The first arc wraps up just in time for something demonic to arrive.
Creative Staff:
Story: David Avallone
Art: Dave Acosta
Colors: Andrew Covalt
Letterer: Taylor Esposito
What They Say:
Elvira’s trip through time finally gets her back home, to Los Angeles…but eighty years too early! The Mistress of the Dark lands on the set of a horror movie classic, pursued by real — not reel — ancient evil! Would you sell your soul for riches and fame? Faust things Faust! Terrible puns just like that one, plus the usual thrills and chills await you in Chapter Four of ELVIRA: TIMESCREAM.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
This Elvira series continues to be fun and you can tell that David Avallone is having a blast playing in these various periods, though this one has me a bit more lost as my early Hollywood history is very meager, unfortunately. But even with that there’s a lot of good fun here as we wrap up the first arc with its time hopping and get ready for something more. Dave Acosta has been putting in some great pages throughout the run and this issue is no exception, especially since once again Andrew Covalt really nails the colors beautifully, giving Elvira and the rest a great life here as they leap off the digital page for me. It’s just a beautiful looking book from start to finish.
Having Elvira arrive in 1935 is definitely fun, especially as she’s back in Los Angeles once again. Unfortunately, she’s landed in the middle of filming Mrs. Frankenstein under the director named Baleen, which is a wonderful little nod to Bride of Frankenstein director James Whale. There are a lot of fun nods as we see how Elvira inspires the Bride character to be reinvented with bigger hair and makeup but also just the nods to moving from public domain properties to copyrighted ones and the tricks one has to use. Of course, Elvira’s time here is cut short with Faust arrives and gets into his usual pushy mode with regards to everything but it all goes seriously off the rails when Vlad appears and gets into a fight with the Monster itself.
Naturally, it turns into the usual running around with lots of quips but Avallone gets to really excel at it here with everything flying by fast. The trick is that they get to run through a lot of soundstages along the way, all with Vlad being told he looks like a pirate (again). The different genres of film are tackled in a fun way as the trio makes their way through them and I know a lot of references were lost on me that my mother would adore. But what we get here is just delightful as it flits about with Acosta getting to work so many different locations and Avallone playing Elvira’s role so well with the mannerisms and dialogue. It does wrap up Vlad’s arc in a pretty standard and seemingly sudden way, but that’s just in service to Faust now being put in the hot seat for what comes next.
In Summary:
Elvira is a hoot. While her show was never something I connected with the character she plays is idea in this kind of form to really take it to a whole different level and explore it with. The humor works very well and the referential side is a delight with the way it has some pretty deep cuts. Avallone keeps things moving well but shifts gears at the end, which was definitely needed after four issues of familiar structure, while Dave Acosta simply does some great work with fantastic designs, details, and care. Combine that with Covalt’s color work and this is just exciting to read.
Grade: A-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: January 16th, 2019
MSRP: $3.99