Basement Sewer

Universal Monsters: The Phantom of the Opera #1

Writer: Tyler Boss, Artist: Martin Simmonds, Letterer: Becca Carey

Been liking the Universal Monsters line of comics that have been coming out, although notably they are mostly based on the Universal Monster movies specifically rather than the original source material (albeit with some changes brought about from a 2020s perspective, such as the Mummy book leaning more heavily into what it would have been like for the protagonist to be a English/Egyptian young person in 1930s Cairo, for example, a detail which is kind of glossed over in both the original 1930s movie and even the Brendan Fraser movies in all honestly in regards to Evie and her brother, or elements transplanted from the source in the case of James Tynion IV's Invisible Man in regards to Griffin's personality, experimentations etc.).

This comic, while a very well done Phantom of the Opera comic, for example, is actually based on the 1943 film rather than the Lon Chaney movie (which was largely accurate to the book to a greater or lesser degree). So the Phantom here was a guy who was disfigured and is on a revenge plot, rather than someone who was born looking a certain way who ended up "like that" due to a lifetime of mistreatment from other people.

Personally I tend to like versions of the Phantom who were more the latter than the former as that was more in the spirit of the book (ie the author Gaston Leroux pointing out that Erik, the Phantom, could have been a benefit to humanity as an artist and engineer if folks' prejudice against him hadn't made him murderously misanthropic, which is a surprisingly nuanced take for a story written in the 1910s) than him just being some dude who lived a regular life until he was in a fire or burned with acid or something. Kind of feel like the "dude who was injured" origin kind of removes a kind of societal accountability for the Phantom's actions, while having him wronged by someone/people with more mundane money-based motivations kind of let's the audience off the hook in that regard.

Oddly having Raoul in the detective role in this story somehow makes him more tolerable than he was in the book, where it seemed even Leroux seemed to think that he was an insufferable posh git. ACAB and all, but at least so far he's not tried to gaslight Christine when she tells him something's up nor using the Paris Opera as a place to pick up a new "mistress" as was the style of the time by posh men in Paris who used places like the ballet corps' rehearsal space as a kind of menu for which young woman they'd like to have sex with in exchange for financial backing. Thus the implication by Leroux (who as a journalist who covered the opera was aware of the subculture of sexual exploitation going on behind the scenes) when book!Raoul here's an older man in Christine's dressing room is she's taken part of this subculture, leading him to get very victimblamey until he hears her talking about a ghost... and then shifts to calling her delusional instead.

masquerade the orchestral score

[click here to view/download]

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notes: tracked audio of full album in both MP3 and WAV format. ripped from the vinyl. enjoy<3

The other day I decided to do photo editing and make a kind of "collage".

I hope you like it!

Have a nice time of day! ⸜(⸝⸝⸝´꒳`⸝⸝⸝)⸝💜

Cherik but it’s the 1995 Darcy lake scene, requested by @ravens-repine

Honestly this scene is perfect for him. (I mean in like, build/hair and such) I too love my men sopping wet.

I do not feel normal about simon gleeson raoul. pathetic loser man.

bonus: modern au rerik 😭

but ☝️ the one downside to that production is that i cannot stand roaul in it. idk if it was the actor or the director coming through, but roaul seems angry and and arrogant commanding, and even a little rough with christine and to me it completely defeats the purpose of raoul because the phantom is already all of those things, and raoul is supposed to be a genuine safe harbor for christine.

in my ☝️ opinion, raoul should always be played absolutely besotted, barely able to breathe at the sight of christine and even less able to believe she chose him. every line he sings should be in gentle pleading. ESPECIALLY 🗣️ "christine, christine don't think that i don't care, but every hope and every prayer rests on you now."

that part is pivotal bc he's asking her to do something impossibly dangerous to free herself and save everyone else. he needs to be begging and comforting her.

and well, i don't like how the royal albert hall raoul talks to her. i'm like SIT down and be quieter or LEAVE.

November 16, 2025 7:45 PM (Pulse 4)

Nik Walker (Phantom), Kaley Ann Voorhees (Christine), Nicholas Edwards (Raoul), Jeremy Stolle (Firmin), Matthew Curiano (Andre), Betsy Morgan (Carlotta), Maree Johnson (Madame Giry), Phumzile Sojola (Piangi), Tia Karaplis (Meg), Cooper Stanton (Buquet), Chris Ryan (Barker), Maxfield Haynes (Boy in the Cage), Thierry DeLucas (Violinist)

My master. Tracked and untracked. Some parts are clearer than others depending on where I was placed in the room or whether I was sitting/standing. More detailed review of the performance here.