Universal Monsters: The Creature from the Black Lagoon Lives! Vol. 1

by Dan Watters, Ram V, Matthew Roberts (Artist)

A NEW HORROR DREAM TEAM RESURRECTS ONE OF THE MOST ICONIC MONSTERS 
Acclaimed creators DAN WATTERS (HOME SICK PILOTS, Lucifer), RAM V (The Many Deaths of Laila Starr, Detective Comics), and MATTHEW ROBERTS (MANIFEST DESTINY) rise from the depths for an all-new epic.   Years after the events of the original film, journalist Kate Marsden hunts for a notorious serial killer in the heart of the Amazon. Hot on the trail of this madman, she soon encounters an unexpected new threat—but is he friend or foe? Or is he simply...THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON? 
Collects UNIVERSAL CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON #1-4

Genres: Horror, Graphic Novels, Comics, Graphic Novels Comics, Science Fiction, Fiction, Comic Book

112 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 23, 2024

About the author

Dan Watters is a UK based comic book writer. His first book, LIMBO, was released through Image Comics in 2016. He has since written THE SHADOW at Dynamite Comics, and ASSASSIN’S CREED and WOLFENSTEIN for Titan Comics.

Currently he is writing the relaunch of LUCIFER for Vertigo’s Sandman Universe, as well as DEEP ROOTS for Vault Comics. Deeply rooted in London Town, and firmly of the Devil's party.

Reviews

[Benji's Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like this could have been better with just a few more issues. Everything leading up to issue no. 4 seemed like it had a good pace, then issue four hit and it's a blink-and-you-miss-it climax.

With the Creature From the Black Lagoon being my favorite of the Universal Monsters, I am happy we're at least getting something new Creech related, but I really wish it was thought out a bit more. I wasn't too big a fan of the artwork either, but it wasn't terrible.

Not much re-read value here, but still worth at least one dive into this Black Lagoon...

[Urbon Adamsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

PT Guardei para o fim o livro da série que mais me despertava interesse.

O Monstro da Lagoa Negra é um clássico a preto e branco que nunca chegou a ter um remake. Lembro-me de ser muito novo e ouvir os meus pais falarem do impacto que o filme teve por cá. Na altura, teve uma divulgação especial por ser exibido em 3D — era preciso usar uns óculos próprios para o ver — e isso foi em 1985.

Para mim, este mito sempre esteve envolto em mistério, e são precisamente os monstros sobre os quais menos se sabe que tendem a assombrar-nos mais.

Gostei bastante desta leitura. Foi, talvez, a mais prazerosa das três obras da série até agora. Não sendo uma história extraordinária, tudo é muito bem construído, com alguns momentos verdadeiramente surpreendentes.

No final, fiquei com vontade de ver o filme original de 1954.

--

EN I saved for last the book in the series that intrigued me the most.

The Creature from the Black Lagoon is a black-and-white classic that has never had a remake. I remember being very young and hearing my parents talk about the impact the film had here. At the time, it received special publicity because it was shown in 3D — you had to wear special glasses to watch it — and that was back in 1985.

For me, this myth has always been shrouded in mystery, and it’s often the monsters we know the least about that end up haunting us the most.

I really enjoyed reading this one. It was perhaps the most enjoyable of the three books in the series so far. While not an extraordinary story, everything is very well executed, with some genuinely surprising moments.

In the end, it left me wanting to watch the original 1954 film.

[Valéria. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eh, same as with Dracula, my problem with these is that somehow the last issue ruins it for me. It’s all too fast, 4 issues are not enough I believe, and so much is happening in the series you have no time to actually make an opinion about any of those characters. But it’s written very well and the art is great. 3,5/5

[Jiro Dreams of Suchy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am so happy that these characters are getting used again; they’re some of the greatest monsters in fiction. There is so much touched on here that would make an amazing story that could be fleshed out. Drugs/money corrupting people and institutions, the destruction of the natural world, obsession, trauma.

All of these things are mentioned in passing but the story instead focuses on a serial killer who is being hunted by his only surviving victim- and he has gotten surgery (performed it himself?) to become a creature from the black lagoon. When he said that line I groaned out loud. Really a bad twist.

I’m happy it got written but would not recommend this story to anyone but diehard fans and even then you’d probably be pissed at what you read. The Ram V Aquaman Black Label story had amazing oceanic art, this book would easily be a three if the art really reflected instead it’s pretty much basic American comic art. Very disappointing.

[James DeSantis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was not a fan of this one. I found it dreadfully boring and slow. Art was pretty solid for the Black Lagoon design, but the humans? I dunno...Overall skippable.

[Coos Burton · Rating 3 out of 5]

La criatura de la laguna negra es mi monstruo Universal favorito, así que, ni bien me enteré de estos cómics, supe que tenía que leerlos. Me gustó, estuvo entretenido. Lo más destacable: el arte, las ilustraciones en general. Pero la historia estuvo un poco floja. Se enfoca mucho en un personaje X, más que en la criatura en sí misma. Tampoco hay mucho desarrollo de los personajes, así que no llegué a conectar mucho.

[Hudson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Creature from the Black Lagoon Lives is the best graphic novel I have ever read. Not only do I love the Black Lagoon Franchise and the Gill Man, I also love this book and its story arch. I remember watching the movie when I was young, and this brings back my fascination with the Gill Man (the creature).
The Creature is a humanoid fish looking hybrid who stands at 6 foot 5 inches in height, and has gills and wet, soggy claw hands. He definitely is a force of nature. As the characters find out in the climax, the gill man cannot be defeated easily, and can withstand gunshots and other things that would put down any normal human. I absolutely loved this book and I recommend it for anyone who loves a mix of mystery, horror and monsters. 5 out of 5 stars.

[Matthew Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

[Troy Tradup · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Hrrrl!"

[Marc Pastor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fluix, molt fluix.
Per començar, no adaptar la magnífica pel·lícula de la Universal sinó que explica una nova història amb el monstre. I la història no val res: la víctima supervivent d’un assassí en sèrie el persegueix fins a l’Amazones, i allà troben “la criatura de la llacuna negra”. No dic més per no fer espòilers, però tot passa una mica perquè sí, i les motivacions són del tot inexistents o no s’expliquen. El que acaba fent el psicòpata és vergonyós perquè no té ni cap ni peus. La presència del monstre és anecdòtica i el converteix en una granota amb mala lluna.

[William Bainbridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5
This was decent. Not as good as the movie and not something that will leave an impression but as a big creature from the black lagoon fan it was nice to see him represented in another form of media (this time being comics.)
It was an interesting spin put onto the age old classic story, but I wouldn't say it revolutionised the story in any way shape or form.
The creature was really cool and given some very aura full moments which made me happy, also his tragic story was explored slightly and I did appreciate the humanisation of the monster.
A solid read, but I was only here for the Creature, and thank god for that.

[Rick Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

A loose sequel to the original 1954 film, Creature from the Black Lagoon Lives! follows traumatized journalist Kate Marsden who is on the trail of an American serial killer last seen near the Amazon. Darwin Collier's MO is drowning his victims, which Kate herself found herself on the receiving end of during an unfortunate encounter with him, but was spared due to lucky circumstances. Determined to see Collier to justice, Kate treks deep within the Amazon to stop him. There she encounters Dr. Edwin Thompson (from the original film) who is currently attempting to capture the "Creature" with an interest in understanding a critical missing evolutionary link and also as a means of revenge. Kate works with Edwin and his assistant, Christiano, to seek out Collier and the Creature, both of whom reside deep within the recesses of the Black Lagoon.

The premise is pretty solid for a Creature from the Black Lagoon sequel, and it works pretty well early on. The idea of human cruelty being grafted onto the Creature is not a unique idea, but Watters and Ram V execute it well enough for the first couple issues. Some readers will take issue with the fact that this is mostly a story about Kate's desire to take down Collier than it is about the Creature, who is more or less a background feature more than anything. I personally didn't mind it initially, since there is a lot to be said about how human the concept of "evil" actually is and how little of it can be embodied by a primordial being like the Creature. But this unfortunately has only a limited payoff since a four issue series can hardly explore this concept all that well, and by making Collier the main villain there requires a bit more build up of his character. The last issue is where the story gets disappointingly simplistic, and the ending itself hangs on an open ended point that doesn't really beg the reader to think about much of what came before.

The artwork by Matthew Roberts is decent and functional for the story. I wouldn't expect the same level of grandeur that Martin Simmonds brought to Dracula, but that isn't to say Roberts doesn't do a nice job overall.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this one better than the Dracula one. This works as a sequel to the original film and in my opinion it’s what these books should be. The Monster’s have so much potential, and it shouldn’t be wasted by simply remaking the films in comic form. They should be extensions of the world and tell new stories with the monsters we all love.

The art is beautiful. The story is good but needs more time to breathe and more explanation about the villains “condition”. Here hoping the line continues and continues to get better with each installment.

[Sonikz Comics · Rating 3 out of 5]

Years after the events of the original movie, journalist Kate Marsden is on the hunt for a notorious serial killer in the heart of the Amazon.

This story is fuelled by revenge and packs quite a lot into only 4 issues, and also manages to bring back a character from the original 1954 movie who's own agenda crosses paths with Kate's own purpose for being here.

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💙💙💙🖤🖤 = Average 🙂 (3.5/5.0)

I liked this book and for only 4 issues it was a great read but i feel this would have benefitted with a couple more issues, i did love that this was connected to the movie which added a nice touch to the story.

I didnt enjoy this as much as i enjoyed Dracula but this is a welcome addition to Image's Universal Monsters books and was a nice pallet cleanser between my usual superhero reads.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picking up from the original Creature from the Black Lagoon film (which surely everyone recalls in detail???), we find a desperate, pill-popping woman down in Peru, tracking the serial killer who...was the creature in the black lagoon? Anyway, the woman teams up with some local scientists and the serial killer teams up with the local drug cartel. It's never very scary and all rather perfunctory, leading up to the expected big confrontation. About the only surprising moment was when it was revealed that the serial killer was slowly plastic surgery-ing himself into a fishman.

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting premise, instead of being a comic retelling of the original film this book acts as a sequel! The first two issues are really strong, but I do think the second half moves quicker than it should, each book in this Universal Monsters series is only four issues so I understand the constraints but maybe just 20 more pages could've added a lot to the story, despite still not being bad without anything extra.
The art is good, but I cant help but feel like by issue four the art just feels different, maybe its the different color artist? I can't put my finger on it, but its really not an issue, Matthew Roberts still delivers some great illustrations.

[Annalise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loveeee a good creature feature both in movies and books, so I had to read this graphic novel🙂‍↕️ I’m also a huge supporter of the “monsters” not being at fault and the humans being the real villains and that fits very well with this adaptation😭 The art style was also really amazing and I loved the subtle background shadows of the creature in the panels with Marsden to show it lurking and watching over her!!

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. Is it a book that will change my life? No...but it gets 5 stars because I didn't want to put it down...the art work was great...it was fun without being cheesy...just a fantastic creature feature all around. I will absolutely be reading this again...no question. Can't wait to read more in this Universal Monsters series.

[Jesse A · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wtf?!!

[Patricia Q · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've never seen Creature from the Black Lagoon, so I have nothing to base this on. The story was fast placed, and the art was nice.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this, but I know I am biased since I loved the movie as a kid. The artwork was really good, and the story was entertaining. Very fast-paced and surface level.

[Jack Phoenix · Rating 4 out of 5]

It doesn’t make quite as big a splash as the first new BLACK LAGOON story in years probably should, but this is worth diving into.

[Sarospice · Rating 2 out of 5]

I needed more. It didn't bother me that the creature is only in it as a shadowy character, and I wasn't bothered by the story of revenge, but it ends abruptly once you start caring about anyone. More people need to wander into the black lagoon, and stay longer.

[Sem · Rating 3 out of 5]

Following the excellent Dracula was always going to be tough, but a disastrous fourth issue does this no favors and mars the overall pleasant series.

[Alex Sarll]

Image's first Universal Monsters comic, the Tynion/Simmonds Dracula, was a superfluous retelling with utterly gorgeous art. This one isn't so pretty, Manifest Destiny's Matthew Roberts a solid choice for another story of weirdness in the wilderness rather than visually breathtaking. But it is what I initially assumed the whole line would be, a new story following on from the film. Perhaps it helps that, where the Lugosi Dracula remains a deserved classic, I watched Creature for the first time exactly a month before reading this, and it has not aged well. Here, rather than trying to work around the many shortcomings of the original, they can be finessed, so the Creature really is a strange not-quite-human, far more at home in his environment than the interlopers, rather than a luckless stuntman struggling in a comical rubber suit. Instead of the hilariously whitebread science team, we have one survivor, changed by those events and the decades since, still looking for the monster that scarred him, then getting tangled up with narcos and a journalist hunting a serial killer. Which, sure, is a new angle, all uneasy alliances and hunters hunted, but when you've got writers of the calibre of Dan Watters* and Ram V, I do expect a little more of a twist than the four-way stalk, slash'n'shoot this ends up as, or the 'who is the real monster, aaaah?' theme (it's the serial killer, the gangs and the people burning the Amazon, obviously. But he's not even a particularly novel serial killer).

*If you think that's nominative determinism on a book about a lagoon, the designer is Jillian Crab.

[Austin Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

My only real complaint about this, the Dracula series, and will probably have with the upcoming Frankenstein series is that 4 issues isn’t long enough.

[Max · Rating 2 out of 5]

This started reasonably well and then tripped and fell flat on it's face about three quarters of the way through when it just had to throw in one too many horror twists. The idea of making a comic sequel to Creature from the Black Lagoon is fun, and I don't really mind that it's clearly ignoring the existing film sequels since I suspect most people don't know about them. But the problem is that by the end of the comic it never really felt like this needed to feature the Gillman.

The story opens with a good premise. An American reporter has come to the Amazon trying to track down a serial killer who drowns his victims and who failed to kill her in a previous encounter. When she falls in a river and is saved by the Creature, it seems like the story is setting up a classic "humans are the real monsters" narrative where the conventionally attractive white dude is contrasted with the ugly fish monster. And there's even a thing early in the story where the protagonist at first thinks the Gillman is a hallucination caused by her previous drowning. If things had stayed in this vein for the whole story it wouldn't have been the most original thing ever but I would've enjoyed it well enough. Especially with a fun cameo from one of the scientists from the original film, still obsessed with capturing the creature.

But the problem comes when everything is ruined by just one reveal and one splash page. See, when the story starts what we know of the serial killer is he likes to kill by drowning people, and we come to learn he likes to specifically drown women and watch the light go out of their eyes. All typical creepy serial killer stuff. But the book isn't content with this and must instead attempt to put a hat on a hat by revealing the man is obsessed with the Gillman and has come to South America to be near it. In fact he's been taking shed pieces of the Gillman and surgically grafting them onto his own body, leading to a splash page that reveals the frankly ridiculous sight of this mutilated guy declaring in all caps that he is the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

And look, I don't totally hate the idea of somebody mutating into a fish monster in general. You know I like Shadow Over Innsmouth and the riffs on it. And I think in theory inverting the thing from the film Creature sequels where the Creature is burned and becomes more like a human by having a human become more like a fishman isn't a terrible idea. But having it be that some guy is just sewing random crap onto his body is deeply stupid and it feels like having the villain disfigure himself in this way really undercuts any possibility of an interesting contrast between him and the real Creature. Plus he gets taken down pretty easily so none of this dumbass nonsense really mattered anyway.

The idea of doing comics reviving the Universal Monster is pretty cool. And having one of the early ones use the Creature makes perfect sense, because he doesn't have the same sort of public domain origins that make it easy for anybody to do their own Frankenstein or Dracula story. I just wish that this classic movie monster had been served by a less deeply stupid story. Here's hoping the Dracula volume is better.

[RubiGiráldez RubiGiráldez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tras el Dracula de James Tynion IV y Martin Simmonds. La segunda entrega de esta serie comiquera reinterpretando los Monstruos Clásicos de la Universal Pictures, se sumerge junto a la criatura que justamente "finiquitó" aquella colección de películas. La Criatura de la Laguna Negra (Gill-Man para los amigos) se adscribía a una nueva hornada de cine de terror donde las criaturas se ligaban a trasfondos más asentados en la ciencia ficción y la aventura y la acción se imponían al misterio y suspense en la producción más consecutiva de la Serie B.

Dan Watters y Ram V, a diferencia del Dracula de Tynion IV y Simmonds, se atreven a hacer algo más que reesignificar el film original. Proponiendo una verdadera secuela del film de 1954 (incluyendo hasta personajes de la película), décadas después de la historia de esa expedición al reino fluvial de la criatura antediluviana anfibia. El lugar ahora está amenazado por intereses humanos de empresas madereras o de carteles del narcotráfico. En este ambiente se interna una periodista detrás de un asesino en serie fugado de Estados Unidos a ese paraje salvaje. Pudiendo haber sido una de las víctimas del maníaco, la mujer lidia además del trauma a ese ataque, con ciertas consecuencias físicas del intento de ahogamiento. Lo cual no espera que la conecte de una forma algo más torcida que en la película original, con la criatura de la Laguna Negra. Quien, por supuesto, aquí dista mucho de ser el monstruo por definición de la historia.

¡La criatura de la Laguna Negra vive! se presenta como un thriller del que sí que se llega a establecer un despliegue de terror más monstruoso con cierta gustosa idea que queda más como "shock value" que esa posible gran idea temática de Watters y Ram V que indagase de forma más enfermiza en esa poderosa constatación de la película dirigida por Jack Arnold y escrita por Harry Essex y Arthur A. Ross en torno a que el Gill-Man es el eslabón perdido más impensable entre una civilización primigenia y la humanidad. El mentado Gill-Man, vuelve a rondar por cualquier parte de la selva con más desconfianza y recelo que rabia monstruosa. Aunque por supuesto que el dibujante
Matthew Roberts tiene oportunidad de hacerle sacar más garras y dientes que en la película. Pero manteniendo a raya su definición como ser más defensivo que ofensivo e incomprendido en su rol de solitario guardián de ese reino natural (de lo cual se deja totalmente en el aire esos detalles de amenaza ecológica).

¡La criatura de la Laguna Negra vive! puede que aunque muestra más "arrojo" creativo que Dracula al continuar la historia conocida. Se vea más preocupantemente limitada en su batería de ideas argumentales en la extensión miniserie de 5 números que también está más implicada en buscar lo escabroso de una historia de asesinos en serie y narcotraficantes. Que en recordar el tener que aupar al Monstruo Clásico como no está haciendo el audiovisual.

Sigue siendo una lectura obligatoria (o cuanto menos una divertida) para el fan de estos mitos del terror.

[Timothy Grubbs · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmmm…whatever…it’s complicated…

Universal Monsters: Creature From the Black Lagoon Lives! by Dan Watters and R. A. M. RAM V. Is meant as a comic book sequel to the original Creature from the black lagoon…

Set thirty years after the film, the story follows a young reporter investigating South American narco soldiers and a crazed scientist convinced that the serial killer she is tracking is actually the same monster that nearly killed him (and had na unnatural interest in a woman with his group).

So to be clear, the main element of the old movie is one of the scientists, Dr. Edwin Thompson, who has remained investigating South America for evidence that the Creature exists. In case you don’t know the name, he was the least important member of the group (also he had a pipe) who was also badly injured by the Creature. After the attack he was bandaged up and barely active, and the injuries apparently still show based on the art.

Anyway, most of the story deals with the crazy serial killer training Narcos and the reporter trying to expose him…meanwhile there’s also the creature that is still very much alive…

I was expecting way more Creature, and I feel this did a disservice to him…

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good monster story always has something interesting to say about the human condition, which is exactly what Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives! does. This is a story about how traumatic experiences change us, for good or ill, and the ever-present 'the monster is inside us the whole time'.

Given that the Creature can't talk, it plays more of a passive role in the proceedings while we focus more on Kate Marsden, a journalist trying to track down a serial killer who attempted to add her to his list of victims way back when. It's a brisk story at only four issues, but I very much enjoyed it.

The artwork is from Matthew Roberts, whose work I've seen most recently when I binged Manifest Destiny, and it's just as clear and colourful as it was back then. His Creature shines, and there are a few splash pages that are really quite haunting as well.