Vampirella 2

Bill Hughes provides the cover for this issue of Vampirella, dated November 1969. Tom Sutton provides the story and art for the frontispiece "Vampi's Feary Tales".

First is "Evily" by Jerry Grandenetti (art) and Bill Parente (story). Evily is a sorceress who is Vampirella's cousin, living in a castle in the Black Forest of Vaalgania. She invites a number of guests to her castle for a party who are revealed to be monsters. She also brings back a number of people to the dead from her basement. The monsters bring her a cloaked figure which ends up being Vampirella in a cameo role. Vampirella demands Evily's throne and a spell of Evily is bounced back at her by her mirror, turning her into a cat. Some good art by Grandenetti, but a rather weak start to the issue.

Next is "Montezuma's Monster" by Tony Williamsune (art) and Don Glut (story). A trio of men head to Mexico to search for Montezuma's treasure. They eventually find it in a cave where they also find some mummified corpses and a drawing of Quetzalcoatl, a flying serprent that is said can turn any winged thing into itself. The men take the treasure and start heading back to the U.S. Along the way a buzzard turns into Quetzalcoatl and kills one of the men. The other men try to kill any bird they find along the way to prevent it from happening again. One of them plots to kill the other, but is killed by Quetzalcoatl, who had transformed from a mosquito, at the last second. The final man gets back to civilization and thinks he's made it back safely at the airport, but the airplane turns into Quetzalcoatl and kills him.

Third is "Down to Earth!", this issue's Vampirella story, by Mike Royer (art) and Forrest Ackerman (story). This story is notable for being the only instance where an issue had a Vampirella story but it did not lead off the issue. The story also features Vampirella's twin sister Draculina, in her sole appearance, who acts as host. This story features Vampirella trying out for a Monsterella contest at the Warren offices where she is selected the winner by James Warren and Forrest Ackerman, giving her the name Bambi Aurora. Traveling on a plane to Hollywood, a bolt of lightning strikes it, blowing it up. An absolutely horrific story with a ridiculous ending, this is probably the worst Vampirella story of all time. Thankfully this would be the last time Royer or Ackerman did a Vampirella story and she wouldn't start in a story again until issue 8.

Fourth is "Queen of Horror!" by Dick Piscopo (art) and Don Glut (story). Similar themed to the previous story, it is about a monster movie director, Katzman who is looking for a new hot theme since his movies haven't done well lately. His assistant, with the help of a "Gorry Hackerman" (an obvious nod to Forrest Ackerman) comes up with the idea of having a female monster. Their actress is found in a bar, a woman named Mildred who is soon renamed to Adriana. Adriana does very well in a series of hit monster movies. One night Katzman invites her to his home, telling her he is in love with her. Adriana tells him no man could be happy with her and reveals that she actually is a monster, transforming into a werewolf who kills him. Adriana looks enough like Vampirella that I half expected it to end up being her while reading the story.

Next is "The Octopus" by William Barry (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). A man named Gary is invited to his brother Carl's home along with his two children where he is shown a large octopus in the well. Carl brings Gary underwater with him to investigate where he kills him in order to get his inheritance. He later tries to kill Gary's children by pushing them into the well but falls in when they move out of the way and is killed by the Octopus. Carl later returns in Octopus form to kill the children but is killed by the corpse of Gary, who has returned to protect his childen.

Sixth is "One, Two, Three" by Ernie Colon (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). A pair of androids, Kleet and Lia are brought in front of a trio of robot judges, on trial for showing emotion. Flashbacks show how they got to this point, with Lia reading fairy tales to the children she takes care of. She becomes obsessed with being rescued by a hero and is thrown out of her master's home when a man comes to the door and she asks him to take her with him. She is pursued by robot searchers and is found by Kleet when she is found playing with flowers in a field. Kleet brings her to an abandoned post but they are eventually caught and brought before the judges. The two are found guilty and brought out to a home in the desert. They are destroyed soon after however when it is revealed that the home is on a nuclear bomb testing site.

The issue concludes with "Rhapsody in Red!" by Billy Graham (art) and Don Glut (story). A husband and wife are caught in a big rainstorm in Transylvania and come across a large castle. Inside the castle they meet the mysterious Countess Margat Sinovitz who lets them stay there. The two of them suspect the Countess is a vampire due to the lack of electricity and mirrors in the castle as well as her strong, bat-like hearing. She attacks the husband, turning him into a vampire. She wants him to become her husband but he instead bites his wife, making her a vampire as well and kills the Countess with a sword.

Vampirella 4

Today I'm covering issue 4 of Vampirella, published in April 1970 (the same month as yesterday's Creepy 32). The cover is a collaberative effort from Vaughn Bode and Jeff Jones. Tom Sutton provides the story and art for the frontispiece "Vampi's Feary Tales: Burned at the Stake!". As with many early issues of Vampirella, this issue doesn't feature a Vampirella
story, although she hosts each of the individual stories within.

First is "Forgotten Kingdom" by Ernie Colon (art, credited as David St. Clair) and Bill Parente (story). A woman finds an astronaut from a spaceship that lands on her planet. She brings him to their leader, who tells him that all men on their planet have died and that they need him to help restore their civilization. He refuses, and with the help of the woman that found him they escape. He brings her to his spaceship and they leave the planet. He soon reveals however that it is the exact opposite on his world, that there are no women, and he has similar plans for her as they had for him.

Second is "Closer than Sisters" by Mike Royer (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). A young girl, Olivegard, is staying with her aunt and uncle after her parents were killed in a car crash. The aunt and uncle hire a new governess, June, to take care of her, and wonder if she is Olivegard's long lost older sister. The two want to kill Olivegard so they can get her inheritance. The aunt tries to do so but is killed at the beach. The uncle plans to kill both Olivegard and June and digs a pair of graves at the beach for them. They get the better of him however and bury him up to his head in the sand, which results in him drowning. June reveals that she is not Olivegard's sister, but rather the future version of Olivegard, come back in the past to get revenge. As the story ends however it is revealed that these are actually the delusions of the present day Olivegard who has gone insane after murdering her aunt and uncle. The death of the uncle in this story is very reminiscent of a sequence from the movie Creepshow, making me wonder if this was inspiration for that part of the movie.

Third is "Moonshine!" by William Barry (art) and Don Glut (story). A salesman from the city has a flat tire in the Ozarks where he is told off by a pair of locals. The salesman is enamored with their attractive sister. While driving he comes across a black cat who hypnotizes him and he follows it, finding the sister. She convinces him to stay with her and become one of them, feeding him some moonshine. The moonshine transforms him into a monster, making him like her and her brothers who are a witch and warlocks.

Next is "For the Love of Frankenstein!" by Jack Sparling (art) and Bill Warren (story). Dr. Hedvig Krolleck, a descendent of Dr. Frankenstein continues his experiments with the help of her hunchbacked assistant, Eric. Eric is in love with her which is the only reason he continues to assist her. Eventually they succeed in their experiments, but a new brain is needed for the body. Eric has a change of heart and destroys it, so Hedvig kills him and uses his brain. In his new body, Eric kills her in revenge then blows up the entire laboratory.

Fifth is "Come into my Parlor!" by Dick Piscopo (art) and R. Michael Rosen (Story). A man is impressed by a daredevil at a circus, Miss Arachna. He convinces her to see him and wants to start a relationship, but she tries to avoid it. Eventually she submits to him and reveals that she has spider hands from an experiment on spiders she performed in the past and used herself as a test subject for. He wants to marry her and she tries to say no but gives in. When they move into their new home she reveals that she has taken on the mating habits of spiders as well and devours him.

The issue concludes with "Run for your Wife!" by Jack Sparling (art), Richard Carnell and Jack Erman (story). A mysterious Count Tsarov invites seven couples who his castle in Slovania. There, Tsavarov is revealed to be a woman in disguise and has the husbands killed by vicious dogs, snakes, aligators, ants and other creatures. One of the wives is revealed to be a man who is part of 'Investigators International' however and kills the count.

Creepy 32

Frank Frazetta provides the cover to this issue of Creepy, which is dated April 1970. This issue is the first since issue 17 to feature entirely new stories. Tom Sutton provides the art and story for this issue's "Creepy's Loathsome Lore", titled "Androids".

The issue begins with "Rock God". This story was inspired by the Frank Frazetta cover. Per the introductory page to the story, Harlan Ellison was loking to write a story for Warren based on a Frank Frazetta cover and this story was the result. Neal Adams provides the artwork. This was Ellison's first and only story for Warren, and he would later be involved in a lawsuit against Warren when one of his stories was plagirized in 1984. At 13 pages this story is far longer than most Warren stories of this era and at the time only another Neal Adams drawn story from Creepy 15 had been longer. The beginning of the story features the summoning of the Rock God "Dis" who has left various stones each time he was summoned. This time the stone he left was stolen and passed down through the years, ultimately ending up in a skyscraper in present times that was built using substandard materials to enrich several corrupt men. One of the men attacks his lover when she says she is going to leave him and she falls out of the skyscraper to her death, resulting in the summoning of Dis. A so-so story, although Adams' art is quite good.

Next is "Death is a Lonely Place" by Bill Black (art) and Bill Warren (story). This story stars a vampire named Miklos Sokolos. The first half of the story shows his life as a vampire, living in a tomb and showing both how he became a vampire and how he finds his victims. Miklos meets a woman named Gwen at the movie theater to whom he becomes romantically involved. He refuses to drink her blood and refuses to marry her because of being a vampire. He eventually decides he will turn her into a vampire so they can marry, but has second thoughts when he considers how she will have to attack others for their blood. He instead leaves her note that lies about him being married and decides to commit suicide by dragging his coffin into the sunlight of the graveyard where he sleeps.

Third is "I... Executioner" by Mike Royer (art) and Don Glut (story). A newspaper reporter watches an execution take place and is interested by the calm manner in which the Executioner does his job. He requests an interview with the Executioner and is granted it. The Executioner tells him the role of executioners throughout time and claims he was present for them. This confuses the reporter until the Executioner removes his hood, revealing him to be Death himself. As the story ends it is revealed that the reporter has passed away of a cough he had and that his story will never be read.

Next is "A Wall of Privacy" by Ernie Colon (art, credited as David St. Clair) and Nicola Cuti (story). This story is hosted by Cousin Eerie so it was likely originally meant for an issue of Eerie. The story stars a man named Dannon with telepathic powers who lives in a 1984-esque future where everything he does is watched by cameras operated by the government. He desires to escape to a place known as the free zone where the cameras don't operate. He meets a woman who has telepathic powers as well and they plot to destroy a power plant which will enable them to escape to the free zone. The night comes when they destroy the power plant and all of Dannon's colleagues, including the women are killed. He is able to escape to the free zone, only to find that it is only 5 feet wide! I really enjoyed the ending to this one.

Next is "V.A.M.P.I.R.E." by Tony Williamsune (art) and Bill Warren (story). A giant computer called S.A.L.O. is being created which will require a fluid to run. One of the doctors on the project, Dr. Vindemuk determines that blood would be the best fluid to use but is fired by the head of the project when he suggests it. Vindemuk kills him and uses his blood to feed to the computer, which renames itself V.A.M.P.I.R.E. The computer demands more and more blood, which Vindemuk kills people to provide. He is put into a hypnotic trance when he refuses to do it anymore. Eventually the computer, which has now developed hands and legs releases Vandemuk from the hypnosis and kills him when he tries to shut off the computer's power. The computer tries to get up and walk away but this results in pulling its plug out of the wall and it dies from a lack of energy. A rather goofy ending for this story.

"Movie Dissector" is the sixth story and is notable for having the first appearance of Bill Dubay in a Warren magazine, where he provides the artwork. R. Michael Rosen provides the story. Two friends are dissappointed in a horror movie so they decide to make their own. The boys fight over parts of it and break off on their own, each creating their own movie. When the movies are finished, they show the movies in one of the boy's garages. A number of boys come by to be the audience. The audience enjoys the first movie because it shows respect to the monsters, but dislike the second movie because it doesn't. The audience reveals themselves to be monsters and attack the director of the second movie.

The issue concludes with "The 3:14 is Right on Time" by Billy Graham (art) and Ken Dixon (story). This story features an old man who bought a train car when he was younger and finds passengers by killing people and putting their corpses in the seat. In the story he kills his final victim and drives the train car, which stops at the cemetary. Nearby he finds a trolley station where death is waiting for him.

Creepy 22

Tom Sutton provides the cover for this issue of Creepy, from August 1968. As with all issues from this era of Warren, this issue has a few reprinted stories. Its a so-so issue at best, with multiple themes repeated in the stories, giving us not a lot of variety.

The issue starts with "Home is Where" by Pat Boyette (art) and Ron Parker (story). This story features a pair of thieves who break into a curio shop. They find a set of stairs that leads to the basement and head down there where they are pursued by various monsters and beasts including snakes, crocodiles, vampires, ghouls, zombies and others. They are eventually found by the police, having been driven insane by their experience. It is revealed at the end of the story that they had broken into Uncle Creepy's home. This story is practically an exact copy of the story "When the Cat's Away" from the EC comic Vault of Horror #34 which features a pair of thieves breaking into the Crypt Keeper's home.

Next is "Monster Rally" by Angelo Torres (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). This story was originally published in Creepy #4. A mad scientist assembles a large group of monsters, all in order to find a formula that will give him eternal life. Eventually a town mob attacks him when one of his monsters, a vampire, escapes and attacks the town. The scientist frees his monsters, who kill him rather than attack the mob. The entire castle burns to the ground. There is only one survivor, a small baby... Uncle Creepy!

Third is the cover story "No Fair!" by Tom Sutton (art) and Bill Parente (story). A group of young boys follow the night watchman in a cemetary and it is revealed that he is bringing bodies to a vampire that lives in a mausoleum. The boys ask around about how to kill a vampire, then head to the cemetary where they kill the night watchman and drive a stake into the vampire's heart, killing him as well. As the story ends it is revealed that all the boys are ghouls and they killed the vampire to prevent him from taking further bodies that they could instead have for themselves.

Fourth is "Strange Expedition" by Ernie Colon (art) and Bill Parente (story). A group of 5 astronauts head to the moon and upon landing due to necessary repairs on their craft find plant life growing, despite the lack of oxygen. A few of the men go exploring but one is found torn to bits after the men split up. Two more of the men face similar fates after heading outside on their own. The repairs to the ship are completed and one of the last 2 remaining men reveals to the other that the plant they found is wolfsbane and transforms into a werewolf, killing the other man.

Next is "The Judge's House" by Reed Crandall (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), originally published in Creepy 5. This is an adaption of a Bram Stoker story. A man moves into a house that was owned by an evil judge. As the nights pass he finds a number of rats inhabiting the house with him. Eventually the ghost of the judge himself appears from out of a portrait in the house and kills him.

The issue concludes with "Perfect Match" by Sal Trapani (art) and Ron Parker (story). This story features a woman who runs a computer dating scam where she finds people their 'perfect match'. She finds that her latest customer is a wealthy man and plans to scam him through several women before taking him for herself. When he immediately returns to her claiming the woman she set him up with was a perfect match and is going to marry her, she tries to blackmail him with a contract he signed but he reveals that both him and his fiance are vampires and they kill her.

Eerie 15

My first issue coverage in a while, featuring an issue I've recently been able to acquire. This issue came out shortly after Warren's first collapse at the end of 1967 and features approximately a third reprinted material and two thirds new material. The cover by Vic Prezio is an okay one, but quite unscary.

First is "The Graves of Oconoco" by Pat Boyette & Rocco Mastroserio (art) and John Benson (story). A pair of friends, Frank and Mitchell work in Brazil near a gravesite. Mitchell is a scientist working on making edible material from soil while Frank is an archeologist, who discovers a crypt of dead warriors and a wolf. Mitchell's work on the soil finally is successful but ends up bringing the wolf back to life, which Mitchell klls. Yet it wasn't Mitchell's work that actually brought it back to life, as all the corpses from the crypt soon spring to life themselves.

Second is "Wardrobe of Monsters" by Gray Morrow (art) and Otto Binder (story). For some unknown reason Angelo Torres, who is uncredited on the story (but included in the table of contents page) handles the final page. This story is a reprint from Creepy #2. Five men find a number of sacrophoguses in a pharoah's Egyptian tomb that house various monsters including a vampire, wolf man, devil and Frankenstein monster. One of the men, a translator finds the ability to transfer himself into these monsters. He does so, killing his various partners in monster form so he can get all the credit. He also destroys the mummy of the pharoah, fearing that he also has the ability to transfer into the bodies. However when he occupies a monster to kill his last partner, the pharoah's spirit, released by the destruction of his physical body, seizes the man's own body, trapping him in monster form for good.

Third is "The Demon Wakes" by Tony Williamsune (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). The story by Goodwin was likely left over from when Goodwin departed Warren, as this issue was printed over 6 months after he departed Warren. In the prologue we meet Harry Willet, an accountant entering a bar. The majority of the story features a bizarre monster, Moloch, who awakens chained up in a pit. Moloch breaks free of his chains and climbs out of the pit, killing the guards and breaking free. In real life Harry goes crazy and kills three people before being killed himself. Moloch apparantaly was a representation of the evil within Harry getting out.

"Under the Skin" is next, with art by Joe Orlando and Jerry Grandenetti (who is uncredited) and story by Goodwin. This story was originally printed in Eerie #3. An unsuccesful actor envies another actor whose able to get great roles due to his horrific makeup. By murdering the actor and stealing his technique, he is able to get a great role, but is unable to take off the makeup when he's done. It ends up that he hallucinated the whole thing, and ends up tearing all the skin off his face. Another really good story; its a shame Grandenetti got no credit as he appears to have a lot more influence in the art that Orlando did.

Fifth is the cover story, "The Doll Collector" by Gutenberg Montiero (art) and Dave Kahler (story). A gold digging woman has a vast collection of dolls. She heads to a theater with her latest lover who uses a number of "living" dolls in his act. She demands that the owner sell her one but he refuses. That night she tries to steal one but is attacked by the dolls. She is then shrunk and forced to become a doll-like participant in the show herself.

Last is "A Change in the Moon!" by Jeff Jones (art) and Clark Dimond (story). This story takes place in the late 1800's. A man tries to drown his wife by knocking her off a boat, only for her to be saved by a bizarre bald man. The two return to land, where it is explained that the wife was attacked by a wolf. The husband visits an occultist to see if something can be done for a werewolf, and all she can provide him with is silver bullets. He tries to kill his wife again by pushing her into a train but the bald man appears again to save her. The two confrotnt the husband on the roof and the bald man is revealed to be a werewolf himself. The husband kills him, but finds he can't shoot his wife, now in wolf form, so he lets her attack him such that they'll both be wolves on the next full moon.

Warren Swipes

I've got more articles in the works for this blog, but having recently bought a scanner I can finally start up a feature I've been meaning to start on this blog for a while, highlighting some of the numerous artist swipes that can be found in Warren's magazines throughout the years.

This feature will contain a variety of different types of swipes, including swipes from Warren and non-Warren sources. I figured I'd start off with a few from some notable non-Warren sources. Note that the original appears on the left, and the swipe appears on the right.

2001/Stairway to Heaven

Fernando Fernandez is one of my personal favorite Warren artists, and I very rarely see any swipes in his Warren work. That said, he has arguably the most notable and easiest to find one of all, at least for me. "Stairway to Heaven" (Vampirella 29) features arguably his best art job for Warren, but also includes this very obvious swipe of Dave Bowman from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.



The Cave of the Storm Nymphs/The Wolves at Wars End/

This next one was brought to my attention by a commentor in a previous post from July. Luis Garcia is my personal favorite of the Warren artists and would be at times swiped himself (in particular Vicente Alcazar, as will be referenced in a future post) but here's an instance of him using Edward John Poyner's The Cave of the Storm Nymphs from what is probably his single best story, "The Wolves at Wars End" (Vampirella 43, originally published in the French magazine Pilote under the title "The Winter of the Last Combat").



Les Naufrages du Temps/Scourge of the Spaceways

Esteban Maroto's "Scourge of the Spaceways" (1984 #2) is one of my most favorite Warren art jobs, particularly due to the extremely surrealistic nature of the artwork. That said, the story contains at least 2 swipes (if not more, as Maroto probably used swipes more than any other Warren artist and it showed particularly in his 1984 stories). This first is taken from the french comic "Les Naufrages du Temps", drawn by Paul Gillon. This comic was later reprinted in Eerie #129 under the title "Spacewrecked", although it was originally drawn in the 1960s.



My World/Scourge of the Spaceways

This second swipe from "Scourge of the Spaceways" comes from "My World", a Wally Wood story from Weird Science #22, which was published by EC comics in the 1950s. This is arguably Wood's most famous story for EC, and it was very obvious where it came from the first time I read this story.




This is it for now, but I already have plenty of others ready for future posts. Please feel free to point out any you've found in the comments!

The Various Sources for Warren Publishing

After another extended absence I'm happy to return with another article on Warren, this time on the various instances in the Company's history where they drew upon outside sources for stories. This article focuses on already produced material, and does not discuss stories that were simply adaptations, such as the various Edgar Allen Poe stories that appeared along the years. Three primary references utilized for this article are the Warren Companion by Jon Cooke and David Roach, Gathering Horror by David Horne and Richard Arndt's Warren bibliography from Enjorals World.

Warren's magazines drew source material from many different external outlets over the years, and this article highlights many of such instances. The reasons for drawing on outside material to fill the contents of Warren's magazines varies at times, but it typically occurred in those periods of time where finances were running low and it became necessary to draw on some other outlets to ensure that magazines had sufficient material to be published.

The first such instance where Warren drew on outside material occurred during the first down period of Warren, in 1968. At the time, Warren faced the crippling blow of the loss of editor/main writer Archie Goodwin, as well as the vast majority of all freelance artists who worked for the company due to a reduction in funds to pay such contributors. In order to bide time until the company could get back on its feet, Warren started using a number of reprinted stories from the first 17 issues of Creepy and first 12 issues of Eerie. Warren also reprinted the entire contents of Christopher Lee's Treasury of Terror, a book published in 1966. Each of the stories in this book, which were done in comic form, was based on stories by well known writers such as H.P Lovecraft, Bram Stoker and Ambrose Bierce. The five stories, including the Warren issue that they appeared in, are as follows: Creepy #19 - The Mark of the Beast!; Eerie #12 - The Past Master; Eerie #13 - Wentworth's Day; Eerie #16 - Dracula's Guest; and Eerie #17 - The Death of Halpin Frayser. Surprisingly enough, the editor of the book was Russ Jones, the original editor for Creepy, who had a falling out with Warren and had left the company several years earlier, and any involvement he had with these stories was left out entirely when they appeared in the Warren magazines. A sixth story, which was intended for a second, never published volume of the book, "Carmilla", also appeared in Creepy #19.

Following the usage of these stories, the usage of outside source material for Warren ceased for the next few years. Starting in 1971, when Warren began a relationship with Josep Toutain's Spanish artist agency, Selecciones Illustrada, it resulted in not only the addition of a great many Spanish artists to the Warren line for new stories, but also started the beginning of the usage of many stories by these artists that appeared originally elsewhere. The most notable example of this in these first few years of their involvement with Warren was the inclusion of two series by Esteban Maroto, “Dax the Warrior” and “Tomb of the Gods”. Dax the Warrior originally appeared in Spain under the name "Manly el Guerrero". Dax first appeared in his self named story "Dax the Warrior" in Eerie #39, and had an appearance in every non-reprint issue of Eerie through issue 52, marking 12 total appearances. Each of the original Dax stories had been written by Esteban Maroto but were translated and rewritten by various Warren writers who were never credited. The majority of the Dax stories were later compiled and rewritten as "Dax the Damned" in Eerie #59, the 1975 Eerie Yearbook. "Tomb of the Gods" had originally been published in Spain and was featured in five straight non-reprint issues of Vampirella starting with issue 17. Similar to Dax, these stories had also been rewritten and rearranged at times; for example the stories "Gender Bender" from issue 20 and "Orpheus" from issue 22 feature a page of identical artwork although the written content is different. "Tomb of the Gods" was rather unpopular compared to Dax and there may have been other segments that never appeared in the Warren magazines.

“Dracula”, a magazine originally published in Spain by Buru Lan, and in England by New English Library, was probably most notable for the "Dracula Book 1" that was featured heavily in advertisements for Warren for many years following the joining of the Spanish artists at Warren. Esteban Maroto and Jose Bea were two of the principal artists of this publication and each had a story from it published in the main Warren magazines. "The Viyi", written and drawn by Esteban Maroto is notable for being the first full color story published in Warren's horror magazines and was featured simultaneously in Creepy #51 and Vampirella #22. Surprisingly enough it took Warren quite a bit of time to be able to match the color quality appearing in this story after they started using color on their own original stories a few issues later. "Invasion", drawn by Bea and written by Maroto appeared in 1976 in Eerie #75, this time with the color removed. Surprisingly enough Warren also used the final panel of the story as the central part of the pink colored cover to the issue, resulting in one of the most bizarre looking Warren covers of all time.

The next notable outside material that Warren utilized was five stories from the French Magazine "Pilote" that were written by Victor Mora and drawn by Luis Garcia (with collaboration in one instance by Carlos Giminez). The first such story appeared in Vampirella #42, with one additional story appearing in each non-reprint issue through #47. As with the earlier Dax and Tomb of the Gods stories, each of these stories were rewritten or rearranged in some form, including at times, the moving of pages from one story to another, removing of panels or the addition of color. Unfortunately this resulted in the dropping of writing credits from the story entirely for Victor Mora for some of the stories. I've written about these stories in my earlier article on Luis Garcia and found each to be very strong and a highlight of Warren publishing, it’s just unfortunate that they didn't include more of them, as Mora and Garcia later had additional collaborations that never saw print in a Warren magazine. These five stories included the following: Vampirella #42 - Around the Corner… …Just Beyond Eternity!; Vampirella #43 - The Wolves At War's End; Vampirella #44 - Love Strip; Vampirella #45 - Janis!; and Vampirella #47 - The Secret Legacy of Gaslight Lil!

"Tales of Peter Hypnos", a short lived series that appeared in Eerie #72, 73 and 76 also had outside origins and was originally produced by Jose Bea as part of a larger series of at least 7 stories. The first story in the series had originally appeared in Spain in the Spirit, and the entire series had been printed in a single compilation in Australia in 1976 as well. As with the previously discussed stories, this appears to be another set of stories that was largely rewritten, although Jose Bea was the only one credited.

There were various one-shot usages of source materials through the mid to late 1970s in the Warren magazines. "Now You See It" in Creepy #83 featured the return of Al Williamson to Warren after an absence of nearly 10 years, but it wasn't due to a commissioned story, as the story was originally intended for the magazine Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction that had been cancelled by Marvel before it could see publication. "Warmonger of Mars" by Ralph Reese (art) and Wally Wood (story) appeared a few issues later in the all Mars issue of Creepy #87, but was apparently originally intended for an underground comic. "Scheherazade" by Esteban Maroto, the color story in Vampirella #72 was supposed to be the first part of a series, "Thousand and One Nights" as published in Cuando el Comic es Arte: Esteban Maroto in Spain, but this was the only story of the series to see print, at least in the Warren magazines.

Jose Gonzalez was most notably Warren's Vampirella artist and was featured almost exclusively on her stories. He did have a 3 part non-Vampirella story, "Herma", although the story was originally published in Spain in 1974 in Cuando El Comic es Arte: Pepe Gonzalez". All 3 of the stories were rewritten by Bill Dubay and resized to fit the magazine format. Leo Duranona had a trio of stories under the title "Fallen Angels" appear in Eerie #96 as well as an additional story titled "A Nightmare for Mrs. Agatha" in Vampirella #72 that appear to have been originally published in South America, with a 1976 date and Guillermo Saccomanno storyline. Saccomanno never wrote any other stories that appeared in a Warren magazine which lends credence to the theory that these stories were not originally commissioned by Warren.

Towards the end of Warren's run in the early 1980's, the usage of source material from previously published works in Europe picked up steam in a big way. By this point in time that Warren's finances were quite strained was very apparent, with reprint issues appearing with increasing intensity. Victor de la Fuente drew only a single story directly for Warren, appearing in Eerie #35, but the 1980's saw him appear in over 20 issues of 1984/1994 and Eerie. Seven stories from the "Haxtur" series appeared in 1984/1994 #10 and 11 and Eerie #111, 113, 114, 116 and 117. Haxtur originally appeared in the Spanish magazine Trinca and was approximately 10 years old by the time it appeared in Warren. As with most stories there was some rewriting and the original color had been removed. Haggarth was a bit more recent than Haxtur and had a longer run of 14 appearances in Eerie starting with issue #118. Warren also went back even further than Haxtur, to the 1960s, where the strip "Spacewrecked" by Paul Gillon (art) and Jean Claude Forest (writing) appeared. Four stories from this series appeared in Eerie issues #129, 132, 134 and 136. More work from Paul Gillon, "Jeremie: Les Dieux Barbares" which was originally published in France in 1971 appeared in Vampirella issues #104, 106, 108 and 110. Unfortunately both series never saw their conclusion appear due to the bankruptcy of Warren publishing in 1983. The series "Torpedo 1936" saw print in the last 3 non-reprint issues of Vampirella, with writing by Sanchez Abuli and art by Abuli or Alex Toth. These stories originally appeared in the Spanish version of Creepy and as with some of the other series discussed here never saw a conclusion due to Warren's bankruptcy.

Various other stories or series that were shorter in scope also appeared during the waning days of Warren. "Pyramid of the Black Sun", which appeared in two parts in Eerie #124 and 126 originally appeared in Europe in the late 1970s, with story by Antonio Segura and art by Luis Bermejo. The story originally appeared in one part in its original publication, but was split in two for its Warren appearance and was rewritten by Jim Stenstrum, under the pseudonym "Alabaster Redzone". "Korsar", another series spearheaded by Esteban Maroto originally appeared in the magazine Cimoc in Spain in 1979 and was featured in Eerie #126, rewritten again by Stenstrum. Although there were other parts to the series, this was the only one that saw print in a Warren magazine. Two stories from Fernando Fernandez's Bruce Bloodletter educational series appeared rather far apart in Eerie #94 and #117, both originally appearing in the Spanish publication Space and Adventure. The following issue saw another Fernando Fernandez story, "Space Kids" which first saw print in 1978 in Italy in the magazine Alter Ego. That said, I've also heard that this story was originally created around the time of Fernandez's other stories for Warren which appeared in the early to mid-1970s and that it sat around for many years. It may have originally been intended for a Warren magazine but due to its more science fiction related nature (and poor quality compared to other Fernandez stories) was held off on until the time it saw print, which was a time when many old inventory stories saw use by Warren.

Many additional Warren stories that saw print through the years, particularly the late 1970s and early 1980s likely appeared elsewhere, although the true source is unknown (or at the very least I haven't found an English-language source mentioning it!). Warren was notorious for rewriting stories that had been drawn previously. While oftentimes there was no way to tell this for sure simply by reading the Warren magazines, two writers, Bob Toomey and Jim Stenstrum made this known by using aliases for stories that they had rewritten based on already created artwork. Bob Toomey used the name "Gary Null" while Jim Stenstrum used the name "Alabaster Redzone". Both rewrote some Jesus Blasco-drawn stories that appeared in Creepy #110, 120 and 123. The first of these stories, "The Clockmaker" was about as obvious a rewrite as possible as the art makes it very clear that it’s an adaption of the Telltale Heart, while the writing goes in a completely different direction. That Jesus Blasco was miscredited in all 3 stories lends credence to the theory that none of these stories were originally created for Warren. A pair of Leo Duranona stories in Creepy #117 and 118 was also rewritten by Toomey, although they don't feature his Gary Null alias. Whether these were originally commissioned for Warren, or like previously mentioned Duranona stories saw print in Europe or South America earlier, I am not sure. The "Alabaster Redzone" stories by Stenstrum are typically a lot harder to pin point about whether they were originally commissioned for Warren or came from elsewhere. "Lullaby" by Jose Gonzalez in 1984 #4 is one such story, and given that Gonzalez drew only one other non-Vampirella story for Warren that was commissioned by them makes me think this could have been a story originally done in Europe. Much of the "Mac Tavish" series by Pepe Moreno Casares features Alabaster Redzone as the writer, although I cannot say whether these were Warren commissions or not. Most of his other "Alabaster Redzone" stories appeared in 1984, which frequently saw rewrites, so most may have been originally commissioned stories. 1984/1994 features so many stories where the story and artwork differ greatly (the entire Idi Amin series comes to mind) that many of these stories may have been originally done for Warren. Three stories by Carlos Giminez, who has been mentioned previously regarding his collaboration with Luis Garcia in Pilote, appeared late in Warren, in Eerie #114 and 1994 #15 and 16. All three were both strongly drawn and written, and it’s unfortunate that Warren did not utilize more stories by him in the waning years of the company.

Warren's hero-themed magazine "The Rook" hasn't been featured much on this blog due to my lack of interest in the subject matter, but is notable for featuring a large amount of outsourced material. Issues 2 through 9 featured "Voltar", as drawn by Alfredo Alcala. The barbarian themed series originally appeared in the Philippines and had actually been printed in America previously in Magic Carpet. Bill Dubay rewrote the story for the entire series. "Viking Prince" as drawn and written by Jose Ortiz originally appeared as "Sigur the Viking" in Spain, and first appeared in the late 1950s. Two of these stories appeared in issues 5 and 6 of the Rook. "Kronos" by Lee Elias originally appeared in the Joe Kubert publication "Sojourn" and first appeared in The Rook #8. This series was unique in that its appearance in Warren resulted in the creation of new stories which appeared for several more issues. "Eagle" by John Severin (art) and Colin Dawkins (story), who had worked together back at EC comics, also originated from "Sojourn" and appeared in the final 3 issues of the Rook.

This article has focused primarily on the interior stories, but Warren also had a number of covers that originated from outside sources. Patrick Woodroffe had a series of covers that appeared in Warren's magazines, particularly for the early issues of 1984, each of which had been originally painted for paperback books. Vampirella #31 heralded the return of famous cover artist Frank Frazetta, but the cover had actually been originally commissioned for the book adaption of the movie Luana. Interestingly enough, each of Richard Corben's late Warren covers had originally appeared elsewhere, including from the book "A Feast Unknown" (used for Creepy #141), the cover to the 1975 Annual World's Best Science Fiction (used for Creepy #140), and an painting that had been originally commissioned by Selecciones Illustrada (used for 1984 #26). Many other paintings originally commissioned by S.I. as painted by Richard Courtney (Creepy #136, 142) and Sanjulian (Eerie #129, 132, 133 and 135) also were used in the late days of Warren. Creepy #120 featured a cover painting from Jeff Jones, his sole that appeared for Warren, although it was originally intended for the magazine Weird Tales of Macabre but never saw print. In what must have been humiliating for Warren, towards the very end they even used covers that had been used by their competition back in the mid-1970's, including the covers for Vampirella #111 by Pujolar (originally used as the cover for Devilina #1) and Creepy #145 by Jose Miralles (originally used as the cover for Nightmare #9).