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.

Vampirella 24

Enrich provides the cover for this issue of Vampirella, cover dated May 1973.

First is "Into the Inferno!" by Jose Gonzalez (art) and Bill Dubay (story). In this issue Vampirella and Pendragon are captured, incidently enough by his own son in law. Pendragon's wife, Rosie is introduced, as is their daughter. Both are quite upset at him for abandoning them, which happened when he was away during the war and heard that Rosie had found another man. This new husband however was quite cruel to them and was eventually killed off. They plan on taking revenge by turning Vampirella into a junkie, injecting her with cocain. Vampi later wakes up, and without her blood serum, attacks Pendragon. This is where the story ends, to be continued in the next issue.

Second is "Middle-Am!" by Esteban Maroto (art) and Steve Skeates (story). The first of two rather odd Skeates stories in this issue, it features a young man who battles some other men. He is captured, then brought to their leader, who orders his death merely because he's young. He is then hung along with some other people. Quite an odd story.

Third is "Homo Superior" by Ramon Torrents (art) and R. Michael Rosen (story). A group of five scientists who are working on a major project meet. One of them reveals that he has discovered through an anonymous test that one of them is a super human. He is soon killed off, as is another one who is investigating who it could be. The leader of them brings an outside expert to help. One of them finishes their experiment, which will make the super human invinsible if he gets his hands on it. He kills himself to protect it, but the 'expert' finds it out and uses it to bait the super human, who he traps in a sticky substance that traps him for good. An interesting story, albeit one without any horror element to it.

Fourth is "The Choice" by Auraleon (art) and Doug Moench (story). This story features a man who is a werewolf, and his wife discovers that fact when she witnesses him kill someone one night. Each full moon she locks him up in a cell to keep him from killing anyone else. He finds her slowly becoming colder and colder towards him. He realizes its because of a friend of theirs who is actually a vampire and has turned her into one. He eventually breaks out of his cell and kills her. A rather abrupt ending to this story; also Auraleon blatantly swipes one of his panels from Lon Chaney Jr.'s portrayal of the werewolf, an image that appears in the Captain Company ads in the back. Not a bad story though.

Last is "Changes" by Felix Mas (art) and Steve Skeates (story). A man comes home one day to find his wife laying dead on the floor, with a knife sticking out of her forehead. Oddly enough he doesn't seem that upset about it, neither do his kids. He then gets her replaced, then heads out and stabs some random middle aged woman in the forehead himself. Quite the odd story, thats for sure.

Creepy 43

Ken Kelly provides the cover for this issue of Creepy.

First is "Three Way Split" by Jorge Galvez (art) and Dennis P. Junot (story). This story features two businessmen who are enemies of each other. A doctor who was fired by one of them goes to the other, with a way to get revenge on the rival by becoming him through a brain transplant. The operations is successful, although the rival convinces the doctor to help him as well. By the end of the story all three have switched bodies with each other, and all three end up dying.

Next is the cover story, "The Mark of Satan's Claw" by Jaime Brocal (art) and Fred Ott (story). A man comes to a small town, curious of some murders of children that are occuring. Law enforcement is unwilling to help him, but a man there admits to him that the town is full of Satan worshippers and that he left them when they started sacrificing children. Satan himself kills the man, but our protagonist is led to his girlfriend, who also left the Satan worshippers. Our protagonist is revealed to be Satan himself, and kills her too for betraying him.

Third is "The Men Who Called Him Monster" by Luis Garcia (art) and Don McGregor (story). This story was Luis Garcia's Creepy debut. An extremely nice art job, with the werewolf being obviously influenced by the original Wolfman movie starring Lon Chaney Jr. The main character, a black detective, who is hired to find the boy that is the werewolf, was based on Sidney Poitier. This story featured the first inter racial kiss in mainstream comics, although it only occured because Garcia misunderstood McGregor's line "This is the clincher" in his script. As usual, the story features McGregor's nonscensical political ramblings.

Fourth is "Quest of the Bigfoot" by Jerry Grandenetti (art) and R. Michael Rosen (story). This story features a pair of scientists investigating bigfoot. They eventually come across an Eden occupied by the bigfoots. One of the scientists morphs into bigfoot and attacks the other scientist. But that scientist reveals that he is the abominable snowman and kills him, wanting to take over the bigfoot's realm for his species.

Last is "Mirage" by Felix Mas (art) and Gerry Conway (story). A man and a young boy wander the desert after a plane crash. They eventually come across a group of women that end up eating him. At the end of the story it is revealed that the whole experience was a mirage, caused by the boy because he was upset at the man for hitting him.

Creepy 54

This issue's cover features excerpts from various interior stories by Richard Corben, Reed Crandall and Esteban Maroto. A similar style cover was done on Vampirella 26, which came out around the same time.

First is "The Slipped Mickey Click Flip" by Richard Corben (art) and Doug Moench (story). This is one of the most bizarre and nonscensical stories in Warren's history, but is very good. It features Diment, a crazy old man taking over hosting duties from Uncle Creepy and telling some bizarre tales about a pyschologist and his family. The psychologist is attacked by butterflies, a TV eats his wife, and a bone buries his dog. Very, very bizarre.

Second is "This Graveyard is Not Deserted" by Reed Crandall (art) and Don McGregor (story). A rather poor, drawn out western story featuring an outlaw that shoots out a native american boy's eyes; later boy's ghost gets his revenge and tears the outlaw's eyes out.

Third is "Descent into Hell" by Esteban Maroto (art) and Kevin Pagan (story). Warren starts their trend of printing color stories regularly here, in a manner that started off quite bad. Some very, very poor coloring here. It is either too bright, or barely colored at all. Luckily Warren had things fixed by the next color story in Creepy in issue 56. Not much of a story either, featuring a God that goes to hell to find a mortal woman he had loved. Finding she is gone forever, he spurns Zeus and becomes Atlas, cursed to hold Earth on his back. This story was previewed as "Descent into Tartarus" in previous issues.

Fourth is "Dead Man's Race" by Martin Salvador (art) and Jack Butterworth (story). A wealth man's brother passes away and is set to be buried on the same day as his lover, who also died. The brother fears that if his dead brother is the last buried in the graveyard (it has only two graves remaining) he will be cursed, so he races the hearse as fast as possible to beat the hearse of his brother's lover. He doesn't win, so he kills his driver and has him buried instead of his brother. But the driver comes back from the dead and has him buried, resulting in the man becoming the cursed ghost.

Fifth is "Little Nippers" by Tom Sutton (art) and R. Michael Rosen (story). A pair of men come across Liliput, the city of miniature people from Gulliver's Travels. They find a book where one of the little people tells how some of them traveled with Gulliver, but became vampires. The last one was possessed and was able to bring the vampires back to Liliput, getting them all killed. In the present day, the explorers leave the island after miniature vampires attack only to come to another island with vampires, giant ones.

Creepy 42

Sanjulian's first ever Creepy cover starts off this issue, the first of three S.I. artists making their Creepy debut in this issue. The frontis, "Creepy's Loathsome Lore" is drawn by Ken Kelly (a rare non-cover appearance) and written by T. Casey Brennan.

First up is "The Quaking Horror" by Auraleon (art, his Creepy debut) and Gardner Fox (story). This HP Lovecraft-esque story features a house that has a dark horror underneath it, a bizarre tentacled monster that was summoned hundreds of years ago. The entire house eventually collapses, destroying the demon for good. Some very nice art by Auraleon here.

Next is "A Change of Identity!" by Dave Cockrum (art) and Don Glut (story). A hunchbacked man attepts to get revenge on the townfolk that haven't treated him well by rescuing a killed werewolf, who becomes a vampire. The vampire promises to turn the hunchback into a werewolf so he can get revenge, but decides instead to kill him and turn him into a zombie guard.

Third is "The Amazing Money-Making Wallet" by Joe Staton (art) and Steve Skeates (story). This story is about a wallet that generates money on its own, but if you ever get rid of it, you'll dissolve. A thief steals the wallet, causing his victim to dissolve, and eventually he dissolves as well when he gets rid of the wallet.

Fourth is "Spacial Delivery" by Larry Todd (art) and R. Michael Rosen (story). This story is about a shapeshifting alien that crashes to our planet. In order to repair his ship he needs a metallic substance called Argentium. Taking the appearance of a wolf, he is accused of being a werewolf and is shot with a silver bullet, which ends up being the Argentium he needed to repair his ship and leave.

Fifth is "A Chronicle!" by Jorge Galvez (art, his Warren debut) and Steve Skeates (story). This short story at only 4 pages tells of a man who pays little attention to his life, focusing instead on a research project that ends up being meaningless when someone else completes it. He then gets fired from his job and tries to rob a bank but is killed trying to escape. Not much of a point to this story, wasting Galvez's pretty good art.

Sixth is "Escape From Nowhere World" by Jerry Grandenetti (art) and T. Casey Brennan (story). This story is a sequel to Brennan's very poor story "On the Wings of a Bird" from issue 36. A woman, Janeen suddenly appears in the mysterious nowhere world where Ahzid and the statue are. She and Ahzid try to escape, dragging the statue with them. The statue collapses, and using its sword Janeen and Ahzid tear their way out of the world and escape, while the broken statue lies there alone.

Last is "Ice Wolf" by Gary Kaufman (story & art). This would be Kaufman's final Warren appearance. Unfortunate, as he was quite a unique artist and a pretty good writer too. A tribe of wolf hunters in a winter landscape completely run out of wolves to hunt, so they head through the mountains, still to no avail. One of the men on the night of the full moon gains special powers. Tribe members start dying, obviously due to him. Eventually a wolf finally does appear, and kills him.

Creepy 36

An early issue of Creepy featuring a terrific cover by Kenneth Smith. The frontis is "Creepy's Loathsome Lore: The Body Snatchers Who Stole A Giant!" by Tom Sutton.

First is "One Way to Break the Boredom" by Jack Sparling (art) and James Haggenmiller (story). A rich man is bored with his life, and when the devil arrives he gives him his soul in order to become a vampire, a life that he plans to be very exciting. It is exciting for a while, he travels from place to place, kills many people, and always survives the execution whenever he is captured. Eventually however he arrives at an old city in the country with an old custom for executions, shooting with wooden arrows, something which kills him for real.

Next is "Weird World" by Tom Sutton (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). An astronaut arrives at a bizarre planet where he meets a beautiful woman, but also a talking frog and her father, a bizarre looking alien creature. He soon finds out that the planet is a mental asylum for crazy aliens. He heads into his ship to take off from the planet, but once he goes inside he becomes insane for real.

Third is "Frankenstein is a Clown" by Carlos Garzon (art) and Bill Warren (story). A famous clown later in his career becomes well known as an actor playing a friendly monster on TV. Unfortunately for him he perishes in a car crash. A mad scientist brings him back as a real Frankenstein monster. He heads to a memorial for himself, but realizing how dangerous he is, he decides instead to kill himself for good by jumping out of a window.

Fourth is "On the Wings of a Bird" by Jerry Grandenetti (art) and T. Casey Brennan. As good as Grandenetti's art is it can't save this absolutely horrific story which was startling enough awarded by Warren as the best story of the year! A man, Ahzid, is trapped in a desert prison with a talking statue. He dreams of the day that he'll be able to escape due to a bird that sits there, but never takes off. He has a dream of actually leaving on the bird, but when he wakes up he finds that the bird has already left and that he's trapped here due to sleeping in. This story would have a sequel in issue 42.

Fifth is "Forbidden Journey" by Rich Buckler (art, his Warren debut) and Greg Theakston (story). This story tells of four astronauts heading to a world with a natural resource, 'thurium' that will make them rich. One of the astronauts kills the three others, but when he arrives at the planet he finds it is nothing more than a waste dump and his ship falls into quicksand, trapping him there.

Sixth is "If A Body Meets a Body" by Jack Sparling (art) and R. Michael Rosen (story). A man is in a car crash with his friend. He awakens and heads home only to find his wife crying over his death. His friend arrives and tells him that they're both dead and they should head to the spirit world. At the urging of his friend the man jumps off a cliff. It ends up all being a trick however as the friend and wife are together, and he falls to his death. Only it ends up that the friend truly is dead, something he and the wife soon discover.

Last is "Frozen Beauty" by Richard Corben (story & art). This was Corben's Warren debut. A hideous queen, Maleva, summons Darman, a sorceror, offering him gold in exchange for making her look like her beautiful niece. They head to a cave in the icy mountain where he casts a spell such that Maleva will have her niece's exact appearance. Her niece is left frozen there in the cave so she'll always look the same. Instead of paying the sorceror however, Maleva has him stabbed and left in the cave. Maleva doesn't get to enjoy her beauty for that long, as Darman, still left alive due to the cold starts eating the corpse of Maleva's niece, resulting in her body being torn to shreds. A very nice debut for Corben.

Vampirella 7

A classic Frank Frazetta cover starts off this issue of Vampirella.

The first three stories of this issue are a Witch trilogy, all written by Nicola Cuti. Vampi has a one page intro and one page conclusion surrounding the stories. Despite being called a trilogy, all three stories are self contained.

First is "The White Witch!", with art by Tom Sutton. The White Witch is a singer who cannot go into the sunlight as it will harm her. Her elderly brother asks a painter to paint a portrait of her, and he stays at their house. He soon finds out the truth, that she isn't human, but rather was found in a haunted tower by the brother in a cocoon. The next day the painter opens the curtains, thinking its midnight, but it is actually noon and she dies due to the sunlight.

Second is "The Mind Witch" with art by Ernie Colon. The Mind Witch is a woman who steals the soul from men, leaving them mindless husks. A pair of men plan to investigate it. One of them arrives at her home finding she already knows their plan, as the other one has become her latest victim. She reveals that she is an alien and has the power to do what she does because of that. Yet the man is actually from outer space as well and has come to punish her for her actions.

The third and final witch story is "The Black Witch" with art by Billy Graham. The Black Witch kills the man she loves who is going to marry another woman, then goes to the woman and turns her into a praying mantis. The man ends up surviving the attack and comes after her, killing many witches over the years. When she finally comes for him, she turns into a spider in order to avoid him shooting at her, but the praying mantis arrives and eats her.

Fourth is "Plague of the Wolf" by Frank Bolle (art) and Doug Moench (story). A werewolf is plauging the city. A man warns his girlfriend to stay away from him, because he has a pentagram on his arm, showing that he'll be the next victim and he doesn't want her there when the werewolf arrives. But she arrives anyway, as she is the werewolf!

Fifth is "Terror Test!" by Tony Williamsune (art) and R. Michael Rosen (story). This story features astronauts arriving on a strange planet where they kill a strange creature. One of the astronauts becomes a vampire and is killed by another one, but he finds the other astronaut to be a monster as well. The man awakens, it all was a dream, but that doesn't stop him from going crazy and killing those that put him under the test with an axe.

Sixth is "The Survivor" by Ernie Colon (art) and Buddy Saunders (story). This story is about an entity that has occupied a planet for many years by occupying the bodies of the people there. When a group of astronauts arrive, the entity plans to take one of them over. He waits until one of the men is alone then hits him in the back to knock him out. He kills his current body in order to take over the new one, but the man is paralyzed from the blow!

Last is "The Collection Creation" by Jerry Grandenetti (art, miscredited to Tony Williamsune) and R. Michael Rosen (story). A woman with eternal life who needs to steal the youth from others finds a painter whom she hopes to make her next victim. She shows him her great painting collection of old men. It ends up that they were her victims, and she takes his youth, making him the model for the next painting.

Creepy 31

An extremely bizarre cover for this issue by Vaughn Bode and Larry Todd, their first for Warren. It features a chicken like creature standing over a torn apart robot man. The frontis for this issue is "Creepy's Loathsome Lore" by Tony Williamsune (art) and Bill Parente (story).

First is "In the Face of Death!" by Tony Williamsune (art) and Al Hewetson (story). A very short story at four pages featuring a man without a face who goes after a man named Arthur Merlin who stole his face. Only when he reaches Merlin he finds that he has lost track of time and become very old.

Next is "Telephoto Troll!" by Roger Brand (art) and R. Michael Rosen (story). This story is about an astronomer who takes pictures of things on a far away planet only for them to appear when the photos are developed. This results in a monster from the planet appearing. He destroys the photo, saving himself, only for his wife to develop multiple copies, resulting in multiple monsters appearing!

Third is "A Night's Lodging!" by Maurice Whitman (art) and Rhea Dunne (story), originally printed in Creepy 17. This story is about a man who is confronted by vampires after getting into an accident with his carriage. He tells them if they let him live he'll build them a hotel and bring many victims to him. He does so, but is eventually turned into a vampire himself. A very lame rehash of "The Invitation" from Creepy 8, which had Whitman as one of the writes.

Fourth is "Snowmen!" by Tom Sutton (story & art). A rich man gets extremely over the town's failure to catch a child killer. His lonely son meanwhile makes snowmen in the yard when he refuses to let him play with anyone. A vagabond is blamed for the attacks when the rich man's son says he did it, so the vagabond is hung. Only it ends up that the little boy was the killer all along, leaving the corpses in his snowmen. A very good story, which would win the Warren award for best story of the year.

Fifth is "A Wooden Stake for Your Heart!" by Bill Black (art) and Don Glut (story). A local castle dweller is blamed for the populace for recent vampire attacks. Although he looks like a vampire he really isn't one, and when the townfolk stake him to death, they open a nearby door which contains a number of monsters he had locked up, which are now unleashed on the town.

Sixth is "Death of a Stranger" by Ernie Colon (art) and T. Casey Brennan (story). A rather bizarre nonscensical story as usual from Brennan, about a man who thinks he's going to die, and that's what happens.

Last is "Laughing Liquid" by William Barry (art) and Kevin Pagan (story). This story is about a man who keeps having visions of alien like creatures and develops a fear of liquid for that's where they come from.

Eerie 25

A whopping eight stories in this issue, six of them new. This issue features a cover by Jim Steranko, his sole one for Warren. The frontis is "Eerie's Monster Gallery: Vampire!" by Tony Williamsune (art) and Bill Parente (story).

Up first is "Isle of the Vrukolakas" by Ernie Colon (art) and Don Glut (story). A town is plagued by a vampire. Zorko, a sheep herder is convinced that the vampire is the corpse of a man recently brought to the town. They consult a priest, who says the vampire's body will not be decayed. They find the corpse of the man brought to the town, but it is completely decayed so they now have no clue who the vampire could be. Yet it ends up that he was the vampire after all as he had leprosy, and he comes to kill Zorko!

Next is "Mistake!" by Bill Black (art) and Buddy Saunders (story). A mob boss plans to hide from the law by faking his death in Italy. There, in his home town he bribes various people to fake his death, declare him dead, and bury him in a maesoleum in a coffin with air holes so he can live. When he awakens he tries to escape the graveyard, only for people to mistake him for a vampire and kill him!

Third is "Hijack to Horror" by Tony Williamsune (art) and R. Michael Rosen (story). This story features a group of vampire like creatures that hijack a plane and bring it to their new Transylvania where they plan on using the plane passengers to be a never ending supply of blood for them.

Fourth is "To Pay the Piper" by Eugene Colan (art) and Larry Ivie (story), originally from Eerie 2.. The story takes place in a town plagued by vampires. A piper offers to rid the town of the vampires by playing a song on his pipe in exchange for money. He does so and rids the town of vampires, but the town refuses to pay, so using his pipe he lures the children away, as in the classic Pied Piper story. Men wait for him in the woods however and kill him with arrows. They soon find however that he lured the children into wolfsbane, turning them all into werewolves!

Fifth is "Southern Exposure" by Tom Sutton (art) and Bill Parente (story). This is the first part of a two part story that would be concluded in the next issue. A woman faints at a family party and an old woman who hasn't spoke in years says she must be destroyed. Her boyfriend refuses to do so, but at the end of the story, it is revealed that she is a vampire!

Sixth is "The Thing in the Cave" by Mike Royer (art) and R. Michael Rosen (story). Finally, a story not about vampires! A young man and his wife come to visit his parents. The man, who studies funguses, as investigating a mushroom that transforms anything that touches it into a monster! When he and his wife visit a cave and approach some, he turns into a monster and kills her, exactly what he had done to a friend when he was a kid. His mother meanwhile plans on cooking dinner with the mushrooms, unaware of their power.

Seventh is "House of Evil", with art by Jerry Grandenetti (uncredited) & Joe Orlando, and story by Archie Goodwin. This story is originally from Eerie 4. A man comes to a large house where his brother lived but finds only a tape recording there, telling him of how he came to the house, which has an evil past, for inspiration. Suddenly a rotting corpse arrives. The man destroys the corpse, but soon finds that it was his own brother! He then looks at his hands and realizes that he's starting to rot as well.

Last is "Hex Marks the Spot" by Bill Barry (art) and R. Michael Rosen (story). An evil man summons demons to attack those that won't sell their farms to him. But anyone who has a 'good hex' symbol at their house will cause the demon to go back and kill the one who summoned it instead of them. Once such man has a new wife who demands he take down the good hex signs as she doensn't believe him. He does so, but creates another hex sign in his wheat field which results in the evil man getting his just desserts.

Eerie 27

A terrific cover for this issue, by Jeff Jones and Vaughn Bode. Unfortunately the contents itself aren't as good. The frontis is "Eerie's Monster Gallery: The Golem!" by Tom Sutton.

"Journey Into Wonder" with art by Kenn Barr and story by Bill Parente is about a imp like man that asks the king to let him be a knight. The king sends him to defeat a sorceress, who ends up being an innocent woman. he defeats a monster, and then after some questioning upon returning to the castle, wins a fight and transforms into a normal man.

"Amazonia" by Miguel Fernandez (art) and Gardner Fox (story) is yet another in a long line of barbarian/warrior stories set in a medieval setting. Amazonia would get another story, which I've already covered, from an early Vampirella.

"The Machine God's Slave" is this issue's best story, by Ernie Colon (art) and Buddy Saunders (story). An astronaut finds a planet with an ancient civilization which he angers by killing a priest. They chain him to a machine which drags him along throughout the planet, and eventually to his death when it goes into a body of water.

"Swallowed in Space" by Tom Sutton (art) and Bill Parente (story) features a spaceship of people who keep vanishing until only one man is left, who finds the secret of the universe.

"Enter Dr. Laenru!" by Disck Piscopo (art) and R. Michael Rosen (story) features a man who is able to deflect magic. A princess's younger sister turns her into a werewolf, and after he finds her out, he gets her turned into a pig, who is prompstly eaten by some hungry people! Funny ending to a not that great story.

"All Sewed Up!" by Mike Royer (art) and Buddy Saunders (story) is about a taxidermist who turns into a werewolf. His assistant desires his fiance and steals from him, and eventually kills him while he's in his wolf form. He sews him up for display in his store, only for him to turn back human, revealing the truth to everyone.

Last is "Face It!" by Jack Sparling (art) and Nicola Cuti (story) about a hooded man who joins a circus with a robot woman. He hides his face, but a curious girl in the circus keep trying to see it and its eventually revealed that he has a shrunken face and his wife has a shrunked body, hidden inside the robot.

Creepy 34

Our next issue is Creepy #34, featuring a cover by Ken Barr, of his interior story "Lifeboat!". The frontis for this issue is "Creepy's Loathsome Lore" by Dan Adkins.

First up is "X-Tra X" by Jack Sparling (art) and Robert (Michael) Rosen (story). A man who is a werewolf approaches a professor whose been studying genes and believes that an extra chromosome is responsible for criminal behavior. The man volunteers to be experimented on by the professor to cure him from being a werewolf. He ends up dying from the procedure, which ends up being okay with the professor as he's a werewolf too.

Next is "Lifeboat!" by Ken Barr (art) and Bill Parente (story). Astronauts come across a planet with a died out race, except for one man, Aceles, a man of large stature and great strength. He goes back on the ship with them peacefully, but it soon becomes clear that the entire race on that planet are contained within him and he is seeking to revive the species by transforming the astronauts into those of his species. The astronauts respond by throwing him out of the ship to his death. Pretty good story.

Next is "The Cool Jazz Ghoul" by Ken Kelly (art) and Al Hewetson (story). This story's unique by being Ken Kelly's sole interior story, outside of this and a single frontis, he did exclusively covers for Warren. His art's okay here, but not great. Covers clearly suited him better. The story surrounds a jazz musician who ponders making a deal with the devil, but instead embalms his body and sells it for lot of money.

Fourth is "Minanker's Demons" by John G. Fantuccio (art) and Buddy Saunders (story). This rather poor story is about a wizard who captures a princess and the knight that tries to rescue her. When the knight reaches his castle, the wizard summons a demon, who kills him because of a crack in his pentagram that prevents him from being protected.

"The Forgotten Prisoner of Castlemare" by Tony Williamsune (art) and Robert (Michael) Rosen (story) is about dueling barons who try to get rid of each other. One ends up getting locked up in a jail cell and the other is killed by a trap. This story is based on the Castlemare prisoner ad in the Captain Company section of the Warren mags.

Next up is "The Swamp in Hell!" by Don Vaughn (art) and Al Hewetson (story). A swamp beast rises out of the swamp and heads to a nearby town. All are frightened except a blind old man who befriends the monster. The monster ends up vanishing because of the kindness of the old man.

Last is "Ando!" by Syd Shores (art) and Robert (Michael) Rosen (story). This story is about a baron and his powerful henchman, Ando, who bullies the local populace into paying the baron high taxes. The baron's quest to create a super race of people continuosly fails. He realizes that he must find a strong person to experiment on, so he uses Ando. Only it makes Ando too strong, he refuses to obedient to the baron anymore and kills him.

Creepy 30

Here's Creepy 30, which came out right around the start of Warren's rebuilding period. The cover is by Bill Hughes, featuring a Frankenstein-like monster. The frontis is "Creepy's Loathsome Lore: Exorcism!" by Tom Sutton (story & art).

First up is "The Mind of the Monster!" by Ernie Colon (art) and R. Michael Rosen (story). A scientist creates a bizarre three-headed, three-armed monster to defeat a beast on Mars that has been killing monsters. Only the intelligent monster, who has no reason to kill such a monster, decides to kill the scientists instead.

Next is "Drop In!" by Tom Sutton (art) and Don Glut (story), about an Earthquake thats about to occur in Los Angeles. Eventually the Earthquake does occur, killing everyone left in the city.

Third is "The Haunted Sky!" by Roger Brand (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), originally from Creepy 17. A pilot encounters his dead colleagues while aflight in an experimental airplane. Although the doctors don't initially believe him, there is proof left behind of the ghost's existence.

Next is "The River", another reprint, from Creepy 15 with story & art by Johnny Craig. A pair of thieves try to escape using the river, but one has second thoughts and is killed by his colleague. Although he is shot at, he is able to escape and is helped by an old man on a boat. However, it ends up the old man is bringing him to the lake of the dead.

Fifth story is "To Be Or Not To Be A Witch" by Carlos Prunes (art) and Bill Parente (story). Prunes was a spanish artist from Selecciones Illustrada who'd make his sole appearance here about a year and a half or so before many other S.I. artists started coming over. A man whose accused many of being witches visits an accused family lying to them about needing help removing a demon from him. Luckily for him it fails, as he truly is a demon, and kills them.

Sixth is "Piece By Piece" by Joe Orlando (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), reprinted from Creepy 14. A scientist creates a Frankenstein-like monster from five different people and takes the brain from his assistant. The monster takes revenge upon the townfolk who were mean to him when he was still alive, only for the corpses of the five people whom is body is made up of to climb out of there graves and take back all their body parts.

Last is "Dr. Jekyll's Jest" by Mike Royer (art) and R. Michael Rosen (story). A man believes his cruel colleague is abusing patients, and eventually finds that his fiance was experimented on and killed by him. Only it ends up that his colleague, Dr. Jekyll was the true culprit all along.

A so-so issue, nothing to great here, and half the issue's reprints so can't be too pleased about that.

Creepy 35

This issue is a rarity in that its Creepy's only non-ad issue ever. From what I've heard, a competitor of theis was putting out a no ad horror magazine, so Warren decided to do the same thing. Unfortunately the experiment only lasted for a single issue (although 1984 would be no ads in the early days of its existence as well). As a result, this has more stories than any other Creepy issue with new content (I believe some of the all reprint issues may have more). The cover, by Kenneth Smith features a small green creature on a skull.

Our first story is "Tough Customers" by Tom Sutton (art) and R. Michael Rosen (story) about a group of mobsters that hustle a butcher for protection money who always refuses. Each hit man sent to kill him never comes back, so finally the boss himself arrives, and realizes that the butcher has killed all his men and served them to ghouls, which quickly arrive for him as well.

Next is "Legend in Gold" with art by Roger Brand and writing again by Rosen. This story features a pair of men searching for a rock that can turn things into gold. One of the men gets too greedy and touches it, turning himself into gold. Somewhat of a fantasy story which seems out of place with all the horror stuff here.

Third is "Polly Want a Wizard?" by Ernie Colon (art) and Howard Waldrop (story). A man tells the police about what happened to a magician he was working for, Mr. Black. Mr. Black was a talented magician who was teaching our protagonist various tricks, some of which involved the killing of birds. As our protagonist is about to kill a parrot for Mr. Black, demons suddenly arrive while he's working on his magic and kill him. Not a good story, but Colon's art is very nice here.

Fourth is "Army of the Walking Dead!" by Syd Shores (art) and R. Michael Rosen (story, yet again!). In Germany during World War II, a doctor finds a way to bring dead soldiers to life as zombies. The zombies initially result in things turning out quite well for the nazis, but the zombies go out of control and the doctor, the only one who can control them, ends up getting killed. Hitler orders the zombies and anyone who knows about them to be wiped out, erasing the story from the history books.

"Godslayer" is next, with art and story by Bill Stillwell. A swords & sorcery tale with nice art, but a just horribly boring story, as many in this genre were.

"It's Grim" features art by Syd Shores and story by Al Hewetson. A businessman who owns a taxidermy store fears that his business partner and wife are going to kill him. He gets all worked up over his partner's bizarre behavior, only for it to end up that he was simply working on stuffing a puma. Or was he? Uncle Creepy explains in the ending that he actually just coated the puma with a substance that would temporarily freeze it and as soon as it wears off, the puma will kill him. None of this is ever shown though, making this an odd way to finish the story.

Next is "The Druids Curse" by The Ciochetti Brothers (art) and Buddy Saunders (story). Its about a crucified druid who curses the soldiers who killed him, saying that they will all drown. Soon all but one have died from drowning. The last survives a shipwreck and heads to the desert, thinking he's beaten the druid's curse, only to drown in his own blood when he's mortally wounded. Rather odd and unique looking art by the Ciochetti Brothers in their only Warren appearance.

"Gunsmoke Charly" by Alan Weiss (art and story) is our next tale, about a gunfighter who makes a deal with the devil such that he'll never be harmed by a bullet. It works and he becomes a great gunfighter, but eventually is done in by something other than a gun, the heat of the desert.

Last is "Justice!" by Pat Boyette. An accountant whose boss catches him leering at his wife can't resist doing it again, but goes overboard and kills her when she screams. He then kills his boss as well and tries to get away with their dismembered bodies, but is chased by the police. He hides in the sewers but is eventually put on trial for being a ghoul. He tries to prove himself innocent by putting their bodies back together, but isn't that successful.

Creepy 33

TWO issues of Creepy today to make up for the all the recent days I've missed. Pat Boyette handles the cover duties for this issue, featuring his own story, which I'll cover soon. This issue's frontis is "Creepy's Loathsome Lore: Mermaids!" by Tom Sutton.

Up first is "One Too Many!" by William Barry (art) and Buddy Saunders (story). A man leaves a planet killing all of the zoo animals he possesses except for one, which escapes. A year later he comes back with colleagues to retrieve his property, only for the creature who have escaped to have breeded into thousands within the year, which completely overwhelm them.

"Royal Guest" with art and story by Pat Boyette is second. It tells the story of a boy whose grandfather kept a woman locked up in a golden mask. When the grandfather became sick and passed away, the boy brings her food. Years go by and the plague follows him everywhere he goes. Thinking she's actually the Queen, he returns to where the masked woman is, and finds that she had died of the plague long ago and that he was a carrier of the disease and was responsible for spreading it around Europe. Knowing this, he kills himself. Really good story, best of the issue.

"Blue Mum Day" by Reed Crandall (art) and R. Michael Rosen (story) is next. A group of archeologists find an egyptian tomb of a cursed mummy. Inside they also find a glowing meteorite and the mummy, which is an odd blue color. The mummy becomes alive then turns into a blob like creature. While it is trapped in the tomb with the use of dynamite, our heroine ends up turning into a blob like creature as well.

"Dr. Jekyll Was Right" by Tony Williamsune (art) and Bill Warren (story) is our next story. It features a descendent of Dr. Jekyll who pays scientists to create a formula that will bring out the good Mr. Hyde in people. While the formula works, one of the scientists kills him after he uses it. Didn't get that ending.

"I'm Only In It For the Money" by Juan Lopez Ramon (art) and Al Hewetson (story) is fifth, featuring a tv host who travels to see a voodoo tribe. Although they initially let him video tape them, they eventually chop off his head and shrink it.

"The Full Service" by Jack Sparling (art) and Nicola Cuti (story) is next. A man mourning the death of his wife in a car crash is given the opportunity to bring her back to life by the funeral home. He is brought back in time and is given the opportunity to save her. A rare Warren story with a happy ending.

This issue wraps up with "Boxed In" with art and story by Tom Sutton. A boy playing with friends is forced to play a corpse and is buried alive. When adults come, his friends are forced to run off without rescuing him. One of the friends sees the coffin crushed and then sees the boy's ghost. While it ended up being a joke, he ends up trapped in a refridgerator that falls into a body of water, such that he is essentially buried alive.

Overall, a so-so issue. Boyette's story is terrific, and Sutton and Rosen's stories are okay. Nothing particularly special from the remaining stories.

Eerie 28

Up today is Eerie #28. It features a cover by Pat Boyette, one of only two covers he did for Warren (the other being Creepy #33, which came out right around the same time as this issue). the frontis is "Eerie's Monster Gallery: Saucerians!" with art and story by Tom Sutton.

Up first is "The Hidden Evils!" by Dan Adkins (art) and James Haggenmiller (story). The son of a mayor is possessed by an evil demon. The church attempts to stop him to no avail. A mysterious man named Astan arrives and says he'll be able to stop him. Through an exorcism he is able to get rid of the demon from his body. The demon swears revenge until Astan reveals that he is Satan himself, upset that the demon didn't go after a bigger target like the mayor himself.

Second is "The Beast in the Swamp" by Billy Graham (art) and Bill Warren (story). This rather dull story is about a barbarian and the various creatures he encounters. He eventually kills a 'monster' that ends up being an astronaut from Earth. Nothing all that interesting here.

"The Rescue Party" is third, with art by Jack Sparling and story by Buddy Saunders. An owner of a mine repeatedly puts little effort in saving the lives of those trapped in mine cave-ins, not wanting to spend too much money. When he is trapped in a cave in he finds a group trying to dig him out... the corpses of those killed before! Sparling's art seems somewhat better than usual here.

"Follow Apollo" with art by Tom Sutton and story by R. Michael Rosen is the 'true' story about what happened during the first moon landing, where one of the astronauts apparantly passes away after his spacesuit is torn apart on the moon's surface. During quarantine back on Earth the truth is revealed, germs from the moon infected him and take over the other astronauts. When the astronauts are released from quarantine a few weeks later, they're ready to infect the entire planet.

"Ice Scream" with art by Bill Dubay and story by R. Michael Rosen is up next. This story is about the dissappearance of multiple bodies from the cryogenics section of the hospital. No one is able to solve the mystery, and even the Director falls victim when he suffers from a blood clot that forces him to go under cryogenics as well. It ends up that the janitor, a ghoul, has been stealing the bodies to feed his ghoul body.

Sixth is "Pit of Evil" by Dick Piscopo (art) and Al Hewetson (story). This story features a boxer who is transported to a mysterious dimension where he must fight a large humanoid creature, with the prize being a planet for a whole year as a reward. This story isn't very interesting at all, and Piscopo's art is hardly too good.

Last is the cover story, "The Last Train to Orion!" with both art and story by Pat Boyette. In the far future the young of society have taken control and either kill the old or force them to cover themselves with masks. They travel from planet to planet finding more space to live. Suddenly, an atomic mass arrives and wipes all of them out. It ends up that they, and all of humanity were just germs within the body of a giant hideous alien. A pretty good story, although it goes a number of different directions for such a short story. Probably this issue's best.

Overall, not that impressive an issue; then again few from this period of time were.