I love the Freddys, part 3.

So, like I said last time, time for the comic books...

...and then maybe all this Freddy retrospective stuff will be out of my system.
Or, maybe not..we'll see..


The Marvel era (1989).




Pretty short lived, only 2 issues.

But, it was really promising stuff.

Marvel bailed on it from the slightest hint of a possibility of pressure from outraged parents groups.
Disgusting.
In the larger sense of our shitty puritan culture.
I don't hold a beef against Marvel.

Anyway, the interior art in these is great, finishes by Alfredo Alcala, who you may remember as one of the artists on "Raunchy Hulk".

Very prolific guy, I think he did...everything.
Well, just look at the selected bibliography in his wiki page.

Freddy, Hulk, Swamp Thing, Han Solo At Star's End...

Yeah, all my favorite characters he did, and more.
Excellent talent.
When he died in 2000, it shook me up almost as bad as Carlin.
We really lost something special.

Well, I do believe issue 2 was the first Freddy thing I ever owned for myself.
Even before the tapes.
It was the gateway drug. Heheh!

And it's great, not watered down at all, full on "R", captures the scary atmosphere of the first couple movies, while building off the mythology of 3 & 4, it's a really good job.
I cherish that book.

And #1 I got retroactively, and I think that's even better, because it has a prequel story of Freddy.

Yeah, it contradicts with the flashbacks in 5 & 6, but...I actually really dig issue #1's version better.
It leads well into the trial in "No More Mister Nice Guy", aaand...I dunno, if you try real hard, you can get it to weave around the flashbacks in 5 & 6...but, his wife and daughter in 6 are hard to work in, but you can almost sorta do it.

Well, here, you can read it at this link.

Now, I also happen to think this comic directly inspired the comic book scene in "Dream Child".
It was magazine sized, and black and white, and the "Nightmares From Hell", comic the kid gets sucked into is magazine sized, and black and white.
Then, the comic-world scene is done in black and white with technicolor splashes to correspond.

Also, the director of the film was not just a comic book junkie who really knew his stuff, but an unrealized frustrated comic artist, and he story-boarded out the film like a comic book, so not just that scene, but the whole flick is a comic book.

So, while the continuity veers off in the internal storylines, there is that connection to the films.
I think.
I can't objectively prove it, but the similarities and timeline of events are striking.

Anyway, I loved Marvel's stab at the Nightmare universe, it's a damned shame it ended so quickly.
I'll always remember it fondly.



The Innovation era (1991)




Innovation, a now defunct independent company, did a comics adaptation of "Freddy's Dead", and then, "Nightmares On Elm Street", which sought to fill the gap in between "Dream Child", and "Freddy's Dead".

Eh...mixed results on the continuity, IMHO, but the stories and characterization were fairly decent.

This one is discussed in the bonus disk of "Never Sleep Again".
I know I bring that doc up a lot, but it was REALLY thorough.

I know I would have loved these books in '91,...I guess either no one around here carried them, or, if they did, I didn't know of it.

I know the spiral racks in the drug stores never had them, and Maine has never had many comic shops, and what few it has had over the years close fairly quickly, and you practically have to chase them around like Whack-A-Mole.

These only really contradict continuity wise with "Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash: Nightmare Warriors", and...I personally think Innovation wins there in the quality department.
"Nightmare Warriors", is a really sloppy rushed fan-fic-y cash grab.
But, I'll bitch about that later.

The art quality drops off in issue 3...the first 2 issues have beautiful painted art by Tony Harris, and then it switches to Patrick Rolo, and...meh..
Well, it gets the job done...but, y'kinda wish Tony Harris made it all the way through.
Oh, well.

A neat thing Andy Mangels does is to bring back the spirit of Nancy as the anti-Freddy of the dream world.
Course, he has to dispose of her by having her "pass on to the next life", so as not to bump into the events of "Freddy's Dead".
Well, I just figure, she time-warp-reincarnated into Heather Langenkamp in part 7.
Heh heh.

Neat little books, nifty bit of Nightmare lore, sorry I missed 'em the first time.



The Avatar era (2005)








Ohhh wowwww, Juan Hose Ryp's style is so detailed, and real, and his women are so hoooot.

Daaamn, I always made fun of guys who lusted after cartoons, but daa-ha-hamn.

Oh, boy...so, anyway, Avatar is a teenie little indie, but they're still ticking.
Their big banner character is Lady Death.

And, the writer of Lady Death did this series.

I've heard some bashing, but I think it's a good job, I like 'em.

Came out two years after "Freddy vs. Jason", and it picks up fairly well from those events.

The coma kids in Weston Hills pop up, the whole conspiracy of silence theme amongst the Springwood parents is continued, and built upon.

And the whole look and feel is nailed.
Fashion and tech wise, I think this is what Nightmare movies would have looked like if they'd kept coming out after FvsJ.

Only the "Fearbook", one-shot seemed a bit weak, but the rest I really dug.

It's a bitch, all of these Nightmare books have such limited runs...


The Wildstorm era (2006-2009)




Okay, so we start with the Nightmare ongoing series, which only made it 8 issues..

Not bad, not quite as good as the Avatar Freddies IMHO, but some good stuff.

As far as continuity, if I threw the issues in a stack, you'd be hard pressed to notice that the Avatar run had ended.
It picks right up in that post-FvsJ world.

Nothing really ground-shaking added to the mythos, the good guys play with Freddy's mechanics a little, but, on Freddy's side, it's just him doing more shtick, and being Freddy.

The Avatar's had a whole auditorium of kids witness him pulled into the real world, and all telling him they're not afraid.
That's a bit more epic.
Something worthy of a film.

Nothing like that here, but the dreams get a bit fancier.
War scenes, aerial bombings, Mayan/Incan temples, dinosaurs, etc, etc.
Y'know, stuff the movies would never have the budget for.

So, this series is nifty, just in a different way than the Avatars.

A welcome addition if you're craving Freddy.

Now, on to..


Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash.




I loved it when it came out.
As it gets older, I wonder if it was necessary, and whether to include it in my personal canon...

For now, I will...

This one was also mentioned in "Never Sleep Again".

Wildstorm, Innovation, and then Marvel was swept under the rug, and Avatar was ignored.

Or...maybe they just opted out of being interviewed...

The Lady Death dudes are pretty famous, and busy, I guess...

Jim Shooter probably would have been the go-to guy for Marvel...but, where the run was so short, maybe there wasn't much to tell?
I dunno...

Aaanyway, this was almost the sequel movie to "Freddy vs. Jason", but it only made it as far as the script treatment, and the comic is based off that treatment, so this is more or less the movie we would have gotten, and the fanboy in me thinks it would've been fucking great.

Buut, in hindsight, it probably would've been going to the well once too often, and "Freddy vs. Jason", was a big enough bang to go out on.

And poor Robert has been tortured in that makeup chair enough.
25 years was a good run, let's let him play straight roles now, eh, kiddies?

Yeah, I'm happy with it being a comic.

It looks great, they nailed the look of "Freddy vs. Jason", it looks like it picks right up.
It feels like you're watching a movie.

The dialogue..eh *wavey hand* if it was punched up on set by Bruce and Robert, it would have been better, I'm sure.

Can you imagine those two ham-bones throwing barbs at each other?

Well..if Bruce ever gets "Bruce vs. Frankenstein", off the ground, we might not have to imagine...

And then finally, *sigh* we come to...


Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash: The Nightmare Warriors




Don't read it, don't buy it.

You will be disappointed.

Done by the same guys who did the first FvsJvsA....
...I don't know what happened..
Too much cold medicine?
They got attacked by Super Freddy in their dreams, and they became insomniacs?

I dunno what happened here.
I'm at a loss.

Well, the story...is a mess.
They admitted from the beginning, they needed it to be 12 issues long, and they only got 6...but..dammit, kill your darlings, and cut some shit, don't cram it all in.
Boy, do they ever cram a lot of shit into this.
Total kitchen sink writing.
And they cram so much shit in, and expect you to think it's "kewl", that any bit of soul is sucked out.
You don't get to know or like anybody, it's just rush, rush, rush, to the next fight, or the next death, or the next cameo, it's uh...yeah, it's not good.

And, as mentioned earlier, it contradicts wildly with Innovation's take on events.

Well, I'll spoil it, in the Innovation story, Dr. Gordon from "Dream Warriors", swapped souls with Dan from "Dream Child", so Dan could be back to life to help raise Jacob from "Dream Child".

In "Nightmare Warriors", Dr. Gordon is just plain back with his own soul with no explanation, and Alice and Jacob are back, and they make no reference to it, so, the Innovation books are just ignored.

Well,...ppt, screw you, the Innovations were better, so ner!

BUT...if you really need a fanboy theory as to how these disparate timelines can exist..how about this?
The mirror shattering in the hallway in "Dream Warriors", made splinter-Freddys in splinter-timelines, and this splintering accounts for Marvel Freddy, Innovation Freddy, Platinum Dunes Freddy, Mortal Kombat Freddy, any Freddy you need.

So, that makes Joey's scream the Superboy Punch of the Freddyverse.

But really..."Nightmare Warriors", just blows...

Aaanyhoo, Wildstorm had the longest run with the Nightmare license..but, don't look for any more, DC is folding the Wildstorm line.

It'll be another decade, or probably never for more Freddy books.

Tch, it's a shame...it really is all over.
*Sigh*

Well, at least there's all these memories.