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MARVEL'S WORLD OF HORROR
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ZAP! WHAAM! ANALYSIS! In 1970, comic books needed to find a way to renew their appeal in a world of social and economic crisis. One approach was to make the world of superheroes more gloomy, such as depicting drug issues or the deaths of central members of the regular cast. Another approach was to fall back on escapist themes. Among these, the horror genre has always been a popular metaphor - economic recession and vampires both left people at the mercy of something which was out of control for most individuals, but at least someone could drive a stake through the latter threat. Although limited to a few years of success only, Marvel's very own world of horror was quintessential in shaping and defining the more diverse structure of the Marvel Universe which grew out of the superhero dominated Silver Age of the 1960s. (read more...) |
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ZAP! WHAAM! ANALYSIS! FROM HORRORS TO HEROES The roots and reasonings of Marvel's Silver Age world of horror Initially modelled after EC's rather more gory style, all of the Atlas (Marvel) horror books took on a decidedly less gruesome tone following the 1954 introduction of the Comics Code.When Fantastic Four #1 hit the newsstands with a cover date of November 1961, Marvel also published five horror & science fiction comics that month, and Fantastic Four #1 displayed obvious traces of Marvel's sci-fi and horror comic books, such as a flight into space and a monster-like opponent. But in virtually no time at all, the horror and science fiction genre had completely given way to Stan Lee's highly successful theme of superheroes, and it would remain outside the "Marvel Age of Comics" for almost the entire Silver Age period, surfacing only briefly from time to time towards the end of the 1960s. (read more...) |
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ZAP! WHAAM! ANALYSIS! Marvel Comics Tomb of Dracula was more than just your average vampire tale. The comics weaved an ongoing saga plotting its title's vampire count against a group of vampire hunters. Gene Colan's pencils, inked by Tom Palmer, added a vivid dimension to Marv Wolfman's dramatic storytelling. The result was a gothic atmosphere which harked back at the classic vampire stories while at the same time adding new momentum to the theme. (read more...) |
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ZAP! WHAAM! ANALYSIS! An in-depth portrayal and analysis of Marvel's adaptation of the Frankenstein Monster during the foray of the House of Ideas into the horror genre during the Bronze Age period of the 1970s. Although quite successful with other themes of the genre, Marvel's handling of the classic monster became more of a struggle than anything else, despite some very promising conceptual ideas. (read more...) |
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