Since I have already written at length about my long relationship with german pulp novels ( another word might be dime novels or penny dreadfuls but I like the term pulp better ) like PROFESSOR ZAMORRA, JOHN SINCLAIR or DAMONA KING I won´t go into a long explanation here.
Suffice it to say that they are still published by BASTEI , one of the pulp novel giants in Germany covering everything from romance to western and espionage with the iconic JERRY COTTON series as one of their flagships. They also do a lot of paperbacks ( I have read hundreds of them ) and don´t ask me how many comics from them I have read. They used to publish such western comics like JERRY SPRING, BESSY, BONANZA, BUFFALO BILL, LASSO, RAUCHENDE COLTS ( Gunsmoke ), SCHWARZER WOLF and probably the most famous german western comic SILBERPFEIL.
They also published classic pulp comics like Lee Falk´s THE PHANTOM, the adventure series WASTL which turned into a superhero series when I was reading it as well as french classics like LUC ORIENT, DAN COOPER, BRUNO BRAZIL, RAHAN, ANDY MORGAN, THE BLUE BOYS or THE SMURFS.
One of their biggest part of comic publications were comics based on tv series and they did everything from BIENE MAJA, HEIDI, CAPTAIN FUTURE and HE - MAN to ALF and COUNT DUCKULA. Not to mention SANDOKAN, STAR TREK, BLACK BEAUTY or KUNG FU. They also had a lot of classic american funnies like DENNIS, THE MENACE, CASPAR or FELIX. The entire list of publications is too long to list ( check out their entry on DER DEUTSCHE COMIC GUIDE for that ) but thanks to them german comic readers came to read Vincente Segrelles EL MERCENARIO, Marvel comics like NICK FURY, LONGSHOT, GEISTER REITER, PUNISHER and - one of my personal favorites - independent comic ABENTEUER IN DER ELFENWELT.
And Terry Hooper would have my head if I forget to mention MYKROS.
But their best know series are the horror titles SPUK GESCHICHTEN and GESPENSTER GESCHICHTEN, the last one running from 1974 to 2006.
But let´s get back to our topic ( I´ll post more covers from BASTEI´s comics Tomorrow if there is enough interest by readers ) : unlike series like JOHN SINCLAIR or PROFESSOR ZAMORRA the main horror series where those and others originated GESPENSTER KRIMI ( Zur Spannung noch die Gänsehaut ) ceased publication on April the 16th 1985.
Until then 597 issues had been published and all these pulp novels needed covers. To cut costs sometimes covers were used twice although in some cases it might also have been out of deadline reasons. Of course most often they used new covers and sometimes different covers for the same story. Here is GESPENSTER KRIMI 94´s John Sinclair story DOKTOR TOD.
Here is the cover for the same story in the 2nd edition of JOHN SINCLAIR ( the first edition continued from GESPENSTER GESCHICHTEN so this was the first time the story was published under the JOHN SINCLAIR title ).
The same cover was used for the audio drama of the story and the 3rd edition. On the 4th edition ( I DID say that it is one of Germany´s most successful horror pulp novel series, yes ? ) they used a different cover.
Sometimes they used different covers for the same story, sometimes they used different covers for different stories and sometimes they used the same cover again and again for different stories. And sometimes they used covers from other magazines or other sources as a basis of their covers. Since I can only speculate on the reasons for that this post is concentrating on where some of the covers may have originated. With an emphasis on comics and the first ones are Marvel comics. Yes, it seems I can´t stop talking about Marvel comics even if I decide to do something different. Which may not come as a surprise to those of you who possess a certain knowledge of the subject. Because the person / undead monster depicted in the first GESPENSTER KRIMI cover of the post bears a striking resemblance to a certain antagonist of everybody´s favorite wallcrawler.
The skin tone was changed from white to green but apart from that it was lifted from the 22nd issue of the spanish edition of VAMPIRE TALES.
Another Marvel inspired cover is issue 88 of GESPENSTER KRIMI
and here´s the original, the second issue of Marvel´s DRACULA LIVES !
And here´s another Dracula inspired cover on GESPENSTER KRIMI 87
this time based on the first issue of the spanish DRACULA LIVES ! comic
which was quite different from the original US version.
A part of the cover was also used for this book - or whatever it is.
And we´re staying with Marvel´s version of Dracula. The secret origin of our next cover goes all the way back to THE TOMB OF DRACULA issue 6.
In the issue a certain Monster of the Moores makes an appearance
who looks a lot like the monster on the cover of GESPENSTER KRIMI 539.
Another re - used Marvel horror mag was MONSTERS UNLEASHED ! 10.
It was not only used for the cover of GESPENSTER KRIMI issue 301
part of the cover was also used for issue 204 of PROFESSOR ZAMORRA
and a slightly altered version appeared on the spanish comic mag CIMOC.
One last Marvel based cover is issue 26 of JOHN SINCLAIR´s 2nd edition.
Which in this case was not based on an actual Marvel comic but rather the look of an actor who stars in a television show based on a Marvel comic.
But Marvel comics were not the only comic company whose covers were used for this. GESPENSTER KRIMI 399, Das Rätsel des Monstersees.
And here is SILBER GRUSEL KRIMI Band 431, Phytonias Schlangenclan.
And here´s the original cover, DC´s WEIRD WAR TALES issue 70. The skeleton crew has been replaced by a hot chick which is an improvement.
Another comic publisher whose covers ended up on GESPENSTER KRIMI was Warren. The cover for 266, Die weiße Göttin ( The White Goddess )
was the same as the cover on issue 54 of the spanish edition of CREEPY.
GESPENSTER KRIMI 565, Ein Freund aus der Hölle starring Damona King
recycled the cover of EERIE issue 133 ( although mirror - inverted )
which was also used on this collection of Robert E. Howard stories.
Our next cover is JOHN SINCLAIR 251, not a GESPENSTER KRIMI issue,
which is also the cover for issue 44 of spanish horror comic DELTA.
Both are slightly altered versions of Warren´s EERIE magazine issue 58
while the unaltered version also graces the cover of RUFUS 16.
And I have kept the best for last. Classic horror movies have always been an inspiration so it´s no wonder that Boris Karloff from THE MUMMY
appears on the cover of issue fiftythree of EERIE,
on issue nineteen of the spanish edition of CREEPY,
and on issue 30 of the spin - off title VAMPUS.
The Boris Karloff part was also used on GESPENSTER KRIMI Band 325
Geisterfalle Bombay and GRUSEL KRIMI Band 484, Druidenfluch.
You can also see it in the background of GESPENSTER KRIMI Band 580.
And that´s all for Today. There are still dozens - or hundreds - of covers left but this post is long enough as it is. And I don´t want to bore my readers. Now I would like to include the link where I found most of theses covers ( I´d like to say that I´m that knowledgeable that I discovered this all by myself but that´s not true ) but I have no idea where that was. Maybe I´ll find it again someday but for now I can´t provide that link.
Speaking about links, before we come to the videos of this post I want to mention Today´s celebrity birthday babe Ami Dolenz who turns 46. Yay !
Ami Dolenz has been in such cinematic gems like PUMPKINHEAD II and STEPMONSTER but she´s probably best known SHE`S OUT OF CONTROL.
It´s a pretty funny movie with Tony Danza who has to deal with the fact that his little ugly duckling has turned into a Playboy centerfold. And the beach scene with the bouncing action ( which got a PG rating ) is a guarantee that it will be still be shown late at night in coming decades.
I have written about Ami and her films in my MIDNIGHT MOVIE MADNESS : PUMKINHEAD post and since this post is all about horror stuff I wanted to post the link. By the way, I´m stil looking for pictures of the comic book from STEPMONSTER with the instructions on how to kill a Tropopkin.
If you don´t know the movie STEPMONSTER, don´t fear because it´s a forgotten gem ( or utter piece of crap depending on who you ask and how important seeing a young but very buxom Ami Dolenz in underwear is for your enjoyment of a movie ) of american cinema but if you want to know more about it just check out Doctor Iron´s hilarious synopsis of the movie at DOCTOR IRON`S SWAMP OF HORRORS or Dan Kinem´s review on VHShitfest . It´s also included in MOVIEWEB`S A Two Corey´s Halloween list which brings us The Essential Horror Movies of Haim and Feldman.
Just recently german Schlager singer and cultural icon Udo Jürgens passed away. He was best known for such classics like ICH WAR NOCH NIEMALS IN NEW YORK, ABER BITTE MIT SAHNE or GEFEUERT ( I posted that one ). One of his greatest hits was MIT 66 JAHREN ( with 66 years ) and it has since then become the inofficial anthem for german senior citizens. The song proclaims that life really starts at 66 and for Udo who managed to still give concerts with 80 years it seems to have come true. He was on the stage for 60 of those 80 years but for a whole generation he will always be remembered as the guy who sang the intro to Tom & Jerry.
A video that´s more in synch with Today´s topic of pulp horror is MONSTER MASH by Bobby Pickett and the Crypt - Kickers.
The next video is a different take on the song and I mainly picked it because of Vincent Price´s intro about how inventive humans kill.
I like obscure superhero videos and my last one is a clip I haven´t seen before. It´s the Superhero Party from SATURDAY NIGHT LIFE with Margot Kidder as Lois Lane and Bill Murray as Superman. Other party guests include the Hulk, the Thing, Spider - Man, Ant Man and the Flash.
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