From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: The Island Of Dr. Moreau (1977)

Welcome back to Rotten Ink. Our “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update themed year is in full swing and for this one we will be taking a look at the 1977 film version of The Island Of Dr. Moreau that was released by American International Pictures and got the comic book adaptation treatment by Marvel Comics. I am sure many of you readers are fans of this story that was written by H.G. Wells in 1896, and most of you have also seen this film version of the story that use to play all the time on TBS in the 80s and 90s! Like so many others that we have done and are doing for this year’s overload of horror comics based on horror films, this update is long overdue, and I am very much looking forward to once more entering the Island Of Dr. Moreau, both the film and the comic! So with that, let’s get in our little boat and row ourselves to this island filled with animals that are also part man!

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Let’s start first by taking a look at the Beast People who live on The Island Of Dr. Moreau and their way of dealing death and having order. The Beast People are animals that have had their DNA altered with that of a man causing them to be a mix between the two. While they talk and partly look like a human being, they battle their primal instincts of being an animal and have the lust to hunt and kill but also live by the law that is set for them by their creator Dr. Moreau. And when they no longer live in fear of Moreau’s law, they truly become wild and allow themselves to let their animal sides loose. The Beast People have many ways of dealing death to humans, as they are strong, fast moving and some have a true hunting nature. They come in all different species as you have such ones as Bullman, Lionman, Hyenaman, Boarman, Catwoman, Bearman, Chimpman among others and each have a wild look (with some being more fearsome than the others) and this easily chills the blood of their target and puts true fear in their hearts. The Beast People’s main attack is pure frenzy as they use their hands and teeth to rip apart flesh and do so with anger, hate and instinct. Once also in frenzy, their speaking is more primal and savage and they are only focused on bloodshed and murder. They are both pack and single killers as they don’t seem to mind killing alongside each other in their attacks. The Beast People can be killed like any normal man or animal as they can be shot, stabbed, burnt, crushed, blown up are mauled to death by a wild animal. They also do live in fear of their creator and this causes them issues as they obey his words out of pure terror, but on the other hand, when they are no longer under his law, they lose their smarts and act out in a mindless fury and this leaves them open to mistakes that will cause them their lives as they make very poor choices. While The Beast People might not be the most dangerous killers we have covered here, they are truly a killing breed when they are no longer living under man’s law.

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So as you can see, The Beast People or the Humanimals are truly wild and pack killers that are clearly more beast than man. But now that we have chatted about them and their ways of killing, I think that its time to talk about the 1977 version of The Island Of Dr. Moreau that they are from. Like always, I will be taking the films’ plot from our good friends at IMDB and then after that I will write about the film’s production and then my thoughts on the film. So if you are ready, let’s avoid The House Of Pain and just cite the law and take a look at this classic 70’s film.

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The Island Of Dr. Moreau (1977)

“A ship-wrecked man floats ashore on an island in the Pacific Ocean. The island is inhabited by a scientist, Dr. Moreau, who in an experiment has turned beasts into human beings.”

In the late 1970’s American International Pictures were making films based on the works of H.G. Wells as they wanted to find their next big book author to based films around as they had found big success with doing ones based on the works of Edgar Allen Poe. They had already done “The Food Of The Gods” in 1976, and their next one was slated to be “The Island Of Dr. Moreau.” The film was able to get a $6 million dollar budget on the script by Al Ramrus and John Herman Shaner that of course was based on the book by Wells. The film would cast such names as Michael York, Barbara Carrera, Nigel Davenport, Richard Basehart, Nick Cravat, Fumio Demura and Burt Lancaster as Dr. Moreau. The film was directed by Don Taylor who had directed such films as Escape From The Planet Of The Apes (1971) and Tom Sawyer (1973) to name a few, with filming taking place on the Virgin Islands. The film had a 12 makeup artists on call who had to work fast, hard and cheaply pulling off the looks of the Animal People and would have to spend roughly five hours on the makeup on the actors. The film was a stressful shoot, and once done, Laurence Rosenthal was brought in to do the films score as he was not stranger to doing music for horror and sci-fi films. American International Pictures truly thought that they would have a big hit of their hands with this film as it was released to theaters on July 13, 1977, and with this release date it would come right after the July 4th weekend. It was said that the film did poorly at the box office and barely did over its budget, and was met with very mixed reviews from critics and viewers. The film would later gain a cult following thanks to showing on TV as well as being released on home media. The film was released in 1977 alongside such other horror and sci-fi films as Orca The Killer Whale, Day Of The Animals, Empire Of The Ants, Tentacles, Kingdom Of The Spiders, The Hills Have Eyes, The Incredible Melting Man, Exorcist II: The Heretic, Return To Boggy Creek, Shock Waves and Suspiria, to name a few. As you can see, 1977 was a good year for animal themed fright flicks.

Growing up I was always a big fan of The Island Of Dr. Moreau, both the book and the films based around it with the first film version I ever saw being the 1932 one called “The Island Of Lost Souls” that starred Charles Laughton as Dr. Moreau. The first time I saw this 1977 version was when Grampa Munster hosted it on his TBS show Super Scary Saturday, and I was a fan as I liked the look of the animal people and I thought the jungle island setting was super cool. The Beast People are always the highlight of any film version ,and while many would think the special effects for The Beast People in this film is dated, I still really like the look with the Lionman being my favorite in the film. I also liked Bullman as he looks truly like a monster man; plus he fights a tiger near a pond! The acting in the film is good as I do think that Burt Lancaster was the right casting as Dr. Moreau, Barbara Carrera is stunning as Maria the cat woman and while Michael York slightly over acts I still find his performance to be good for the most part. The film really also plays up “The House Of Pain” being the place that none of the animal people want to go and that makes sense as who wants to be tortured in order to follow the rules of one crazed man. As a kid I always thought that this film was bigger than it was and can remember talking to my fellow classmates about it as we all liked the idea of animal people, and I can remember one time drawing pictures of them for art class and getting a good grade! Over the years of course I owned the Marvel Comics adaptation but I have also owned the film on VHS and DVD, not to mention have the film’s score on CD. For some reason this classic film has always been a big part of my life from a youngster to adulthood. If you have never seen this version of Dr. Moreau and really enjoy 70’s sci-fi horror films, you should do yourself a favor and give it a watch as you might just find yourself being a fan of the film like I am. Before we move on there are also many rumors that this film had many different endings filmed as they had a happier ending, a downbeat one and even one that saw Maria give birth to a baby kitten…not sure if it’s true as this mostly comes from actress Barbara Carrera.

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We are now at the point of this update where we take a look at the Marvel Comics adaptation of the film, and this is a comic that I had as a kid and is one that I have read many times over the years…but it has been a very long time since the last time I did so I am very much looking forward to seeing if it still holds up for me. I want to first thank Mavericks Cards And Comics for having this comic in stock and making this update possible. I would like to also say that I wish Marvel Comics would still do these cool adaptations of horror and sci-fi films as they were always a big part of my youth reading comics. And like always I would like to remind you that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So if you are ready, let’s head fully into this island and see what terrors await for us.

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The Island Of Dr. Moreau # 1  ***
Released in 1977     Cover Price .50     Marvel Comics    # 1 of 1

Andrew Braddock has wrecked at sea and has been in the ocean on his lifeboat the Lady Vain for a very long time, but he is filled with joy when he sees an island and quickly rows to get there. As his looks around the island for fresh water he is being followed and falls into a trap and is rescued by Dr. Moreau and his employee Mr. Montgomery who take him in and tend to his injuries. Braddock learns that Moreau has been on this island for eleven years and that he is very much happy here and that he does not get much visitors as boats do not pass by very often he also meets a little later Maria who was rescued as a child from being sold, meets M’Ling who is a weird looking servant, learns that Montgomery is a mercenary and heavy drinker who don’t like to answer questions and learns that the jungle is filled with wild animals and that he should not wonder around at dark and even during the day stick to one part of the compound that is not his temporary home. Late that night Braddock is scared when he sees a wagon appear and chained in the back is M’Ling who now looks more beast like and is acting crazy, and he soon sneaks into Moreau’s lab and finds people inside that look like animals and in shock again Moreau appears and tells him of his experiments that blend both animal and man together creating a new race of Humanimals and over the next nights Braddock both hates what is happing but also is very fascinated by it, he also finds himself falling in love with Maria and also witnesses how cruel Moreau can be to his created life as he whips a poor Bearman before Braddock’s eyes causing him to stop the attack, and during all this he is able to leave the compound with a rifle in hand to explore the near by mountain and what Braddock finds is a society of Humanimals that are not as happy to see him! He listens as The Law Giver says their laws, but the Lionman has heard enough and attacks Braddock who is saved by Moreau and Montgomery, and Lionman is taken away to The House Of Pain for breaking the law. Braddock watches as Moreau keeps his beast men in check and also learns that he might be stuck here forever, and with this he starts to think of a way to get himself and Maria off the island and away from this madness. But things go wrong when Bullman breaks the law and attacks and kills a tiger and is hunted down to be taken to The House Of Pain and during this he is injured and Braddock ends up shooting him to end his suffering…and this causes a major uproar with the Beast People. Moreau ends up being very upset and uses Braddock as an experiment to learn more about his drug that turns animals into man by turning a man into an animal, and this causes Moreau also to fight with Montgomery who ends up being shot and killed and the Beast People witness this murder, causing them to question the law! The Beast People end up killing Moreau and attack the compound to destroy it and the lab and only by luck is Braddock and Maria able to escape as M’Ling is not as lucky as he is killed by a tiger that got loose from the lab, while the rest of The Beast People are killed by the freed wild animals or the fire they started by accident. At the small Lady Vain lifeboat Braddock and Maria are confronted and have to kill Hyenaman before they can make their escape. Days pass and on the ocean Braddock returns back human and as they are about to be rescued by a approaching ship he turns to see that Maria is turning into a cat person.

This comic version of the 1977 film version of The Island Of Dr. Moreau is a really fun and creepy read, and Marvel Comics did a great job of bringing the film to comic pages and doing it right as the comic makes just enough changes to make it feel different but yet the same. The plot is about a shipwrecked man finding safety from the ocean he was lost on in a island that is ran by a scientist who has turned animals into people, and now he must survive this twisted new land and get himself and a young woman he meets off the island before they are torn to pieces by the Beast People who are revolting against the laws laid out for them. The main changes from the film to this comic is the ending as in the film Maria only has cat eyes and in the comic she turns full feline, another change is that at the start of the film Braddock has a fellow survivor who is attacked by the Beast People before he can find help and in the comic he just not shown. Also The Bullman trying to run to escape being punished in the House Of Pain, only to be shot and killed after a short time by Braddock is truly trimmed down to a few panels. But even with these changes I would truly say that Marvel Comics did this film justice with the adaptation that has held up for me after all these years as I was a fan of it when I was a kid and now as an adult I still find it to be a great read. The comic captures the uneasy horror of The Beast People turning savage after learning that they are not fully man and that the law they lived by was all a lie, plus the comic has some cool deaths that are not bloody but done effectively. My favorite kill is when Hyenaman is killed with a spike through his body by Braddock in order for him to truly get away from the island. The cover for this comic is really cool and eye catching as it shows the Beast People, Dr. Moreau and Braddock with Maria running away from them all. The interior art is done by Larry Hama is great stuff, and I really love the way he drew the Humanimals with once more the standouts being Lionman and Bullman! If you love the classic art style of 70’s Marvel Comics then truly Hama’s art will draw you into this story. Over all if you like this 70’s film classic and enjoyed the old comic adaptations of films make sure to give this one a read and add it to your collection.

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The 1977 version of The Island Of Dr. Moreau is a great film that had some great creepy moments that featured Humanimals learning how to once more embrace their animal sides and fight against the laws and the man who created them and caused them so much pain and fear. But I think that it is time that we ourselves leave this island as it seems the Humanimals are not pleased that we have stayed so long. So as we make our way back to the boat, I should let you know that our next update will take us to The Black Hills Forest as we going looking for The Blair Witch! And as I said last update, 2026 is truly going to be the year of “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” updates, so strap in for a very spooky year! So until next time, read a horror comic or three, watch a horror movie or two and as always support your local horror host. See you next update as we take a hike in some very haunted woods, I just hope the witch doesn’t make us stand in the corner!

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80’s Fantasy Unleashed: Clash Of The Titans (1981)

Welcome back to Rotten Ink and our third update for my blog’s 10 Year Anniversary. For this one I want to take a look at one of my favorite fantasy films based on myth and folklore and that’s the 1981 film Clash Of The Titans! This is a film that I grew up watching and even had the action figures from Mattel.  It was a staple of movie watching at our house in my youth and this is one update that I have been looking forward to since I started Rotten Ink all those years back and now for this big anniversary, it’s time to finally cover it as it’s long overdue. And I think kids of the 80’s and 90’s will really love this one as I am sure it will bring back lots of memories, so with that, let’s go on an epic quest with Perseus and Pegasus and try and save the day by bringing you one epic update

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The first thing I would like to do is take a moment to really showcase the 1981 film Clash Of The Titans as sadly many younger readers might only know the 2012 remake film that is not even in the same league as the original. Plus for many of you, just sitting back and reading about the classic film might feel you with nostalgia like it did for me writing about it. So I will be taking the film’s write up from our friends at IMDB, and from there, I will write about the film’s production and then my thoughts and connection to the film. So with that, let’s get to Clash Of The Titans, one of the many great fantasy films from the 80’s.

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Clash Of The Titans (1981)

“Perseus is the favored son of the god Zeus, but he has unwittingly ticked off the sea goddess Thetis. Just to make things worse, Perseus falls in love with the lovely Princess Andromeda, who used to be engaged to Thetis’ son, Calibos. Soon Perseus is off on one quest after another, with Zeus helping, Thetis hindering, and lots of innocent bystanders getting stabbed, drowned, and squished.”

Fantasy films were very popular at the cinema in the late 70’s and early 80’s. Script writer Beverley Cross had an idea for a film that would be called Clash of The Titans, and he wanted a rating that would allow young and old to enjoy his adventure masterpiece. But many changes had to be made to the script before it could get a softer rating: removing nudity from the character Andromeda, the Kraken killing the flying horse Pegasus as well as part of the fight between our hero Perseus and the creature man Calibos. And once the script was green lit, stop motion effects master Ray Harryhausen was brought on board to create the creatures as well as co-produce the film and would retire shortly after the film’s release. While films like Star Wars, Star Trek The Motion Picture and Superman had newer state of the art effects, Clash Of The Titans relied on the more classic effects of cinema that was made popular in the 1933 film King Kong. The film had a rocky start when it came to distribution as Columbia Pictures was originally on board but dropped the film due to the budget being too high for them to want to invest. Then Orion Pictures wanted them to have bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger to play the lead. He was coming off the films Hercules In New York and Pumping Iron, but the film’s producer rejected this so they had to try MGM who ended up liking what they read and saw of Ray’s creatures and the film found its home with MGM even giving more money to get more cast added. Many name actors and up and coming ones were brought into play parts in the film with Harry Hamlin, Judi Bowker, Burgess Meredith, Maggie Smith, Laurence Olivier and Ursula Andress playing lead roles and director Desmond Davis was selected by producer Charles H. Schneer to helm the film as he had history of working on period pieces. The film was shot in many locations like England, Italy and Gozo and was a very normal filming production for the time. Once done, composer Laurence Rosenthal was brought in to score the film, and it was released to theaters on June 12, 1981. Clash Of The Titans would bring in $41,092,328.00 at the American box office and would be ranked # 11 for the year and would gross more then such films as Tarzan The Ape Man, The Fox And The Hound, Excalibur, The Great Muppet Caper, An American Werewolf In London, Halloween II, Escape From New York, Friday The 13th Part 2, Mommie Dearest, The Howling, Caveman and The Legend Of The Lone Ranger to name a few. The film was mostly met with positive reviews from both film critics and viewers and has become a classic film over the years. The film went on to be released on cable TV as well as on home media and is well watched and loved to this day.

Clash Of The Titans is a film that I can remember my brother seeing first at school and rushing home to tell me how awesome it was, and a short time later I remember seeing it on TV and being drawn into the adventure it brought to the screen. As a kid I was always very much into mythology and the Greek and Roman ones captured by imagination and films like Clash Of The Titans helped fuel that love. The classic story of an epic quest to save the day as well as help a ladylove is stuff of classic fables and is why films like Clash Of The Titans, Beastmaster, Legend, Krull, Excalibur, Lady Hawk, Robin Hood and so many other films in the fantasy genre are some of my favorite films from my youth. I can also remember first time I saw the film on VHS and not on TV, I was mesmerized by the fact that the film had brief nudity and also just how awesome the effects are in the film as all of the monsters and strange characters look so cool and nothing can beat the effects of such an icon of movie special effects and that is of course Ray Harryhausen. While I liked the characters of Perseus, Medusa, The Kraken, Zeus and Princess Andromeda, my favorites as a kid were Calibos, Bubo and Thallo who I always felt was one of the film’s unsung heroes who is loyal to his kingdom and to protect the princess and when he died in the film, it held a big impact. I also remember reading the novel adaptation when I was a youngster and had many of the toys, but more on that later. Say what you will, but the 1981 version of Clash Of The Titans is one of the best fantasy films of the 1980’s and is one that I feel everyone should at least see once just for the effects alone. Really do yourself a favor and go and buy a copy of this film on VHS, DVD or Blu-Ray and sit back and enjoy the epic ride.

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The creatures of Clash Of The Titans are very epic as the main baddy is Calibos who was turned into a devilish looking satyr by Zeus, and besides his monstrous appearances, he is very sinister and sets up schemes and evil plots. For some reason his look always reminded me of the gargoyle leader played by Bernie Casey from the 1972 made for TV film Gargoyles. Calibos is a great movie villain and one of my favorites from the film as he just is so selfish and sinister. Another of the great monsters of Clash Of The Titans is Medusa who is half snake and half human woman who has crawling snakes as hair and whose stare will turn any man into stone. She is a character from classic Greek mythology and her appearance in this film is fantastic as Ray Harryhausen did a great job designing and bringing her to life on the big screen. And the big monster attraction of this movie of course is the monster of the sea The Kraken who wants to kill our film’s leading lady and is a truly sinister creature who kills with no remorse and keeps a whole city gripped in fear. While most reports of what a Kraken should look like is that of a giant squid, Ray Harryhausen made it more look like a Kaiju monster straight out of the world of King Kong or Godzilla films. And these three are only some of the monsters and creatures of the film as we also have the winged horse Pegasus, the two headed guard dog Dioskilos, a giant scorpion, the skeleton boatman Charon of the river Styx, a giant vulture, the three blind Stygian Witches and even the tiny golden robot owl Bubo. This movie has all types of cool creatures and horror themed baddies to make for a great watch for Monster Kids from all ages.

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When I was a kid, Mattel was one of the biggest toy companies only rivaled by Kenner and Hasbro and in 1980 they decided to make action figures based on Clash Of The Titans with four figures around 3 ¾” tall, Perseus, Calibos, Thallo and Charon. And a figure of Pegasus and The Kraken was also made with The Kraken being a rare figure these days that fetches a good amount of money on the second hand market. Growing up my brother and I owned many of these figures. We had several Thallo as we would find him at garage sales all the time and would buy him and we also had Perseus and Pegasus and I can remember them all being on the side of good in my toy wars and teaming with Star Wars Jedi Luke Skywalker and G.I. Joe leader Duke. As I got older I was able to find Calibos and Charon at local comic shops and now have them in my toy collection. And sadly I have never owned The Kraken even though I have seen it for sale at local comic shops as well as at toy conventions, but the price is always super high. And after all these years, I still own the figures minus Pegasus who sadly broke when I was a kid as he was made of cheap plastic and cracked. These figures are super cool and fans of this film series should track them down and add them to your figure collection. And for those wonder my favorite figure of this series is Calibos with Perseus not too far behind in second. And no, the pictures below are not from my collection.

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Besides the very cool Mattel action figures, many other cool merchandise was and has been released based on Clash Of The Titans that include a lunch box, comic book, t-shirts, posters, the soundtrack, novelization of the film, stickers, lobby cards, magnets, magazines and of course fan art. And for me the novel and soundtrack were must-have stuff and I have played tracks off the soundtrack on the radio show Alpha Rhythms. So again if you are a fan, there is lots of really cool stuff out there for you to collect.

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Clash Of The Titans was always a film that was popular at our house when I was growing up as it was a great adventure with some great monsters and brought the classic stories of Greece to the big screen. And with that said, it’s also very cool that Golden Book decided to bring the film to the world of comics, just like they did with Gremlins another from them we have covered here on Rotten Ink some years back. And also I have to say that with Clash Of The Titans I have two copies of this comic book thanks to a vendor at Monster Bash Convention as well as Game Swap Kettering, so a big thanks to them for making this update possible. I would like to remind you readers that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So with that, let’s have Golden Book unleash The Kraken!

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Clash Of The Titans # 1  ***1/2
Released in 1981     Cover Price $2.50       Golden Book      # 1 of 1

King Acrisius of Argos has angered Zeus when the King has placed a woman and her baby son Perseus into a wooden box and had them thrown into the ocean. And for this crime against the Gods, Zeus orders Poseidon to unleash a terrible storm as well as the last of the Titans, The Kraken, on the city as he wants them all dead…and the deed is done. And some time later Perseus and his mom are discovered and spend their lives in a new village and Zeus watches with pride as Perseus is really his son. But one goddess Thetis is not happy as Zeus has turned her son Calibos into a monster after he has hunted down and killed all the winged horses besides one named Pegasus, and this curse makes it so he can not marry princess Andromeda due to his monstrous look, but yet has given Perseus everything. When Zeus is away, Thetis sends Perseus to the city of Joppa that is very dangerous, and when finding out Zeus asks his fellow goddesses for help and they make his magical and powerful tools like a sword, helmet and shield. While in Joppa he also befriends the old poet Ammon who is watching after him and knows who he is. While in town Perseus meets Thallo, a royal guard who tells him that death comes to those who wish to win the hand of the princess Andromeda but cannot answer the riddle put before them, and just like that Perseus puts on the helmet and sneaks into the castle and watches as a giant Vulture takes the spirit of the princess away as he body remains on the bed. The next day Perseus and Ammon come up with a plan in order for our hero to follow the vulture to the lair of Calibos who they know is the one doing this to her. In order to fly, Perseus tames and rides Pegasus and follows the vulture that night to the swamps where he hears the answer to the riddle and also has a fight with Calibos who ends up getting his hand chopped off and later begs his mom to help him get revenge, but Perseus loses his magical helmet in the swamp. Perseus solves the riddle and on his wedding night, the goddess Thetis gets angry and curses Andromeda that she has to be sacrificed to The Kraken and if they do not the Titan will destroy all of Joppa! So now Perseus along with Thallo, Ammon, Andromeda, Guards and a robotic owl named Bubo begins a quest to find a way to stop The Kraken once and for all! Along the way Perseus gets the all seeing-eye from the Stygian Witches. He travels the River Styx to the island of Medusa, fights her two headed guardian Dioskilos, beheads Medusa to use her head to fight the Kraken but in the process loses his shield as well as many of his men. As Thallo and Perseus, sleep Calibos creeps into their camp and poke holes in the bag that holds Medusa’s head and her spilled blood turns into giant scorpions and sadly are defeated but not before killing Thallo and one other guard. But Perseus gets his revenge when he kills Calibos with a sword through his gut. In the end as Andromeda is chained to the cliff and The Kraken and Perseus appears riding Pegasus and uses the head of Medusa to turn The Kraken to stone and save the love of his life.

The first thing I need to say is that I really do think Golden Books did a great job of capturing the film Clash Of The Titans in this kid friendly comic book adaptation and while they cut some of the more racy and violent moments, they really do capture the adventure elements of the film well. The plot is that of a classic quest as our hero Perseus must find a way to defeat a massive Titan that is set to kill his bride all because a goddess is jealous of his attention from Zeus. Perseus is your classic hero who is the son of Zeus who is a skilled fighter, brave and true to who he is. He is willing to risk his life in order to fight for the life of his new wife the princess Andromeda, but to be fair during is very dangerous quest he does have the help of the gods. But over all a very great hero and the comic does him justice. Bubo The Golden Owl who was sent by the gods in order to help on the quest really is a hero as well as he is the one who finds the way, saves the head of Medusa from falling into the ocean and even brings Pegasus to Perseus to make the rescue in time. And sadly Thallo is down played in the comic as they only had so many pages, and it’s a shame as his death in the comic does not pack a punch at all. All the baddies do their part with Calibos being the biggest pain in the butt as he wants revenge and to deal death out to those he feels wronged him. The Kraken as well is pretty cool and does his damage to people and that is what he is a major danger…but I should also say so is Medusa who can turn people into stone as well as have poison arrows and blood. I really do feel that Golden Books did a great job with this comic, and I would have love to seen them continue making comics like this as they covered the ones that the other companies like Marvel and DC failed to do that really should have had comics. The cover for this comic is pretty eye catching and showcases the classic painting as well as promo pictures from the movie, and I am sure if you were a fan of this film this would have gotten your attention. The interior art is done by Dan Spiegle and is simple and yet really great and reminds me of the adaptations done by companies like Gold Key and Dell Comics, and I feel his art for the monsters is great and who ever also did the coloring deserves praise. Over all if you love Clash Of The Titans you should check this Golden Book Comic out as it is very much worth reading. Check out the artwork of Spiegle below to see his style.

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Before I wrap up this update, I would like to touch on the “What If” of other films that Golden Books could have made into these comic book graphic novels that would have been awesome to have in the world. I am sure remember you long time readers know that Golden also gave Gremlins the comic treatment as we covered it back in 2016 and you can read that one HERE. Let’s take a look at the years 1980-1985 and choose some films that fit the kid friendly nature of Golden as well as ones that did not get the attention of other comic companies going at the time. So for me these could have and should have gotten the Golden Book treatment: The Beastmaster (1982), The Last Unicorn (1982), The Secret Of NIMH (1982), Hercules (1983), The NeverEnding Story (1984), Legend (1985) and The Peanut Butter Solution (1985) and if they went a little into the PG era of horror since the 80’s was a hotbed for that genre I would say Poltergeist (1982), Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) and Cat’s Eye (1985) would have all been great picks to get the comic treatment and give readers something cool to go along with the films they enjoy. Again just imagine these as a What If, that sadly never happened.

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Clash Of The Titans is a great fantasy quest film that ended up getting the comic book treatment thanks to Golden Books. And if you have not seen Clash Of The Titans from 1981 make sure to give it a watch as it really is a fun film that has some really cool creatures in it and will surely deliver you with a few hours of entertainment. So for our next update, we are leaving Joppa and heading to Japan as we will be talking about Tomie one of my favorite Manga and Japanese horror films. So until next time read, a comic or three, watch a fantasy film or two and as always support your local Horror Host. See you next time for a truly scary update that will surely send shivers down your spine.

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