Monday, May 26, 2008

Eerie 41


A very good, well known cover by Sanjulian, based on a panel in this issue's Dax story. The frontis for this issue is "Eerie's Monster Gallery: The Ghouls of Scotland" by Ken Barr (art) and Fred Ott (story).

First story is "Warped" by Jerry Grandenetti (art) and Kevin Pagan (story). A college student discovers of an 'infinity gland' which will prevent him from dying, which he obtains from the mysterious Cahill. He soon finds that the gland speeds up how he views time tremendously however, and before he knows it he's aged over half a century. He meets Cahill again, who reveals that he is one of many mutants who are seeking punishment on normal people. The end of the story features another young man approaching Cahill about eternal life.

Next is "West Coast Turnaround" by Tom Sutton (art) and John Wooley (story). Mike Harris, a young man with a wife and young child takes a temporary job as a truck driver in order to raise money to move to California. In order to stay up all night he is given a drug called "West Coast Turnaround" which results in bizarre hallucinations. At the end of the story he returns with the truck, having dug up a bunch of corpses that he thought were alive.

Third is "Heir Pollution" with art by Jose Bea and story by John Wooley again. A man, Norman Mayo, inherits his father's fertilizer factory and quickly increases production tremendously, which results in a lot of pollution. A college professor warns him of the pollution he's causing, so Norman kills him and throws him in the polluted river. The professor's deformed corpse comes back to life and seeks revenge, pulling him back into the river with him.

Next up is "The Caterpillers" by Luis Garcia (art) and Fred Ott (story). A professor from a government research facility passes away during a meeting, resulting in an investigation. It is revealed that caterpillers created in the facility had been taking over the minds of people and eating their brains. Quickly the entire lab is wiped out by them and when our protagonist reports to his superiors, it is revealed that they have been taken over as well. Terrific art as always from Garcia, but the story is extremely similar to the story "Spiders are Revolting" from Eerie 26.

Fifth is "Derelict" by Paul Neary (art) and John Thraxis (story). This was Neary's Warren debut, and looks nothing as good as his usual work. The story features a spaceship coming across a derelict ship. A number of astronauts head aboard to find it deserted, but a mysterious vapor lingers in the ship and soon all the men are dying off. At the end of the story only one astronaut is alive, with everyone else dead.

Sixth is "The Safest Way" with art by Jose Gual (art) and story by Steve Skeates (story). The story features two men, one a General under a lot of pressure to keep down revolts and the other a man talking to the revolutionaries trying to get them to work towards a peaceful solution. The general panics due to pressure and orders the other man killed. A very abrupt ending to this story right in the middle of things.

Last is "Chess", this issue's segment of Dax the Warrior, by Esteban Maroto. Dax is summoned by a sorceror who simulates a chess game where Dax's dead family and friends are brought back to life as chess pieces and are killed once again as their pieces are taken out. Dax performs quite poorly and when his last piece, his father, is about to be taken out, he snaps and attacks the sorceror's queen. Dax is sent back to reality with a souvenier, his father's decapitated head. This story would be reprinted in color in issue 59.

Overall quite a good issue, with strong stories and art for the most part throughout the issue.

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