Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Eerie 131


This issue is an all reprint issue covering Wally Wood. Rudy Nebres provides this issue's cover.

First is "Killer Hawk" with story by Bill Dubay, from Eerie 61. While no official title appears, this story is in the 'Exterminator' series, although stand alone in nature. Killer Hawk is a military officer who rises through the ranks and becomes bodyguard for the President of Mars. In actuality, Hawk is an exterminator robot whose mission is to kill the President and take him place. He does exactly that, but is deemed too powerful and is disposed of by his leaders soon afterwards.

Second is "Overworked". Dan Adkins provides art on this story along with Wood. The story is by Archie Goodwin. This story, which was Wood and Adkin's Creepy debut (from issue 8) is about a comic book artist who is finds himself plauged by the monsters from the stories he creates. He tries to stop, but keeps getting more jobs and finds himself in horrific situations. Eventually he becomes trapped within his own strip.

Third is "The Cosmic All" with Wood providing the story. This issue is from Creepy 38. Astronauts heading across the universe find a blob like creature on each planet they come to. When they finally find a planet with humanoid people who attack them and are killed, leaving behind a message that their death was clean compared to whats going to happen to the astronauts. They decide to sleep there and the next morning two of the astronauts find everyone else reduced to skeletons. They escape, but one of them sends their ship crashing to Earth. Immediately after the flesh falls off their bodies, turning into the blob seen before, known as the 'Cosmic All' that is bringing peace to the universe by turning everyone to blobs. A very interesting sci-fi story.

Fourth is "The Battle of Britain!" with Adkins assisting on art again and story by Wood. This story is from Blazing Combat 3. It takes place in 1940 featuring allied planes facing off against Nazi planes. The hero of the story fails miserably his first time in the air and narrowly survives the second, but they call of the fighting in order to bomb the German cities instead, sparing him future combat.

"War of the Wizards" from Vampirella 10 is the fifth story, and is also written by Wally Wood. It's about a pair of rival wizards who use a soldier in their fight between each other. The soldier is able to defeat both wizards, and is revealed to be a wizard himself. As usual, Wood's art is quite good, and the story, while not having a horror theme, is pretty good too.

Last is "The Man Hunters" with story by Gerry Boudreau, from Eerie 60. Apparantly this is one of many Wood stories rewritten based on editor Bill Dubay's request. The story features a woman on a spaceship with two other men, searching for her husband, who had dissappeared months earlier. They arrive on a planet with a tentacled monster, who quickly kill the two men. The monster leads her to a city where it puts a helmet on her which causes her to discover that her husband crashed on this planet and was saved by the monsters, who switched his brain to one of them! She decides to stay on the planet with her husband in his new form.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Creepy 51


Sanjulian provides the cover for this issue of Creepy, dated March 1973. The two page frontis, "Possessed From Beyond the Grave!" is provided by Auraleon (art) and Fred Ott (story), featuring a possessed child.

First is "Deja Vu" by Esteban Maroto (art) and Doug Moench (story). A psychologist hypnotizes a young woman, who tells him of a past life where she was a witch who was burned at the stake after being accused by a man who ends up being her ancestor. She curses him, saying that his descendents will be killed by cats. He tries to convince her to stay, but she runs off, and ends up being killed by a cat, just like the curse said. He is revealed to be a descendent of the witch. This story would later be printed in color, with some edits, in Creepy 82.

Next is "Star-Slaughter" by Ramon Torrents (art, his Warren debut) and Rich Margopoulos (story). This futuristic story features humanoid robots battling each other. One of the robots kills one of the other ones, and realizing what he has done, kills himself. He is repaired by his creators, who mention that this is not the first time he has tried to kill himself.

Third is "Death Wish" by Adolfo Abellan (art) and John Warner (story). This story takes place in Mexico, where a large zombie, Esteban, attacks people for his master, but wishes his own life to end. He eventually kills his master only to find his master was another zombie, brought to life by a witch. This causes him to go on yet another murderous rampage.

Fourth is "Package Deal" by Jose Bea (art) and Martin Pasko (story). A man murders his first wife, then disposes of the body by chopping it up and putting it in a mail box, which in a storm gets blown away. Time goes by and the man is remarried. He starts receiving packages in the mail, which contain his dead wife's body parts and notes from her. This eventually causes him to snap, chopping the head off the mailman. His body is later found crushed under the very mailbox he had put her corpse into.

Fifth is "The Viyi", by Esteban Maroto (story and art). This story, which was originally printed in Europe in the Dracula anthology is the first full color story to be printed in a Warren mag. It was also printed at the same time in Vampirella 22. The story features a man coming to destroy a beautiful woman who has become a vampire. He becomes enamored with her looks however and she awakens and turns him into one too.

Sixth is "His Brother's Grave" by Auraleon (art) and Kevin Pagan (story). A man, coming to see his sister runs over a wolf in the road. Further details arise surrounding the wolf's owner, a local handyman and his brother. Soon the man dies himself and is buried alongside the wolf, but he later returns from the grave to attack our protagonist.

Last is "Bed of Roses" by Felix Mas (art) and Doug Moench (story). This story is about a seriously deranged young woman, Rose, who works at a flower store and was apparently traumatized by being locked up by her mother as a kid. She goes completely out of control, killing with scissors a man who comes into her store, then later attacking her mother too. As the story ends she is kept in a padded cell at an institution.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Vampirella 34


Enrich provides the cover for this issue of Vampirella, cover dated June 1974. Jeff Jones provides the frontis "Extraordinary Verse" based on the William Blake poem "Tyger Tyger". Quite a good issue, with only one poor story.

First is "The Carnival of Death" by Jose Gonzalez (art) and Mike Butterworth (story, as Flaxman Loew). Traveling in Venice, Vampirella and Pendragon meet Zymer, a cruel man who Vampirella gets upset at after he forces participation in a russian roulette type game. Meanwhile a rich couple invites many old friends to a ball they are having, and an invitation ends up going to Zymer too. A large group heads to the ball with Zymer, where they find that the other guests are actually corpses! Vampirella finally snaps, killing Zymer by draining his blood. They depart, leaving the rich couple with their dead friends.

Second is "Miranda" by Felix Mas (art) and Fred Ott (story). A rich man obsessed with marrying women with deformities visits an old woman, wanting to meet and marry her niece, Miranda. The old woman allows him to meet Miranda, who is a freak with praying mantis arms, but the old woman refuses to let him take her, even with him offering a million dollars for her. When the old woman sleeps, the rich man and Miranda run off together however. The old woman heads to their house, but it is too late. As part praying mantis, Miranda has already killed and eaten him.

Third is "From the Spain of Legend" featuring the character Fleur, in her first of four appearances. Art is by Ramon Torrents while story is by John Jacobson. Richard, a traveling Earl visits a fellow noble, Chelidonius, seeking lodging while he returns home from the Crusades. Chelidonius tricks the Earl, having him locked up as an accussed witch so he can take over his property. Within the prison Richard meets Fleur, a woman who claims to actually be a witch. When it is time for the 'witches' to be burned at the stake, Fleur kills their captors and escapes with Richard. Richard however attacks her since she is a real witch, and Fleur kills him.

Fourth is "Black and White Vacuum to Blues" by Esteban Maroto (art) and Doug Moench (story). Bill Dubay provides the color. Despite some very good art and coloring, this is a poor, very confusing story about a clown being pursued through the old west, space, and other places. It ends up that the clown is just a character on television.

Fifth is "Recurrence!" by Jose Bea (art) and Steve Skeates (story). A young woman murders her husband by pushing him down an elevator shaft. After collecting the insurance money from his death she starts having strange dreams of being pushed off a cliff by a small dwarf like creature. Eventually she sees him for real while driving and drives off a cliff, which results in her falling to her death.

Last is "Cold Cuts" by Jeff Jones (art) and Berni Wrightson (story). Terrific contributions from these two, with Wrightson providing his only writing credit for a story he didn't draw as well. The story features a man in a winter wilderness who shoots a deer and carries it with him. Meanwhile his wife is snowbound in a cabin with a colleague of his who attacks her. While the hunter thinks about providing for his wife, the colleague's body is mutilated, as if he was being prepared to eat.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Eerie 130


This issue compromises the single worst issue in the history of Warren publishing. The cover is by Steve Fastner and Richard Larson, and is dated April 1982. The artwork is by E.R. Cruz, with story by Rich Margopulos. This issue is comprised of four stories, titled "Stitches in Time", "Corridors of Doom", "Vortex" and The End of Time". This is an issue long feature about Vampirella and the Time Force, which is actually a number of characters from Eerie's history. Recurring characters in this issue include Vampirella, Pendragon, Conrad, Adam, Pantha, Hunter, Schreck, Exterminator, Dax, Child, Pie, Mac Tavish, the Spook, Coffin, Hunter II, Darklon, the Rook, Bishop Dane and Manners. Very few of which act like they did in their original stories by the way. That Margopoulos would bring back so many characters, many of whom were dead, and make them behave in no manner whatsoever like their original characters reeks of a pathetic attempt to simply increase interest in the quickly declining Eerie magazine by bringing back popular characters from Eerie's past. The problem is that most of these characters were not superheroes, and to act here like they were shows that Margopoulos has no concept of Eerie's history. He even urinates on his own creation, Hunter here. And not just that, Cruz's artwork here is among the worst artwork to ever appear in a Warren magazine. Vampirella and Pantha look exactly the same, and as unsexy as they ever appeared in their Warren life. Conrad appears with regular glasses in many panels, and sunglasses in others. Adam has blond hair. Some of the characters from Eerie's past look nothing like they did in their original appearance. Just pathetic. No other issue in Warren's publishing history is so embarressing.

Oh, and for those who want to know what the plot is, it features Tenichi, a recurring villain from Vampirella's storyline who comes up with a plan to summon various characters from Eerie's past from the past and future to use them to fight Vampirella. To do this he needs the amulet that belonged to Pie. Eventually these characters realize that they shouldn't fight Vampirella, so they team up with her and Tenichi summons even more characters. Eventually the Rook becomes involved as well. And so on. In all honesty, its just not worth discussing this issue any further.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Creepy 119


Jim Laurier provides an interesting and somewhat funny cover to this issue of Creepy. This issue is an all Alex Nino reprint special, dated July 1980.

First is "A Boy and His Thing" by Alex Nino (art) and Bill Dubay (story), from Creepy 101. A young boy visits a ship captain who is a friend of his. The captain tells him of a giant tentacled creature they fought and killed at sea. He brought back the baby of the creature, which he gives to the boy.

Second is "Keep Kool" by Alex Nino (art) and Bob Toomey (story), from Creepy 104. An old man who is quite wealthy despises humanity so he heads off to another planet where his only companions are robots. He has the robots fight one another, then receives a giant box that he can create monster from to fight one another.

Third is "Always Leave 'Em Laughing!" by Alex Nino (art) and Len Wein (story), from Creepy 105. All clowns are banned from Earth and forced to head to the moon if they want to remain a clown. There they fail to generate any laughs from the robot population and decide to bomb the surface of the moon to turn it into a clown face It is successful, but they are killed by Earth who misunderstand their intensions.

Fourth is "Sisters" by Alex Nino (art) and Bill Dubay (story), from Creepy 97. This story contains two parallel stories featuring a human girl and alien girl facing extreme mental anguish. It ends up that both had twin sisters that were stillborn, and that the two are connected to each other as the alien is the human girl's dead sister and vice versa. Both girls end up killing themselves, reunited when reincarnated as twins on yet another alien planet.

Fifth is "Backwater and Timing Circles" by Alex Nino (art) and Budd Lewis (story), from Creepy 94. A boy takes a trip to the past to go fishing in the prehistoric era through the company Timing Circles. His guide warns him that they can't take anything back with them and must not kill anything, but when the guide gets in trouble, the boy stabs the dinosaur attacking him. This changes the present such that everyone becomes bizarre looking monsters. This story is blatant plagarism of Ray Bradbury's story A Sound of Thunder. Luckily for Warren, they never got in trouble with this as they did with Harlan Ellison's A Boy and His Dog.

Sixth is "Alien Strain" by Alex Nino (art) and Bill Dubay (story), from Creepy 96. A 'Banggi' and his human friend are attacked by various aliens when they arrive at a planet where they have transported some robots. The mob has good reason to fear him however, as by arriving the Banggi has caused an epidemic where thousand of Banggi larva work their way through various prostitutes, infesting the planet. Very odd looking aliens here by Nino, as usual for him.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Eerie 1


Today will be covering the first ever issue of Eerie. I'll start off by saying I don't actually own this issue. I do own all the content in it in some form or another though. This is the rarest Warren magazine of all time, only approximately 200 issues or so actually existed. The story goes that back in September 1965 Warren was planning on creating a companion magazine for Creepy called Eerie, but heard that a rival publisher was planning on using the same title. By rushing this issue to publication with a reprinted cover and all reprinted stories, Warren was able to copyright the name. What was supposed to be the first issue of Eerie became the second issue of Eerie.

The cover for this issue is by Jack Davis, and is a reprint of a subscription ad from the second issue of Creepy.

First story is "Image of Bluebeard" by Joe Orlando (art) and Bill Pearson (story), from Creepy 7. A mysterious assassin plagues the countryside. Meanwhile a young woman marries an older man who cares for her, but forces her to stay on his estate in the woods. He has a cabin near their house that he refuses her to see. After finding out that he's married three times before and discovering a book about bluebeard in his library, she becomes convinced that he's the killer and stabs him just as he is about to bring her into the cabin. But it ends up that the killer had already been captured and the cabin was just filled with animals he had gathered to keep her company.

Second is "Death Plane" by George Evans (art) and Larry Ivie (story), from Creepy 8. Evans was a terrific artist at EC but unfortunately did very few Warren stories, just this and a few for Blazing Combat. This story features a mysterious plane that is taking out both American and German planes during the war. One of the American officers is killed and realizes that the ghost of each person killed appears in the plane until they can kill someone else.

Last is "The Invitation" with art by Manny Stallman and story by Russ Jones, Larry Englehart and Maurice Whitman, from Creepy 8. A Baron gets in a car accident and comes across a mansion where vampires live. He convinces them to let him live as long as he brings them victims. He does, but eventually they turn him into a vampire as well. Whitman would very lamely repeat this exact same story in Creepy 17 in the story "A Night Lodging".

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Vampirella 87


This reprint issue of Vampirella is from May 1980. Enrich provides the cover, a somewhat edited version of his cover from issue 52. An odd reprint issue here, melding together six Vampirella stories from issue 60, 61, 62, 65, 66 and 67. All stories were drawn by Jose Gonzalez and written by Bill Dubay. The stories used were "The Return of the Blood Red Queen of Hearts" from issue 60, "An Eye for an Eye" from issue 61, "Starpatch, Quark & Mother Blitz" from issue 62, "The Mad King of Drakulon" from issue 65, "To Be a Bride in Death" from issue 66 and "The Glorious Return of Sweet Baby Theda" from issue 67. The entire story is told under the overall title of "The Return of the Blood Red Queen". Some of the pages here have been edited, removed or rewritten.

As the story begins, the Blood Red Queen of Hearts, who lost her eyes to a demon in her first appearance (issue 49) tries once again to gather hearts so she can become Chaos's bride. She also seeks revenge on Vampirella by taking her eyes from her. Pendragon meanwhile meets a beautiful woman who steals his book on Chaos from him after knowcking him out. Once Vampi is captured, the Queen of Hearts takes her eyes. Meanwhile, the woman who stole the book on Chaos ends up causing a demon to come and attack her. Vampi escapes, but without her eyes is quite helpless. Suddenly a group of aliens arrive and save her, giving her her eyes back. They also restore Pendragon's heart, which had been stolen by the Queen. Vampi is returned by the aliens to near Drakulon where she meets the sole living person there, Cedrin, who actually lives on a moon near Drakulon. She is happy with him for a while until she realizes he stays alive by keeping captive various tourists to Drakulon, sucking the blood out of them. Vampi responds by drinking his blood, killing him. Vampirella then heads down to Drakulon where she has visions of those on Drakulon before its destruction, including her husband Tristan. Eventually she encounters Pantha, who joins her. Vampirella and Pantha return to Earth and head to Hollywood and immediately get picked by an old woman, Theda to take part in a movie about her. In actuality, Theda seeks to take Vampi's face and Pantha's body and attempt her own comeback. Luckily for our heroines, Theda's butler saves them and they are able to escape.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Creepy 57


Sanjulian provides the cover for this issue of Creepy, dated November 1973.

First is "The Destructive Image" by Ramon Torrents (art) and Don McGregor (story). A rather disjointed, odd tale featuring lots of bizarre events occuring as a man and wife sit down watching TV. Repairmen appear to fix it, but this only results in even more bizarre events occuring. Some very nice art from Torrents here.

Second is "The Hope of the Future" by Jaime Brocal (art) and Doug Moench (story). Some very nice art by Brocal in this pencils only story. It features a man barricaded in a house, surrounded by evil children who are trying to get in. He eventually gives in and heads downstairs where the children, including his son, await him.

Third is "The Bloodlock Museum" by Martin Salvador (art) and Jack Butterworth (story). Two parents carry a bound man through their own museum, featuring various corpses of people that did them wrong in the past, brutally murdered. The bound man finds a similar fate awaiting him, as he was the military recruiter that convinced their dead son to join the military, resulting in him dying in Vietnam.

Fourth is this issue's color story, "The Low Spark of High Heeled Noise!" by Richard Corben (art) and Doug Moench (story). A traveling salesman comes across a house during a storm. The couple inside reluctantly lets him sleep there. The man overhears the couple arguing, apparently they killed the man's former wife, but suspect each other due to them hearing footsteps of the other during the night. Eventually the man kills the woman and the salesman kills him in self defense. He soon dies however when he drinks something that the woman had poisoned. Only then is the one who started the footsteps revealed, the ghost of the man's dead wife.

Fifth is "The Red Badge of Terror" by Jose Bea (art) and Doug Moench (story). This story takes place in the civil war. A pair of soldiers pursue an enemy, eventually coming across an abandoned town. Only the town isn't abandoned after all, but contains a vampire, that attacks them. They then wait for more soldiers to come along who they can attack.

Last is "Sense of Violence" by Isidro Mones (art) and Doug Moench (story). This story takes place in a city filled with violence. The first three and a half pages or so come off like a Don McGregor story with lots of various unconnected scenes of violence. We get into an actual story around the fourth page. A nervous man wanders down an alley and when a man approaches him he stabs him in self defense and runs off. Only it ends up that the man who approaches him was actually just a cop asking for ID, and our protagonist is soon arrested.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Eerie 106


This issue of Eerie is a reprint issue covering Hard John Apple. The cover is based on art by Jose Ortiz from one of the Hard John stories, along with additional artwork by Walt Simonson. This issue is cover dated November 1979.

First is "An Angel Shy of Hell", by Richard Corben (art) and Jim Stenstrum (story), reprinted from Creepy 64. This story was originally printed in color. It stars Hard John Apple, a bounty hunter hired by "Protstns' in the far future, who goes about the state of Kansas, killing as many 'Catlicks' as he can, including an injured helicopter pilot with a burned face that looks just like the cover painting of Creepy 64. A terrific story, although probably somewhat offensive with the parodies of various relgious groups. Originally published in 1974, it would be approximately 3 years before the next story featuring Hard John Apple appeared, making it clear that this was likely intended to originally be a stand alone story.

Second is the start of the series Hard John's Nuclear Hit Parade, with the story "Kansas City Bomber", from Eerie 83. Art is by Jose Ortiz and story is by Jim Stenstrum. This story takes place in the post-apocalyptic future where 'Catlicks' and 'Protstnts' fight each other. Hard John Apple has fooled the Prot leaders into giving him the state of Kansas, which is filled with nuclear weapons which he plans to use with the help of an orangutan. This story introduces Tarara, a woman who captures John and discovers his plans.

Third is "Brass Monkey", by Jose Ortiz (art) and Jim Stenstrum (story), from Eerie 84. Ortiz uses a new art style in this story, which results in his art looking a lot like Alfredo Alcala's. John and Tarara go to a Catlick base in order to get plans to assist in John's attack on the world. There it is discovered that Zinger, the man who originally told John about the nukes in Kansas is a member of the Catlicks, Protstnts and Tarara's group. He plans to finish off our heroes, but the General (the orangutan introduced in the prior story) arrives and helps our heroes escape.

Fourth is the finale for Hard John's Nuclear Hit Parade, "Gonna Nuke Mankind right Outa My Hair" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Jim Stenstrum (story), from Eerie 85. The Catlicks, Protsnts and Red Threats are all heading towards John's nuclear weapons site to get their hands on the nukes. John and Tarara visit a church then prepare for Zinger's arrival. John outsmarts everyone by launching all his nuclear weapons into the ocean except for one, which he aims right at his base just as everyone is arriving, a blast powerful enough to destroy all the armies left in the world. A pretty good finale to this serial, even though John and Tarara are clearly going to perish when the bomb hits.

Last is "The Super-Abnormal Phenomena Survival Kit!" by John Severin (art) and Jim Stenstrum (story), from Creepy 79. This hilarious story is a parody of the Captain Company ads that appeared in the back of each Warren magazine. Eight pages of parodies and horror movie staples/homages results in a fairly good effort, one of Warren's best humorous stories.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Creepy 137


An all Al Williamson issue, except for the cover by Rudy Nebres, the first time in Warren history a pen and ink cover was used instead of a painted version. This issue is dated May 1982.

First is "H20 World". The art is by Al Williamson & Roy Krenkel and the story is by Larry Ivie. This is a reprint from the first issue of Creepy. It is about a pair of divers who come across an underground civilization. There they meet the mutated people who live there, who force them to forget that they ever encountered them. Very beautiful artwork here, particularly Krenkel's backgrounds.

Second is "The Success Story" by Al Williamson (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), also from the first issue of Creepy. This story features a comic strip creator, Baldo Smudge who is actually ripping off three seperate people. He hires a penciller, whom he tells he is doing the inking and writing for. He also hires a writer whom he tells he is doing the pencilling and inking. And so on for the inker. All the while he takes the credit for the strip as a whole. This charade goes on for a long time, but the three of them finally catch on, so Baldo kills them. They come back as rotting corpses however and take revenge. This story is based on a true story (except the corpses part). Williamson drew Smudge based on himself and used Angelo Torres, Archie Goodwin and Al McWilliams as the likenesses for the three employees he was ripping off.

Third is "Welcome Stranger" by Al Williamson (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), from Creepy 2. Two men from Hollywood that work in the movie industry come across a town where they find some strange events occuring. They soon encounter some ghosts. It ends up all being fake, an act by the townfolk who want a movie filmed there, but their work had resulted in frightening the two men to death

"Sand Doom" by Al Williamson (art) and Archie Goodwin (story) is fourth. This story is from Creepy 5. A man abandons his partner in the desert and finds a treasure guarded by a woman and snakes. The woman warns him not to take the treasure or he'll be cursed, but he guns her down and takes the treasure anyway. As he continues through the desert he discovers that the treasure has turned into a snake, which bites him and turns him into a snake as well.

Fifth is "Mother Knows Best" by Al Williamson (art) and Bruce Jones (story), from Creepy 86. A pair of kids celebrate Christmas with the robot that takes care of them. Santa arrives and whispers to them the truth, that they are on a spaceship and that the robots there went berserk. He's been thawed out of hibernation each Christmas to play Santa. One of the kids kills the robot, and they hope to head back to Earth, but they discover that the ship had crashed a while ago.

Sixth is "Now You See It..." by Al Williamson (art) and Bruce Jones (story), from Creepy 83. This story was originally intended for the Marvel science fiction magazine "Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction" but ended up appearing here instead since that magazine was cancelled. It features a man who constantly brings himself and his wife to fake prehistoric realms using a virtual reality device. She dislikes it intensely, so he brings her some place for real which still fails to convince her, and that ends up being fake too. She's happy enough with it being a fake that she finally grows warm to using the device. The main character's appearance is quite obviously based on Williamson himself.

Last is "The Homecoming" by Al Williamson (art, his final Warren story) and Archie Goodwin (story). A very good sci-fi story features an astronaut on a craft that is responsible for going into other dimensions, trying to find one suitable for humans. When he finally finds it, the computer controlling the craft reveals that an error has caused it to forget where they came from, and the astronaut goes from dimension to dimension, trying to find his home to no avail.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Vampirella 36


Sanjulian provides the cover for this 5 year anniversary issue of Vampirella, dated September 1974. The back cover is provided by Enrich, a redo of the cover originally intended for issue 31. Jose Gonzalez provides one page features of Vampi on both the inside front cover and inside back cover.

First is "The Vampire of the Nile" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Mike Butterworth (story, as Flaxman Loew). In this story Vampi and Pendragon suddenly find themselves in ancient Egypt. Vampi is Cleopatra and Pendragon is her slave. Vampi is summoned before her husband, Ptolemy, who is a vampire and bites her. Later she meets Marc Anthony whom she falls in love with, but he kills himself when he learns her true nature. Vampi drives a stake through Ptolemy's heart, then summons Amun Ra, who permits her to be reincarnated after she gets herself bitten by a snake. Vampi awakens back in the modern era, with a Doctor Antonioni tending to her.

Second is "A Wonderful Morning!" by Fernando Fernandez (story & art). Color is provided by Richard Corben. This story takes place in a world where there are only children. The lone remaining adult left in the world is found by them and killed. Not much of a plot here, but some very nice art and atmosphere from Fernandez.

Third is "The Tiara of Dagon!" by Esteban Maroto (art) and John Jacobson (story). A tribal priest comes to a museum, seeking the tiara of dagon. The curator refuses to give it up, and when provided with gold for it instead pulls out a gun and holds on to it anyway. The priest reveals there is poison on the gold that the curator touched and that he'll only give the antidote if the tiara is handed over. The curator still refuses, flees, and turns into a bizarre scaly creature.

Fourth is "Good to the Last Drop!" by Ramon Torrents (art) and Martin Pasko (story). The president of a food company mistakenly kills his wife when he slaps her. He destroys her body in the garbage disposal, then gets an idea and deep freezes her remains, turning it into coffee. Thinking she was having an affair with an employee at the company, he invites him over and puts her remains in his drink. The employee switches cups unknowingly however, and our protagonist drinks her remains. He manages to switch it though and the employee also drinks it. It ends up that she died due to ingesting poison, and as a result the poison kills both of them.

Fifth is "Swordplay" by Felix Mas (art) and Martin Pasko (story). The mysterious Alexander Deroth arrives at a school as a fencing instructor. While fencing with a female student, he strikes her with his sword, and when she starts bleeding he is revealed to be a vampire and bites her. When her corpse is found by some other students, she springs to life and attacks those who found her as well.

Sixth is "Prey For Me!" by Auraleon (art) and Rich Margopoulos (story). A rich man, Alexander Guileford captures men and has them fight to the death a werewolf like creature. His latest victim is unable to win and dies. Alexander soon finds himself in the same predicament however when his servent, upset at him for letting him be in danger earlier, poisons him then releases the werewolf to come after him.

Last is "Puppet-Player!" by Jose Bea (story & art). Michelle Brand provides the color. This story features a puppet player in the 17th century. When he goes to sleep, his puppets come to life and bring him through a bizarre world, controlling him with puppet strings. He is eventually beaten to death with a club he uses in his act. It ends up that he's been dead along and is revised to act as puppet player to hide suspicions.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Eerie 129


Sanjulian provides the rather cluttered cover for this issue of Eerie, dated February 1982. Like the previous issue, this is actually quite a step up from what Eerie had been providing over the previous few years.

First is "Ode to a Dead Thing!" by Rudy Nebres (art) and Bill Dubay (story). This story features Marvin the Dead Thing, who originally appeared back in Eerie 49. While the writer of that story, Al Milgrom, made it a parody of Swamp Thing, this story is anything but a parody, actually quite serious. Marvin and the girl who became a swamp monster as well watch a couple drop a dead baby into the swamp. The father is a man who conspires with an old woman to get women pregnant, then make money off of aborting them. Here, the mother refused to abort the baby, so the old woman strangled it when it was born. The baby comes to life out of the swamp, as does the mother when she dies and is placed there as well. The villain of this story has got to be one of the most detestable people in a Warren story ever.

Second is "Ms. Liberty" by Jun Lofamia (art) and Rich Margopoulos (story). A woman travels throughout a post-apocalyptic world, searching for her husband. The vast majority of humanity has turned into mutant cannibals. As she searches, she comes across some other normal humans, but finds them either crazy, or ends up killing them due to herself going crazy. In the end she finally finds her husband, but ends up killing him, thinking he's one of them.

Third is "Mercenary!" by Pat Boyette (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). Quite pleased to see another Boyette story, he's an artist I quite enjoyed during the stories he did with Warren during the late 1960s and early 1970s. This story is an oddity here in that it doesn't feature any supernatural theme to it. It is about Ed Skinner, a Mercenery, and his adventures in various south american countries. Along the way, he learns a president is also the leader of revolutionaries. He takes a large payoff to keep quiet, and escapes the death the president plans for him.

Fourth is a new series, Space Force, with the story "Shipwrecked". This story was originally published in France in 1964. Art is provided by Paul Gillon and story is provided by Jean-Claude Forest. In the future Earth is attacked by alien spores. To ensure humanity stays alive, a man and a woman are put into capsules and sent out into space. The man, Chrisopher, is recovered many years in the future and is resusitated. The man finds that the spores are still around, and bigger than before. He flees, with one of the women who recovered him, in search of the woman who was shipped out to space along with him. A fairly interesting story here and some good art too. One of the panels here is strikingly familiar to one from Esteban Maroto's "Scourge of the Spaceways", one of my favorite art jobs in a Warren story ever. As this story came out first, its obvious Maroto's work was a swipe however.

Last is the latest story in the "Haggarth" story, with story and art provided by Victor de la Fuente. In this story a strange man appears before Haggarth and warns him Desirra and the Amazon warriors in the jungle. Heading through the woods, he comes by an injured man who was hurt by the Amazon warriors. As Haggarth's part in this story ends, he is attacked by the Amazon warrior he met before and her eagle. Ethan meanwhile is captured when some village dwellers find him in the canoe used by their dead comrades. Accusing him of their murder, they are set to execute him but proof of his innocence is found and he is permitted to leave in the canoe.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Creepy 70


Ken Kelly provides the cover for this issue of Creepy, cover dated April 1975. This issue is another all Edgar Allen Poe issue, with Rich Margopoulos providing the adaption for all stories within. Berni Wrightson provides the one page frontis intro from Uncle Creepy.

First is the cover story "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", with art by Jose Ortiz. This story surrounds a mysterious murder where a woman is killed in her room, with no motive apparent. It eventually becomes clear that an escaped orangutan is responsible for the murder.

Second is "Man of the Crowd" with art by Luis Bermejo. Bermejo's art is terrific here, as was much of his early stories for Warren. A man sitting in a restaurant spots a mysterious old man walking by. He heads outside and follows the man, who always is staying close to a crowd. He eventually realizes that the old man is some sort of psychic vampire, drawing the energy from the souls of others.

Third is "The Cask of Amontillado!" with art by Martin Salvador. This story, which had already been adapted earlier in Creepy by Archie Goodwin features a man who gets even with a collegue of his who loves wine. Telling him of his favorite wine, Amontillado, he convinces the friend to come down into an underground passageway with him where he bricks up the friend in a passage and bricks it off, trapping him there forever.

Fourth is "Shadow" with art by Richard Corben. Some very surreal artwork in this story by Corben. Pestilence and war plagues the countryside. In the city of Ptolemais a group of men sit to eat dinner next to the body of a fellow warrior, Zoilus. Soon a mysterious shadow appears on the wall. They then all die, due to catching a disease that the corpse had.

Fifth is "A Descent into the Maelstrom!" with art by Adolfo Abellan. This story tells of a ship that travels past a large waterfall, then gets caught in it. One of the men saves himself by tying himself to a barrel.

Last is "Berenice" with art by Isidro Mones. Like the Cask of Amontillado, this story was originally adapted by Archie Goodwin years before, but is adapted anew by Margopoulos here. This story tells of a man who is obsessed with his cousin Berenice, whom he plans on marrying. Berenice gets sick and the protagonist starts obsessing over her teeth. After her death he digs up her corpse and tears all her teeth out.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Vampirella 48


Enrich provides the cover for this issue of Vampirella, dated January 1976.

First is Vampirella in "The Wonder World of Ambegris, Kato and Tonto Too!" by Zesar (art) and Bill Dubay (story). When Vampi sees a pair of dwarves leading a doctor underground, she follows them and finds a nineteenth century style underground city. The father of the dwarves and other odd people is Ambegris, who is about to die of old age. By giving him some of her blood, Vampi enables him to live a little longer, although he gets too excited and ends up suffering a heart attack, passing away. Some nice art by Zesar here, a bit different than the usual fare.

Second is "The Satan Complex" by Ramon Torrents (art) and Bill Dubay (story). A businessman obsessed with being able to fly goes to a company run by Satan. While waiting in the lobby he has a dream about meeting Satan himself, who turns him into a bat. He makes sure that when he signs the contract with Satan that he remains human. But Satan still finds a way out of the contract by taking away his flying ability after a mere minute because the contract didn't specify how long he'd have the ability to fly. As a result, he falls to his death.

Third is "Of Death and Distinction" by Joaquin Blazquez (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). An unemployed man who lives with his girlfriend becomes obsessed with the fact that he's a nobody. Meanwhile a slasher killer plagues the streets, killing many. Thinking that by taking credit for the deaths will make him famous, the man kills his girlfriend and admits to being the slasher. Only the real slasher had already been caught, meaning he killed her for nothing.

Fourth is "The Miracle Hands of Simon Silverstone" by Luis Bermejo (art) and Bill Dubay (story). Yet another terrific art performance here by Bermejo. Silvershoe is a man with the ability to heal people and change the faces of people, merely with his hands. He meets a woman who tells hiim that he is actually an alien savior, and that he needs to find a silver shoe to fulfill his destiny. They are caught by disbelievers however, and despite him changing his face to hide himself, he is killed nonetheless.

Last is "Star-Bright Lantern 909" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). The lantern of the title is a space lighthouse run by an old man whose been alone for many years. Rebels are seeking an attack on the government, but know that in order to succeed the lighthouse can't identify them. As a result, they send a young woman to the lighthouse to seduce the old man so they can get by without being noticed. Only being alone causes the old man to snap, and he kills her instead. When another rebel goes there and finds what happened, he kills the old man, then tears the mechanics of the place part. Only instead of turning out the light, that causes the whole place to blow up, and the explosion is so big that it lights up the rebel crafts and they are all destroyed by the government.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Eerie 115


Jim Laurier provides the cover for this issue of Eerie, featuring Night of the Jackass. This issue collects all four stories in the series within this issue.

First is part one of 'Night of the Jackass', titled "24 Hours of Hell!" by Jose Ortiz (art, his Eerie debut) and Bruce Bezaire (story). This story is from Eerie 60. A terrific, terrific serial, probably my favorite in Eerie after 'Apocalypse'. The story surrounds a drug which when taken causes a person to turn into a monster, but kills them after 24 hours. A group of poor old people head to a hotel, lock it up and take the drug, then go on a rampage, killing and raping everyone inside. A newlywed, Garson, witnesses his wife murdered by them, but is one of only two people to survive, the other being Bishop, a man who planned to kill himself but changed his mind when the jackassers went on their rampage.

Second story is the second part in the 'Night of the Jackass' series, "Storm Before the Calm!" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Bruce Bezaire (story), from Eerie 63. Garson and Bishop meet up once again at a church that has been taken over by the Jackassers. While no one else wants to go inside and help the victims, Garson and Bishop do so and with the help of people inside are able to defeat all the monsters.

Third is part three of the Night of the Jackass series, "The Children's Hour", with art by Jose Ortiz and story by Bruce Bezaire, from Eerie 64. A group of children take the Hyde (25) drug, causing another rampage. Bishop and Garson once again arrive to help stop them and meet Berthe Astruc, a chemist who seeks to create a cure for the drug. During the fighting Garson realizes that Bishop's nearly as bloodthirsty and willing to kill as the Jackassers and is helping more out of a desire to output his rage upon them than save others. As the story ends they decide to help Berthe find a cure.

Fourth is the final entry in the Night of the Jackass series, "Endstorm", from Eerie 65. Art is by Jose Ortiz and story is by Bruce Bezaire. Bishop and Garson head to Berthe's lab where she hopes to finish her Bishop reads Berthe's notes and realizes that she was the one responsible for creating the Hyde drug. Berthe forces him out, but Garson gets upset and leaves as well, only to find that Bishop has taken the drug and become a jackasser. Bishop goes out of control and attacks them, but Berthe is able to use her antidote which works, turning him back to normal. The series ends here on an optomistic note, with our heroes now having a way to cure the jackassers. Overall this is certainly one of Eerie's best series ever, with a unique and interesting storyline and great Ortiz art. While the series certainly had an open ended conclusion, Bezaire avoided a lame ending and let it end on a high note.

Last is "Excerpts from the Year Five", from Creepy 67, by Jose Ortiz (art) and Budd Lewis (story). This story takes place in a future where all the power in the world has vanished. The story focuses on a man, who meets a woman when receiving first aid. They help fellow people and find a young boy eating the remains of his mother. Eventually Satan worshippers kill the boy however, and the woman dies soon afterwards as well.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Creepy 76


Sanjulian provides an interesting cover for this issue of Creepy, featuring the grim reaper on a horse, carrying a headless woman's corpse. This issue is dated January 1976. Berni Wrightson and Walt Simonson provide a one page intro from Uncle creepy

First is "Goodbye, Mr. Lincoln" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Bill Dubay (story). A very interesting story surrounding a woman whose son is murdererd. At the police station she explains that her son is actually the reincarnation of a slave boy who had a spell cast on him by an old woman. After the boy's death, he is reincarnated as leaders such as Abraham Lincoln and John F Kennedy, but is always assassinated. In the modern era, Satan's forces captured the woman and her son and killed him. While the policeman believes his story, he leaves her in the care of another person, who is actually a demon, who kills her for talking.

Second is "Ensnared" by Alex Toth (art) and Rich Margopoulos (story). This story features a man who wakes up and finds himself trapped in an elevator. After much anguish, he finally gets out, but it is revealed to be part of an experiment performed by robots (or perhaps aliens in robot-like suits).

Third is "A Flash of Lightning" by John Severin (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). A mysterious man comes across a man's farm and starts working for the farmer. Soon afterwards mysterious deaths start occuring, that appear to be the work of a vampire, which is of course the man who just appeared. The farmer comes across the man with his daughter and they get in a fight, and the man is accidently stabbed by a sharp piece of wood, killing him. As the story ends, it is revealed that the daughter is pregnant.

Fourth is "My Monster... My Dad" by Martin Salvador (art) and Jan Strnad (story). A rather bizarre story about a boy who hates his black stepfather, thinking he's a monster. He has multiple dreams, including one where he stabs his step father, and that occurs in real life. A real odd one here. There is nothing evidencing that the father is a monster, making it come off as simply a story about a very racist and delusional boy.

Fifth is "In Darkness It Shall End!" by Vicente Alcazar (art) and Doug Moench (story). A vampire kills a woman who is a lover of his. Another lover of the woman discovers that he is a vampire and comes after him, and chases him, eventually striking a stake through his heart. Unfortunately hundreds of years later in the modern era someone removes the stake, causing the vampire to rise again.

The issue concludes with "The Imp of the Perverse!" by Luis Bermejo (art) and Rich Margopoulos (story), an adaption of the Edgar Allen Poe story. A man plans to kill his rich uncle in order to inherit his money. He does it by creating a poison candle which he burns in the old man's bedroom. With no one suspecting things, he keeps muttering "I am safe" to himself over and over again until he suddenly blabs in public about killing his uncle. As a result, he is jailed and hung for murder.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

1994 #23


This issue of 1994, dated February 1982, is the only reprint issue in the magazine's history. Alex Nino provides the cover, credited as A2-120.

First story is "Break Even" from issue 9, by Alex Nino (art) and Kevin Duane (story). This is... believe it or not... a well thought out, intelligent story to kick off an issue of 1984 that doesn't feature sex! It features a pair of astronauts hired to scope out the asteroid field between Mars and Jupiter who find a very small planet that's actually a shrunk gas giant planet which they end up destroying.

Next is "Painters Mountain" by Alex Nino (art) and the team of Bill Dubay & Budd Lewis (story). The star of the story, Painter is a man who grows a distaste of the tribe he lives with and leaves them. He forms his own society but realizes that his old tribe is in danger. He tries to warn them, but they ignore him and are all killed by a mass flood.

Third is "Teleport: 2010" by Alex Nino (art) and Budd Lewis (story). This story is about a madman who hijacks a teleportation shuttle used to transport thousands of people a day. He kills numerous people, demanding the captain transport him to a place out of government jurisdiction. They fight, more people die, and eventually the captain transports him and everyone else, who he hopes to use as hostages... into the middle of space by accident, killing them all.

Last is "Zincor and the Fempire" by Alex Nino (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). This story takes place in the future where women have abandoned men, and are seeking out and destroying any they can. Our hero Zincor along with some of his fellow men spots a Fempire warship which lands near them and attack, spawning a battle between them and the women. Zincor rapes one of the women, Marta, which causes her to betray her allies and join the men. The women's battleship is destroyed by her and only one woman is left. Marta spots her with Zincor however, killing them both, leaving her as the only person left.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Eerie 128


Kirk Reinert provides a terrific cover for this issue of Eerie, probably the best of its latter day covers. This issue is dated January 1982. Aside from the horrible Zud story, this issue is quite a lot better than those we've been seeing for quite a while now.

First is "Dr. Coven: Ashes to Ashes!" by Rudy Nebres (art) and Rich Margopoulos (story). Dr. Coven is a man who comes to the jungle with his wife to study voodoo. A voodoo priestess invites him to a ceremony and captures his wife, he then passes out. When he awakens he finds himself surrounded by zombies, including his wife, who is now one. He dismembers his wife to escape her, then kills the zombies and priestess.

Second is "The Demon Queen" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Jonathan Thomas (story). A professor who has one of his students as a lover is writing a book on demons and soon starts seeing them, suspecting that he is being pursued by a demon queen. He sees the demons more and more and his behavior to get rid of them gets more and more out of hand, resulting in him being fired and his book's publication being suspended. His book's chances of publication finished, his lover reveals that she is the demon queen. He is found later, gone completely insane. The demon queen in this story is modeled after that on the cover of Eerie 41.

Third is the retitled Zud and Son in "Heroes at Large!" by E.R. Cruz (art) and John Ellis Sech (story). In this story, it is revealed out of nowhere that Zud has a thirteen year old son, Raz. Raz dissappoints Zud, as he is interested in the ballet and other odd stuff rather than normal boy stuff. While at the ballet Zud is captured by an old enemy of his who tries to kill him. Raz is able to rescue him, then at the end reveals that he is interested in football and other standard male interests after all.

Fourth is "Blackstar and the Nighthuntress" by Peter Hsu (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). Jason Blackstar and Rowena, the stars of this story originally appeared back in issue 85. In this story the appearance of a medallion at someone's home means assassins, the Rectifiers (sent by the three Governor who rule the galaxy) will come after them and kill them unless they can stay out of their hands for seven days. Killing a Rectifier is illegal, and when Rowena mistakenly kills one, the Governors send other ones after them. Rowena and Blackstar eventually come across the Governors and convince them to stop coming after them.

Fifth is "Avenger!" by Jim Starlin & Neal Adams (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). This story was originally intended for Creepy 64 back in 1974. Odd enough it was held back for eight years before finally appearing here. A pilot, Thomas Flagg climbs out of the sea, ten years after his death from a plane crash into a body of water. Flagg, now a rotting hulk, has the ability to cause others to succumb to his will and soon gathers an army to go after he whom he finds responsible, his father, who forced him into duty in Vietnam. His army of followers are killed, but he still encounters his father and causes him to succumb to his will as well.

Last is "Haggarth" by Victor de la Fuente (story & art). Haggarth is attacked by an eagle and its amazoness owner who tries to kill him with a poison spear. Meanwhile a trio of men look for precious stones and come across Ethan and a friend of his who accidently take their canoe. Two of the men take back the canoe and leave, only to be killed by the amazonesses.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Creepy 45


Enrich provides the vampire themed cover of this issue of Creepy, cover dated May 1972. Bill Dubay provides the frontis, "Creepy's Loathsome Lore: The Chiklil Tablets!".

First is "What Rough Beast" by Frank Brunner (art) and Jan Strnad (story). A woman tells her husband about many months before, when she traveled through an alley, encountered a strange old man, then a large hairy beast. She passed out, then woke up hours later, finding the old man dead. She become pregnant soon after, and the baby is a horned beast. Suddenly, the beast she encountered bursts into the house and takes the baby, then leaves.

Second is "Targos" by Jack Katz & Nebot (art) and Jack Katz (story). A medieval themed story, surrounding Targos, a warrior, who is in love with a goddess named Kirke, and goes to recover an amulet for her. After battling various beasts he recovers it, then takes from his enemy an amulet that gives him eternal life.

Third is "And Horror Crawls... ...From Out of the Sea!" by Tom Sutton (art) and Kevin Pagan (story). A blob like creature from the sea takes the form of a dog, then, finding a group of four humans near the water, slowly starts taking them over as well. The last one alive kills the creature in a fire, but is soon seized by many others from the sea.

Fourth is "For the Sake of Your Children!" by Jaime Brocal (art) and E.A. Fedory (story). A group of peasents dislike a nearby Baron, who is revealed to have vampires as ancestors. A mob gathers and goes to the Baron's castle after one of the children is found dead. Inside they kill the Baron, putting a stake through his heart. However a group of female vampires within the castle attack the mob, and when they return to the village, all of them are now vampires themselves.

Fifth is "Dungeons of the Soul" by Felix Mas (art) and T. Casey Brennan (story). Another one of Brennan's psychotic hippie stories, featuring a king of a castle, Modrius, who acts cold towards his lover, Adrianne. A prisoner with a mask is held in the dungeon, who has been there since Modrius got a sorceror to cast a spell on him that would keep him from suffering. Adrienne lets the prisoner go, and when Modrius removes the prisoner's mask, it is revealed that it is him. He then turns back to normal again.

Last is the issue's best story, "The Picture of Death" by Jose Bea (story & art). A man traveling through Scotland comes across an inn and stays in a room where people have dissappeared in before. The room contains an odd painting reminiscent of Hieronimus Bosch. As the man falls asleep, bizarre creatures start crawling out of hte painting and pull him inside. Eventually they bring him to a beautiful young woman who is to be his companion. She soon transforms into a bizarre beast however, and he flees. The next day, the maid comes into the room and finds him gone. But the painting has now changed, with him in it!

Friday, April 3, 2009

Vampirella 25


Enrich provides a rare Vampirella-less cover of Vampirella, featuring the story Nimrod. This issue is cover dated June 1973.

First is "What Price Love" by Jose Gonzalez (art) and Bill Dubay (story). This is a continuation of the previous issue, where Pendragon's daughter Sara, and her mobster husband Richard lock him and Vampirella up and inject her with cocain. Vampirella, due to the cocain and the lack of her blood substitute serum goes crazy, attacking all she sees, including Richard and their son. This story would be continued in the next issue, and Sara would return many issues later for revenge.

Second is "The Haunted Child" by Auraleon (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). A blind psychic research professor and his wife, who has telekenitic powers head to a haunted house where they encounter an autistic little girl. After being taken in by the staff of an institution, they take care of the girl and return to the house. The girl suddenly starts talking like a normal girl, then wanders off and kills a couple driving down the road. She then stabs the wife, and reveals to the professor that the girl's spirit left her body, and that the spirit of a cleaver killer took over her body, before killing him as well.

Third is this issue's color stories, Nimrod, by Esteban Maroto (art) and Jack Bannow & Bill Dubay (story). This is one of Warren's first color stories, and the coloring here is absolutely horrific, marring much of the artwork. A group of hunters in Africa flee from a rhino and come across a cavern where they find Nimrod, a man who watches over a group of bizarre freaks. The men flee, but then decide that if they capture some of the freaks they can make a lot of money off of them. The freaks attack them however, killing one of the men. The other man escapes to the surface and finds a beautiful woman, who also ends up being one of the freaks and they kill him.

Fourth is "Cold Calculation" by Ramon Torrents (art) and Doug Moench (story). A man joins a project in Alaska, where a trio of scientists are staying in an outpost in the winter wonderland. One of the scientists, a woman, is obsessed with the Yeti, whom she blames for the death of her husband, who vanished into the wildnerness six months before. While none of the others believe her, one night the creature actually appears. She fires on it, killing it, but it ends up being her husband, who has been out in the wildnerness for six months and only looks like the Yeti from afar.

Last is "The Dead Howl at Midnight" by Jose Bea (art) and W. Eaton (story). A professor who works at a morgue performs bizarre experiments, transporting body parts from corpses to living creatures. One such creature is Nicolas, who has the head of a young boy who died. The boy is adopted by a couple who treat him horribly, beating him and forcing him to spend all his time working. Eventually Nicolas runs away, back to the adoption agency. The couple returns to take the boy back, but finds that everyone there is a sewed up freak like him. They then have their heads chopped off and transported to the midget bodies of two of the professor's workers.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Eerie 14


Vic Prezio provides the cover for this all reprint issue of Eerie, cover dated April 1968. The frontis for this issue is "Eerie's Monster Gallery: The Mummy" by Wally Wood & Dan Adkins (art) and Archie Goodwin (story).

First is "The Stalkers" by Alex Toth (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), from Creepy 6. A man goes to a psychologist, telling him of these bad dreams he is having where he is confronted by aliens that look like prune faced people. The psychologist reveals that he's an alien himself, and that our protagonist is one as well, who had been on Earth in human form so long that he forgot who he was.

Next is "Pursuit of the Vampire" by Angelo Torres (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), from Creepy 1. The story features a group of townspeople being joined by a stranger who tells them two murder victims are actually going to turn into vampires since a vampire was their killer. He leads them to a house where they are and kill them. The town leader ends up being the vampire that killed them, but the stranger, who is a werewolf kills him to eliminate competition for victims.

Third is "Howling Success" by Angelo Torres (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), from Creepy 3. A city is plagued by a werewolf. A man who hates his wife encounters the werewolf but is safely able to hide from it by running through a cemetary fence. He plots to bring his wife to this spot at he next full moon so she can get killed by the werewolf, making him money on insurance. Only when he brings her there he discovers that she's the werewolf and becomes its next victim!

Up next is "Untimely Tomb!" by Angelo Torres (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), from Creepy 5. The title is credited to Anne Murphy, Goodwin's wife. This story features a doctor who is humiliated when a girl whom he pronounced dead is found alive by her brother, only for her to die due to being entombed alive. The brother confronts the doctor, who strikes him down and ends up killing him. When his corpse is put in the doctor's family crypt he fears that it is alive and heads inside, dying of fright after thinking it true. Only it ends up the corpse was stored elsewhere and he was all on his own after all.

Fifth is "Curse of the Full Moon!" by Reed Crandall (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), from Creepy 4. A rich man, Henry, has his coach attacked by a wolf, and his driver killed, He encounters an old gypsy woman who tells him that it is a werewolf, and he is to be the creature's next victim. Henry plans to hunt the werewolf with his two hunting buddies and when the werewolf attacks him, he kills it with a silver bladed knife. Because he was bitten however, he becomes a werewolf himself and his killed by his friends.

Last is "Blood and Orchids" by Al McWilliams and Archie Goodwin (story), from Creepy 4. A doctor assists in a murder investigation where multiple people have been found with their blood drained. He suspects it is because of a countess he met who doesn't use mirrors, brought over native soil for her plants, and doesn't go out during the day. He naturally thinks she is a vampire, but it is actually her blood drinking plants that are the culprit.

Oddly enough, this Eerie reprint issue has all Creepy reprint stories.