The Dark Planet

1989. Fantagor Video. VHS NTSC color. $25.00. 93 minutes. Print run of 2000. Cover: glossy color. [id,diii8-9]

“The Dark Planet [Cover Art]”
Cover Art [art1, pgs 60-61]-Richard Corben. Color.

“The Dark Planet [Video]”
Includes stories “Tower of Blood” (1h4min) and “Relief Station” (29min) in a mixture of claymation, puppets and live action.
With Bruce Jones, Karen Gilbertson, Richard Corben, Stan Dresser, Herb Arnold, Simon Revelstroke and Saundra Marks. Music by Philip DeWalt. Written, produced and directed by Richard Corben and Christopher Wheate. Excutive assistant Donna Corben.

There is only few advertisements of this video. Corben said on his web page, “The edition of 2000 sold out within three months of release”.

Teaser ad in Den [III] #7 (1989) says, “It lurches! It lurks! Look out! It’s after fresh meat! It’s from… THE DARK PLANET”.

The Dark Planet add in Den [III] #8 (left) and in #9.

Ad in Den [III] #8 (1989) and in Den [III] #9 (1989) are similar, but in #8 upper pict is negative and in #9 positive. Advertisement says, “Unearthly terror stalks the creatures of THE DARK PLANET, a Fantagor Video. The Dark Planet, an anthology, including Tower of Blood and Relief Station on a world many light years away, sinister forces threaten members of an Earth base. A huge tentacled horror from the Tower of Blood eats natives and earthlings alike. A primitive challenges the beast to avenge his murdered mate. A space cango jockey returns to the Relief Station and confronts the strange attendant and the master computer.”

Ad continues, “This live action program with special effects and some clay animation was produced over a period of several years by Richard Corben and Bruce Jones. Regular readers of this comic know these two are intimately familiar with the complexities and subtleties of visual storytelling.”

Richard Corben Art Book [#1] says on pg 60, “I’ve made many amateur films since [grade school]. A couple years ago, I decided to put some of them together in a package for small scale marketing.”