Eerie 138

Nestor Redondo provides the cover for this issue of Eerie, cover dated January 1983.

The first two stories of this issue are "The Mist" a continuation of the series that has appeared on and off again in Eerie for the past few years. Art for both stories is provided by Bill Draut (the third artist for this series!) and story is provided by Don McGregor. A seemingly ordinary woman, Victoria Westgate, is captured by the minions of the mysterious Lucifer de Montalbon, who believes her to actually be Auguste, a voodoo priestess who doesn't remember her actual identity. She is bound as part of a ceremony in the woods, and when lightning strikes, she gains powers that permit her to kill Lucifer and his minions.

Third is "Granny Gutman and the Limbo Men" by Fred Carrillo (art) and Rich Margopoulos (story). This story is another one of Eerie's very lame color inserts. Another incredibly lame super hero story, featuring an old woman who orders around three losers who turn into super heros at her beckon. An alien bad guy block up a volcano in order to wreack havoc on California, all so he can mate with one of the super heroes. The heroes defeat him and save the day.

Fourth is "Glythis" by E.R. Cruz (art) and Timothy Moriarty (story). A pair of scientists are working on developing a device that permits them to go to another dimension. Another scientist arrives, trying to steal their technology, and chaos ensues. Access to another dimension is opened, and one of the scientists is sent to that dimension, while Glythis, a humanoid monster that was about to be killed is sent over to Earth. The scientist meanwhile is about to be executed in Glythis' place. This was intended to be a series but due to the end of Warren Publishing the series ended here.

Last is "Sherlock Holmes - A Study in Scarlet" by Noly Panaligan (art) and Rich Margopoulos (story). Some very nice art in this story, which is part of a series originally started in the Rook magazine. This story features Sherlock Holmes solving a mystery where a man fell in love with a mormon girl but the mormans captured her and she died of a broken heart. The man seeked revenge and killed those who captured her, but ends up dying in his jail cell due to a heart defect.

Eerie 132

Sanjulian provides the cover for this issue of Eerie, featuring Haggarth (although the character painted here looks nothing like Haggarth!). This issue is cover dated July 1982.

First is the return of the Rook to Eerie, in "The Dane Curse!" by Luis Bermejo (art) and Budd Lewis (story). A pretty good story, but we kick off right in the middle of things, meaning this story probably originated from the Rook magazine (which by this point was cancelled) and is continued here. In this story the Rook is in the past, helping a woman who others are accusing as a witch. The Rook takes the blame himself to save her and is jailed, then they go ahead and jail her too. It ends up that the mob is possessed with a demon and that when they are about to execute him, the demon comes out and he destroys it. The past changed, the Rook appears back in the present, not remembering what happened.

Next is Zud Kamish in "Hero of the Milky Way" by E.R. Cruz (art) and John Ellis Sech (story). In this story Zud is recruited to guard an ambassador. He agrees to do so, then helps save the ambassador from an assassination attempt. The assailant responds by blowing up Zud's home, apparently killing his son, lover and robot friend. Or so it seems. The story ends here, to be continued later.

Third is "Space Force: Shipwrecked", by Paul Gillon (art) and Jean Claude Forest (story), continued from Eerie 129. In this story Chris is on Venus, battling aliens with some soldiers in a facility. One of the robots he comes across has the face of the woman that he was jettisoned out into space with. They are able to narrowly escape from the facility before it explodes.

Last is "Haggarth" by Victor de la Fuente (story and art). Haggarth once again runs into Ethan and his friend Eco. Haggarth agrees to help them search for the treasure they are looking for when they let him borrow their canoe. They later come across an amazoness that Haggarth helps. Later when Ethan and Eco are captured by them Haggarth captures their princess, enabling them to escape.

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.

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.

Eerie 127

Nestor Redondo gives us the cover for this issue of Eerie, dated December 1981. This cover features Haggarth taking on King Thall and his tiger.

First is "Justin, King of the Jungle" by Rudy Nebres (art) and Bill Dubay & Rich Margopoulos (story, Dubay as Will Richardson). Justin King , who spends much of his time in the jungle gets upset when poachers kill an elephant. They shoot him and leave him for dead, but he survives, then comes after them, killing them one by one until all are dead.

Second is "Reuben Youngblood" by Howard Chaykin (art) and Budd Lewis (story). An uncredited Lee Elias draws the first page. Reuben Youngblood originally appeared back in Eerie 72 in 1976, and makes his second appearance here. One wonders whether this second appearance was meant to appear around back then. In this story Youngblood acts as an undercover bodyguard for a bootlegger during prohibition. Only the bootlegger is actually a vampire! Luckily Youngblood kills him with a grenade.

Third is "Merlin and the Sorcerer from E.R. Cruz (art) and Budd Lewis (story). Merlin, from the Cagim series tells this story of his encounter with Harry Houdini during the 1920s. Merlin poses as an archeologist who is an expert on druids, and when he finds a collegue dead, with an object down his throat, he heads to the archaeological site. There he meets Houdini and they head down a long tunnel where they encounter bizarre tentacled monsters.

The issue concludes with the latest "Haggarth" story by Victor de la Fuente (story & art). Haggarth and Borin confront the priest and Haggarth reveals that he has the manuscript that so many are after. Sensing how power hungry Borin is, Haggarth kills him. He then goes to confront Thall, who has the priest killed when he turns up empty handed without the manuscript. Thall takes it when Haggarth throws it to the ground, but when he flees Haggarth causes the place to collapse, killing Thall. A pretty good conclusion for the story that has been going on here for a number of issues, although the series will continue for a while.

Eerie 126

Richard Corben provides the cover for this issue of Eerie, featuring a robot themed battle. This issue is dated November 1981.

First is "Crabs" the latest Zud Kamish story by E.R. Cruz (art) and John Ellis Sech (story). Zud is commissioned to go to a planet filled with crabs that are one of the favorite foods in the galaxy, but the crabs are now going crazy. Zud heads down and finds some villains that are controlling the crabs. When Zud arrives however, one of the men ends up destorying the computer they use to control them when firing at Zud. Not that good a story, but at least somewhat better than past Zud stories.

Second is "Pyramid of the Black Sun: Blekos", a continuation of the story from issue 124. Art is by Luis Bermejo and story is by Jim Stenstrum (story, as Alabaster Redzone). Orka meets with the priest Alugar who confirms that Ulzan R on Arkaran is the Blekos he has been searching for. Alugar introduces Orka to his daughter Janul, who can read minds and due to that found out about Blekos. Orka plots with her to take out Blekos, and later reveals that he has the same abilities as her. Janul says that Lord Gasul, leader of the planet is the real one in charge. Orka kills him, and with Blekos, now released from his control, they bring rain to the planet. Continues to remain earily similar to Dune, and the ending actually is exactly the same as the ending in the movie (although this story predates the movie). Is quite a good story though, even if it isn't that original.

Next is "Korsar" by Esteban Maroto (art) and Jim Stenstrum (story, as Alabaster Redzone). An appearance from Maroto is a pleasant surprise in an Eerie issue from this period. Korsar is a warrior captured and locked up by villanous Queen Naja, and forced to compete in an arena. He meets and befriends Sayda, a slave whose role is to sleep with the prisoners. Korsa defeats Naja's warrior and then stabs her. They depart, battling a dragon then encountering a tribe of cannibals. Pretty good story and great Maroto art (I'm fairly certain this was originally printed in Europe, so it was likely drawn long before the date of this issue). An open ended ending, but this was its sole appearance in a Warren magazine.

Next is the latest segment in "Haggarth" by Victor de la Fuente (story & art). A priest meets with Borin, telling him he needs a manuscript which was stolen by Haggarth's beggar friend Ethan (who is finally named in this story). Ethan is on the run after his thief colleague is caught and killed. Ethan flees, but the manuscript is stolen by a thief, who is actually the priest, by the time he reaches Haggarth and Borin. Borin finds out that Haggarth was hired to kill him and departs. Haggarth catches up with him in a bar later, but a fight ensues, due to men hired by King Thall. Haggarth and Borin escape alive, and head towards the palace to confront Thall.

Eerie 124

This issue of Eerie, cover dated September 1981 features a reprint of Frank Frazetta's cover from Creepy 7. Great cover, but alas, its a reprint, one that has nothing whatsoever to do with the sci-fi content of this issue.

First is Cagim in "The Sea of Red" by E.R. Cruz (art) and Budd Lewis (story). Cagim finds a chain within Merlin's clothes which directs him to the British Treasury. There he meets Cecily, a woman who is unaffected by the spells of Vivien, but also oddly enough cannot be seen by anyone in society! Despite this, she is convinced that she should report on Cagim to
the news (which makes no sense since how would they know she exists?). Eventually Vivien's minions end up capturing her. Yet again, a rather lame story, and the worst material in this issue.

Next is "Pyramid of the Black Sun: Orka", a new series from Luis Bermejo (art) and Jim
Stenstrum (story, as Alabaster Redzone). This story was originally printed in Europe, and is
reprinted here. Orka, an ambassador of the United Stellar Republic travels through a desert
on the planet Arkaran in search of a man named Ulzan who is member of a Alliance of Light
that was rebelling. Ulzan ends up being Blekos, the person in charge there, whom Orka is
still searching for at the end of the story. A somewhat interesting story, heavily influenced
by the book Dune, with the desert setting, sand worms that appear in the story, and the name
of the planet, Arkaran (based on the planet Arakis in Dune).

Third is "God of Light", the finale of the Born of Ancient Vision series. Art is still by Bob
Morello, with story by Budd Lewis. The demons summon a large demon, Baligorn, then challenge Mah' Sess to fight him, saying only he will die if he agrees to fight the demon one on one. Mah' Sess does so, after his people prepare their weapons for battle. Mah' Sess defeats
Baligorn, then there is a large battle in which his people destroy the demons for good. Mah'
Sess then ascends into space, to seek his place in the universe. A fairly interesting series,
particularly on the art side of things. Alas, this is it for it, as well as it for Morello,
who'd do no more Warren work.

The issue concludes with Haggarth in "The Sacred Scroll" by Victor de la Fuente (story &
art). Haggarth meets with Borin, the very man whom he was asked to kill. Haggarth doesn't
want to kill him, but a remark causes Borin to attack him. They stop fighting and Haggarth
tells Borin to take responsibility as leader and stand up to King Thall. Haggarth's friend
meanwhile searches for his treasure and finds a jade statue and blade, but is offered very
little for it when they return to town. Not that good a segment this time, luckily this series isn't asked to prop up the entire issue so thats okay, for now.

Eerie 122

Romas Kukalis provides the cover for this issue of Eerie, cover dated July 1981.

First is the stand alone story "The Beast Of Sarnadd-Doom!" by Gonzalo Mayo (art) and Budd Lewis (story). Good story and art, quite a contrast to the usual fare from Eerie from this time period. The story features a warrior, Behk-Bagahn returning to the city Sarnadd Doom which he had taken over at an earlier time. An evil lizard giant lives in the city which Behk-Bagahn fights. By destroying the creature however, he transforms into a smaller one himself, and is slain by his fellow men who are hunting, soon afterwards.

The latest Zud Kamish story is next, "The Chameleon Stands Revealed!" by E.R. Cruz (art) and Jim Stenstrum (story). Nothing all that new here; both the art and story continue to be an extreme dissappointment. Zud tries to figure out who the traitor in his group of friends is. Cole Saxon, another friend of his tells him that his enemies, the Desperados want to meet with him. He does so, then escapes from them. Zud then steals Cole's ship and takes off with it.

The latest story in 'The Mist' series is next, "Victoria Rode the Subway Last Night!". Val Mayerik takes over with the art starting with this story, while Don McGregor continues to be the writer. Lucifer and Victoria meet on the subway again, this time due to Lucifer setting it up. Minions of his accompany him on the subway. She is helped from being harmed by a man on he subway, and they escape.

"Haggarth Book II' is next, the latest in the Haggarth series. Art and story continue to be by Victor de la Fuente. A group of priests pray to their God, 'Khost', and the head priest is killed by their king, a very short individual named Thall. The friend that Haggarth made earlier gets in trouble when he takes a vest off a dead man, then gets caught by the man's allies. Haggarth meanwhile meets the old man who helped him in the first few stories of the series, who fills him in on whats going on with Thall. Haggarth runs into his friend again and they wander towards a large stone obelisk. Haggarth heads inside where he encounters a priest.

Eerie 120

This issue of Eerie from April 1981 features a cover by Jim Laurier.

First is Zud Kamish in "Death of a Cometeer" by E.R. Cruz (art) and Jim Stenstrum (story). Another horrible, horrible Zud story. This time his ex-wife has tied up all his assets in a lawsuit, and he joints an ally of his in transporting some material, during which time his ally dies. Another really bad story with a really bad art job by Cruz.

Second is "The Warrior and the Gunfighter!" by Al Sanchez (art) and Rich Margopoulos (story). Eerie gets worse and worse as Margopoulos starts bringing back old Eerie stars (many of which are dead), starting with Dax the Warrior. In this issue Bishop Dane from the Rook misses a dentist appointment and trying to go back in time in order to make it, instead goes to a medieval era where he meets Dax. The king thinks that Dane is a sorceror due to his gun, and has him and Dax fight an enemy of theirs. Margopoulos clearly has no understanding of Dax nor any respect for the character and its creator Esteban Maroto as Dax in this story acts nothing like the Dax in his original series.

Third is a new series, The Mist, with "A Public and Private Surveillance" by Jun Lofamia (art) and Don McGregor (story). In contrast to the previous two horrific stories, this one isn't bad. The story surrounds a normal woman having issues with the phone company and an evil man calling himself Lucifer de Montalban who also has some problems with them.

Last is the latest story in the Haggarth series, "Sombra the Damned!" by Victor de la Fuente (story & art). In this story Haggarth battles the sorceror who hired his troops to take the skull of three snakes. Haggarth defeats his underlings, then fights the sorceror himself, who escapes. He is then confronted by the monks from the temple who possessed it, who take it back, but bless his sword beforehand. He then meets a fellow traveler and they are confronted by a large stone monolith, which then transforms into a woman as the story ends.

Eerie 119

Bob Larkin provides the cover for this issue of Eerie, cover dated February 1981. A mere three stories in this issue, quite a disappointment.
First is a new character, Zud Kamish in "Accept No Substitute" by E.R. Cruz (art) and Jim Stenstrum (story). The usually dependable Stenstrum provides a very long, drawn out, boring story featuring the outer space cowboy Zud. Some of the plots in this story include an ex wife suing Zud for more alimony and robots planning a rebellion against mankind that frame other robots. 27 pages long, and not one that is interesting or has good art.

Next is "Sindy Starfire" by Reuben Yandoc (art) and Rich Margopoulos (story). Sindy is a girl whose parents, sister and boyfriend are all killed by outlaws within mere minutes of one another. Sindy herself has her eye torn out, her hand destroyed, and is bound to the ground, left for dead. Sindy is helped by an old native american who gives her a robotic hand. She then gets revenge on the leader of the outlaws. This would be the only Sindy Starfire story.

Last is "Haggarth" in "Eyes of the Dead!" by Victor de la Fuente (story & art). The old man, Mathias brings the injured Haggarth and young blind man meet up with Arnia the witch. Unfortunately Haggarth dies before she can do anything. The blind young man she cannot help, but then she comes up with a plan to pull of Haggarth's face and place it over the young man's, which works, giving back his sight, but also partially giving him Haggarth's personality too. Meanwhile one of the warriors who has the stolen tribal idol opens it, which reveals a ray of light. He is soon killed by some ape like creatures that take the idol with them. Nothing great yet, but still far, far better than the other two stories here.

Eerie 117

While this issue wouldn't have been anything terrific during Eerie's hey day in the mid 1970s, for an issue of this era, this issue is simply amazing. Head and shoulders above anything we've seen from the last number of issues. The cover is a terrific one from Enrich, although admittingly its a reprint from the back cover of Vampirella 37. It is cover dated December 1980.

First is the issue's only real sore point, "City of Fire", the second story in the Cagim series. Art is by E.R. Cruz and story is by Budd Lewis. This story continues from the prior issue, where Merlin and his younger self, called Ambrose fought the evil sorceress Vivien. Pretty much the same happens in this issue, with King Arthur also making an appearance. Ambrose becomes convinced that he has cast a spell that turns all normal people around him into statues, although its actually of Vivien's doing. By the end of the story Merlin has died and Ambrose dawns a very ugly superhero costume, the one he wore in the last issue.

Second is "His Brother's Keeper!" with art by Neil McFeeters (in his sole Warren appearance) and story by Jim Stenstrum. This story features a man who helps his brother escape from a military asylum. The two of them end up crashing in a bizarre landscape. Our protagonist wanders off on his own for a while, and is confronted by a hideous monster which he kills. But it ends up that the monster was his brother, and that he was crazy as well. While wondering through the woods later a monster shows up, this time for real.

Third is "Bruce Bloodletter" in "The Jalopy Scam" by Fernando Fernandez (art) and Cary Bates (story). The first Bloodletter story appeared back in Eerie 94. In this story Bruce and his female companion Muffin come across the planete Rygelian, where people are buying cars from Pleasure Centers owned by Silas Mendicant, villain from the prior story. It appears that Mendicant and his patrons aren't paying their taxes which is what gets Bloodletter involved. Bloodletter and Muffin later meet a princess whose father has been drugged by Mendicant. They are able to trick Mendicant after healing her father and capture him once and for all. Not the greatest story (and somewhat confusing at the end), but as a big fan of Fernandez I'm quite happy to see him make a rare appearance. Fernandez's final Warren appearance shows up in the next issue.

The issue concludes with a very strong conclusion to the Haxtur series in "A Time for Dying" by Victor de la Fuente (story & art). Haxtur falls into a hidden underground cave where an old man tells him his quest has ended. He summons a monster and requests Haxtur kill a man, but Haxtur is suspicous and instead releases the man, who attacks the old man, permitting Haxtur to escape. Haxtur then fights a man who looks exactly like him. The 'clone' of him tells him that he is actually Haxtur's physical body, and that Haxtur exists as a spirit in limbo, where he will be forced to die over and over again. Haxtur realizes that he is actually in hell, being forced to suffer for his many years as a mercenary. Haxtur then finally meets the mysterious four men seen in the first story in the series, who reveal themselves to be the four horsemen of the apocalypse. They tell him that as a mercenary in his life he ended up accomplishing much for them, something Haxtur is quite upset to hear. Quite a good end to a series that has been one of the very few bright spots in these late issues of Eerie. While this series comes to an end here, de la Fuente returns with another series, "Haggarth" starting in the next issue.

Eerie 116

A so-so issue by Enrich starts off this issue of Eerie, dated November 1980. An absolutely dreadful issue of Eerie, there's nothing good here. Sorry for the quick reviews, this issue is just too poor to be able to give it the full coverage I give average and above average issues.

First is "Blackjack", featuring the return of the Rook to Eerie for this issue only. Art is by E.R. Cruz and story is by Rich Margopoulos. As usual this Rook story has multiple stories going on at once. The Rook encounters a giant amoeba. Bishop Dane and Manners go to prehistoric times, kill a few dinosaurs, and get banned permanently from their by some advanced society living back then. Finally, a rival scientist of the Rook's, Blackjack shows up and tries to tamper with things, taking on Kate and Jan.

Next is 'Starwarriors' in the story "Plunderworld". The logo for this story is an obvious ripoff of the Star Wars logo. Art is by Fred Redondo while story is by Rich Margopoulos. This dreadful story is about the adventures of imp like creatures known as the Star Warriors. This story has no connection to the Star Warrior story that had appeared in issue 114. And thankfully, this did not become a continuing series, ending here.

Third is "The Marks of Merlin!" a new series titled "Cagim" by E.R. Cruz (art) and Budd Lewis (story). This new series features Merlin the magician, who meets his prior younger self (called Ambrose) and educates him. At the same time a Dark Queen who had prior dealings with Merlin fights him, but Ambrose, wearing a superhero costume fixes things. Nothing interesting whatsoever here, although additional stories in this series would appear for a while.

Last is the latest Haxtur story, "Warriors and Friends!" by Victor de la Fuente (story & art). A small group of knights find Haxtur and accuse him of being a spy. Haxtur fights them, killing all but one, and taking their horse. A very short story this time, at a mere 6 pages. This series would conclude with the next issue.

Eerie 113

Jim Laurier provides the UFO themed cover of this issue of Eerie, dated August 1980. This issue kicks off a long stretch of very poor issues of Eerie, probably the worst issues of material that Warren ever put out. This is going to be rough.

First is "The Manifestation" by E.R. Cruz (art) and the team of Bill Dubay & Budd Lewis (story, Dubay as Will Richardson). This story features an encounter in space with a blob like entity that takes over many astronauts. A rather dull story that goes on for far too long. But far worse is Cruz's art. Cruz is probably the worst artist who ever worked for Warren. Every single character he ever drew looked exactly the same. And unfortunately there's lots of him over the rest of Eerie's life.

Second is "Code Name: Nova" by Alfredo Alcala (art) and Bill Dubay (story). This story features a man taking on mutant revolutionaries. Better art, but poorer story than the previous one.

Last is "Haxtur and the Slow Death God" by Victor de la Fuente (story & art). Haxtur comes to a new village where he is told of the deadly God Mokt, who is keeping people from leaving the village. Haxtur encounters Mokt, which ends up being a radioactive statue. He later encounters the diabolic master "Khut", who wants to take over Haxtur's body, but he is able to kill him and escape.

1994 11

With this issue 1984 becomes 1994. The official reason, as listed on the letter page was to avoid confusion with George Orwell's novel of the same name. More likely reason was due to actual complaints from the Orwell estate. In addition, a magazine about the future named 1984 certainly was starting to make less sense when it was already 1980, the year this issue came out. The cover is by Alex Nino, credited to 'A2-120'.

First story is "East of Euthanasia" by Alex Nino (art) and Bill Dubay (story, credited as Will Richardson). It is the future, where politicians caused the apocalypse and our heroes are traveling across the Earth, working to wipe out the remains of humanity. Using biologial warfare they succeed in some of their plans, but end up getting infected themselves and dying. The politicians who were hiding out come into their vehicle however, which ends up infecting them as well.

Next is "The Jewels of Araknid" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Rich Margopoulos (story). This story features a small bug like humanoid creature on a planet filled with dinosaur-like creatures, including some half human half dinosaur creatures which he helps. They bring him to a temple where they worship a giant spider. Our hero finds some jewels there which he takes, and must fight a giant spider to escape. Only he soon discovers after taking a nap that they're not jewels, but spider eggs and he's quickly eaten by all the baby spiders.

Third is "Outpost 1017" by Mike Saentz (art) and Rich Margopoulos (story). This story features a lone astonaut in a large space shuttle that is responsible for warning earth if there are any dangerous aliens found. He discovers some alien spaceships that don't respond to him, so he blasts them. Only he discovers that what he blasted were actually peaceful aliens with some armor on them.

Fourth is "Live Large" by E.R. Cruz (art) and John Ellis Sech (story). This story features some hunters in the prehistoric era. Some of them get into a fight over some gambling, which gets some dinosaurs involved. A very poor story with some even poorer art by Cruz. Cruz was a horrible, horrible artist who unfortunately did many stories in the last few years of Warren's existence. All his faces look exactly the same

Fifth is the third part of "The Starfire Saga" by Rudy Nebres (art) and Bill Dubay (story). This story is in color. Kris, Snuffy and the others fight the pirates that come aboard their ship. After saving themselves they crash on a strange planet where a bizarre creature comes after them. This series continues to be quite dull.

Sixth is the fourth part of "Ghita of Alizarr" by Frank Thorne (story & art). Ghita, Theneff and Dahib work on recruiting an army of half trolls they find in a cave to join them. Ghita also meets the handsome Temmen whom she has sex with frequently. Theneff realizes that he is actually a traitor working for the evil troll Nergon who will kill her. Ghita initially doesn't believe him, but the next time they have sex he does try to kill her, but she saves herself and kills him, revealing him to be a troll. A pretty good story, my favorite of the Ghita serial so far.

Seventh is the second part of "Haxtur" by Victor de la Fuente (story & art). Haxtur ends up releasing a sorceress from a tree, as warned by an old man. He kills the sorceress only to find that the old man is the real evil one, so he kills him too. He then is encountered by an armored man on an elephant that he defeats. Haxtur leaves, depressed by all the killing he has done. This series would switch to Eerie after this issue.

Last is "Once There Was... A Master!" by Alex Nino (story & art). This is a short three page dialogue/caption less story featuring a bunch of mechanical parts coming together that form a humanoid giant robot.