After being in the spooky spotlight for 40 years, Dynamite Entertainment has decided to take Elvira on a trip to... the afterlife?! Written by longtime Elvira writer David Avallone, Death of Elvira is a super-size comic that follows the Horror Hostess shedding this mortal coil for something more fitting. But that graveyard business has to wait until she solves her murder first. Part-whodunit mystery and partially a reflection of the Queen of Halloween's life, Death of Elvira brings gleeful puns, killer anecdotes, and a romping new chapter that will delight diehard fans well versed in Elvira history. As Elvira, aka Cassandra Peterson, cautioned, "Don't panic horror hounds, there's more to this spine-tingling tale than meets the eye!"
During an exclusive interview with CBR, Death of Elvira writer David Avallone and Cassandra Peterson discussed crafting Elvira's murder mystery. They reflected on how they chose which ghouls and gals to appear in this tale and celebrated bringing a mystical dimension to Gonk. Also included with this interview is a sneak peek at Death of Elvira's interior pages drawn by artist Silvia Califano and cover art by Dave Acosta and John Royle, respectively.
CBR: Within the Death of Elvira, there's an opening wake sequence with plenty of people that have been a part of Cassandra's actual life. How did you narrow down who would or wouldn't be there?
Cassandra Peterson: Oh, well, that was pretty much up to David. David, you did all that.
David Avallone: Yeah, the backstory is that this was going to be the 40th anniversary, and I thought it'd be a great idea to honor the whole history of Elvira and Cassandra's life. We got together for drinks, and I said, "Tell me all the ridiculous stories." And she told me what ridiculous stories could fit into three martinis.
Peterson: Well, that was you. [laughs]
Avallone: [laughs] That was, yeah. I'm the drinker... That's pretty much what defined it. There are major anecdotes that are really funny that involves famous people. And that just made it really easy to narrow down. It's not something I spent a lot of time thinking about. It was more a question of I have these 10 stories, how do we fit it into 32 pages?
Yeah, I was surprised Vincent Price didn't show up this time!
Peterson: Well, we just covered Vincent Price quite a bit, in the last how many comic books...? Five?
Avallone: Five! Vincent got his due, so we were able to keep him out of this one.
Cassandra, I recently read your memoir, Yours Cruelly, Elvira, and I was curious if through that experience of writing about Elvira's legacy and your life, were any moments that were must-haves for you in this comic? Any anecdotes that you wanted to explore a different or sillier side of like the trip to Rome for example?
Peterson: Gosh, I don't know. I handed it over to David. We did talk a lot about this stuff, and then he decides what goes in whether to blow it out or just keep it a little more on the down-low. So that part, I just feed him the stuff and he figures it out...
Avallone: ...From the raw materials of life. [laughs] Yeah, I'm trying to think if there was an anecdote I heard that I didn't manage to cram in, and I don't think there was. But it's also worth noting that Yours Cruelly, Elvira wasn't done. One of the reasons we had to have drinks is I couldn't read Yours Cruelly, and I certainly couldn't read it and finish the comic. So I was like, "Gimme the meat! Give me the story." So I think Cassandra was pre-selecting by what are the things at top of her memory? What were the things that really stood out? And yeah, the book is way darker in the Rome period than the comic is. But it just wasn't that kind of comic. We were not going to go too deeply into the dark stuff --
Peterson: -- especially in a comic book, everybody loves those. [laughs]
Speaking of some of Death of Elvira's lighter moments, I loved how Gonk had his own POV and we get to see even some Snoopy style animation!
Peterson: Yeah, I loved that too.
I'd love to hear both of you speak more on why it was so important to include Gonk in here and let him have a voice.
Peterson: Yeah, that was one of my favorite parts. Honestly, David, you kicked butt with that.
Avallone: I have to give credit -- I always had the idea that Gonk would be the narrator of childhood and would quietly explain that these dogs passed on their life stories to each other, somehow, magically. But the idea of the visual was all Silvia Califano, the artist.
I was sitting around going, "How do you draw Elvira as an eight-year-old without being offensive and weird and creepy?" And he sent me this drawing of Elvira as Peanuts' Lucy van Pelt and Gonk as Snoopy and was like, "I was thinking about this for the flashback." I was like, "Holy shit. That solves a problem we haven't even discussed yet."
Peterson: I know, I love that. I laughed so hard when I saw that. I thought it was hilarious. And it's so funny -- going back to the Gonk thing -- I have fans all the time going, "How is Gonk?" [laughs] Gonk would be like 45 years old right now in people years, not even dog years --
Avallone: -- Right, he would be like 400 years old in dog years.
Peterson: So anyway, I love that you were able to get him in there and to have an explanation for why he's still around.
Avallone: Sometimes I wish I was the kind of writer who could write that and just handwave away the fact that the dog would be 400 years old. It's just like, "Nah, come on! We gotta be on at least the fourth or third Gonk. There's no way it's the same."
Peterson: Yeah, I was like, "This is getting weird because people are gonna buy that Elvira is dead but not why Gonk is still alive." They're gonna be like, "Hey dude, Gonk can't be alive still."
Speaking of Silvia Califano's artwork, were there any particular panels that took your breath away or that you're excited for readers to see?
Peterson: I have to go back to the Snoopy and Lucy panels. There were a lot of panels that I really really loved. But that one just made me laugh so hard.
Avallone: I don't know that we should spoil it... But I bet you like the cameo on the last two pages.
"I bet you didn't know this model came in red." What a great line! It was fantastic.
Avallone: Thank you.
There are so many good one-liners in Death of Elvira. There's one where Elvira basically says, "I'm lucky Rick Baker owed me a favor." I was curious if that was just a fun one-liner or if that was referencing a story that didn't make its way into the comic?
Avallone: That was literally just a throwaway to explain how she had such amazing convincing makeup in the bar scene --
Peterson: It's funny because Rick Baker was a judge on my reality show, The Search for the Next Elvira, so I don't know if that would constitute him owing me a favor or me owing him one.
Avallone: That may be why he was in my head instead of 100 other makeup artists. A lot of the more famous guys I grew up with like Stuart Freeborn and Dick Smith are gone now, so Rick Baker was sort of the last man standing to do that gag.
Peterson: Yeah, and to me, Rick Baker's number one.
You both have worked on Elvira's voice for so many years -- and I know you're being a bit humble Cassandra by saying, "Oh it's all, David," when you've always had artistic control over your voice and the comics have been a joint partnership. For both of you, what are some rules you have for nailing Elvira's voice?
Peterson: For me, Elvira's voice, for any project, I honestly think about myself as a teenager -- being a smartass, not taking any guff from anybody, a know-it-all, even though I don't know anything, but Elvira acts like she knows everything and can do it her way.
Avallone: For me, when I took on the gig, and went back and watched Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, what struck me is what was so different from every previous version of this character. Every similar character like Lily Munster and Vampira and Morticia Adams are all languid and European and mysterious. Elvira has that look while talking like a Jewish Catskills comic doing a blues set after midnight, the one that's not for your kid. To me, it's the tension between this beautiful woman in a revealing dress who looks like every languid horror character from a Hammer Horror movie -- but those women are always sleepwalking and not very talkative. Instead, she's pumping out these double entendre/standup comic jokes and it's that tension that's funny. That's the character, a very attractive woman who has the persona of a standup comic from the 50s working blue -- no actual cursing, but a ton of sexual innuendo and as goofy as it can possibly be.
Is there anything else you'd like our readers to know about the Death of Elvira?
Peterson: Yes, I'm still alive!
Spoiler! [laughs]
Peterson: That's the most important thing for everybody to know.
Avallone: When I first proposed it to Dynamite and to Cassandra, I literally said, "Look, it's like the Death of Superman, don't be alarmed by the title. She's coming back in 32-pages, I swear to God."
Peterson: Yeah, I was a little alarmed by the title... [laughs]
Avallone: [laughs] Yeah, of course!
The Death of Elvira's Indiegogo campaign ends Friday, April 15 at midnight PST. Contributors can expect to receive their creepy copy in June 2022.
