News Bites

• Night of Dark Shadows, the second Dark Shadows spin-off movie, is now available as a digital download from the iTunes store source from a new HD transfer. This version is the original theatrical edit of the film and not the mooted extended director's cut. 
• Rebecca Staab (1991 Daphne Collins) is to join the cast of ABC's Desperate Housewives, as the show enters its sixth season. Rebecca plays a new permanent resident of Wisteria Lane, and makes her debut on October 25. 
  
• Seaview Terrace, the original location for Collinwood, has ended its long-time affiliation with the Salve Regina University. For many years, the property's owners had leased rooms out as dormitories and teaching facilities. Seaview's owners, the Carey family, have now returned the Newport, Rhode Island location to a private property.
  
• The Greystone mansion (1991 and 2004 Collinwood) was featured in the October 12 episode of Fox's House, titled Instant Karma. The show featured exterior and interior scenes of the estate and can be viewed online for a limited time.

News in Brief

• MPI's new Dark Shadows DVD compilations The Vampire Curse and The Haunting of Collinwood are out today. Order them from Amazon by clicking on the hyperlinked titles.
• David Selby (Quentin) guested in the September 6 episode of AMC's Mad Men. His episode, The Arrangements, is available from iTunes. David also features in the LA Theatre Works' production of The Autumn Garden, which has just been released on CD.
• Congratulations to Marley Shelton (2004 Vicki), who has just become a parent. Marley gave birth to her daughter, who she has named West, on September 6.
• Big Finish Productions have announced a second series of Dark Shadows dramatic readings, featuring original cast members performing new stories on CD. The first in the new run, Curse of the Pharaoh, is available now, with five more titles following monthly from January. For more information, click here.

Classic Comic Reprints Announced

Hermes Press has announced that it is to reprint the complete series of classic Gold Key Dark Shadows comics in a series of collector's hardcover books. Each volume will feature full-colour digitally restored strips plus bonus features, including poster reprints, documentary material from the show and new essays. 

Hermes' news release for the series describes the stories as: "thoughtful and beautifully crafted; they are the perfect companion for fans of the show, but they stand on their own as fine examples of compelling and effective comic book storytelling." Publisher Daniel Herman adds: "The classic Dark Shadows books have been out-of-print far too long. Our new series of complete reprints will remedy this situation and make the entire run available to old and new fans alike." 

Dark Shadows: The Complete Series Volume One is available from March 2010; Provisional cover artwork is shown above. The 208 page hardcover book will retail at $49.99. 

Update: Amazon are currently offering the book at a 35% discount from the retail price. To order, click here.

Amazon DVD Sale

Good news for readers with gaps in their Dark Shadows DVD collections, as Amazon are running another sale on the episode box sets. For a limited time, the entire range is available at half price, averaging at just $27.99 a volume. Here are ordering links for the discounted titles:

Dark Shadows: The Beginning (pre-Barnabas episodes):

Collection 1, Collection 2, Collection 3, Collection 4, Collection 5, Collection 6

Dark Shadows DVD Collections (episodes from Barnabas' arrival onwards):

Collection 1, Collection 2, Collection 3, Collection 4, Collection 5, Collection 6, Collection 7, Collection 8, Collection 9, Collection 10, Collection 11, Collection 12, Collection 13, Collection 14, Collection 15, Collection 16, Collection 17, Collection 18, Collection 19, Collection 20, Collection 21, Collection 22, Collection 23, Collection 24, Collection 25, Collection 26

Wayne Tippit: 1932-2009

The Los Angeles Times has reported that Wayne Tippit, who played Hiram Fisher on the 1991 Dark Shadows, died on August 28. He was 76 and had suffered from emphysema for a number of years. His many credits included stints on The Secret Storm, Search for Tomorrow and latterly Melrose Place, plus numerous television guest appearances. To read a full obituary, click here.

Literary Parallels

An obscure Dark Shadows crossover can be found in Thomas Pynchon's new seventies detective novel Infinite Vice. The author has done his homework and gets in a mention of Collinwood's 1970 parallel time storyline, along with a number of other contemporary shows. A review of the book on Britain's Catholic Herald website discussed the Dark Shadows connections with some background on the show. To order Infinite Vice from Amazon, click here.