Elvira in Horrorland - a Dynamite Comics mini-series

I can remember back in the 1980s, when I still lived in Kentucky, I would stay up late on Saturday nights with my mom, and we would watch a show called "Elvira's Movie Macabre."  It was a fun way to watch horror movies, with Elvira providing commentary during commercial breaks, pointing out the inconsistencies, the bad editing or acting, and other humorous remarks about the films.  It made them thoroughly fun to watch, and I was heart-broken when we moved to Florida and could not find the show on any of the local channels here.  I also remember that at one time, DC Comics (after it's cancellation of its horror anthology title, House of Mystery) published a comic called Elvira's House of Mystery, which took the same concept as "Movie Macabre," but applied it to short tales or horror in comic form.  Sadly, it only lasted 11 issues, with one special.  I know an independent company later published another Elvia comic book series in the 1990s, which actually ran for quite a while (well over 100 issues, if I recall correctly), but I never picked that one up.  Well, at some point, Dynamite Comics must have gotten the rights to do new comics based on this iconic character, and they have been a lot of fun to read.  What started with a four-issue mini-series, then a 12-issue series, then jumped to a cross-over with Vincent Price, has now culminated in a mini-series featuring our titular mistress of the dark accidentally inserting herself into some of horror's most iconic films!

Elvira in Horrorland picks up where Elvira Meets Vincent Price left off.  Elvira was supposed to have been transported back to the "real" world after her adventure with Vincent Price, but the magical remote control didn't quite work right, and instead, Elvira finds herself jumping from one horror film to the next, trying to find her way back to her own world.  Issue one starts off with Elvira stuck in black and white at the Bloch's Hotel, which is run by Norbert, who is a huge mama's boy (and if you don't get the "Bloch" reference, then look it up!).  Of course, in true Elvira fashion, she screws up the whole film in order to get her hands on that magic controller - and is very nearly stopped by the remake!  (Yeah, you gotta read it to understand it.)

Which leads into the second issue, where instead of home, Elvira finds herself freezing at a snowy, mountaintop inn that is very, VERY isolated and where a certain writer is trying to create his next masterpiece while slowly going out of his mind.  Elvira's presence throws a monkey wrench into the story, and she even finds a spaced-out visitor who shouldn't be there (but would be very home in that other odyssey of a film that Kubrick directed).  It's all fun and games (and bloody murder!) until Elvira finds that darned clicker and clicks herself away from there ... and into space!  Only, not that space odyssey.  No, instead she ends up in the corner of space where no one can hear you scream.  Yup, issue three rips off an alien or two.  And after dealing with one mother in the first issue, she's none to happy about having to fight with another mother just to get her hands on that clicker.  And you gotta give Elvira credit - she does try to help the crew of the ship escape their fate, but they just don't want to listen (after all, they have a script to follow!).  So, Elvira simply clicks her way from this nightmare into another one...

The penultimate chapter in Elvira's romp through horrorland has Elvira taking advantage of her nightmare landscape - because remember, it is a dream, after all, and if Nancy taught us one thing, in your dreams, you have the power! - and jumping from one nightmare to another.  Well, from one to three to seven, I should say.  And poor Nancy ... er Heather ... er whoever she is in this comic ... is sure confused by Elvira's antics.  But Elvira only has one thing on her mind, and that's getting back home.  So, once she finds that clicker, she hits the button, only to wind up flying into her final issue - to face a remake of that annoying insect film ... as well as that other mind-blowing movie that Cronenberg did.  It's a battle royale as Elvira finally finds the way home, where Eddie is waiting for her.

 

David Avallone truly has a handle on Elvira and her personality - the quick wit, the snarky comebacks, and the absolute fun of it all!  He writes a wonderfully crazy story that is fun to read and not only pokes fun at all those horror movies of the '80s, but also provides readers (and fans!) with plenty of nostalgia at the same time.  Silvia Califano provides the art, and does an outstanding job of with Elvira, as well as the casts of all these films.  At times, I could almost "feel" the movie I was reading - it was fantastic!  I want to see more of Califano's work!

And if you think that's the end, well ... that little blurb in the final panel says that Elvira will return in Elvira in Monsterland!  (Yet, I've seen no advertisement or solicit for that series yet, so we'll see if it eventually makes it to print or not...)

RATING:  10 ripped shower curtains out of 10 for full-throttle, fun-filled Elvira zaniness that will satisfy every kind of comic reader out there!