Occult detective spoofs date back to the 1940s with Bob Hope and Paullette Goddard in The Ghostbreakers (1940) and the Universal Abbott and Costello pictures starting with Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). Even in the Pulps, there were people to poke fun at such staples as Jules deGrandin. (Written by the nephew of the man who published all those stories.) In comics, such spoofs were less likely though the Kolchak the Night Stalker television show did receive one lambasting from the Marvel Comics group in July 1975.
Marvel experimented with Monster Spoof comics with a title called Arrgh! It ran five issues from December 1974 to September 1975. The series was edited by Roy Thomas. The majority of the strips used were based on the classic Universal monsters. In the fourth issue a parody of The Night Stalker TV show lead off with a 10 pager written by Jack Younger (aka Russ Jones). The artwork was pencilled by Gerry Grandenetti (who better known in the Warren magazines and undergrounds) and inked by Marvel staffer Frank Springer.
The level of humor is typical of a MAD Magazine parody with Kolchak becoming Karl Coalshaft. His boss Tony Vincenzo is Tony Vinagretto. The plot follows a pretty typical episode with Coalshaft trying to get the big supernatural scoop and failing each time, first with a vampire then a werewolf. In both cases the police show up, riddle the monster with bullets and it is up to Coalshaft to use his special weapon (that he always carries) to put them down. His camera captures pictures but is always destroyed. The strip ends with him returning to his office and not noticing his boss is actually a vampire. Tony tries to kill him but falls out the window. Coalshaft walks away giving up on monsters forever.
What makes this parody so apt is that the writer had only to repeat what he had seen on the show to make it ridiculous. The juvenile name jokes and sight gags are typical but what is actually funny is that the Kolchak show was this predictable and silly. That sounds like I’m not a fan, which isn’t true. Like Chris Carter, who created The X-Files, I watched these shows as a kid and loved them. They inspired much of what followed in the occult detective line. Still…the show’s faults are laid bare in this 10 pager.
I suppose it’s no surprise that it was cancelled after 20 episodes. “Monster-of-the-week” is a criticism that has been given the series, but you can apply that just as easily to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Charmed series, both which ran for many years and have huge followings. I suspect what ultimately ruined Kolchak’s success was the lack of a larger cast of characters, and becoming formulaic almost instantly. (You have to remember the two successful TV movies that spawned it.) It was prominent enough to warrant this single parody…“The Night Gawker”!
