Monday, March 31, 2008

Oops...

Had already completely typed up my first Eerie review, but left it on another computer and can't get it now. Will likely have up tomorrow!

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Creepy 64

For my first issue, I'm going to cover one of my favorite issues, Creepy #64.

This issue came at what was probably the peak of Warren's operations in the 1970's, the summer of 1974. The cover, by Vaughn Bode and Larry Todd featured a rotting man in what appears to be an astronaut's suit. The cover was the basis for the stories contained in the issue, the first of many themed issues for Warren. This issue's also notable for being Archie Goodwin's final issue as editor in his Warren career. This was Goodwin's third stint at Warren as editor, which lasted only for 4 issues of Creepy and 2 issues of Vampirella before he left due to not getting along with Bill Dubay. While he would write some additional stories for Warren later in the 70's and 80's, this was it for him at Warren in terms of being editor.




The first story, "Forgotten Flesh" by Vicente Alcazar (art) and Doug Moench (story) is the sole story in the issue to not feature the rotting man on the cover. Originally, all seven stories in the issue were to feature the rotting man, but the story "Avenger" was unable to be finished in time, which resulted in this story being run in its place. Oddly enough, rather than print "Avenger" in the next issue, Warren waited 8 years to publish it, in Eerie #128 in 1982. "Forgotten Flesh" takes place in a graveyard, where a group of rotting corpses get out of their graves in order to switch grave sites with some more well to do deceased people. Along the way they come across a duo of grave robbers who they mistake as being among them and bury them too, alive.

"Mates" by Esteban Maroto (art), Bill Dubay (color) and Doug Moench (story) is next. The story features an astronaut who heads to a planet that has been rumored to be a sex paradise. When he gets there he fights off countless rotting hulks and finally encounters a city full of beautiful women. After a night full of sex his entire body proceeds to rot away, making him just like one of the creatures he had encountered along the way. A good story with typical great art by Maroto. The story reminds me of the Wally Wood story "Rescued" from Weird Fantasy #6.

Next up is "High Time" by Paul Neary (art) and Steve Skeates (story), about a pilot who's plane is destroyed during battle, leaving him stranded in a radioactive wasteland. As he lies dying, he suddenly finds himself in a paradise like landscape, where he encounters a beautiful woman. The vision soon fades and he meets his demise. While Neary's art is great, this story just did not make much sense to me at all.

Fourth is "Only Losers Win" by Howard Chaykin (art), in his first Warren story, and Rich Margopoulos (story). In the future, Earth is extremely overpopulated, but a race filled with numerous death traps held once a year allows the winner to spend a year in the only sanctuary left on Earth. A man takes a drug that increases his metabolism a hundred fold and wins the race, only to find that the increase in metabolism also severly increased the aging process. An okay story with fine art by Chaykin that fits the story perfectly.

"One Autumn at Arkham" is the next story, and is both drawn and written by Tom Sutton. This would be Tom Sutton's final story for Warren. It features a researcher who learns of a 'power suit' which gives a man immortality. He digs up one of the suit's inventor's, who was buried alive with it, only to find that he's still alive! Having been been buried alive for 20 years however, the man's body has been almost entirely eaten by worms, leaving him a rotting mess. Great story and art by Sutton, its a shame that this was it for him at Warren.

Sixth is "To Sleepy Hollow... Returned" by Larry Summers (art) and Jeff Rovin (story). A photographer comes to the small town where the story of the headless horseman originated. There he starts dating a waitress and is confronted by her bitter former boyrfriend/boss. Riding home one night from a costume part, he encounters the headless horseman himself, who kills him with a flaming pumpkin, burning his face away in the process. A pretty good story and very good art job from Summers, who unfortunately wasn't around at Warren as long as he should have been.


Wrapping up the issue is another colored story, "An Angel Shy of Hell", by Richard Corben (art) and Jim Stenstrum (story). It starts Hard John Apple, a bounty hunter hired by "Protstns' in the far future, who goes about the state of Kansas, killing as many 'Catlicks' as he can, including an injured helicopter pilot with a burned face (see image). A terrific story, although probably somewhat offensive with the parodies of various relgious groups. Stenstrum would eventually write three more stories starring Hard John Apple in Eerie in 1977.


Overall, a terrific issue, one of Creepy's bests. Outside of the rather confusing "High Time" no bad stories, and the art is terrific across the board. Unfortunately this would be Creepy's only issue with two color stories.

Introduction

Welcome to my blog! This blog will be dedicated to the horror magazines published by Warren Publishing in the mid 1960's through early 1980's. I personally have only been into Warren over the last year or so. I was infact barely a year old when the company went bankrupt. Over the past year or so I've amassed a collection of probably about 90% of the non-reprint issues of Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella. Hopefully one day I'll have them all. My goal with this blog is to eventually cover all the non-reprint issues of Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella. Along the way I'll also work on profiling some of the various artist, writer and editor contributors to the company. While I can't guarantee a post every day, I'll do the best I can!