Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Eerie 72


Another Hunter II and Exterminator cover for the latest issue of Eerie, by Sanjulian. Berni Wrightson provides a one page intro from Cousin Eerie. After having only a couple of series features in the last issue, this issue is all series.

First is "Daddy Was a Demon Man", carrying the series title "The Demons of Jeremiah Cold". This series would feature a number of different names over the next 6 issues. Art is by Jose Ortiz and story is by Bill Dubay. This story features Jedediah Pan, a demon worshipper who owns two bracelets that can summon demons. His family killed, he swears revenge and takes back one of his bracelets from the mayor of the town, killing him afterwards. Meanwhile, Jeremiah Cold of the title reveals to his son that he is actually Jedediah's son, and he goes to see Jedediah, who lets him keep the other bracelet, apparantely not aware that he's his son.

Next is "Valley of Armageddon", the latest story in the Hunter II serial. Art is by Paul Neary and story is by Budd Lewis. Karas and the Exterminator head towards the mountains where Yaust's castle is. There they find a huge amount of Goblins being fought by other Goblins, making it apparent that the Goblins are not all in Yaust's employ. Karas is severely injured, and the Exterminator finds Yaust himself willing to help him out. This series will be concluded in the next issue.

Third is a new series, Reuben Youngblood, in "Beware the Scarlet Combine" by Howard Chaykin & Berni Wrightson (art) and Budd Lewis (story). Youngblood is a private eye who is hired by a German woman who brings him aboard a zeppelin, where it soon becomes apparent that she is of a group of vampires. Youngblood escapes from the zeppelin and blows it up. The next Youngblood story wouldn't appear for a number of years until near the end of Eerie's life.

Fourth is another new series, The Freaks, in "A Thin Dime of Pain". This is this issue's color story. Art is by Leopold Sanchez and story is by Doug Moench. This series had been discussed for years in the feature pages and previews, as early as three years prior to this issue, but didn't make its appearance until now. This first story was probably written around that time, as Doug Moench had left Warren by this point. This story features some mistreated Freaks who get revenge on their master by turning him and his son into one of them.

Fifth is "The Pie and I" by Luis Bermejo (art) and Budd Lewis (story). A sequel to the very popular "Daddy and the Pie" from Eerie 64, this story is a rather poor one, featuring the son from the first story, now grown up. He and his family continue to be treated badly, and when he is beat up by the townfolk, the father heads out with a gun and is killed. The son plans to blow up the entire town using the device Pie left behind, but Pie's spirit, contained within the device, convinces him not to.

The issue concludes with yet another new series, Tales of Peter Hypnos, in "The Incredible People-Making Machines" by Jose Bea (story & art). This was Bea's first appearance in Eerie since issue 41 in 1972. A very strange and surreal story, this features Peter, a young boy who finds himself suddenly in a bizarre world which features mutated and deformed people who show him the various devices they use to enlarge people's bodies and heads, and switch human heads with animal heads. They want to use a device on Peter, but he escapes from them and back to the real world.

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