Vampirella 111

Warren reaches a new low with this all reprint issue of Vampirella from January 1983. The cover, by Pujolar, is actually a reprinted cover from the magazine Devilina, a competitor to Warren! Unbelievable that they'd take a competitor's cover to use for one of their issues.

First is "Vampirella and the Curse of the Macdaemons" by Jose Gonzalez (art) and Mike Butterworth (story, as Flaxman Loew), from issue 28. 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 is continued with the next story.

Second is "Vampirella and the Undead of the Deep!" by Jose Gonzalez (art) and Mike Butterworth (story, as Flaxman Loew), from issue 29. Vampi witnesses the burial of Alastair, 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.

Third is "The Time Eater" by Paul Neary (art) and Jack Butterworth (story), from issue 40. A sci-fi themed story that is very interesting and unique. One of Warren's most unique stories in fact. The Time Eater of the title is an entity that exists out in space, consuming time. As the story begins, the time eater is quickly reaching the point where it has consumed all future time. As a result, it has to start eating the past. We see the Time Eater consumer the past, causing time to go back further and further. A spaceship that approached the Time Eater lands back on Earth, then is deassembled. People who have died come back to life, then grow young, and eventually return to their mother's womb. Humankind de-evolves as does all other life. Eventually the Earth itself ceases to exist and the universe slowly shrinks until it too is gone. At this point the time eater has eaten all time that has ever existed and soon starves to death. A gaseous particle breaks off the time eater, causing the universe to slowly start reforming again. Time once again starts to pass by, the universe slowly returns to normal and the time eater eventually comes back to life to start the process all over again.

Fourth is "The Munificent Ali Addan and Son!" by Esteban Maroto (art) and Bill Dubay & Maroto (story), from issue 68. The art on this story is printed sideways. This story features the son of Ali Addan, who encounters a beautiful woman who has set up a trap for him. He battles a warrior and defeats him, and the woman is revealed to be Ali Addan's daughter. Her mother, a monster appears and kills Ali's son.

Fifth is "Force Feed" by Leopold Sanchez (art) and Cary Bates (story), from issue 59. A killer who is on the run from the police finds a scientist who is able to transport him to someone else's body in another time. He proves it by letting him tempoorarily be in Jack the Ripper. But when they go ahead with transporting him to someone else's body, the scientist, knowing the killer is a vegitarian, has him turned into a Tyranosaurus Rex.

Sixth is "Fog" by Carmine Infantino & Dick Giordano (art) and Nicola Cuti (story), from issue 62. This story features a dangerous fog that chases a couple. They are able to escape from it, but it adapts by turning into a liquid, and getting at them that way.

Last is "The French Coagulation" by Luis Bermejo (art) and Carl Wessler & Gerry Boudreau (story), from issue 39. Bermejo's first Warren story in its original appearance, his art here is simply amazing, arguably the best job he ever did for Warren. In Paris law enforcement investigate the death of a woman at the hand of the "Loup Garou" which is essentially a werewolf. Due to a key in the victim's hands, they are able to pintpoint the creature down to one of six people. They lock them up in jail cells and the night of the full moon one of them, a woman, turns into the werewolf and kills her husband, who is in the cell with her. It ends up the husband was sleeping with the wife of one of the cops which is why he locked him in the cell with her.

Eerie 81

Frank Frazetta provides the famous cover for this issue of Eerie, featuring a giant naked woman on the top of the Empire State Building, holding a gorilla in her hands (an obvious parody of King Kong). This cover was originally produced six years earlier when Warren was planning on publishing an adult magazine called "POW!". That magazine never came to be, so Warren held onto the cover for years, eventually using it here in February 1977. All of the stories in this issue are based on this cover.

First is "Goodbye, Bambi Boone" by Carmine Infantino & Dick Giordano (art) and Cary Bates (story). Bambi Boone is a giant sized actress who grew to a great size after an experiment to increase the size of her breasts went horribly wrong. Bambi is upset at people not taking her seriously in her roles, and when she takes part in a movie similar to King Kong she asks her manager to assist her in feeling actual pain when she is fired upon by planes during the shooting. The manager loads the planes with real bullets however and she is killed during the shooting. The manager knew that she was dying due to her great size, so he set up this up to have her killed.

Second is "Taking of Queen Bovine" by Ramon Torrents (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). Queen Bovine of the title is a secret agent who takes responsibility for helping Gnik Gnok, a member of a chimp race that is planning on invading Earth. Thinking they are going to be wiped out, he defects to the human race to prevent the invasion from taking place. Bovine assists him and in order to protect him climbs a skyscraper where she is killed by the chimp invaders.

Third is "The Bride of Congo: The Untold Story" by Carmine Infantino & Gonzalo Mayo (story) and Bill Dubay (story). This story takes place after the original King Kong story. Amy, the woman captured by him is still obsessed with Kong, even after her death and even after getting married to a human man. She eventually finds out that King Kong didn't actually die, but is wounded and needs a blood transfusion. She volunteers but it ends up turning her into a giant size as well. She leaves and grabs onto her husband, who is dressed in an ape suit, heading to the Empire State Building. King Kong comes after her and the two leave to his home, to be happily ever after.

Fourth is "You're A Big Girl Now" by Richard Corben (art) and Bruce Jones (story). Except for the first and last pages, this story is in color. This story features Rachel, a girl who is born at a huge size and continues to grow larger and larger as she gets older. Lowery, a newspaper reporter befriends her when she is still a child. When she grows up she gets upset when she finds out he doesn't love her like she loves him. Fearful of her continuously growing size the military tries to destroy her and she goes on a rampage in New York city, looking for the Statue of Liberty, which she believes to be her mother. Many years later aliens find her body and realize that she grew so large that she ended up destroying the Earth.

Fifth is "Starchild" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Louise Jones & David Micheline (story). The 'Starchild' of the title is an artificially created giant woman who is sent to another planet with her normal sized brother to build a city. There she meets some apes that live nearby and befriends them. Her brother is ordered to either retrieve her or destroy her. Not wanting to harm her, he leaves her there, deciding to lie about her being destroyed.

Sixth is "The Giant Ape Suit" by Luis Bermejo (art) and Roger McKenzie (story). In this story it is revealed that King Kong was actually a giant robot. The brother of the man who controlled the robot seeks to build another one years later by finding the lab where it was built. He is betrayed by a pair of criminals that he was going to work with, and they head to the lab, where they find a robot of a giant naked woman. One of the criminals betrays the other and takes control of the robot, heading through the city and climbing a building before being knocked off and destroyed.

Last is "Golden Girl" by Leopold Sanchez (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). A company inspector arrives on a planet but quickly forgets her mission when she hears that there is a city of gold nearby. The men there bring her there, where the city is revealed to be a miniature version of New York City. When she heads into the city she is attacked by the miniature locals, sprayed with gold, and turned into their own version of the Statue of Liberty.

Vampirella 38

Sanjulian provides the cover for this issue of Vampirella, cover dated November 1974.

First is "The Mummy's Revenge" by Jose Gonzalez (art) and Mike Butterworth (story, as Flaxman Loew). This story continues from the Vampirella story in issue 36. Vampirella and Pendragon are in Egypt and visit the mummy of Ptolemy, who was killed by Vampi in ancient times in the previous story. Vampi meets Professor Bruno who brings her on a tour of an underground labyrinth. He abandons her there and the mummy of Ptolemy along with other ghouls pursue her. The spirit of Amun-Ra arrives and tells her that Ptolemy's mummy is alive due to Bruno. Vampirella goes and kills him, resulting in the destruction of the mummy.

Second is "Gypsy Curse" by Esteban Maroto (art) and Gerry Boudreau & Carl Wessler (story). A gypsy woman is attacked by her husband when he comes back from the war. The story flashes back to before they were married, when he had to kill her father because the gypsies didn't approve. As he dies, her father tells him that should he ever harm his daughter, he will be destroyed by demons. While the husband is away from the war an ugly servant threatens to tell her husband she's having an affair (which is untrue). Her husband then attacks her when he returns home because of this, but the gypsy curse comes true and he is torn to shreds by unseen demons.

Third is "Lucky Stiff" by Ramon Torrents (art) and once again Gerry Boudreau & Carl Wessler (story). A very cautious man ignores a beautiful young woman who starts at the place where he works. At the end of the day she invites him to come to her home at the other side of town. The story shows what would happen if he went. He arrives there, only to be attacked by cats. She tells him he doesn't deserve to live and that he is going to be fed to them. The narrative then reveals that he actually didn't go there, as he was hit by a car along the way. This story is a rewrite from a story Carl Wessler did for EC comics in the Haunt of Fear 26, published in 1954.

Fourth is "Out of the Nameless City" by Felix Mas (art) and John Jacobson (story). A rather complicated tale influenced by H.P. Lovecraft. During a play a man, Dennis, reads some strange language on a prop coffin. He and a friend, Vaughn go to visit Vaughn's uncle, an archaeologist and find that it tells of elder Gods resting for eternity. Dennis remembers his youth where he was taught of these mysterious things by his uncle Abner. The uncle later shows up, telling him he was raised to bring the elder gods back to life. Vaughn kills Dennis after finding that he killed his uncle. He later kills his girlfriend too after finding that she is pregnant with Dennis's child, Abner's last hope at reviving the elder Gods.

Fifth is "On Little Cat Feet!" by Auraleon (art) and John Jacobson (story). A much lighter toned story than the other stories in this issue, a very good one though, the best story of the issue. A witch, Kitty, lives in a rooming house with her artist friend Eulalia. Kitty is kicked out of the place by the landlady and plots revenge by turning into a cat and poisoning her claws. She kills the landlady's cat, taking its place, then kills the landlady as well soon after. Eulalia meanwhile recruits an actor as a model for her latest work, a statue of Nero. Kitty, still in her cat form, wanders by and Eulalia has the actor hold her in his arms. Eulalia reveals herself to be Medusa, and when she reveals herself ends up turning both the actor and Kitty into a statue.

Last is "Trick of the Tide" by Isidro Mones (art) and Jack Butterworth (story). A man, Gabriel, finds the corpse of a man in the water and steals the money on him. When his wife arrives to claim the body he refuses to admit it was there. When she confronts him later, he clubs her head in and dumps her in the river. When a reward is offered for her, he goes to fish her out, only for her to kill him.

Vampirella 40

Enrich provides the cover for this issue of Vampirella, featuring Vampi and a dark, caped figure. This issue is cover dated March 1975. Ken Kelly provides another cover on the back of the issue, and Jose Gonzalez provides his usual one page Vampirella intro in the front inside cover. This issue was one of the first issues of Vampirella I ever read, so still remains somewhat memorable to me for that reason.

First is Vampirella in "The Nameless Ravisher!" by Leopold Sanchez (art) and Mike Butterworth (story, as Flaxman Loew). This story continues from the previous one, where a man who hunted human heads wanted to take Vampirella's head. He was killed at the end of the story, being decapitated. In this story we meet his two sisters, a pair of crazy old women who want revenge on Vampirella. They summon a demon, the Nameless Ravisher, which takes the shape of various entities, mostly those based in nature. The Nameless Ravisher attacks Vampi, first by flooding the room she is in, then taking the shape of a tree that attacks her. Eventually Vampirella defeats it, and the two old women are done in by the corpse of their brother. An odd Vampirella story, but Sanchez's art is a nice, rare alternative to the usual artwork on this series (not to say the usual artwork is bad, Gonzalez and Mayo were usually great. Just enjoyed someone else drawing Vampi for a change).

Second is the second part of the three part Dracula series, "The Winged Shaft of Fate" by Esteban Maroto (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). Color is provided by Michelle Brand. This story continues from the previous one, with Dracula now having a female vampire companion. Similar to the previous story however, this story primarily focuses on another couple that becomes involved when the carnival stops by. A man steals a large sum of money and plans to meet his lover, but the lover ends up getting bitten by Dracula. The man ends up leaving with another woman instead when his lover doesn't show up, only she does, as a vampire, killing them both.

Third is "The Face of Death!" by Ramon Torrents (art) and Carl Wessler (story). A man is angry at a former lover who has moved on and married someone else. He seeks to get back at her by attacking her during a halloween party. When he realizes that the party is only for people who bring children, he finds a boy alone on the street, Mort, and they go in togehter. Mort keeps trying to hang out with the man, who finally finds his former lover upstairs. When he is about to attack her however, he trips on her kid's blocks and falls out the window. Mort comes to see him, and reveals that he is death.

Fourth is "The Man Who Never Was" by Fernando Fernandez (story & art). Fernandez turns out a very interesting sci-fi themed story here, but his art is absolutely horrible compared to his normal work. Quite a dissappointment from someone who is usually so good. Not that its horrible compared to some other artists seen over the years in Warren publications, but for him, a big dissappointment. Anyway, on to the story, which is quite good. A man awakes after some sort of coma or unconscious state to find himself in a society that doesn't recognize him. His cash is worthless and those he talks to refer to society rules that he has no familiarity with. Further investigation by the police and doctors realize that the man has no record of existing. At least that's what they tell him. In actuality, they realize that the man existed in society nearly 200 years ago and must have been in some state of suspended animation. Rather than accept him into their society, fearing he may cause others to believe in the freedoms that no longer exist, they inject him with a substance that causes him to go unconscious for another 50 years, so those in the future can deal with him instead.

Fifth is "The Time Eater" by Paul Neary (art) and Jack Butterworth (story). Another sci-fi themed story that is very interesting and unique. One of Warren's most unique stories in fact. The Time Eater of the title is an entity that exists out in space, consuming time. As the story begins, the time eater is quickly reaching the point where it has consumed all future time. As a result, it has to start eating the past. We see the Time Eater consumer the past, causing time to go back further and further. A spaceship that approached the Time Eater lands back on Earth, then is deassembled. People who have died come back to life, then grow young, and eventually return to their mother's womb. Humankind de-evolves as does all other life. Eventually the Earth itself ceases to exist and the universe slowly shrinks until it too is gone. At this point the time eater has eaten all time that has ever existed and soon starves to death. A gaseous particle breaks off the time eater, causing the universe to slowly start reforming again. Time once again starts to pass by, the universe slowly returns to normal and the time eater eventually comes back to life to start the process all over again.

Last is "Home For the Holidays" by Luis Bermejo (art) and Budd Lewis (story). This is a Christmas themed story. It is told in two parts, very similar in fashion to the story "Bless Us Father" from Creepy 59. On the left side of each page we see a little girl and her nanny, who get ready for Christmas day and the return of her parents. On the right side of the page we see the parents boarding a plane to head home. The wife seems quite upset with the husband, who appears to have been recently released from prison. The husband realizes that a fellow passenger has a gun and tries to stop him. This results in a confrontation in the cockpit which results in the plane crashing... right into the home where the daughter and nanny are. Quite a bleak and depressing ending compared to many of the other Christmas themed stories that appeared in the Christmas issue of Creepy that came out the same time as this issue (issue 68).

Vampirella 39

Ken Kelly provides the cover for this issue of Vampirella, featuring a freak woman sitting on a skull. This issue is cover dated January 1975. Jose Gonzalez provides both a one page Vampi intro on the inside front cover and a one page Vampi farewell on the inside back cover, an image that was soon reworked into the cover of Vampirella 42 by Enrich.

First is Vampirella in "The Head-Hunter of London" by Leopold Sanchez (art) and Mike Butterworth (story, as Flaxman Loew). This is the first of three straight Vampi stories from Sanchez, whose style is a stark contrast from Gonzalez's art. Still a pretty good job from Sanchez though. Vampi and Pendragon meet Jack D'Arcy, who offers to tour them around London. D'Arcy is a hunter, who secretly collects human heads as well and becomes obsessed with obtaining Vampirella's head. They struggle, and by the end it is D'Arcy who ends up being decapitated.

Second is "The Sultan of 42nd Street" by Felix Mas (art) and Carl Wessler & Gerry Boudreau (story). A poor artist buys a canvas from a pawnshop. It ends up that whatever he paints on the canvas comes to life, and a beautiful woman appears when he paints her on it. He gets the idea to paint multiple women and turn them into whores to make him money. Alas, when another painter buys one of the canvases and paints his face, his entire face vanishes from his home, and appears in hers!

Third is "Snow White and the Deadly Dwarfs" by Esteban Maroto (art) and Steve Skeates & Gerry Boudreau (story). A young woman lives in a large mansion all by herself, well except for dwarves that live with her and call her snow white. Her boyfriend doesn't believe her about them, and when he comes over they stab him to death to 'protect her'. Only it ends up that there dwarves weren't after all and she did it all the stabbing herself. Some extremely good art by Maroto on this story, one of his best.

Fourth is the start of a new three part series featuring Dracula. This first story is titled "The Circus of King Carnival". Art is by Esteban Maroto and story is by Gerry Boudreau. This story is in color. Despite being the title of the series, Dracula barely appears at all here. Instead the story focuses on a couple who come by a freak show that Dracula is a part of. The husband visits a shaman as he wants to save his dying wife, but the shaman tells him he'll have to bring him a human heart. The husband attacks a thief who is captivated by the butterfly lady in the freak show, and kills him to take the heart. Only the butterfly lady kills him. Meanwhile, Dracula bites the neck of the wife, preventing her from dying by turning her into a vampire.

Fifth is "The Curse of Castle Vlad!" by Auraleon (art) and Doug Moench (story). This story takes place in Translyania where a movie shoot takes place in a cursed castle. Soon members of the cast start appearing dead, but the director declares that they have to continue. Eventually all are gone except for the director and his wife, the star of the film, who ends up being revealed as a vampire. Naturally, she ends up biting him.

Last is "The French Coagulation" by Luis Bermejo (art) and Carl Wessler & Gerry Boudreau (story). Bermejo's first Warren story, his art here is simply amazing, arguably the best job he ever did for Warren. Its quite unfortunate that he couldn't stay this good his entire Warren career. In Paris law enforcement investigate the death of a woman at the hand of the "Loup Garou" which is essentially a werewolf. Due to a key in the victim's hands, they are able to pintpoint the creature down to one of six people. They lock them up in jail cells and the night of the full moon one of them, a woman, turns into the werewolf and kills her husband, who is in the cell with her. It ends up the husband was sleeping with the wife of one of the cops which is why he locked him in the cell with her.

Creepy 92

Frank Frazetta's cover from Eerie 23 is used for this issue of Creepy. One of his best, if not his best cover for Warren, although its annoying to see it reprinted here instead of having a new one. This issue is cover dated October 1977. Aside from the fact that the cover's a reprint, this is an extremely good issue.

First is "A Toast to No Man's Memory" by John Severin (art) and Len Wein (story). A group of pilots, including a young newbie, Babbit agree to save a bottle of wine for the last one of them that lives. The pilots slowly start dying in battle, much due in part to Babbit's cowardice. Eventually the last one of them is shot by Babbit himself when he threatens getting him court martialed. Babbit drinks the wine, but it ends up that the last of the pilots poisoned it, so it kills him.

Second is "Mrs. Sludge and the Pickled Octopus Raid" by Luis Bermejo (art) and Bill Dubay (story). A young man comes across a cabin in the dead of winter, away from civilization. The people inside tell him of Octopus-like aliens whom they found and killed, which they found to taste quite good. The young man runs off to tell someone about the discovery of alien life. It ends up that the people in the cabin are actually the aliens though, and are anxious to find more humans to eat.

Third is "Instinct" by Richard Corben (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). A king marries a beautiful young woman from an odd country of people. He desires to have a son greatly, but she bears him only daughters. Years go by and she is pregnant yet again, but starts acting strangely, biting their kids. Her attendant tells the King that in their country, mothers kills their children. When the King tries to stop her, he dies of a heart attack. She is banished from the kingdom as soon as the son is born, who ends up being born as a rat! This story was eventually done back in 1970 and for some unknown reason was held back for seven years.

Fourth is "Towards High Places" by Ramon Torrents (art) and Bruce Jones (story). This story tells of twin princesses during the Egyptian empire, Euthesus and Tanakus. As the older of the two, Euthesus is set to become queen upon their father's death. Tanakus falls in love with a slave, which Euthesus kills. Euthesus wants her body to be undisturbed forever, and Tanakus helps her set up a chamber in her pyramid to do so using the knowledge taught to her by her former lover. When Euthesus tries to trap her within the pyramid however, Tanakus tricks her and rules Egypt in her place while her sister is buried alive. Some very nice art and a good story that ties in to the reprint cover.

Fifth is "The Executioner" by Russ Heath (art) and Heath & Cary Bates (story). This story features a hitman, Tony Desoto who kills a big time mobster, and quickly rises through the ranks because of it. Eventually he decides to retire and is hired by his boss to do one last hit. It was a set up, but he is still able to get out alive. He goes to a prosecutor to try to get immunity, but that prosecutor is also working for the mob, and kills him.

Sixth is "Goddess in a Kingdom of Trolls" by Esteban Maroto (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). This story tells of a human woman who was brought up by trolls. Seeking a human lover, she wanders away from their kingdom one day and meets a hunter in the woods. Hymie, a troll wizard puts on a magic hat that makes him look like a handsome prince. He casts a spell on the hunter then finds the woman, trying to get her to fall in love with him. Hymie later meets a mysterious beautiful woman in the woods wearing a hat. When the truth is revealed, he helps our heroine find the hunter and discovers that the other woman he met is a fellow troll who was using the same type of spell as he. A very good story and some extremely good art from Maroto.

Seventh is "Everybody and His Sister" by Leopold Sanchez (art) and Jim Stenstrum (story). This issue's weakest story, it features a man who finds many people suddenly showing up where ever he goes. This includes at work, in a restaurant and even at his apartment. When they all run in an elevator with him it crashes, but when he awakens in the hospital he is told he was the only one there. When he is about to be operated on though, all the pople suddenly show up again.
Last is "The Generations of Noah" by Leo Duranona (art) and Roger McKenzie (story). An ark-like spaceship starts traveling from planet to planet, saving a male and female from each planet. Its leader is a frog like alien similar to Noah who makes himself appears like an old man. When the ark comes to Earth though and picks up a young couple, everything goes wrong. First 'Noah' is killed by the father of the female human, then the ark is blown up by missiles just as it is about to leave Earth.

Creepy 77

This issue of Creepy is a special Christmas issue from February 1976. The cover is by Sanjulian. Berni Wrightson provides the frontis, featuring Uncle Creepy dressed up as Santa Claus. A whopping 8 stories are contained in this issue, one of the very few all original issues containing this many stories.

First is "Once Upon a Miracle" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Bill Dubay (story). This story features a pair of priests in a church witnessing an old lady who each year steals a statue of baby Jesus, something she's done each year since her own baby died due to the cold. While they're not watching a group of tiny demons arrive, but tiny cherubs arrive and stop them, then turn the baby Jesus statue to a real baby. Over 5 pages in a row in this story with no dialogue at all, quite an oddity for a Warren story. This story was originally intended for the prior Christmas special, issue 68, but missed the deadline and was not printed until this issue.

Second is "Tibor Miko" by Alex Toth (story & art). I believe this to be the only story in Warren history where no title appeared at all anywhere in the story. The story title is provided on the contents page though. This story doesn't really have much of a Christmas theme outside of taking place on Christmas Eve. It features a pilot who encounters a UFO while in the sky. When the UFO lands he approaches it and is seized by the creatures inside. The UFO takes off, never to be seen again.

Third is "The Final Christmas of Friar Steel" by John Severin (art) and Budd Lewis (story). This story takes place in a monastery where many evil things start happening. An eye falls out of a statue of Jesus, which starts bleeding. The eye then appears in a wine cup they are drinking from. Corpses appear in the basement. It ends up a demon is behind the whole thing. The demon battles with the head of the monastery and the whole place burns to the ground.

Fourth is "Clarice" by Berni Wrightson (art) and Bruce Jones (story). This story is a poem about a man longing for his dead wife, who died by accident when she was locked outside in the cold one night while he slept and froze to death. His wife comes back to life as a corpse and returns to the cabin, where they are reunited. One significant screw up occurs however (not sure whether it was Jones or Wrightson's fault) when the artwork shows an uncovered window that the wife could have broken and got inside through.

Fifth is this issue's color story, "The Believer" by Richard Corben (art) and Budd Lewis (story). This story takes place in a world where Santa Claus is dead and Christmas as it was no longer occurs. Shinny Upatree, the last elf left however decides to keep Christmas alive and goes out himself, although he can't visit every house each year. He visits an orphanage with a cruel housemaster, who Shinny smuthers with a pillow. He doesn't end up dying though and the housemaster kills Shinny. A boy who Shinny who witnesses it happen kills the housemaster, then takes over for Shinny as the one keeping Christmas alive.

Sixth is "First Snow, Magic Snow" by Leopold Sanchez (art) and Budd Lewis (story). This story is about an old man who sells threads and buttons on the street to make enough money to buy a candle for his dead wife each year. This year he meets a young girl whom he reads to. It ends up being a ghost of his dead wife. He dies soon afterwards.

Seventh is "Final Gift" by Paul Neary (art) and Bill Dubay (story). This story features a trio of men in a wintery future. They are unable to find much salvagable food due to poachers that have ravaged any stores they are able to find. Eventually one kills himself so the others can eat him, but it ends up happening when they finally find a town with other people that they can stay with.
Last is "The Final Christmas" by Isidro Mones (art) and Budd Lewis (story). Within a church in Brooklyn the devil arrives. He tells the sole priest left at the church, which no one visits, even on Christmas that it is time for him to take over the world. He makes a bet with the priest that he'll let the Earth be if he can find many righteous people, telling off anyone who the priest tries to name. Very arrogant, he lowers the bet down to a single person, then loses out when a boy enters the church to pay his respects to Jesus.

Creepy 97

This issue is a "Monsters!" special issue from May 1978. The cover is a reprint of Frazetta's cover for Eerie 3.

First is "Momma is a Vampire" by Leo Duranona (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). A woman becomes a vampire thanks to her cousin, who is one herself. After she kills her cousin and beheads her, she is told by a doctor that she can be made human again through a blood transfusion from her husband. Alas, it doesn't work, and he is forced to kill her. Duranona and Cuti would reunite for the excellent vampire series 'Honor & Blood' in Eerie roughly around the same time as this issue.

Next is "The Wax Werewolf" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Bob Toomey (story). A detective investigating a werewolf is dating the local librarian. In order to defeat the werewolf, he is assisted by a witch who creates a wax version of the creature, which he'll be able to kill by stabbing the wax figure. He does so, but the werewolf ends up being his girlfriend. Upset, he throws the wax figure in the fire, but that causes her corpse to burst aflame and the fire ends up killing him too.

Third is "Black Death" by Leopold Sanchez (art) and Bruce Jones (sotry). This story is a murder mystery surrounding black people dying in a southern town. The local KKK leader is suspected, but ends up dying as well. It ends up that the murders were caused in order to summon an army of zombies, and the story's protagonist is set to become one himself as the story ends.

Fourth is "Snaegl or How I Conquered the Snail that Ate Tokyo" by Martin Salvador (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). This story features a giant snail that comes out of the Ocean near Tokyo and wreaks havoc. Various people, such as a stripper who claims to be a princess from an island that worships the snail to a boy possessing uranium think they are responsible for its arrival and being able to drive it away. In the final panel a bunch of snails arrive in other countries and this time destroy everything.

Fifth is "Dragon Lady" by Esteban Maroto (art) and Bill Dubay (story). An old man tells of a story of a princess whose mother got her turned into a dragon because she was jealous of the attention given to her by the Emperor. The old man tells a warrior that a reward is offered for defeating the dragon, and gives the warrior magic powder he can use to change it back into the princess. The warrior does so, and makes love to her, but she turns back into the dragon and kills him. In actuality, the powder caused him to hallucinate; as the story was all a lie, all made up to feed the dragon, the old man's pet.

Last is "Sisters" by Alex Nino (art) and Bill Dubay (story). This story contains two parallel stories featuring a human girl and alien girl facing extreme mental anguish. It ends up that both had twin sisters that were stillborn, and that the two are connected to each other as the alien is the human girl's dead sister and vice versa. Both girls end up killing themselves, reunited when reincarnated as twins on yet another alien planet.

Creepy 89

This issue of Creepy is an all war special issue. Alas, the stories here aren't at the quality of the Blazing Combat days, which would have made this quite the issue. The cover is a reprint of Frank Frazetta's cover for Blazing Combat 1.

First is "Blood Brothers" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Bruce Jones (story). The issue's best story, it is about a soldier who meets another soldier, Voper among the dead of a destroyed fort. Voper travels with him, but constantly dissappears and appears fine after being shot by our protagonist. At the end of the story it is revealed that Voper was dead the entire time and was actually being eaten by our protagonist.

Second is "The Windmill" by Leo Duranona (art) and Lou Rossin (story). This short story, at only 5 pages, features a hunchback in the days before World War II who fights to save his country of Liechenstein from the Nazis.

Third is "Angel of Jaipur" by John Severin (art) and Bill Dubay (story). This story features a young pilot flying a plane who goes back in time and manages to save his father from a military assault. Despite there being some sceptics, the gun marks on his plane are proof enough that it really happened.

Fourth is "The Hungry Dragon" by Carmine Infantino & Alex Nino (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). A soldier comes across a village in Vietnam where he finds some young children which he attempts to care for. He heads out and kills some enemy soldiers to find food for them, but upon returning finds them eating the remains of some dead soldiers, causing them to kill them... in his mind. In actuality, he only harmed one of them, who ended up becoming his wife years later, but in his mind he is convinced he killed them all.

Fifth is "The Door-Gunner" by Leopold Sanchez (art) and Larry Hama & Cary Bates (story). This story is drawn in pencil only. It features a veteran back from Vietnam who is convinced that he is still there at the war, resulting in murderous rages from him. In the end it ends up that he's in a mental hospital.

Last is "Coggin's Army" by Martin Salvador (art) and Roger McKenzie (story). Similar to the last story, this story takes place in an institution, where an old general, his wheelchair bound friend and others are convinced they are still at war.

Vampirella 59

Enrich provides a rather comedic cover to this issue of Vampirella.

First is "Pendragon's Last Bow" by Jose Gonzalez (art) and Bill Dubay (story). Vampi and Pendragon come to a new town where some murders have been taking place. Pendragon meets a beautiful woman Rosie, the owner of an antique shop directly above the place where the corpses have been found. The Van Helsings arrive and find that Rosie is a succubus, who along with her brother is responsible for the murders. Rosie and her brother are killed, but she saves Adam, who had been attacked by her brother before she dies.

Second is "Changes" by Leo Duranona (art) and Roger McKenzie (story). This story features a man released from a mental institution who wonders around where he used to live, but everything has changed. A rather weak story

Third is "Funeral Day" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Roger McKenzie (story). This story surrounds a funeral director in a post apocalyptic society where people eat the corpse. Another so-so story at best.

Fourth is "Force Feed" by Leopold Sanchez (art) and Cary Bates (story). A killer who is on the run from the police finds a scientist who is able to transport him to someone else's body in another time. He proves it by letting him tempoorarily be in Jack the Ripper. But when they go ahead with transporting him to someone else's body, the scientist, knowing the killer is a vegitarian, has him turned into a Tyranosaurus Rex. The best story of this issue.

Fifth is "The Plot's the Thing" by Martin Salvador (art) and Roger McKenzie (story). A comic book story writer who is an expert at horrific stories decides to inspire himself by killing people. Eventually he kills his wife, then kills his neighbor when he discovers him trying to escape with the body. He drags the bodies to throw over a bridge where he is killed by another man, who just happens to be killing him to inspire himself for his first comic book story.

Last is "The Beast is Yet to Come" by Carmine Infantino & Alex Nino (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). This story features a man on the planet Rego living there with his son. The aliens there tell him of a creature, the "Wilwulf" which he doesn't believe in. After fighting some other aliens on the planet however, he returns home to find that his son is the Wilwulf.

Vampirella 62

Enrich provides the cover for this issue of Vampirella.

First is "Starpatch, Quark & Mother Blitz" by Jose Gonzalez (art) and Bill Dubay (story). This story continues from the previous issue's story, where Vampirella had her eyes stolen by the Blood Red Queen of Hearts. Suddenly a group of aliens arrive, those listed in the title, and save her, giving her her eyes back. They also restore Pendragon's heart, which had been stolen by the Queen.

Next is "U.F.O." by Ramon Torrents (art) and Josep Toutain (story). Toutain was the head of Seleciones Illustrada, the art agency that managed the majority of the spanish artists that worked for Warren. This story was meant to appear in the magazine "Yesterday, Today... Tomorrow" but since that magazine was never published, it ended up here. This story is about a man who searches for U.F.O.s with a newspaper reporter and finds them in a winter landscape. They go to the Air Force, which doesn't believe them, discreding them. In the epilogue it ends up that the aliens are real, as they attack humanity.

Third is "Beautiful Screamer" by Leopold Sanchez (art) and Bruce Jones (story). Some very nice art by Sanchez on this story. It features a handyman and a maid who are after an old man's money, trying to get put in his will. They convince him to do so by tricking him into thinking he's dreaming when he actually is drugged. When it is revealed that the old man has a nephew, they rush to poison him before they are removed from the will. The handyman however only dreams that he switched the old man's wine with poison, and both him and the maid end up drinking the poison by mistake instead of the old man.

Fourth is "Time Ticket" by Esteban Maroto (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). This story features a sorceress who is able to grant anyone's wish as long as they give her 7 minutes of her life. Multiple people in this story ask her for the wish, but each time disastrous results happen. An interesting concept, although not the strongest ending.

Fifth is "Fog" by Carmine Infantino & Dick Giordano (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). This story features a dangerous fog that chases a couple. They are able to escape from it, but it adapts by turning into a liquid, and getting at them that way.

Last is "By Treason's Knife", written by Gerry Boudreau. While the art is credited to Leopold Sanchez, this art looks to me to be done by Jose Ortiz. The story takes place in World War 2, where a soldier is recruited by his commanding officer to go on a secret mission to kill Rommel, getting close to him by betraying his allies. He betrays his allies, but the commanding officer set him up, as the gun he's been given has no bullets and he fails to kill Rommel, dying instead.

Vampirella 56

Enrich provides the cover for this issue of Vampirella, featuring Vampi being grasped by two imp like creatures. Jose Gonzalez provides a one page intro from Vampirella in the frontis.

First is "The Headless Horseman of All-Hallow's Eve!" by Jose Gonzalez (art) and Bill Dubay (story). Some extremely good art by Gonzalez here, one of his best Vampirella stories ever. Vampirella and Adam try to solve the mystery of a headless horsemen who is kidnapping young woman. Using Vampi as bait they find the truth, it is actually some men who are trying to sell the women into slavery. Vampi and Adam are able to stop their operations.

Second is "Mute" by Luis Bermejo (art) and Bruce Jones (story). This story tells of a mute boy seeing a psychiatrist, who tries to get him to speak again. He finally does after three years and reveals his past, where he was in love with a girl but too nervous to talk to her. When she drowned in an accident, he kissed her but was caught by some other people, who brought him to a graveyard to find a rotted corpse of a woman, forced him to have sex with it... and he liked it! In the present day his psychiatrist lets him have sex with her but he freaks out and kills her since only dead things are attractive to him.

Third is "Skruffy's Gargoyle!" by Leopold Sanchez (art) and Bill Dubay (story). Skruffy is a young boy who passes away due to illness. His father tells his other son of how gargoyles were created to protect the souls of the dead that they watch over. A demon comes for real to take Skruffy's soul, but the gargoyle along with his family save him.

Fourth is "Cavalcade of Monsters" by Ramon Torrents (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). This story is a murder mystery surrounding a movie starring a vampire, Frankenstein and werewolf. When the actor starring as the vampire dissappears, the film's leading lady hires a private eye on behalf of the producer. In the end the private eye finds that the producer himself is behind the murders and solves the case.

Last is "The Free Lancer" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Bruce Jones (story). This story takes place on the planet Deimos and surrounds a TV show where people can sign their life away to a TV show that airs executions. The person will be paid $10,000 per week until they are randomly drawed as being the person to die on that week's show. The wife of one of the people who dies on the show comes up with a complicated scheme using robots to get revenge on the show's owner.

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Enrich provides the cover for this issue of Creepy, one of his few Creepy covers.

First is "Warrior on the Edge of Forever" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Bill Dubay (story). This story was originally intended for the war special of the prior issue. Its about a man who has dreams of prior lives as a soldier in important wars and conflicts. This story features photos of Warren production assistant Bill Mohalley as a dictator.

Second is "The Wash Out" by Leo Duranona (art) and Bruce Jones (story). A man and an android head out to a planet to find a woman. The man has a lot of disrespect for the android, although they do end up having sex with each other. Eventually they find the woman, who ends up being an android trying to pose as a human, and she's killed by them. Our protagonist ends up being an android after all, the android companion was actually a human all along, and he ends up shorting out his circuits when he drinks some coffee.

Third is "The Search" by Carmine Infantino & Gonzalo Mayo (art) and Roger McKenzie (story). This story is about a town's search for a vampire that has been killing many of its occupants. The story is told from a person who lost his lover to a vampire. It ends up that our narrator is the vampire, and he ends up getting killed by his own father.

Fourth is "Please... Save the Children" by Martin Salvador (art) and Bill Dubay (story). This story tells of a child killer whose daughter ended up dying after she ran away after being spanked. This causes him to go out and start killing children of parents who he perceives as treating them badly. Even though his father is the President of the US, this doesn't stop the prison from executing him.

Fifth is "The Sacrifice" by Auraleon (art) and Jose Toutain (story). This story tells of a tribe which feels the need to sacrifice its most beautiful virgin each year to its God. Even though the sacrifice this time is the chief's daughter, they go ahead with it anyway. The God they worship ends up being a giant computer. A short story at only four pages long.

Last is "Dollie" by Leopold Sanchez (art) and Roger McKenzie (story). This story was originally intended for the previous Christmas special. It features children being given horrific gifts by Santa Claus that cause havoc, such as a rifle that a boy uses to shoot his parents, not knowing it was real and a chemistry set that blows up the entire house. Another girl is given a doll that acts like a vampire. When the mother tears off its head, her daughter's head falls off. It ends up that it isn't Santa, but rather Satan that is giving out these gifts.

Vampirella 51

Enrich provides the cover for this issue of Vampirella, which is miscredited to Sanjulian.

First is "Rise of the Undead" by Howard Chaykin & Gonzalo Mayo (art) and Mike Butterworth (story, credited as Flaxman Loew). In this story Vampirella and Pendragon visit a town where each year corpses start plauging the town. It incidently ends up being the night that they are there. It ends up that the corpses have come out due to a curse a man placed on the town. Vampi tries to get the man's descendant to end the curse. While he refuses, eventually things work out okay. This was Chaykin's sole Vampirella story, but his artwork is barely noticable here.

Second is "The Edge of Tomorrow" by Zesar (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). This story takes place in a future where the communists have taken away and stripped humans of pretty much all their rights. Children are manufactured in a facility run by humanoid robots. A man and woman try to have a baby the natural way, which is now outlawed. They try to steal a drug that will cease them from being sterilized so they can have a kid, but the robots there simply activate a device implanted in their head that kills them instantly. Years later all humans revolt against the robot government until all of humanity is wiped out.

Third is "Uncle Wiggly's Magic Box" by Leopold Sanchez (art) and Bill Dubay (story). This story features a kid's book author nicknamed Uncle Wiggly who passes away. At his funeral he comes out of his coffin awake. While he has died, he refuses to be dead and through will alone keeps himself alive. Since he's really dead however he starts to decompose, and is eventually required to spend all his time in bed, dictating his book to his assistant.

Fourth is "Whitechapel" by Auraleon (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). In a town where a jack the ripper style killer is running amok, a man is hired by a woman to find her sister. The man investigates a local doctor, thinking he's a lead, and finds the sister, dead. When he goes to tell this to the woman who hired him however, the dead sister suddenly turns up alive again. Our protagonist eventually finds out that the doctor is bringing dead people back to life, but is forced to kill them since the experiment isn't perfected yet. Our protagonist is killed by the doctor, and brought back to life, hoping for him to be the first successful experiment.

Fifth is "The Castle, the Dungeon and All by Vicente Alcazar (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). This story features some knights and magicians battling each other in the woods. One ends up being victorious and continues on, finding a modern looking building. An odd ending, but some extremely good art by Alcazar, channeling Luis Garcia's style here.

Creepy 98

The cover for this issue is by Atilla Heije. This is an all media horror issue.
First is "The Alien Factor" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Budd Lewis (story). This story is about some reporters investigating an alien presence. They face some people trying to cover things up, and government forces evenutally arrive and investigate, telling everyone that the presense was nothing more than fungus.

Second is "Helen Horror Hollywood" by Leo Duranona (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). This story tells the tale of a girl who was interested in nothing but movies growing up, who eventually went to Hollywood and became famous. The theatre she stayed in however housed a monster that killed a former lover of hers, and eventually her as well when she returns to it.

Third is "Graveyard Shift" by Leopold Sanchez (art) and Bruce Jones (story). This story features a radio DJ on the graveyard shift who receives threatening calls from a man who tried to kill him and his fiance. His fiance is attacked and the DJ finds that it is actually his enemy's brother, as his enemy died in prison. Luckily, the attacker is electocuted when he steps in a puddle, saving our protagonist.

Fourth is "Starlet, Starlet, Burning Bright" by Carmine Infantino & Dick Giordano (art, miscredited to Ramon Torrents) and Gerry Boudreau (story). The issue's best story, this is about a woman who meets a former soldier who starts stalking her. He is the son of a famous man in Hollywood, so she is unable to do anything about him. She recruits an old lover to help him, but when the stalker tries to blow him up, she ends up dying instead.

Last is "The Image Makers" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). This story is about a pair of men working on a device that projects a person's image. They try to get money for it by swindling an old woman, convincing her through a seance that her dead daughter has come back to life. They do this by getting a friend of there's who looks like the dead daughter to pretend to be her. One of the men wants her to kill the old woman because she'll inherit the money, but instead he is done in when someone projects a bridge to appear over a gap. It ends up being set up by the old woman, who knew of their scheme all along, having been the funder for their device.

Creepy 68

This issue is a Christmas themed issue of Creepy, featuring a cover of an evil Santa with various body parts around the fire place. Another rather horrific back cover by Sanjulian, featuring a man with a nail through his neck. Some very good stories here and some rather dull ones as well.

First is the issue's only non-Christmas themed story, "The Stars My Salvation" by John Severin (art) and Doug Moench (story). As explained in later issues, one of the stories, "Once Upon a Miracle" missed the deadline and got replaced with this story. That story would be reprinted in Creepy 77, the next year's Christmas special. This story takes place in the Civil War where some union soldiers come across a hospital which the leading officer wants to attack. One of his soldiers doesn't want to attack a hospital, so the officer kills him. A similar scenario takes place in space, where an alien hospital ship carrying a device which can heal people heads after a damaged ship, hoping to destroy it. The alien captain attacks the doctor on the ship who doesn't want to attack. In both cases it ends up being an ambush, and the aggressive attackers are totally wiped out. The alien doctor manages to escape and heads down to the Earth where he is going to heal the head officer, but the officer instead kills him, and dies seconds later.

Second is "Christmas Eve Can Kill You" by Vicente Alcazar (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). A number of different stories occuring around christmas time in this one, including a man trying to kill himself being saved by another person and a shootout among crooks and cops.

Third is "Reflections in a Golden Spike" by Martin Salvador (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). An old man who is a retired train engineer befriends a young orphan runaway who passes out near the abandoned train that he lives in. Eventually however a pair of thieves arrive. When the boy kills one of the thieves he is killed, so the engineer kills the other with a golden railroad spike he had given to the boy.

Fourth is "Anti-Christmas", this issue's color story, by Rich Corben (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). This story features a young couple where the husband is actually a satanist, and they give birth to the anti-christ. Meanwhile her father, a priest, goes on a rampage, doing all he can to stop the anti-christ, including innocent babies and people. They eventually converge, and the priest kills his own daughter, then is killed by her husband who proclaims that the priest did the work of Satan a lot better than he could.

Fifth is "A Gentle Takeover" by Adolfo Abellan (art) and Budd Lewis (story). This story takes place in a future where Christmas is outlawed. An older man, Oliver Cubbins, who looks like Santa Claus organizes a peaceful march of believers in Christmas.

Sixth is "Christmas Visit" by Isidro Mones (art) and Budd Lewis (story). An old diner owner, Archie, has a rather bad attitude about christmas. He is visited by a mysterious stranger who arrives at his diner right around closing time. While walking around talking to the stranger, who tries to get him to get a better attitude about Christmas, the man causes various miracles to happen, like curing a crippled boy and talking a suicidal man from not killing himself. While the stranger is able to convince Archie that Christmas is good after all. Unfortunately for him, the stranger is murdered by muggers minutes later.

Last is "The Christmas Gnome of Timothy Brayle!" by Leopold Sanchez (art, his Creepy debut) and Budd Lewis (story). The poorest story in this issue, it is about a man who dislikes his wife who encountersa gnome that gives him the christmas present of his wife's now dead remains.

Vampirella 68

Enrich, as usual provides the cover for this issue of Vampirella, showing Vampi being held by a robot.

First is "Orphee, Poor Orphee" by Jose Gonzalez (art) and Bill Dubay (story). Vampi is in Hollywood making a movie where a number of robots are coming after her. At the same time a scientist who lives nearby has created a bizarre looking tentacled creature, Orphee, who is accused of being a cannibal due to recent murders. The creature watches Vampi fighting the robots for the movie and thinking they are real, interferes, fighting them off. It is soon revealed that the murders were committed by someone else, clearing Orphee.

Second is "October Man" by Leopold Sanchez (art) and Bruce Jones (story). Sanchez provides some very nice artwork on this story. Its about a man whose rather apathetic about the boy that his wife hopes to adopt. Meeting an old friend who lost his own kid, he realizes that his potential son is in danger due to a maniac who was the sister of a friend of his who died when he was young. While she kidnaps the boy, she is stopped when the man's friend runs her over. This gives him a new appreciation of the boy.

Third is the final Fleur story, "Night of the Alley Cats" by Ramon Torrents (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). For those who don't remember Fleur (I covered a story of hers way back in my very first Vampirella review, issue 35), she was a witch who was a backup feature for Vampirella in 1974. This was Fleur's first appearance in Vampirella since issue 50, and was also her last appearance overall. Its a good thing, as this was quite a poor story, not on the level at all of her other stories. Fleur gets involved with the investigation of a murder involved with a gang. It ends up that the man she is seeing is responsible for the murders and through her witchcraft he gets whats coming to him.

Fourth is "By Degrees" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Bruce Jones (story). This story features a man in a mall with his wife doing some Christmas shopping. She goes off on her own to buy something and he waits for her. When she doesn't arrive, he goes looking for her, to no avail. Everything seems strange as he tries to retrace his steps. The place he was waiting for her he can't find. He is unable to make it back to his car. Even his own home is no longer there. The man ends up dissappearing from society. A rather odd story with no explanation for what ends up happening to the main character.

Last is "The Munificent Ali Addan and Son!" by Esteban Maroto (art) and Bill Dubay & Maroto (story). The art on this story is printed sideways, which was the case for a number of Maroto/Dubay stories around this period in this magazine. This story features the son of Ali Addan, who encounters a beautiful woman who has set up a trap for him. He battles a warrior and defeats him, and the woman is revealed to be Ali Addan's daughter. Her mother, a monster appears and kills Ali's son.

Eerie 89

This will probably be my last post until friday or saturday, am going away on business for the rest of the week after today. Anyway, lets get on with the latest issue of Eerie.

This is quite a good issue of Eerie with a cover by Malcolm McNeil, his only work for Warren. For at least a little while Eerie climbs back up in terms of quality after an extended lull period with some more interesting stories, many of them horror themed.

First is the Rook in "Trouble in the Time Factory" by Luis Bermejo (art) and Bill Dubay (story). In this story Bishop Dane and Manners head to a time factory where the Rook had been working with the government. There an android man who was part of a series they were developing runs amock, seemingly destroying Manners. The Rook, back from the future arrives and manages to defeat it. He fixes Manners and tells them what happened to Gat Hawkins, who is now in the future, all alone.

Second is "Crystabelle!" by Leo Duranona (art) and Bill Dubay (story). This story is about a girl who grows up in an attack occupied by spiders when her mother steals her from her adopted parents and hides out with her there. An electrician, finding a malfunctioning power line, discovers her when fixing it. He goes inside and has sex with her, but she kills him and eats him aftewards, as that's all she knows, having seen the spiders do it.

Third is the first of a two part story, "Francesca" by Gonzalo Mayo (art) and Bruce Jones (story). A doctor and his wife adopt a 16 year old girl, Francesca, who was frozen in the past due to cancer and was just recently thawed and cured. While she gets along great with the doctor, Francesca acts very cold towards the wife. One night the wife finds that Francesca has murdered a man, which is were this part of the story ends.

Fourth is the finale to Scallywag/The Black Demon's Sword, "The Magician's Tower" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Budd Lewis (story). With the sword and statue, the magician summons the demon, who is crazed and out of control. A smaller demon with Sullivan is able to stop the demon and the magician is defeated by the ninja agent who had been working for him. Glad to see this rather poor series finally coming to an end.

Last is the finale to "Boiling Point" by Leopold Sanchez (art) and Bruce Jones (story). Our hero is unable to capture the killer, who gets away from him when a conductor interferes. He later meets with his friend, a priest, who says the killer has been coming to confessional. The priest is actually the killer himself, and is struck by a subway car himself, killing him.

Eerie 88

A sports themed cover by Don Maitz starts this issue of Eerie.

First is the Rook in "Future Shock" by Luis Bermejo (art) and Bill Dubay (story). The Rook appears once again, in the devestated future. Meanwhile Gat Hawkins finds a way to come to the present, where he battles Bishop Dane and Manners. The Rook meets a robot who brings him to the last living human on Earth, who thinks the Rook is evil and attacks him. The Rook battles him and defeats the man, who is revealed to be a machine man as well. A very good story, the best Rook story so far!

Next is the latest story in the Scallywag series, now retitled The Black Demon's Sword. This story is called "The Key", but Jose Ortiz (art) and Budd Lewis (story). The ninja captured in the prior part escapes. Lubus heads after her and encounters more enemies while Sullivan encounters a sea creature.

Third is "Deathball 2100 AD" by Dick Giordano (art), in a rare solo story for him, and the team of Bill Mohalley & Nicola Cuti (story). This story is about a basketball game between humans and humanoid fish men. One of the human players, told that he is being forced into retirement after this game, goes on a rampage and kills many of the opposing players during the game.

Fourth is the first of a two part story, "Boiling Point" by Leopold Sanchez (art) and Bruce Jones (story). This story tells of a mysterious killer in the subway who has pushed an old woman into an oncoming subway car. The story focuses on one of the cops investigating the case and one of the witnesses, whom he starts a relationship with.

Last is "Junkyard Battles or Never Trust an Electric Shaver" by Auraleon (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). Plutonium has caused machines to come alive and fight humanity. This story focuses on a soldier who battles the machines who is done in when his gun is exposed to plutonium and fires on him.

Eerie 87

This issue of Eerie features a reprint of Frank Frazetta's cover for Vampirella 7.

First is the latest segment of the Rook, "Prisoner in a Chinese Fortune Cookie or Bad Bad Granny Gadget!" by Luis Bermejo (art) and Bill Dubay (story). The Rook is absent entirely from this story, as he had vanished entirely in the prior story. Rather, this story stars Bishop Dane and Manners, who battle the Granny of the title, who is related to a competitor of the Rook that could never compete at the same level as the Rook and killed himself. They manage to defeat her and by the end of the story receive a message from the Rook, still alive, who says he's in a chinese fortune cookie!

Second is the third Scallywag story, "The Black Demon's Sword" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Budd Lewis (story). Sullivan befriends Hickey Lubus, a man whom he plays poker with. Lubus has a cane which is revealed to be both a key and a special sword that is related to a black demon. As usual, Sullivan is encountered by a group of samurais and ninjas whom he fights and is able to defeat.

Third is "Years & Mind Forever", the conclusion to the Within You Without You trilogy. Art is by Richard Corben and story is by Bruce Jones. In this story it is revealed that Lydecker has been setting up everyone, and that many of the trips into the past have actually been staged by him and an actress pretending to be Karen. Meanwhile he himself has actually made it to the past where he has found the ancestor of humanity. The scientists send another telepath after him and he finds Lydecker in a lab with the ancient man. During a struggle with 'Karen' however the ancestor is shot by him, wiping out humanity. A terrific end to a terrific trilogy, which would be ranked as one of the top 10 Warren series in the Warren companion.

Fourth is "Second Wish", the third story in the Gaffer series. Art is by Leo Duranona and story is by Roger McKenzie. A young woman being abused by the sheriff and people of a small town encounters an alien creature who takes the form of a human being. They have sex, making her pregnant with an alien baby. Gaffer and Jamie help her escape from a mob and she gives birth to the alien baby, but is killed by the sheriff soon after. The aliens arrive, and believing the baby to be their messiah, depart with it.

Fifth is "The Incredible Illusions of Ira Israel" by Leopold Sanchez (art) and Roger McKenzie (story). The Ira of the title is a magician at a carnival who creates the illusion of turning his wife into a werewolf by applying makeup to her while the lights are out. When a full moon arrives, a werewolf actually attacks, and she is accused of being it. But the truth is that Ira is actually the werewolf and while he escapes from the people coming after his wife, she ends up dying due to him.

Sixth is Hunter 3, in "What Price Oblivion" by Alex Nino (art) and Jim Stenstrum (story). This is Nino's solo story debut for Warren. Unlike the other two Hunter series, this is a parody, told in a single story. A young boy, Max Halibut dons the Hunter Helmet and with his "Exterminator Dingo" goes on a quest to defeat the frog people. Along the way he meets a young girl, Twyla Smyla who joins him on his quest. While battling the frog people he encounters his mother, who is a frog woman leader. Twyla is revealed to be his father! Quite a bizarre but funny story.