This Halloween, I figured I'd share one of my favorite obscure comic book oddities , THE DELL SUPERMONSTERS.
Y'see, in 1963, Dell Comics (the comic book imprint of Dell Publishing , naturally) acquired the licenses on the Universal Monsters, and produced three one shot comics featuring DRACULA, The FRANKENSTEIN Monster, and (my personal favorite of these books) THE CREATURE (from the Black Lagoon).
And, then....for about four years, they did pretty much nothing with the licenses.
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| The covers are some pretty gorgeous pieces of painted work, at least.... |
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| Dracula comic book....or, Harlequin romance novel? |
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| Oh, Gill Man....how I love you. |
Then, sometime in 1966, somebody sitting around Dell editorial said, "Hey...the kids seem to dig this BATMAN TV show, and superheroes are big at the moment...how do we cash in on this hub- bub?"
"I know! Let's take that old Universal license....and make 'em superheroes! "
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| The "secret of Dracula's strange new powers"? Has to be that snazzy new suit... |
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| OMG! Blimps and shit! Run! |
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| I don't know WTF is happening here...but it looks intense. |
DRACULA was the story of a modern day descendant of the literary Dracula who figured out how to replicate the Count's supernatural powers....with fucking SCIENCE, bitches...and then decided to grow a moral stance and fight crime.
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| Fuck Yeah! It's Frankenstein, baby! |
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| This looks messed up. |
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| Giant spiders?!?! Fuck that noise... |
FRANKENSTEIN was the tale of....well, the actual Frankenstein Monster showing up at his old creator's castle one day, assuming the idenity of one his descendants (which facilitated the need for him to create a flesh colored mask to pass for...y'know. ..human) and put on a red onesy to help humanity overcome injustice...and stuff.
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| Git that Communist! Git 'em! Good boy! |
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| WEREWOLF- All about punching the fuck outta tyrants...and then siccing his weird feral cavedog on their ass... |
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| Thrilling scuba action, folks! |
And, then.....there was WEREWOLF, the weirdest of the three. Weird because he's not a werewolf....just a secret agent in a weird full body stealthsuit who hangs out with what vaguely resembles a mutant canine type creature....like the old George Carlin bit about taking a mixed breed to the vet, and after you put it on the exam table, the vet tells you, "Well....it ain't a monkey."
Man, comics in the sixties were fucking weird.
