“Raiders of the Lost Schlock”
Creative Staff:
Story: David Avallone
Art: Juan Samu
Colors: Walter Pereyra
Letterer: Taylor Esposito, Elizabeth Sharland
What They Say:
Elvira and Vincent’s Ghost arrive in Cairo, hot on the trail of the missing movie that can save the world from Amun-Ra! It’s a game of cat-and-mouse among the pyramids, as a pair of silent comedy assassins stalk Elvira and Vincent, ancient crypts are infiltrated, angry goddesses are awakened, and tourists are confused… in a story we call “Raiders of the Lost Schlock!” Adventure, horror, and temples of doom but no crystal skulls, we promise… in this latest issue from writer David Avallone (Bettie Page, Legenderry: Vampirella) and artist Juan Samu (Black Panther, Transformers)!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Getting a new Elvira series delighted me with the opening issue and the second issue, but a gap of two months between issues will never help when reading stuff like this. Thankfully, David Avallone provides the right kind of recaps at the start of issues, especially with a character like this, as it’s like coming back from a commercial break and you’re up to speed quickly. This miniseries is one that brings in some new artistic talent with Juan Samu and they deliver wonderfully here. Elvira herself looks great, wonderfully expressive and active, while doing a really good job in capturing Vincent Price and a number of different locales. It has a real lightness to it in some ways even though it’s a dark comical horror story, which lets Walter Pereyra really flex well here in the color design.
With Elvira and Vincent in Cairo now, we get plenty of fun little nods to the place, culture, and films of the past that deal with it. There are some good Raiders references and a little Liz Taylor too but it all comes together in a pretty smooth and fun way. With the pair looking for Ahmed, we get them doing some of the basic journey stuff and it’s actually fun to see them just talking a bit, recapping some of her recent adventures, and talking about the afterlife as Glenn from her time in hell is referenced a couple of times. When they do finally reach the pyramid area where Ahmed is, that’s what sets things into motion as there’s a younger woman there working with him that’s curious about Ahmed’s friends and we also get Cleopatra’s couple of fez-headed followers that are watching everything going on in hopes of being lead to Ahmed as well.
This is because Ahmed is the one with the real book of the end times as it turns out that the one with the picture of her holding the book is actually faked. She’s using Vincent and Elvira to find the real thing and they basically lead her right to it once they connect with Ahmed. He’s really happy to see Vincent “alive” at this point and there’s a lot of fun there as they head into one of the lost pyramids below the sands and deal with the traps until they’re caught from behind by the fez’ers. The fight sequence we get for it is good and Samu delivers a great visual with Vincent using his abilities to provide a scare and a distraction. Things do get wonky when Cleopatra shows up, however, especially considering some elements of her costume design, but it still feels appropriate and adds the right kind of element for this book – plus it’s very colorful, making for a visually striking piece that can serve as a distraction.
In Summary:
This series has been a delight as I expected it would be and this issue carries that forward. Taking the cast to Cairo and playing with some of the themes there is fun, as is seeing Vincent all done up ala Alan Quartermain whereas Elvira would lean a little more Indiana Jones. They manage to avoid playing into some of the worst tropes and cliches while still handling the larger storyline just right. The dialogue is an absolute delight and the self-awareness at times hits a special sweet spot for fans of works like this. Elvira continues to be one of the best books on the market.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: November 17th, 2021
MSRP: $3.99
