The Comic Book Bin
Phil's Bubble (147) Articles


TopShelf Month

Darkhorse Month

Women's Month


 
Comics : Phil's Bubble
Last Updated: Oct 28, 2009 - 1:18:15 AM




'Tis the Season...
By Philip Schweier
Oct 26, 2009 - 12:33:29 PM

Email this Article
 Printer Friendly Page
 Mobile Friendly Page

Add to Del.icio.us     Add To Reddit
Add To Digg     Add To Stumbleupon
Add To Technorati Favorites     Add To Ask


This time of year, my thoughts turn toward my favorite holiday, Halloween. Parents today may feel differently, but when I was a child, there was no conceivable downside to being able to dress up in costume and go out knocking on doors in search of candy.

While being scared is the predominant theme of the holiday, fear is a subjective emotion. Age notwithstanding, monsters created in a laboratory somewhere may not seem scary to one, but definitely terrifying to someone else. Sometimes, reminding oneself that "it's only a movie," is enough to keep terror at bay. But where's the fun in that?

witchinghour49.jpg
Growing up, I never really got into horror comics. For one, they weren't scary. Sure they had witches and goblins and the like, but more often than not they played out like episodes of Rod Serling's Night Gallery, full of ironic twist endings.

I remember a couple of stories I read in some forgotten issue of The Unexpected. In one, a woman begins to suspect her elderly uncle to be responsible for a series of grisly murders. One night, while he is out, she discovers evidence suggesting he is indeed the culprit. Knowing the police are out in force, she hurries out into the night in an effort to prevent tragedy. Sure enough, the uncle is involved in the latest attack by the werewolf-like creature, but as the victim. Police arrive and managed to kill the creature, and the horrified uncle watches as the body transforms into his niece.

In another, a handful of boys dare one of their kid brothers to spend the night in a supposedly haunted house. Naturally, they sneak around back, climb in through a window intending to scare the young boy, but he doesn't come running out as they expect. Later, they discover he has indeed stayed in the house, but that's because in his attempt to escape, the boy fell down the stairs and broke his neck. The angry spirit of the dead boy explains that while it may not have been a haunted house when they entered, it certainly was haunted now.

A kid dying from falling and breaking his neck? Well, yeah, now that's scary, because it's real. Moreso than a werewolf, especially one that can be killed by ordinary bullets.

Kolchak.jpg
Darren McGavin as Carl Kolchak
My horror of choice as a kid (besides the prerequisite Universal monsters) was The Night Stalker. It started as a book by Jeffrey Grant Rice, which was made into a 1972 TV movie starring Darren McGavin as Carl Kolchak, a Las Vegas reporter who becomes embroiled in a series of grisly, supernatural murders. A sequel, The Night Strangler (1973), followed, then a television series, in which Kolchak, now in Chicago working for Independent News Service, faced all manner of horrible creatures, from Mayan demons to swamp creatures to a headless biker. To this day, I can still recall the recipe for permanently killing a zombie.

When the television series was initially proposed, McGavin wanted to be the producer as well as the star, intending to use a reverse of The Fugitive formula, with Kolchak pursuing vampire Janos Skorzeny across the television landscape. Instead, McGavin was, by some reports, squeezed out of the producer's slot in favor of Dan Harris, famous for his work on Dark Shadows. And instead, Kolchak faced a different monster each week, inexplicably drawn to his Chicago turf.

McGavin, embarrassed by the lackluster scripts and juvenile scenarios, plodded along with his usual professionalism. In one interview with TV Guide at the time, McGavin claimed that due to the tight production schedule common in television, an actor drawing on his own persona was a handy short-cut. As a result, Kolcahk became a role with which he is most commonly identified.

I was in fourth grade at the time, and attending Catholic school. There was big push in those days to end violence on television. The girls in my school circulated a petition toward that end, and teachers – nuns, mostly – encouraged all of us to participate by watching more Little House on the Prairie. Having already seen my beloved Jonny Quest removed from the Saturday morning schedule, I wasn't about to allow The Night Stalker to suffer the same fate.

But alas, fate was not on my side, as Kolchak's ubiquitous soliloquies might intone. The network had already made its decision, choosing instead to sweep Carl Kolchak and his host of monsters and paranormal shenanigans – as well as Darren McGavin and his constant dissatisfaction –  under the pop culture rug after only 20 episodes. But was he really gone for good? Only time would tell.

stuart_townsend.jpg
Stuart Townsend
I watched a handful of episodes when they were shown on the Sci Fi Channel some years back. Even taking the show's age into account, I must admit the stories don't hold up very well.

The Night Stalker has been mentioned in inspiring the successful series The X-files, even guest starring Darren McGavin as a former agent and Mulder's fellow believer in the paranormal. in 2005, the ABC network resurrected Karl Kolchak, this time played by Stuart Townsend (Dorian Gray in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) in a new series. But again, Kolchak's days were numbered. The show was cancelled after only six episodes.

Night_Stalker_Casebook.jpg
Though the original television show is ancient history, it is the character of Kolchak that retains the appeal. More recently he has been featured in a number of comic books published by Moonstone.

Praise and adulation? Scorn and ridicule? E-mail me at philip@comicbookbin.com.



Related Articles:
Challengers Comics’ Halloween Spooktacula
New People Presents a Japanese Halloween
House of Mystery: Halloween Annual #1
Rob Zombie's Halloween: A Look Back
I Luv Halloween: Ultimate Twisted Edition
VIZ Media Offers Hair-Raising Manga for Halloween
“Preview” Exclusive Cover Lights up “Halloween: Nightdance”
A Look as Sienkiewicz's Halloween
Michael Myers Returns to Comics in New "Halloween" Series
VIZ Media to Help Readers Get Their Halloween On



Comment Script Join the discussion:

Add a Comment

Comments

Couldn't agree more. I loved the Nightstalker series. Even the two made for TV movies "Night Stalker" and "Night Strangler" were a lot of fun. I watched the series as a kid also. Still some of the scariest scenes committed to film and done on a small budget.

The zombie episode where Kolchak had to destroy it by filling it's mouth with salt and sewing it's mouth shut is still a chilling sequence. As is the female vampire carryover episode from the TV movie. One of my favourites? The doppleganger episode when the doppleganger is peering through the windows of the church to unsettle it's victim. This was a truly awesome series and the beauty of it was that it was actor driven, not effects driven. It used the claustrophobic sense very well. Many times Kolchak would be caught in the midst of an investigation by the "entity" and have to hide in a closet or under a bed, scramble out of a window etcetera. He'd be forced to be very close and quite vulnerable to the episode's threat. I loved this device in the series. Lying on the zombie in a cramped car in a junk yard, pouring salt into it's mouth was just a great scene. McGavin played it so well too. The series lost some speed by it's end just as many series do though.

A parallel from today could be "Paranormal Activity". A very low budget affair done on "shaky cam" that builds tension and dread very well...again actor driven not effects driven.

May I also offer Tobe Hooper's "Salem's Lot"? Both the "theatrical" and mini-series versions are very creepy. The Barlowe character himself is creepy enough but the Glick boy at Mark Petrie's window is still one of the finest moments in horror film history. As the vampire infestation grows in Salem's Lot the familiar Hooper "rotting look" comes more into play. The Marsden house reeks. Even Barlowe's coffin looks rancid. Put your special effects cravings on hold and just enjoy it...it's a great mini-series. I'll be watching it this Halloween.
#1 - Tel... - 10/28/2009 - 16:02
Very cool
I also loved Kolchak and the 'Nightstalker' series. The films were great fun too. McGavin was brilliant (his appearance in 'The Natural' was a delight). I wish they would re-run the series again here (UK) soon.

'Salem's Lot' was and is fantastic. One of my favourite mini-seies. I agree with Tel on those scenes. And would add the scene where Barlow bursts violently through a window and then this pool of darkness on the floor slowly gets bigger and rises to reveal..true horror.

I haven't seen the latest adaptation of 'Salem's Lot', but may give it a try. It would be interesting to see how they adapted the King novel.
#2 - Pat - 10/31/2009 - 09:43

© Copyright 2002-2009, Coolstreak Cartoons Inc. - All rights Reserved. All other texts, images, characters and trademarks are copyright their respective owners. Use of material in this document(including reproduction, modification, distribution, electronic transmission or republication) without prior written permission is strictly prohibited.

Top of Page

Comics, Kids and the Creation of Galaxy Man
Atlanta area comic book store owner, and his creation that brings hope to the galaxy.
'Tis the Season...
Wanna see something REALLY scary? So would I.
Collecting Comics
It's one thing to be an avid comic book reader, but collecting can present a whole new world of challenges.
The Costumes of Dragon*Con
A lot of cons feature costuming, but nobody does it like Dragon*Con!
Celluloid Heroes
There's always a lot of gritting of teeth when translating comics to film, from the original creator on down the line.
That '70s Super-hero
The 1970s was a time of rampant super-heroes on the small screen, some say paving the way for Star Wars. Let's take a look.
The Joy of Collecting
Rebuilding a collection better than before takes time and technology, but above all it takes passion.
Timeless Heroes
Comic books have the advantage of being set in any time period. But are mainstream super-heroes limited to the here-and-now? Or is that Elseworlds?
Basic Instructions: How to Shop for Back Issues
Shopping for back issues can be so frustrating, it can move a collector to tears.
Leaving Well Enough Alone
Popular characters should have a timeless appeal,but does that mean they should always be contemporary?
Do You Want It Right or Do You Want It Right Now?
Which should come first, maintaining a monthly schedule, or maintaining the highest quality? Here's a possible solution.
My Big Fat Geek Accomplishment
Collectors love their collections, and achieving a goal is (sometimes) worth announcing.
Long Live the Legion!
With the Legion Crisis series winding down, and the Legion of Super-Heroes poised for new greatness, here's a quick rundown of its history in the DC Universe.
Retro Review: Dick Tracy (1990)
Dick Tracy was just the kind of hero America needed during the gangster era. While our heroes have become more super, there's still some life in the old boy yet.
Behind the Scenes With The Plaid Avenger
Comics as a teaching tool? Nothing new, but on a college level, if you're not careful, you just might learn something.