February 10, 2016

Did you know that Marvel Comics once published A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET comic book series? Although it was solicited to retailers for 5 issues and the first 3 were prepped and ready to go, only the first 2 issues officially hit comic book stands in an oversized black & white magazine format.

To put it into context, you have to go back to 1989 when these books were originally released. This was long before Marvel had branched out with their more “adults only” themed sub-label MAX. And although the book was one of their biggest sellers at the time and it very clearly stated on the cover that this material was for “mature audiences only,” Marvel ended up cancelling it after the 2nd issue for fear of protests. That’s right, not because people complained or had issue with it yet. But because of the heavy pressure from parents groups targeting horror cinema in the late 80’s, in particular the franchise movies like A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, FRIDAY THE 13TH and THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, they stopped producing the book before anyone could say anything about it.

I was 13 years old at the time and at the absolute height of my own personal Freddy-mania, so there was no way you could keep this book away from me. While technically this came out in the same year that PART 5: THE DREAM CHILD hit theaters, my vague memory of this story was around the time A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4: THE DREAM MASTER was just dropping to video. The 2 issue story arc titled “Dreamstalker” played very much like a sequel or appropriate successor in tone to DREAM WARRIORS. Freddy was still spouting one-liners in the book, but he was also a mean, nasty bastard and scary as hell.

At the top of Issue #1, we meet the young Allison Hayes on the brink of death; her body slashed, her feet burned and battling for her life as she’s rushed into emergency surgery. The doctors are doing everything they can to save her life, but we know she’s battling something much worse than her injuries. In one of the many fantastical and elaborate set pieces of the book, Freddy uses Allison’s own intestines mid-surgery to attack her in her dreams.

She manages to survive and is holed up in a psychiatric facility. Meanwhile, renowned New York psychiatrist Dr. Juliann Quinn is moving back to Springwood to take on Allison as her patient. She hadn’t been back to Springwood or even thought of the town since around shortly after Freddy Krueger’s trial and disappearance when her family relocated to New York. On the flight back, she’s delving into all the files regarding everything known about the Krueger case.

Now, we were introduced to Amanda Krueger and the concept of Freddy being the “bastard son of a thousand maniacs” in NIGHTMARE 3. It isn’t until NIGHTMARE 5 that we see a bit more of Amanda’s backstory. And then later in FREDDY’S DEAD, the 6th entry in the franchise, the filmmakers try to fill in little gaps in Freddy’s childhood and upbringing through the ambitious 3D sequences. But this comic was before all that and hence takes liberties with Freddy & Amanda’s backstory, telling them in a far superior & more realistic way than the films ever managed to do.

For Amanda, the full story of how she got trapped in the psycho ward of “The Tower” in Our Lady Of Sorrows over the Christmas break is told in its entirety and it is horrific. For a 13 year old reading it, it was pretty deep and dark stuff! But then, Freddy is born and his backstory here is just fascinating. He’s adopted as a baby by a couple named Mr. and Mrs. Strunk and has the promise of starting a normal life. But on his first day home with his new family, a duo of burglars break into the house, murder his adopted parents and kidnap the baby. He’s later sold off to Walter “Stork” Fingle and Isabel Tront, a pimp and prostitute that both abuse and use Freddy as part of their perverse trade. He’s regularly beaten and cut with a straight razor by Stork, but when Freddy is a teenager, he murders the couple and becomes a petty thief living on the streets. This is around the period that he focuses all his energies on controlling his dreams, a method referred to as lucid dreaming. His real life is so awful that he’d rather master the dreamscape. But he’s already been infected by evil his entire life and hence even his dreams are filled with darkness. This is also around the time when he becomes the Freddy we hear about in the backstory of the movies.

Before Juliann even arrives in town, she has a nightmare with Freddy in it, but Allison manages to invade the dream. So when the girls actually meet for the first time at the hospital, they’re both shocked to recognize each other. But how is that possible? Juliann explains to Allison the entire mythology of Freddy Krueger so she can understand what they’re up against. And together with the teachings that Juliann acquired from a dream specialist named Dona Valencia, they’re going to figure out what Freddy wants and how to defeat him. At first, they start simple. Draw a picture of a landscape, someplace neutral and safe that Freddy couldn’t possibly make dangerous. Allison decides on an open plateau with desert as far as the eye can see. But as you can see below, Freddy always finds a way!

It turns out Allison wasn’t one of the Elm Street children. Her parents weren’t part of the mob that burned Freddy to death, but instead she’s a “dreamstalker.” She has a unique ability when it comes to her dreams to fully control them and at first Freddy is unable to reach and terrorize her during their first random encounter when Allison gets lost in the dreamscape. But he wants her for her power. Essentially. I think. It gets a bit fuzzy around Issue #2, but I’m pretty sure that’s the gist of it.

What I love about this story is it’s very much in line with what works so well in NIGHTMARE 3, the Nancy Thompson and Kristen Parker relationship. Juliann is very much Nancy to Allison’s Kristen. And the more I think about it, there’s no reason that this can’t be adapted into the next NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET film. You don’t need to retell the origin, you don’t need to reboot the first movie again. Just pick up somewhere vaguely after NIGHTMARE 3 or 4. Give us great characters like these ones that are new & unique, yet reminiscent of the ones we already love from the franchise. Go ambitious with the set pieces and do crazy things. And keep Freddy scary and dark. Sure he can have the occasional one-liner, but he is a mean bastard and should remain that way.

This 2 issue Marvel series had a deeply profound effect on me growing up. Around the time it came out, I attempted to film my own adaptation of it using the old school duel deck VHS player/recorder with a giant oversized video camera. I managed to convince a few friends to partake and we managed to shoot one whole scene before everyone got tired and abandoned me. I was also editing in camera, which was next to impossible at the time so I managed to pull off 2 whole shots. But even back then, I saw the potential in this great story to be visualized cinematically!

The cover art by famed painter Joe Jusko is amazing as well. I recently picked up this iPhone case solely because it’s the cover of Issue #1 and it had that much influence over me and my love of Freddy.

Writer Steve Gerber really knocked it out of the park when it came to his 2 issue arc. And I can’t say enough nice things about the incredible art of Rich Buckler, Tony DeZuniga and Alfredo Alcala, which equally gave me as many nightmares as the actual movies did. This ad below teased the third issue in the series, and Peter David (well known for so many amazing comic book runs including his take on THE INCREDIBLE HULK) had written the follow-up arc. Back in the October issue of Comics Buyer’s Guide, David said that while he originally felt that “the story he had submitted for the series was like nothing else that he had ever written, in retrospect, he was no longer happy with it and was somewhat glad that it had never been published.”

For those that want to read and collect these issues for yourself, they’re not that difficult to track down. A quick Amazon search can find you the issues which usually go for about $15 bucks a piece. Or if you just want to read it, Nightmare on Elm Street Films.com has a scan of every page from both issues so you can read them online right here.

Although Marvel chickened out on their Freddy series after 2 issues, Innovation Comics picked up the license in 1991 and did a handful of books, all of which we’ll delve into for future articles here at Blumhouse.com.