Creepy 56

Today we're gonna take a look at the first issue of Creepy I ever read. The cover is by Sanjulian.

First is "In My Father's House" by Auraleon (art) and Doug Moench (story). This story features a detective investigating the death of a man tied to a stone angel in a graveyard. While investigating multiple attempts are made on his life and he meets various crazy women that used to know him. Eventually he finds that the murdered man was the leader of a Satanic cult who became too greedy with power. Satan himself appears and recruits the detective to be the new leader, but he too becomes too greedy and is eventually killed because of it.

Second is "Innsmouth Festival" by Adolfo Abellan (art) and John Jacobson (story). This story is heavily influenced by H.P. Lovecraft's 'A Shadow Over Insmouth". An editor for a magazine about (usually fake) supernatural events is summoned to Innsmouth by a letter from two women, who incidently end up being the only normal looking people in the town, which is controlled by hideous looking creatures that worship Ctulhu. They capture the women, hoping to sacrifice them to their watery God, and the editor tries to help them. They are able to kill the 'God' and the various mutants using a laser gun given to the editor by an old woman. At the end of the story it is revealed that the women aren't really human themselves, as they have wings.

Third is "Consumed by Ambition" by Martin Salvador (art) and Jack Butterworth (story). A count from Europe heads to Venezuela where it is revealed that he is a vampire. A young man he meets is attacked by him, but he has ambition of being a vampire and lets him join him. Eventually the young man becomes too ambitious however, and puts a stake in his master's heart. He demands a daily sacrifice from a nearby tribe, but is soon done in by man eating ants. His skeleton remains alive for many year after however as a stake wasn't used on him.

Fourth is this issue's color story, "Lycanklutz" by Richard Corben (story & art). Warren's first good looking color story (the first 3 attempts, that appeared in Creepy 54, and Vampirella 25 & 26 looked absolutely horrific, usually due to the overly bright colors overwhelming the artwork), although Corben would turn out a much better color job merely a single issue later. The story takes place in a kingdom plagued by a werewolf. An old man offers to rid them of the werewolf with fleas, which cost $500. The king agrees to use them, but betrays the old man, tying him up as bait so he doesn't have to pay him. The werewolf arrives, but the old man bargains with him for a flea collar and the werewolf instead attacks the king. This story would win Corben the best story written by an artist for 1973.

Fifth is "The Way of All Flesh" by Jose Bea (art) and Doug Moench (story). This story features a blind old vicar who has no one attending his church any longer. A friend tells him to give up, then returns home where he finds his wife dead. Many other deaths have occured around this time as well. By investigating, our protagonist eventually finds the vicar, preaching to the corpses of all the murdered people. The vicar then passes away, and all their corpses crumble to dust.

The issue concludes with "The Bell of Kuang Sai" by Isidro Mones (art, miscredited as Munes) and George Henderson (story, an adaption, but not stated who of). This story features a bell maker, Kuang Sai, who is hired by his lord to make him a bell. When he makes the bell however it has a large crack in it. He tries again and again, but each time it has a crack. The lord offers him three more chances, after failing on the first two he sacrifices his daughter, pushing her into the bell's liquid material before it is poured into the mold. This results in it finally working. This causes the bell to emit a strange shriek from her whenever it is rung however.

Creepy 52

This issue's cover is by Sanjulian, featuring the interior tale "A Most Private Terror". The opening story is drawn by Esteban Maroto and written by Budd Lewis (miscredited to Doug Moench). This story takes place in a winter setting, featuring a man hiding in a cave from a snow beast. He thinks to a past encounter with such a beast, which was a beautiful woman who turned into a werewolf that he had killed. Realizing he's going to freeze to death, he sets himself on fire, then once putting the fire out heads out of the cave. He becomes so frightened however that he falls off a cliff to his death. It is revealed at the end however that all that was following him was a little white rabbit.

Second is "The Last Hero" by Ramon Torrents (art) and Steve Skeates (story). It takes place in a future where robots run society and man's life is full of leisure. A cult of bald headed men rebel against this and destroy as many robots and factories as they can. The hero of the title decides to become a superhero and fight against them, but they capture him and brainwash him such that he becomes another one of them.

Third is "Halve Your Cake and Eat It Two" with art by Adolfo Abellan and story by Doug Moench. This story takes place in a post apocalyptic world where a man finds himself seemingly alone. He eventually meets a woman and a dog and they stay together. They are attacked by a bizarre looking mutant but make it out okay. He eventually heads out to find some uncontaminated food and when he returns, finds a mutant that has seemingly killed the girl and dog. He kills the mutant then eats it. He wanders off, coming across other normal people, only to find out that he is now a mutant, as he actually ate her, she mutated after eating the dog. The normal people, seeing him as a mutant, kill him and eat him, staring the cycle all over again.

Fourth is "Them Thar Flyin' Things!" by Jose Bea (art) and Greg Potter (story). A sheriff heads home to see his family. He sees his mother, but his younger sister is off trying to hook up with a man, Ronald who does nothing but fish. Heading through the woods, she spots a flying saucer with aliens coming out of it. She tells Ronald, but he ends up being an alien scout himself and kills her to keep things a secret.

Fifth is "The Man With the Brain of Gold" by Reed Crandall (art) and George Henderson (story). This is an adaption of a story that originally appeared elsewhere, but the actual origins are not mentioned, so the original source is unknown. It is about a boy born with an extremely large head. One day it is discovered that his brain is actually made of gold. When his parents ask him for some of the gold from his head, he does so, then goes off on his own, spending for things by taking some of his brain out. He eventually gets married to a woman who causes him to spend even more money, but she soon passes away. At her funeral he sees some shoes that he likes and tries to take more gold out of his head, but by this time he's taken all of it and he dies.

The issue finishes up with "The Killer" by Felix Mas (art) and Steve Skeates (story). The story is about a man who gets married but does little to distinguish himself in life. This upsets his wife, whom he suspects is having an affair. One day he finds his wife stabbed to death and suspects he did it. He runs off and ends up getting hit by a car and killed. It ends up however that it was a burgler who killed his wife and he was innocent all along.

Across the board a fine issue. Got little to complain about here.

Eerie 52

A very good issue of Eerie, featuring the Grim Reaper on the cover, and promising the death of one of the magazine's recurring characters (which doesn't actually occur, although we do have the final Dax story).

First up is "Ghoulish Encounter", part of The Mummy Walks serial, by Jaime Brocal (art) and Steve Skeates (story). Jerome Curry, now permanently stuck in the mummy's body due to the theft of the amulet, pursues the thieves who stole it, leaving his human body in a graveyard. He finds the thieves, but the amulet is already gone, taken by a woman who was with them. Meanwhile his body is found by a crazy woman with a taste for human flesh. Upon his return, finding his mostly eaten body, the Mummy kills her on a spiked fence. Luckily for him, it was actually another body she had eaten and his body is unharmed. Brocal's art continues to be amazing in this serial.

On to Curse of the Werewolf next, with the story "Darkling Revelation" by Martin Salvador (art) and Allen Milgrom (story). Arthur Lemming comes across a group of gypsies in the woods and stays with them. There he falls in love with a young woman and asks her grandmother to read his fortune. While she's doing it however, the full moon arrives and he turns into the werewolf, running amock. He kills both his lover and the grandmother among many others, but not before she curses him to gain the knowledge of everything that has occured while in his werewolf form.

Third is the beginning of Eerie's more popular series, "Hunter" by Paul Neary (art) and Rich Margopoulos (story). Hunter is a half man half demon in the future who battles demons. This first story takes place in a snowy wilderness where Hunter comes across a church and battles three demons within it.

Next is "The Beheaded" by Aldoma (art) and John Jacobson (story). A supernatural expert rents a house haunted by a beheaded ghosts and heads there along with his wife. They soon encounter the headless ghost, and he promises her he'll find her head, which he is fully aware of the location of. The ghost chops off his wife's head and takes it as her own, so he quickly obtains her missing head for her, only for it to be nothing more than a skull, so she retains the wife's head and kills him.

Fifth is a Frederick Moore adaption, "The Golden Kris of Hadji Mohammed" by Isidro Mones (art, miscredited to Munes) and George Henderson (story), about a woman who spurns a sultan and steals a sword from him and flees. The sultan sends a man to find her and he eventually does and brings her back to the Sultan, whom she kills. The two end up marrying and having many children.

The issue wraps up with the final entry in the Dax storyline, "Death Rides this Night!" by Esteban Maroto (story & art). The story begins at the end of an epic battle where Dax is among the many mortally wounded on the battlefield. Death sends his mistress to obtain their souls, but when she encounters Dax he refuses to go along and gets her to stay along with him. Death punishes her by transforming into a snail like creature that bursts aflame. Death himself now encounters Dax, who is given the option to remain alive or finally die. Dax decides to continue living, but suffers a fate worse than death as he was not aware that he was completely paralyzed from the wounds suffered during the battle. The last true Dax story (Warren would very lamely resurrect him for a few stories in the 1980's that had no involvement whatsoever from Maroto), and the best.