Well, another year is winding down, and you know what that means: finding a new calendar to hang up for marking the next year’s events. Well, if you’re a fan of Vampirella, the outer-space vampiress who’s been stalking the horror comics landscape since 1969, might we make a suggestion for your 2022 calendar choice?
Back in 2014, the site Fantasy Ink posted quality full-size scans of the Warren 1977 Calendar featuring Vampirella and Other Girls: a collection of Warren magazine covers painted by the incomparable Enric Torres-Prat—better known as Enrich to his legions of fans. He was, and remains, the quintessential Vampirella cover painter.
Well, the funny thing about time and pop culture is that they always seem to circle around, to be discovered by a new generation. And in this case, it just so happens that the days of 2022 line up perfectly with those of 1977, so that you can use this very same calendar for the new year! So head on over to Fantasy Ink and download the pages for your very own 1977 2022 calendar!
And while you’re marking off the days of 2022, perhaps you’d enjoy some Vampirella-related reading material to liven up the year? Then do we have the perfect book for you!
From the Stars…a Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures, by Steven A. Roman (that’s me!), is the critically acclaimed nonfiction history of Vampirella that takes an extensive look at her early days, from the debut of her series in 1969 to the death of Warren Publishing in 1983. In it you’ll find an in-depth guide to all her Warren stories; a checklist of all her Warren appearances (plus the publications from Harris Comics and Dynamite Entertainment that reprinted her Warren adventures); an overview of the six novelizations by pulp sci-fi author Ron Goulart that were published in the 1970s by Warner Books; and the behind-the-scenes story of Warren Publishing’s demise, explaining how Vampirella survived the death of her original comic house. There’s also a foreword by Official Vampirella Historian Sean Fernald, a frontispiece by Warren artist Bob Larkin, and photographs from the personal archives of Forrest J Ackerman.
In addition to all that, I tell the tale of the unproduced film adaptation of the 1970s planned by legendary horror studio Hammer Films that was to star Barbara Leigh as Vampi and Peter Cushing (Grand Moff Tarkin of Star Wars) as her constant companion, the stage magician Pendragon. How the production came to be and how it ultimately fell apart is a complicated, somewhat convoluted story, but I did my best to put the events surrounding it into a chronological, logical order—for the first time ever! This overview includes a peek at Mr. Cushing’s personal copy of the ’70s Vampirella screenplay.
I also take a look at the awful 1996 direct-to-cable-TV movie that was made for the Showtime network, produced by Roger Corman, directed by Jim Wynorski (Dinocroc vs. SuperGator), scripted by Gary Gerani (Pumpkinhead), and starring Talisa Soto (Mortal Kombat) as Vampi and The Who’s front man, rock god Roger Daltrey as…Dracula! It’s a film so bad and so low budget, and the Vampirella costume that was concocted was such an eyesore, that even Wynorski hates being reminded of his involvement with it.
From the Stars…a Vampiress: An Unauthorized Guide to Vampirella’s Classic Horror Adventures is available in both print and digital formats, so visit its product page for ordering information.
