Vampirella 28

A very good issue of Vampirella, featuring a usual Enrich cover, although at least here Vampi is without her trademark costume; instead topless in her underwear in a swamp, pursued by a strange creature. This issue is cover dated October 1973.

First is "Vampirella and the Curse of the Macdaemons" by Jose Gonzalez (art) and Mike Butterworth (story, as Flaxman Loew). This story was Butterworth's first work for Warren. The Macdaemons of the title are a family who lives in Scotland. As the son of the family comes of age he is forced to watch over the family secret. Vampi and Pendragon come there on vacation and meet Alastair, who tells Vampi of how an ancestor of his was forced to mate with a sea monster. Alastair plans to feed Pendragon to the creature, but when he lets it go, it instead attacks him, jealous over the attention he's paid to Vampirella. Vampirella then bites it in her bat form, killing it. This story would be continued into the next issue, revealing the creature's monster parent.

Second is "The Clash of the Leviathons" by Ramon Torrents (art) and Doug Moench (story). This story has an odd protagonist, a Tyranosaurus Rex! The first half of the story features the T-Rex's life and all he thinks about, getting more food for himself. Soon a spaceship of three large humanoid aliens arrive, seeking to take over the planet. One of them fights with the T-Rex, but is defeated and killed by it. The other two return to their ship and leave the planet. The T-Rex has unwittingly saved the planet from the aliens, but by eating the corpse of the alien he killed he causes an virus outbreak that results in the death of all the dinosaurs.

Third is "Blind Man's Guide" by Fernande Fernandez (story & art). This story was Fernandez's first Warren appearance. A blind man convinces townfolks to give him money by quoting poetry. One day the boy who accompanies him tries to steal a gold coin he was given, so the blind man beats him. The boy swears revenge and one day as they head through the woods he gets a pack of wolves to kill him. The boy is in an accident soon after and becomes blind himself. He takes on a seeing eye dog, but it ends up being one of the wolves who attacked his master, and eventually turns on him as well.

Fourth is this issue's color story, "The Power and the Gory!" by Auraleon (art) and W. Eaton (story). A British Governor in the American colonies has a brutish son who commits horrendous deeds including committing scientific experiments on a local boy's dog and trying to rape a blind woman he sees from out her window. The repeated calls for punishment from the townfolk cause the governor to agree to let him be punished the next time he does something, but only by what he decrees. The son later rapes and murders one of the townfolk's daughters. The governor decides to punish him only by putting him in the stocks for 8 hours, but leaves it up to the townfolk to carry it out. They put him in the stocks and drop it underwater, resulting in his death. When they pull him up they find the corpse of the woman he killed grabbing on to him.

Fifth is "Eye Don't Want to Die!" by Ramon Torrents (art) and Doug Moench (story). A thief kills an old tailor in her boarding house who spooks her with his glass eye. She steals all his money and plans to leave the next day. As she leaves however she finds the glass eye following behind her. No matter what she does it still follows her. After she dies, it is revealed that the eye was actually sewed to her clothing which was why it appeared to be following her around.

Sixth is "The Other Side of Heaven" by Jose Bea (story & art). A man wonders by the beach one day and finds a bizarre octopus-like creature that looks like its been smuthered with peanut butter and jelly. The man feels a close connection with the creature and decides to carry it to his house. The creature starts talking to him, telling him that it is God, but is dying. It offers to let him become God himself. It tells him how to find a pain killing liquid then merges with him, making him God. Best story in a terrific issue, one of Warren's most unique (and bizarre) stories ever.

Last is "Old Texas Road" by Isidro Mones (art) and Bruce Bezaire (story). This story was Bezaire's Warren premiere. This story is based on an urban legend, and features a couple in a car that runs out of gas. The man leaves the car and tells his paranoid girlfriend to stay there and not open the car door. She hears scratches, but chooses to ignore them and eventually falls asleep. The next day policemen pick her up and take her away, and it is revealed that the boyfriend was hanging from a tree bleeding to death, scratching on the car roof but she was too scared to go outside and save him.

Vampirella 29

Enrich provides the cover for this issue of Vampirella, featuring Vampirella pursued by an underwater monster. This issue is dated November 1973. Quite a good cover. Bill Dubay provides the two page "A History of Vampires" on the inside front and back covers.

First is "Vampirella and the Undead of the Deep!" by Jose Gonzalez (art) and Mike Butterworth (story, as Flaxman Loew). Vampi witnesses the burial of Alastair, who she met in the previous issue's story, who is being carried into the water. Vampi goes under water where she sees many dead bodies at a ball. She also finds Tristan down there, but he soon transforms into a watery beast after tricking her into getting rid of her blood substitute. Vampi escapes and bites the dead bodies down there to get the blood she needs.

Second is "The Evil Eye" by Ramon Torrents (art) and W. Eaton (story). Hundreds of years ago Ezekiel Lanier testifies against a witch, lying, causing her to be burned at the stake. The witch curses him, saying that he and ten generations of descendents will lose what they cherish most. This is done through an evil eye kept in a box of hers. Whenever someone opens the box they suffer the effects of the curse. It starts with Ezekiel, whose eyes and tongue rot away, and continue throughout the years through various descendents until modern times.

Third is "Stairway to Heaven!" by Fernando Fernandez (story). A man finds himself in limbo, not remembering who he is or what he's doing there. Slowly he remembers where he is, that he's in limbo between life and death after being in a car accident. Realizing where he is, he decides to accept his death and die. Some insanely good artwork by Fernandez here, arguably his best. Only downside is one very obvious swipe from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Fourth is "Last Lunch For Rats!" by Auraleon (art) and Doug Moench (story). A young boy named Harold is picked on from some other neighborhood kids who poison his pet rats. Later Harold ends up vanishing when he holds his breath under water, and is never seen again. Years go bye, and the kids grow up and start a business. Soon they start dying under mysterious circumstances. Eventually only two are left, with one, a judge, sentencing the other, who was Harold's only friend, to jail. The judge is found dead himself soon after however, from Harold.

Last is "The Vampires are Coming! The Vampires are Coming!" by Isidro Mones (art) and Doug Moench (story). This story takes place during the revolutionary war. A young drummer boy sees a vampire sucking the blood from dead bodies. He tells some adult soldiers of what he saw but they don't believe him. He later is confronted by the vampire again, but is able to kill him with his drum sticks. Unknown to him, the vampire's victims will soon rise themselves...

Vampirella 25

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

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

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

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

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

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

Creepy 58

Sanjulian provides the cover for this issue of Creepy, cover dated December 1973. Bill Dubay and Vicente Alcazar provide the art for the two page frontis "The Old School" while Steve Skeates provides the script.

First is "Change... Into Something Comfortable" by Richard Corben (art) and Doug Moench (story). A werewolf runs around on Halloween, enjoying himself by killing trick or treaters, gang members, and pretty much anyone else who he encounters. He eventually comes across a mansion which he attacks, only to find that the inhabitants are fellow monsters like him, part of the freak show he used to work for. The monsters then make him their dinner! A strong way to start off the issue.

Second is "An Excuse for Violence" by Adolfo Abellan (art) and Don McGregor (story). This story features a vampire on a college campus whose attacks are contributing to a tough racial situation between white and black people. Oddly enough the vampire is a black man who transforms into a white one after becoming a vampire. Not that great a story from a story or art standpoint.

Third is "Shriek Well Before Dying!" by Jose Bea (art) and W. Eaton (story). A con artist marries a young woman because he wants to bump off her father and get his money. He eventually is able to get the father to have a heart attack and die, but the father comes back from the grave to get his revenge. In the end the daughter goes crazy and lives with his corpse, whom she keeps in her house.

Fourth is "Soul and Shadow" by Reed Crandall (art, his final Warren appearance) and Gardner Fox (story). A warrior sneaks into a tomb to find a treasure, finding a sleeping woman there. She awakens and he fights off a group of demons. Soon afterwards however a shadow comes after him and kills him. It ends up the whole thing was a ruse to get him to kill the demons, which the woman could not.

Last is "The Waking Nightmare!" by Isidro Mones (art) and Don McGregor (story). A Gasp! interesting story by McGregor for once, featuring an outbreak that occurs that causes some to go on a murderous rage and others to just pass out. The story does contain McGregor's political ramblings as usual, but not enough to wreck a fairly good story.