Dark Shadows: The Complete Series Volume 5 (DARK SHADOWS COMP SERIES HC) by D.J. Arneson

Dark Shadows: The Complete Series Volume 5 (DARK SHADOWS COMP SERIES HC) Reviews

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  Quentin Wallace

  I hate to see this series end. It wasn't exactly the deepest horror, but it was fun. This volume even had an unofficial Dr. Strange crossover cameo. One of the better volumes in the series.
  
  If you enjoy graphic novels and are a Dark Shadows fan the comic series is worth checking out. If you're not into comics I'm not sure if just being a Dark Shadows fan would be enough for you to enjoy these as the stories are a long way from the TV series in most cases.
  
  Overall I thought the Gold Key Dark Shadows series was underrated as a whole, but it was inconsistent and it really did mess up on the TV series continuity in several instances. But still fun!
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  Richard Tolleson

  I'm not sure if my expectations got lower, or this comic book series got better in its last few issues, but this volume didn't annoy me nearly as much as the pervious 4 volumes. This book compiles issues 29-35 of the Dark Shadows comic book series, published by Gold Key Comics between 1974 and 1976. By the time these comics were published, the television series on which it was based had been off the air for 3 years. The authors had free reign to pretty much do whatever they wanted to with the characters, without regard to continuity with the series (not that the comics ever aligned themselves with the series, anyway). This being Gold Key, the stories are all stand-alone--it's not like Marvel where you need to read each issue to keep up. Another feature of Gold Key is that the writers weren't credited. The folks who compiled this book series tried to suss out who authored each story, but for some of them, they're guessing. In some of the stories, Professor Stokes knows Barnabas is a vampire, while in others he doesn't. Quentin, who does know of Barnabas' curse throughout, is seemingly unaware in one story. The art is still uneven--with characters sometimes resembling their TV counterparts, and other times not. I thought the art in the last issue actually did the best job of capturing the look of the series. When that issue left the stands, it was to be the last Dark Shadows publication until the early 90's, when the revival series inspired a new line of comic books. This is a fun book for fans of Dark Shadows--regular comic book readers may be annoyed by the uneven quality of the art, the strange jumps in the stories that force the reader to fill in the gaps, and the lack of a consistent narrative throughout the stories.
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  Craig

  What a weirdly wonderful collection...the entire series of these Gold Key issues. Look, it doesn't hold up to modern sensibilities in comics, but there is the free-wheeling spirit of comics created without having to worry about corporate synergy and crossover nonsense. There is a lot to learn from a creative perspective across this entire 5 volume series.
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  Dave

  This is the 3rd one I've read out of the 5 volume set. It is the last, and may be the best. I really did enjoy this one!
  Dark Shadows fans should like it.