’s earlier more beautiful established art) horror that carried anthology through titles. the next 13 years. Vampirella has now been through three publishers, but has for the most comic fans in the year 2069 will be celebrating her 100th Anniversary with thepart same maintained fervor her distribution true-blooded throughout of her -soaked five-decade span.readers I believe do now. that As Vampirella might exclaim, “Satyr and Circe, it’s been quite a run!”

Yours with a bloody hand-stake, Sean Fernald Vampirella Historian

Fueled by a lifelong love affair with the horror (dating back to a childhood filled with monster movies and images from horror magazines likeSample Famous Monsters of Filmland and Vampirella), Sean Fernaldfile produced several genre- and horror-related film projects, including Red Velvet (2009), a horror-fantasy film starring Henry Thomas. His standing in the horror community is well established as Vampirella Historian and president of the Vampirella official fan club, The Scarlet Legion. Sean also served as longtime business advisor to horror legend Forrest J Ackerman, and the magazine he edited for more than 25 years, Famous Monsters of Filmland. xv

Above: Forrest J Ackerman (of Karloffornia) shows off the original art for Tom Sutton’s splash page from “Vampirella of Draculon” (Vampirella #1, 1969).

Left: The Ackermonster meets Vampirella—specifically Kathy , the first-ever Vampirella cosplayer—at the 27th World Science Fiction Convention Sample in file1969.

Photos from the collection of Forrest J Ackerman, courtesy of Sean Fernald, Vampirella Historian. Sample file INTRODUCTION

December 1982 was a dark time for horror-comic fans, because that was when the Warren Publishing Company stopped publishing. Various reasons have been posited for the company’s closure just months later: a severe drop in sales; an inability for a line of black-and-white, magazine-sized horror anthologies to appeal to a growing consumer base more interested in the four-color adventures of superheroes; a plagiarism lawsuit from a renowned genre writer over an unlicensed adaptation of his work;1 the sudden ill health of publisher James Warren, who had no one in place to take the company’s reins while he underwent treatment.2 One at a time or taken altogether, such factors ultimately resulted in the cancellation of every Warren title: Creepy, Eerie, Famous Monsters of Filmland, The Rook, The Goblin, 1994, Warren Presents—and Vampirella. It was a dark time for me, too, because that was when I lost any chance of someday being able to write a Vampirella story for them. As you can see from the 1982 letter reproduced here, an unsolicited idea I’d pitched had made it as far as an “okay, get back to us in a few months” level of encouragement genre magazines like Fangoria and Cinefantastique and author biographies offrom makeup Assistant effects Editor artist Randy Paul Palmer Blaisdell (who, and post-Warren, gore-meister wentproducer on to Herschell write for me borrowing the title of Gary Wright’s hit song from 1975—but at its core itGordon probablySample Lewis). had toI don’t do with remember me fannishly much wanting about “Dreamweaver”—other to repair a filecontinuity glitch than PalmerI’d come was across probably in the just series. trying (Admit to be niceit: as to fledgling me, no doubt writers already hoping aware to break that there’dinto comics, be no we’ve company all been for methere to writein one back form to or at another.) the start And,of the in next retrospect, year; if so, I appreciate the gesture. Before then, my horror-fan life had forever changed when I stumbled across Vampirella

#55 at a mom-and-pop newsstand in the summer of 1976. xviii Okay, maybe it was teenage hormones that initially drove my interest—after all, the cover painting by Sanjulián of Vampi looking over her shoulder at the reader in a pose that put her bare butt on full display certainly got my attention. But it was discovering that legendary Comics writer Archie Goodwin , Star Wars, kept me interested—Vampirella of( stories from the early days of the magazine.) had crafted And whenher early Goodwin adventures mentioned that in an interview in another publication #55 was that a “Besthis Vampirella of Archie Goodwin”stories were collection heavily read . . . well, I just had to see what those were about. Thanks for the tip, Mr. Goodwin!influenced by the works of H. P. Lovecraft, an author I’d heard of but never So in ’82 I came up with “Dreamweaver” because clearly I thought my

I didn’t know, however, was that while I was waiting for an editorial response toidea my was pitch, good Warren enough Publishing for submitting was toin Warren’sthe early editors.stages of(Ahh, closing youth.) shop. What By Vampirella Famous Monsters of Filmland CreepyDecember 1982,Eerie Warren would1984 publish its1994 final releases: #112 and Warren Presents #191 (both had cover-datedbeen cancelled March in August 1983), 1981 as well with as #145, #139, and (now ) #29 (all cover-dated February adventure1983). Prior stories to that, from 1984/1994 The Rook in February 1982 with issue 14,issue and 14 The (a collection Goblin in ofAugust the “Rex with Havoc issue and3. Even His Asskickersif “Dreamweaver” of the Fantastic”had been accepted, it never would have seen print.), So that was my brush with Vampirella during her classic era, but I never truly abandoned the notion of writing for a horror-comic femme fatale; I just needed to create one of my own. And in 1989 that’s exactly what I did with Lorelei

As ,for a succubus the one you’re inspired currently by Vampirella reading . (and. . well, Marvel’s it wasn’t , supposed the toDevil’s turn outDaughter). like this. But My that’s original another idea story had been for another along the project. lines of “Hey, Vampirella’s

I’ll do a free e-book collection of the Vampi comic reviews I did for Comics forfiftieth Sinners.” anniversary The news is comingsite, run up by inbad-girl-comic-fan- 2019. To take advantage ofRichard that, maybe Boom and catering to readers who like a bit of politically incorrect T&A in their readingSample choices, had been home to my ninety-plus reviews file of comic books backlog of Vampirella material that I could collect. starringBut femmesthen I started fatales discovering(and occasionally little tidbitsDoctor ofWho), Vampi so Itrivia definitely during had my a

Eventually the realization set in that I’d fallen down way too many rabbit holes andInternet turned searches up too tomuch find information material that for wouldthis to helpbe just pad some out pile the of collection. reviews with footnotes, especially as I uncovered eyewitness accounts of a project xix known to just about every Vampirella fan: the movie adaptation announced by Hammer Films in 1975 that was to star actress and Playboy model Barbara Leigh and Hammer legend Peter Cushing, but which never made it past the the people involved in the 1996 Vampirella was made, and which evenpreproduction they regard stages. as a colossal Not to mention blunder. finding postgame interviews done with Suddenly, I was looking at an honest-to-God film book. that Of course, it would have to be an unauthorized book. Warren Publishing might have declared bankruptcy in the 1980s, but the rights to Vampirella had

Dynamitenever been Entertainment, in limbo for long, when first Harris snapped Comics up by sold Harris them Publications/Comics to DE in 2010. But during Warren’s bankruptcy filing in 1983 and then by her current owner, more than makes up for a lack of numerous cover reproductions you could that was all right; I think the information you’ll find in the pages that follow Vampirella fan, you already know what her iconic costume looks like. If you’re not,easily that find frontispiece by Googling by Vampi—and former Warren in full cover color, artist no less! Bob Besides, Larkin—not if you’re from a any DE publication, but an incredible pencil drawing I came across in one of his sketchbooks a few years ago—should tell you all you need to know! of events involving Hammer Films’ aborted Vampirella movie. Longtime VampirellaThe biggest fans knowchallenge the ofstory this behindproject it:was the in Hammer/Warrentrying to figure out Publishing deal that set everything in motion; Hammer actress Caroline Munro being offered the role but declining it; the part going to Leigh, who posed in an Vampirella magazine and at the 1975 Famous Monsters Convention to promote the project; the production’s suddenofficial Vampicollapse costume by 1976 for just cover as shooting photos forwas about to begin. But do they—do you—really know the story? I’ve done my best to create a three—but when you’re relying on print interviews of participants who were recallingchronological a failed order project to the from life twentyand death or moreof the years movie—you’ll before, it findbecomes it in chapter a bit of sense of it, so y’know, at least give me some points for not going mad during thea process. puzzle. I think this might be the first time anyone’s ever tried to make SampleSo, now that you know what led up to this tome, followfile me down the some of this stuff certainly surprised me—as we take a look at the history of therabbit Girl hole, from won’t Drakulon, you? theI’m queensure you’ll of comics’ find a bad few girls: surprises Vampirella. along the way—

—Steve Roman Wandering the streets of Gosi-Bram Sample file PART I: THE VAMPIRE WHO FELL TO EARTH: A HISTORY

Vampirella represents a unique cross-cultural pollination that could only have happened in the late 1960s/early 1970s: blending French comics such as Barbarella, the American movement, and the revival. —Nancy A. Collins1 Bram Stoker Award–winning author of Sunglasses

Vampirella was a to reckon with in the world of comics. She epitomized female sexuality mixed with intelligence and power. —Horror journalist Jessica Dwyer2

There’s no doubt Vampirella helped pave the way for adult fantasy magazines such as Heavy Metal in the late ’70s. —Horror journalist Last Chance Lance3 Sample file

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