Comics Review: "ELVIRA Meets H.P. Lovecraft Volume 1 #3" in a Haunted House

ELVIRA MEETS H.P. LOVECRAFT VOLUME 1 #3

DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

STORY: David Avallone

ART: Kewber Baal

COLORS: Walter Pereyra

LETTERS: Taylor Esposito

EDITOR: Joseph Rybandt

COVER: Dave Acosta with Walter Pereyra

32pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (April 2024)

Rated Teen+

Chapter Three: “The Ms. in the Strange High House”

In 1981, actress and model Cassandra Peterson created the “horror hostess character,” known as “Elvira.”  Elvira gradually grew in popularity and eventually became a brand name.  As Elvira, Peterson endorsed many products and became a pitch-woman, appearing in numerous television commercials throughout the 1980s.

Elvira also appeared in comic books, beginning in 1986 with the short-lived series from DC Comics, Elvira's House of Mystery.  In 2018, Elvira returned to comic books via Dynamite Entertainment.  Elvira's latest comic book series is Elvira Meets H.P. Lovecraft Volume 1.  The series is written by David Avallone; drawn by Kewber Baal; colored by Walter Pereyra; and lettered by Taylor Esposito.  In this new series, Elvira joins the ghost of infamous horror and fantasy author, H.P. Lovecraft, who has returned to the mortal plane on a mission from the Elder Gods to locate the last true company of the infamous “Necronomicon.”

Elvira Meets H.P. Lovecraft Volume 1 #3 (“The Ms. in the Strange High House”) opens as Elvira and Lovecraft's quest takes them to the crumbling mansion home of October Grendel.  Lovecraft now despises Grendel, who had been a colleague.  After Lovecraft's death, Grendel, a pulp writer, made creative use of the unpublished writings Lovecraft had left behind.  Lovecraft is sure that it is Grendel who has the last true copy of the Necronomicon.

Meanwhile, the “Great Old One” known as Nyarlathotep has decided to take matters into his own hands because his trio of lackeys keeps failing to secure the Necronomicon.  He is right on Elvira and Lovecraft's trail, and nothing can stop him... except an enterprising Mistress of the Dark who sure knows how deal with nards.

THE LOWDOWN:  Since July 2021, Dynamite Entertainment's marketing department has been providing me with PDF review copies of some of their titles.  One of them is Elvira Meets H.P. Lovecraft Volume 1 #3, one of many Dynamite/David Avallone Elvira comic books that I have read and enjoyed.

Writer David Avallone and artist Kewber Baal have turned out to be quite a team.  Baal art's gets prettier in style and stronger in storytelling with each chapter.  Baal spins Avallone's humorous tales into sparkling tales of comic horror and horror comedy.  Meanwhile, Avallone takes advantage of Baal's solid storytelling chops to run through the comic possibilities of the dour H.P. Lovecraft.

Walter Pereyra's colors keep everything looking nice and pretty, and Taylor Esposito's lettering brings out the hell in the story.  I expected really good things from Elvira Meets H.P. Lovecraft, and I'm getting it.  I expect you to read Elvira Meets H.P. Lovecraft, dear readers.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Elvira and of David Avallone's Elvira comic books will want to read Elvira Meets H.P. Lovecraft Volume 1.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

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