Posted in: Comics | Tagged:

A Writer's Commentary: David Avallone on The Shape Of Elvira #1

Published Mon, 04 Feb 2019 11:30:09 -0600

David Avallone's Writer's Commentary on The Shape Of Elvira #1 on sale from Dynamite.

—-

You know the drill: if you plan to read the comic… go read the issue and come back. These things are full of spoilers.

Covers:

We really hit the jackpot with covers for this one. I love Francesco Francavilla's work: he did the covers for my TWILIGHT ZONE: THE SHADOW comic a few years ago and those were amazing. Here he captures the concept, our heroine and the monster beautifully. J Bone's is typically hilarious, playing on the "3D" nature of CREATURE OF THE BLACK LAGOON.

Kyle Strahm's is thematic: Elvira enmeshed in a web, as she will be in this story. Finally, my long-time collaborator and creative partner on ELVIRA: MISTRESS OF THE DARK with a wonderful image combining elements of the story and adding his own twist. I made sure Dave got to do covers for this series: not just because I love his work, and working with him, but I also wanted to explicitly tie this comic, visually, to our E:MOTD comic.

Page 1: I wanted to make this comic as different as possible from E:MOTD while still maintaining the important elements. One thing I haven't done in that comic is have Elvira do what she does on TV: "introduce" the comic like it was one of her movies. I thought that would be a fun way to kick us off, and also tell the reader this one isn't going to be like E:MOTD (even though there are copies of that comic on the floor.) One thing that stays the same: the constant metafictional jokes. Here, she's holding a copy of the comic you're reading (if you got the Francavilla cover.)

Throughout the issue, artist Fran Strukan does a great job rendering Elvira, and here he shows her in her usual lair.

Pages 2 — 3: Elvira has a meeting with her agent. I love writing titles, and maybe nothing is more fun in a book like this than coming up with fake movie titles from the oeuvre of "Billy Bullworth." I'm sure you can figure them out, but… MERCURY'S MAZE is PAN'S LABYRINTH. VOLTRONS VS. CLOVERFIELDS is what my wife Augusta called PACIFIC RIM after seeing the trailer, and I think it's a much better title. THE KID FROM STYX is HELLBOY. And of course THE HEART IS A BLACK LAGOON is THE SHAPE OF WATER. Personally, I think my title might be a little better.

This is probably as good a place as any to say this publically: I am a HUGE fan of Guillermo Del Toro. This comic, while satirical, is a labor of love and utmost respect. I enjoyed all the movies listed above, and think he's always interesting, always worth seeing, and a true artist. I would probably be too bored to spend four issues on a satire of a movie I loathed. Maybe eight pages of a Mad Magazine style thing? Sure. But 80 pages? Never.

Page 4: Elvira's car, the Macabre Mobile, makes its first appearance. Colorist Maxim Simic does a lovely job with the sunset.

Pages 5 – 7 : Don Sandman, the once and future "Kid from Styx", makes his first appearance. He might bear some small resemblance to one of my favorite actors who, despite my fondness for David Harbour, will always be MY Kid From Styx. My usual overthought nonsense with character names: what does sand turn into when it gets stuck in a clam? A pearl, of course.

Page 8: Elvira is reading Goethe's FAUST, and commenting that she wishes she'd read it before meeting him… which sets the action of this comic sometime after the events of E:MOTD issues 1-8. In case anyone is interested in that kind of thing.

Page 9: Elvira hears a strange sound and falls through a bookcase. The bookcase gag is borrowed from the greatest horror comedy of all time, and the strange sound is perfectly rendered by ace letterer Taylor Esposito, who Warren Ellis recently called one of the greatest letterers of his generation. Taylor gives me five bucks every time I mention that. Pay up, Taylor. (But Warren knows what he's talking about.)

Pages 10 — 11: Elvira finds "Mercury's Maze" and meets its monster. The decision to make Billy's studio part of his home comes from a couple of places. Del Toro has an amazing collection of horror props and art at his actual home: I saw some of it when he loaned it to the LA County Museum of Art (aka LACMA). Robert Rodriguez, another great independent filmmaker, has built his own studio in Austin. I don't know specifically if it's connected to his house, but why not?

Pages 12 – 13: Before I was a comic book writer (and really pretty much to this day), I had a thirty year career in movies. (Look me up on the IMDb if you want to see the whole crazy mess.) Say what you will about this series, but the "behind-the-scenes" stuff all comes out of that experience.

So… and this is embarrassing to admit but… meet the author. Writers put a little of themselves into everything they do, but in this comic I realized that I could either invent an imaginary screenwriter… or just base him on myself. I took the lazy way out. Once upon a time, I was a screenwriter who was hired by a cult filmmaker to ghost-write (and ghost co-direct, but that's another story…) a couple of his films. No, I won't say who here, but find me at a convention and ask me and I'll tell you. Fran didn't make me TOO devilishly handsome, so I can't be accused of having that big an ego. At least about this one thing. Back when I was a ghostwriter I didn't have a mustache…

The character name, Eddie Mezzogiorno, is an alias I've used on and off for years. (Though it's not the name on my ghosted screenplays, if you were wondering.) My dad, Michael Avallone, was a novelist and his series character was a private eye named "Ed Noon." Mezzogiorno in Italian – which we are – is noon.

Elvira says she pulled a "Gene Wilder" on the bookcase, referring to the scene in YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN.

Page 14: Eddie gives Elvira a little tour. If you can't figure out who "Max Magellan, creator of The Kid from Styx," is supposed to be, turn in your Comic Book Fan badge.

Pages 15 – 17: Meet Ross Cashew and Billy Bullworth. Ross is based on someone specific, and a hilarious anecdote someone told me once about him. This is another one you'll have to ask me about at a convention. You might have to buy me a drink to get it out of me. I considered basing Billy Bullworth more directly on del Toro, but the idea didn't appeal to me much. Aside from the filmography and the name (bull = toro,) Bullworth doesn't have much in common with del Toro. He's based more directly on the various pretentious characters I've met over the last thirty years.

Elvira (aka Cassandra Peterson) is a former Groundling. Though I guess once a Groundling, always a Groundling. If you don't know the name, it's a famous improv troupe/school. A lot of the comics you know and love came out of there.

Pages 18 – 19: Elvira and Billy discuss her co-star. I'm sure it's pretty obvious what the "secret" is… so I'm not trying terribly hard to hide it here. That said, all the talk of method and immersion is not too far from how some actors work. Daniel Day-Lewis texted Sally Fields – in character – when they played husband and wife in LINCOLN. I'd love to know how he convinced himself that Abraham Lincoln was comfortable with smartphones in the 19th Century. But hey… whatever works, right?

Page 20: Finally, our "Gill Man." I don't think I had much input on the Gill Man's design. I might have said, "give it lips, because she's going to have to kiss it." But other than that it's all Fran, and it's great. The title of the next issue is the kind of stupid pun that makes me happy for days. Obviously it's a play on the very famous terrible line of dialogue from LOVE STORY – "love means never having to say you're sorry." Tune in next month, and thanks for reading!

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!