Eerie 111

This issue of Eerie features a cover by Ken Kelly.

First is the finale to "Blood on Black Satin" by Paul Gulacy (art) and Doug Moench (story). Our heroes are caught in a frenzy as Simon Whately and his mob overrun the town. Our protagonist awakens the next day, believing it all ot be a dream. In actuality everything did happen, and Whately is still in control.

Second is "Moto Psycho Cop" by John Garcia & Rudy Nebres (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). This stand alone story tells of a 'pyscho cop' and the mind induced experiences he gets in. Eventually he is killed, but another man gets revenge for him on those he had worked for.

Third is "The Messenger", the final Samurai story by Val Mayerik (art) and Larry Hama (story). In this story Samurai is helped by a friend who looks like him to helps take out some Yagyu Clan ninjas who are after him. Unfortunately this would be Samurai's final appearance, despite the fact that the story is nowhere close to a conclusion.

Fourth is the final Mac Tavish story, "50 Million Spacemen Can't Be Wrong" by Pepe Moreno Casares (art) and Jim Stenstrum (story). In this story Mac Tavish discovers how Gorgo was able to track Spider's attack, and also finds that Gorgo himself is paralyzed now and portrayed in public by one of his men. Spider appears on the scene, now with all his hair shaved off, and angry at Mac Tavish, not knowing the truth, blows up both himself and Mac Tavish's lover, Ida. Mac Tavish, upset, tries to destroy the Earth by plowing a ship into it, but stops at the last minute and decides to spare it.

The issue concludes with "Beware of Glahb", the third story in the Haxtur series by Victor de la Fuente (story & art). This series, which was a reprinting of a series that originally appeared in Europe initially started in 1984/1994 before moving here with this issue. In this story Haxtur saves a sacrifice for a giant lizard creature, Glahb, and is saved by her later on when he becomes the intended sacrifice. He later contends with a priest that forbids people to talk

With the ending of multiple long running series and Louise Jones's departure as editor, Eerie would quickly collapse to ineptitude after this issue.

Eerie 110

Jim Laurier provides the sci-fi themed cover of this issue of Eerie. A very good issue, standing out among those issues of Eerie around this time. In fact given how deeply Eerie declined, this might by the last really good issue of the magazine left. This was Louise Jones's final issue as editor.

First is "Blood on Black Satin" by Paul Gulacy (art) and Doug Moench (story). Our protagonist is attacked after finding the body of Uncle Jock but is saved by Heather. They travel to the basement of an old courthouse where our heroes find the skeletal remains of Whatley's followers. Seconds later Whatley himself appears. This series would be concluded in the next issue.

Second is the finale for "Beastworld" by Pablo Marcos (art) and Bruce Jones (story). In this story Tyler and Thomas have their last confrontation. Ruth falls to her death accidently after being used as bait by Tyler. Tyler and Thomas fight each other and Monica kills Tyler just as he's about to kill Thomas. The series ends with Tyler and Monica sleeping with each other. Overall, this 6 part story probably would have worked better in no more than 2 parts. A big waste of time and a huge dissappointment from Bruce Jones.

Third is "Francois", the finale to "The Open Sky" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Bob Toomey (story). This story features Francois, the evil assassin that Moonshadow was coming after. Francois travels in a hot air balloon which crashes into the sea. He is saved by some dolphins which bring him to an island where he meets the Grim Reaper, as well as Moonshadow and Arianne. Upon fighting, Francois discovers that both he and Arianne are dead. Moonshadow, still alive, is able to leave. A pretty good finale to this series, which was missing for a while.

Fourth is "Firefly/Starfight" by Auraleon (art) and Budd Lewis (story). This story features an ordinary man who witnesses spaceships battling for control of Earth. Convinced that the aliens will control the Earth, he decides to kill himself. A slow paced, but okay story.

Last is "The Rainmaker" by Leo Duranona (art) and Michael Fleisher (story). During a heavy drought, a con man fools a town into giving him $500, saying that its for materials to bring rain. While traveling to the next town he comes across a cabin where a man tells him he's a rainmaker as well, and makes it happen by sacrificing the conman to the Gods by chopping his head in with an axe.

Eerie 109

This issue of Eerie features a Beastworld themed cover by Kirk Reinert.

First is "Blood on Black Satin", a new series by Paul Gulacy (art) and Doug Moench (story). An interesting new series that is one of the most praised of Eerie's latter day series. A man comes to the town of Middlesex where he finds a large celebration of the macabre taking place. Having received a letter from a woman named Heather McKinnon, he visits her and the wheelchair Uncle Jock, who tells him the history of the town, which is filled with Satan worshippers descended from the villanous Simon Whately and demons. They tell him a new Simon Whately is in town and asks him to investigate at the local library. He does so, but the document he finds there bursts aflame. He returns to the McKinnon home, finding Jock dead.

Second is "Beastworld" by Pablo Marcos (art) and Bruce Jones (story). Thomas saves Monica from the waterfall and decides that he's going to stop his manic quest to outdo Tyler. Tyler meanwhile defeats a giant praying mantis, and sets up a path for Thomas, but wants to kill him.

Third is "Race of the Damned", the second and final part to this short series. Art is by Joe Vaultz and story is by Norman Mundy and Cary Bates. We get an explanation of the race here, as it is explained that robots took over Earth, but give humans the chance to win it back through a race each year where nine humans face one robot. The robots are able to win the race however, keeping things the same.

Fourth is "Fugue State", the latest story in the Samurai series. Art is by Val Mayerik and story is by Larry Hama. In this story a man offers to help the Samurai and the princess, but instead he plans on attacking them. Samurai goes on a rampage, killing everyone.

Last is "The End of the Steel Gang", the latest Mac Tavish story by Pepe Moreno Casares (art) and Jim Stenstrum & Alex Southern (story, Stenstrum as "Alabaster Redzone"). Spider Andromeda plots to kill Gorgo and the entire Board of Directors of his corporation during his victory speech. Mac Tavish heads there as a spy but is caught. Spider kills the Board, but not Gorgo, and blames Mac Tavish for him not being completely successful.

Eerie 105

Jordi Penalva provides the cover for this issue of Eerie, featuring Mac Tavish and Spider Andromeda.

First is the Rook in "Robot Fighters" by Jim Janes & Alfredo Alcala (art) and Bill Dubay (story). The Rook, Dane and Manners help defeat a robot that is a descendent of one the Rook built in different times. The best part of this story is that its a lot shorter than the usual Rook fare, getting it over with quickly. Thankfully the Rook exited the magazine for quite a while after this issue, due to having his own magazine.

Second is the finale for The Trespasser, in "Ruins" by Paul Gulacy (art) and Don McGregor (story). A rather short finale to this series at only 6 pages. Dr. Cavanaugh defeats the Cope's last guard, then fights Harris Cope, who shoots his wife Rebecca. Harris falls out the window to his death and Cavanaugh is finally able to leave with Rebecca in his arms.

Third is "Beastworld" by Pablo Marcos (art) and Bruce Jones (story). Thomas and Monica find some giant bugs attacking them and Thomas is saved from a deadly spider only when a giant wasp arrives and fights it. Tyler and Ruth meanwhile have some more success and Tyler starts making out with her. The usual extemely dependable Bruce Jones hasn't impressed that much so far with this series.

Fourth is "Demons of the Zodiac", the return of Mac Tavish, unseen for a while. Art is by Pepe Moreno Casares and story is by Jim Stenstrum & Bob Toomey, under their pseudonyms Alabaster Redzone and Gary Null. A so-so continuation of this Star Wars ripoff, featuring Mac Tavish summarizing the history of Spider Andromeda while he sleeps.

Fifth is "Hunger Strike", the latest segment in the Horizon Seekers. Although the prior issue said this would be the conclusion, the story doesn't end here, and ends rather abrubtly. Art is by Leo Duranona and story is by Duranona and Cary Bates. In this story our heroes are confronted by a group of giant bugs but get them to eat each other, similar to the prior story. Also, the cannibal girl who was with them starts her cannibal ways again but is killed by the bugs before she can eat our heroes.

Last is "Lair of the Assassins", the latest story in the Samurai series. Art is by Val Mayerik and story is by Larry Hama. Samurai goes to the castle of Yagyu Ninjas and inside is forced to battle old man Yagyu's son, who has the niece of their lord strapped to him. Samurai easily defeats him and after Yagyu has his minions shoot arrows at him, Samurai grabs them and throws them back, striking him in the eye. Samurai escapes with the niece, who has been blinded, and she helps him escape after his own eyesight is affected by an attack.

Eerie 104

Kirk Reinert provides the cover for this issue of Eerie, featuring the new serial Beastworld.

First is the Rook in "The Trouble With Tin Men". Art is by Jim Janes & Alfredo Alcala while story is from Bill Dubay. Think of the usual cliches in the Rook storyline and this story has it. Rook going into the future for another adventure, telling Dane to stay there, and Dane heading off on another adventure with Manners yet again. Yawn. After the same storyline 15 times this is getting rather dull. Notable is that the Time Castle is destroyed, apparantely stranding Dane and Manners in the time they have gone to.

Second is the second part of "The Trespasser", in "Dusk" by Paul Gulacy (art) and Don McGregor (story). Dr. Cavanaugh is thrown in a prison in the basement where he finds Kelsey, the man he had seen captured before. Kelsey reveals that the Cope's house is built on a site where nuclear waste had been kept, the reason for the family's illness. Rebecca soon arrives and lets them out. As they are crossing a bridge one of the Cope family's guard finds them and a fight ensues in which the bridge is destroyed. Luckily Cavanaugh is able to throw the man into crocodile infested waters, saving himself and Rebecca. A good continuation to this story with some fine art by Gulacy and shockingly enough a good story from McGregor that doesn't go overboard with his usual polical ramblings.

Third is "City of Shadows" by Leo Duranona (art) and Jean Michel Martin (story). This story is told mostly through photographs of clay figures and toys. It features a group of people traveling through a post apocalyptic landscape looking for a mysterious city, which ends up being Manhatten.

Fourth is "Beastworld", a new series from Pablo Marcos (art) and Bruce Jones (story). A man, Tyler, and his friend Monica come across a giant beetle while flying in a ship. They meet Peter Thomas and his wife, Ruth. Peter has an inferiority complex with Tyler from their time in school together. He drugs our two heroes, but then without any explanation Tyler ends up with Ruth and Thomas ends up with Monica, seperated from each other. They fight off some giant bugs while arguing with each other. A rather poor start to a long running serial with Marcos art, an guy whose style I've never been too fond of. A poor site in a mostly good issue.

Fifth is the second part of The Open Sky, "Vladimir" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Bob Toomey (story). Moonshadow and Arianne come across a two headed man who had a hot air balloon stolen from him by Francois, the head assassin that Moonshadow is after. After convincing the two headed man to let them use their hot air balloon, they head through the sky, and are eventually seized by the winged people from the previous story, who drop Moonshadow and Arianne into the ocean.

Last is "Temple of the Ravengers" the latest story in the Horizon Seekers series. Art is by Leo Duranona, while story is by Duranona & Cary Bates. Allison and Jesse travel through the desert with Merlin and find some ruins of a mansion, leaving Merlin behind to rest while they explore. Inside they find a group of women cannibals that capture them. By convincing the cannibals that she is ill, Allison is able to start some infighting, and she and Jesse are able to escape.

Eerie 103

Terrance Lindall provides the cover for this issue of Eerie, featuring the series "The Horizon Seekers".

First is the Rook in "Terror of the Spaceways!" part 2 by Lee Elias (art) and Bill Dubay (story). This story continues from the previous issue and contains some reprinted artwork from that story. The Rook saves the woman from the destroyed ship, then heads out despite the danger due to the battles occuring. Despite the danger he is able to make it out okay. Some very good art by Elias but not that great a story.

Second is a new series, The Open Sky, which is a prequel to the series Moonshadow. The first story is titled "Arianne", with art by Jose Ortiz and story by Bob Toomey. Arianne is a girl living in a cave whose family has been plauged by winged monsters. Moonshadow, a skilled assassin arrives and helps awaken her to the outside world. He defeats the head monster and she decides to head off with him.

Third is another new series, "The Trespasser" by Paul Gulacy (art, his Warren debut) and Don McGregor (story, his first Warren appearance in quite a while). A doctor is summoned to the home of a rich family, the Copes. There he encounters a man on the run from the Cope's guards, the Averdine brothers. The doctor meets Rebecca Cope, the woman who summoned him. Soon afterwards however her husband arrives and ignoring the doctor's warnings about having skin cancer, has his guards take him away to lock him up.

Fourth is "Credentials", from a new series called Samurai. Art is by Val Mayerik and story is by Larry Hama. This series started in Creepy 106 and moved here for the rest of its run. Samurai is revealed to have been recruited by his lord as an assassin. He goes to the priest Do-Shin who trains him by locking him up for 3 years during which he trains his mind and body. When he's finally released he kills Do-Shin.

Last is the latest Horizon Seekers story, "The Damned & The Dead" by Leo Duranona (art) and Duranona & Cary Bates (story). Millions of small creatures run towards the castle that Allison and Jesse are in. They are able to hide themselves from them by covering themselves with the blood of one of the creatures. Realizing that the creatures are carrying their queen with them, Jesse manages to kill it, and the creatures mindlessly run themselves off a cliff to their death.

Vampirella 85

A rather unique issue of Vampirella with this issue, as Vampi gets drawn by a trio of artists for unfortunately the only time ever.

The cover is by Paul Gulacy, in his only Warren cover. He does a pretty good job although isn't at the same level as Vampi's usual cover artist, Enrich, at least in my opinion. The table of contents page features a Jose Gonzalez drawing of Vampi, something that he would do on nearly every issue of Vampirella over the last three years of the magazine's existence. Unfortunately Gonzalez would vanish almost entirely from Warren except for these one page drawings for about 20 or so issues during this period of time and lesser artists like Rudy Nebres (already discussed in my review for issue 88) would draw many stories in his place.

The Vampi story for this issue is "Flame Spirit" by team of Val & John Lakey (artists) and Bob Toomey (writer). The Lakeys (who were frequently credited under the name "Artifact") were a great artist team who unfortunately only did about half a dozen stories for Warren, mostly in the last few years of Vampirella's existence. This would be their sole story featuring Vampirella herself. Their artwork was arguably as life-like as anything ever published in Warren, although they did have a notable flaw in that the people in their stories always seemed completely detached from the background. Anyway, this story features Vampi on her own in the desert, where she meets a pair of Native Americans and encounters the Flame Spirit, an alien being who has slept on Earth for millions of years but ends up returning to its home planet after its encounter with Vampi. The story's hardly that great although I do like the art a lot.

The next story, "The Conscience of the King" is by Auraleon (art) and Budd Lewis (story). This story of a miniature elf going on a quest to rescue a prince along with the animals he befriends is nothing special and is just one of countless instances during Warren's last few years where fantasy based stories crept their way into these 'horror' magazines.

"Curly's Gold" is up next, with art by Leo Duranona and story by Michael Fleisher. Another story with no horror elements whatsoever in it, its about a husband and wife who are after their uncle's treasure. The uncle refuses to tell them anything but instead tells his neighborhood friend, who is followed by the two of them. When the wife shoots her husband, seeking the treasure all to herself, the cavern caves in on them, killing them. Duranona uses a lot of real life photos in this story, something he'd do a number of times during his run at Warren.

Fourth is "A Green Phoenix" by Noly Zamora (art), in his sole Warren appearance, and Laurie Sutton (story). Billions of years in Earth's future, a lizard like man seeks three magic stones which will give him the power to cast a magical spell. He eventually is able to obtain all three after his encounter with a blind man and a female warrior, but becomes a demon like creature under her control once the spell is cast. Nothing all that special here.

Last is Lilywhite and Lavender by Alex Nino (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). Nino's artwork is probably about as complex as anything you'd see from Warren, and this story is a prime example of that. His style is not without its flaws though, as its sometimes so complex that its hard to figure out what's going on. This story is about an ugly hunchback named Lavender who kills a beautiful girl, Lilywhite. Lilywhite's Guardian Angel, Wendell, is sent to Earth and shows Lavender heaven and hell. Not a great story, but certainly better than the other non-Vampi stories in this issue.