Freddy Krueger's A Nightmare on Elm Street
Freddy Krueger's A Nightmare on Elm Street was a short lived black-and-white comic book set in the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" universe and published by Marvel Comics in late 1989. Chronologically, its events takes place about three years after the events of "" (1987). It was cancelled after only its second issue for unclear reasons. The remaining storyline is named "Dreamstalkers" (part 1 & 2) and was left unresolved with a cliffhanger ending. Plot. An ambulance arrives at the home of Roger and Patti Hayes, who had found their daughter  Allison near death in her bed, slashed and bruised with no hints of who attacked her. Dr. Juliann Quinn is preparing to leave New York City and her boyfriend Doug behind for her hometown of Springwood in Ohio, where she has a job offer at the Westin Hills Psychiatric Hospital waiting for her. Falling asleep, she has a nightmare about Freddy Krueger, but wakes up due to her cigarette lighting her bed up and forcing her to quench the flame quickly. In the Springwood Medical Center, Freddy attacks Allison once again while she's in surgery, but she starts to  fight back on her nemesis, leading the doctors to conclude that her body tried to die, but her mind would not allow it. Juliann travels to Springwood by plane, studying Freddy's dossier, reading about Amanda Krueger and her horrific rape at the "Our Lady of Sorrows' Institution For the Mentally Ill" (the precursor of Westin Hills), and even starts to have nightmares about Freddy on the plane while dozing off. Once arrived, she continues to have the nightmares, but has learned mental techniques to keep Freddy from killing her for the time. Juliann is assigned to be Allison's  doctor, and to Allison's relief, proves to be the only one capable of understanding what she is going through. Juliann and Allison enters the dream world together, where they encounter Freddy. Freddy comes close to killing Juliann, but Allison turns herself into a living ball of flame and wards him off long enough for the two heroines to awake themselves. After this, Juliann has Allison put on Hypnocil while staying at the Springwood hospital. After meeting with Dr. Marlin, he makes it clear to Juliann that Allison will not be allowed to take Hypnocil once she's transferred to  the Westin Hills Psychiatric Hospital, due to the scandal that happened there . At home, Juliann goes to take a shower before sleep, but she had in fact already fallen asleep and is surprised to find herself in the Oval Office, where Freddy is sitting in the president's chair. She tries to run away, but finds herself too exhausted. Freddy reappears and stabs her in the stomach while pointing out her fatal mistake: she had cared so much for Allison's safety that she had dropped the guard on her own. Allison is devastated to hear of her death and  swears revenge on Freddy. Dr. Watley is reassigned to be her new doctor, but Allison refuses to explain her afflictions to him, saying it wouldn't make any difference if she did. She prepares mentally, thinking up clothing and a glove akin to Freddy's and fights him, but he ultimately tricks her, causing her to attack Watley while sleepwalking in reality, thinking that she's attacking Freddy; Watley orders for her to be sedated and sent to the secure ward. Development. Conception and unrealized plans. It was reported in "Amazing Heroes" #160 (March 1, 1989) that both Marvel Comics  and Blackthorne Publishing had secured rights to produce comics in the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" universe; Blackthorne's would be eight issues of 3D adaptions of the films and "Freddy's Nightmares", while Marvel Comics' would be magazine-sized, black-and-white, and was never specified to have a finite number of issues. Steve Gerber said that several writers were contacted by Marvel, and he had submitted a 3-4 pages treatment that they approved of. Rich Buckler illustrated the first 23 pages of the first issue but left due to - as Gerber speculated - "editorial conflict or financial problems , and was replaced by Tony DeZuniga for the remainder of Dreamstalkers". Gerber explained that he intended for the "Dreamstalkers" storyline to return with issue 5. According to Gerber, he had created an antagonist to Freddy who would return as a recurring character; since Dr. Juliann Quinn was killed off, this would mean Allison Hayes, who was left at a cliffhanger ending. He also implied that there would have been further appearances of Allison past the fifth issue, saying “"we'll pick up her story in #5 and probably after that again for a little while"”. Gerber reasoned that when it 's (what was supposed to be) a regular monthly comic book series as opposed to films released at longer intervals, the series cannot only have its antagonist being a recurring character, but needs a recurring protagonist as well. According to Marvel Comics, the plans for the series prior to cancellation was that Gerber stated that issue three and four would be written by Buzz Dixon and the sixth issue would be written by Peter David and illustrated by Sam Kieth. The Dixon issues were to be pencilled by Bob Hall and inked by Alfredo Alcala, while Joe Jusko, the  artist behind the cover art of the two released issues, had also finished his cover for the third issue, and later posted it on the Internet. Hall and Kieth were already involved in the art for the second issue, as Hall provided two and Kieth one illustration of Freddy for it. The second issue came with an ad for the following issue in which Freddy sits in the teacher's chair in a classroom where the text "Back to School Issue" is written on the whiteboard and the disclaimer is “"Freddy teaches you a lesson you'll "never" forget!"”. The  plot for the third issue, called "Freddy's Girl", was specified by Marvel Comics to be Marvel Comics apparently planned for there to be a "pen pal" section in future issues for fan mail, with one of the illustrations by Bob Hall being used as art for the invitation. Buzz Dixon had also suggested a "Freddy Request Page" where the readers would be able to post requests on who they would like to see Freddy kill next, inspired by DC Comics leaving it to fan input to decide whether Jason Todd should survive the "" storyline or not. The fourth issue  was going to contain two separate stories, one by Dixon, Hall and Alcala and the other by Peter David and Bret Blevins. Peter David claims he wrote all of issue 5, with art by Dan Lawliss and Alfredo Alcala. David also wrote a shorter 6-page story in the previous issue as a companion to Dixon's story. Andy Mangels has stated that he had sold a plot to Marvel Comics for the fifth issue, and was going to do some work on the later issues. Cancellation. In October 1989, it was reported that the comics had been cancelled, after  an article in Comics Buyer's Guide where Marvel Comics spokesman Steve Saffel elaborated that The Dixon and David issues had already been finished and submitted to Marvel by the time of the cancellation; according to David, “"The cancellation order took a lot of people by surprise"”. Steve Gerber later wrote to the bulletin board-based magazine "Reading for Pleasure" and explained that Marvel Comics had cancelled the comics not because they had been criticized for it, but because they might "eventually" be criticized for it, saying Gerber had also noticed that the comics already came with a "suggested for  mature readers" disclaimer, and no direct pressure had yet been made on Marvel Comics about the series at the time. Tim Webber on Comic Book Resources mentions a New York Times article from April 30, 1989 as a possible catalysis for the cancellation, in which Joe Queenan wrote about the increasingly violent content of primarily Marvel and DC Comics, such as the Joker of DC Comics brutally murdering Jason Todd in a "" in late 1988. "A Nightmare on Elm Street" is mentioned indirectly through an offhand remark by George Pérez. Webber also mentions a September 1989 call for boycott by  the American Family Association, condemning a Freddy merchandise doll as a "product of a sick mind", as another possible reason. According to Buzz Dixon, Martin Goodman, founder of Marvel Comics, had told him bluntly that ""I don't care if we paid for it -- we're not publishing it!"" about his unpublished issues. In an online post, Peter David claimed that while the story he wrote was unlike any other he had written, he was in retrospective unsatisfied with it and slightly relieved that it never came to be published. Tom DeFalco, former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief, explains that  Jim Galton, who was president of the company at the time, was the one who cancelled the title. According to DeFalco, Galton was “"a man of conscience and principal and didn’t think Marvel should publish material like Nightmare"”, and he valued his morals higher than profit and cancelled it in spite of it being profitable and having received no complaints yet. Reception. Both issues became the top-ranked black-and-white title on Marvel Comics, selling at #90 and #109 respectively on Capital City's associated shops. Drew Bartorillo reviewed the comics in "Reading for Pleasure" #6, writing that  “"For those who enjoyed any of the Nightmare On Elm Street movies or the TV show, or anyone else for that matter, this magazine-size comic is a must. The black and white art is superb and you'll recognize the characters and dialog immediately"”, giving the "Dreamstalkers" story a 9 out of 10. Protoclown on i-Mockery writes that it's a disappointment that the comics is in black and white, owing to the "anything can happen" potential of the franchise and its dream scenery, but adds that coloring it might have been underwhelming anyway given the comic book  coloring available in the 80's. He also calls Juliann Quill's death underwhelming, given how important she had been to the story up until then, speculating that it might have been a change of plans due to the artists finding out they were getting cancelled, but otherwise feels that the cliffhanger ending was as good as it could have given the circumstances. The review on "Nightmare on Elm Street Companion" is very positive about the comics, calling it "a wonderful homage" to the "Tales from the Crypt" comics, and writing that the characters are very well written. The reviewer  considers the second issue to be slightly weaker, but calling the artwork still very solid and the story making the reader feel for Allison's fate in the cliffhanger ending. Gavin Jasper on "Den of Geek" call Freddy's origin in the comics better written than the later one in "Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare", and writing that while Freddy's supernatural abilities aren't quite explained, but there is still enough for the reader to understand without ruining the mystique. He also compares Freddy's origin story to Rorschach of DC Comics' "Watchmen" (1986–87), writing that “"it’s  easy to see similarity between Freddy’s upbringing and Rorschach’s. It almost spells it out that Freddy is what would’ve happened if Rorschach’s experiences led to him becoming the dog-owning child-killer that drove him off the deep end instead of a crazed vigilante"”. Cecil & Fuego of "The Horror Show" on YouTube are extremely positive about the comics' artwork, also pointing out the reminiscence of its artistic style to the "Tales from the Crypt" comics, and highlights the comics' use of shadows as a particularly strong element of the art. The duo expresses that the black -and-white gives the comic a very classic feeling and is incredibly detailed at many parts. They state that the backstory on Amanda Krueger is more detailed than anywhere else in the franchise, such as "" (1989), and is portrayed in a much more disturbing fashion, arguing that her compassion becomes her undoing.