Vampirella 2

Bill Hughes provides the cover for this issue of Vampirella, dated November 1969. Tom Sutton provides the story and art for the frontispiece "Vampi's Feary Tales".

First is "Evily" by Jerry Grandenetti (art) and Bill Parente (story). Evily is a sorceress who is Vampirella's cousin, living in a castle in the Black Forest of Vaalgania. She invites a number of guests to her castle for a party who are revealed to be monsters. She also brings back a number of people to the dead from her basement. The monsters bring her a cloaked figure which ends up being Vampirella in a cameo role. Vampirella demands Evily's throne and a spell of Evily is bounced back at her by her mirror, turning her into a cat. Some good art by Grandenetti, but a rather weak start to the issue.

Next is "Montezuma's Monster" by Tony Williamsune (art) and Don Glut (story). A trio of men head to Mexico to search for Montezuma's treasure. They eventually find it in a cave where they also find some mummified corpses and a drawing of Quetzalcoatl, a flying serprent that is said can turn any winged thing into itself. The men take the treasure and start heading back to the U.S. Along the way a buzzard turns into Quetzalcoatl and kills one of the men. The other men try to kill any bird they find along the way to prevent it from happening again. One of them plots to kill the other, but is killed by Quetzalcoatl, who had transformed from a mosquito, at the last second. The final man gets back to civilization and thinks he's made it back safely at the airport, but the airplane turns into Quetzalcoatl and kills him.

Third is "Down to Earth!", this issue's Vampirella story, by Mike Royer (art) and Forrest Ackerman (story). This story is notable for being the only instance where an issue had a Vampirella story but it did not lead off the issue. The story also features Vampirella's twin sister Draculina, in her sole appearance, who acts as host. This story features Vampirella trying out for a Monsterella contest at the Warren offices where she is selected the winner by James Warren and Forrest Ackerman, giving her the name Bambi Aurora. Traveling on a plane to Hollywood, a bolt of lightning strikes it, blowing it up. An absolutely horrific story with a ridiculous ending, this is probably the worst Vampirella story of all time. Thankfully this would be the last time Royer or Ackerman did a Vampirella story and she wouldn't start in a story again until issue 8.

Fourth is "Queen of Horror!" by Dick Piscopo (art) and Don Glut (story). Similar themed to the previous story, it is about a monster movie director, Katzman who is looking for a new hot theme since his movies haven't done well lately. His assistant, with the help of a "Gorry Hackerman" (an obvious nod to Forrest Ackerman) comes up with the idea of having a female monster. Their actress is found in a bar, a woman named Mildred who is soon renamed to Adriana. Adriana does very well in a series of hit monster movies. One night Katzman invites her to his home, telling her he is in love with her. Adriana tells him no man could be happy with her and reveals that she actually is a monster, transforming into a werewolf who kills him. Adriana looks enough like Vampirella that I half expected it to end up being her while reading the story.

Next is "The Octopus" by William Barry (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). A man named Gary is invited to his brother Carl's home along with his two children where he is shown a large octopus in the well. Carl brings Gary underwater with him to investigate where he kills him in order to get his inheritance. He later tries to kill Gary's children by pushing them into the well but falls in when they move out of the way and is killed by the Octopus. Carl later returns in Octopus form to kill the children but is killed by the corpse of Gary, who has returned to protect his childen.

Sixth is "One, Two, Three" by Ernie Colon (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). A pair of androids, Kleet and Lia are brought in front of a trio of robot judges, on trial for showing emotion. Flashbacks show how they got to this point, with Lia reading fairy tales to the children she takes care of. She becomes obsessed with being rescued by a hero and is thrown out of her master's home when a man comes to the door and she asks him to take her with him. She is pursued by robot searchers and is found by Kleet when she is found playing with flowers in a field. Kleet brings her to an abandoned post but they are eventually caught and brought before the judges. The two are found guilty and brought out to a home in the desert. They are destroyed soon after however when it is revealed that the home is on a nuclear bomb testing site.

The issue concludes with "Rhapsody in Red!" by Billy Graham (art) and Don Glut (story). A husband and wife are caught in a big rainstorm in Transylvania and come across a large castle. Inside the castle they meet the mysterious Countess Margat Sinovitz who lets them stay there. The two of them suspect the Countess is a vampire due to the lack of electricity and mirrors in the castle as well as her strong, bat-like hearing. She attacks the husband, turning him into a vampire. She wants him to become her husband but he instead bites his wife, making her a vampire as well and kills the Countess with a sword.

Vampirella 4

Today I'm covering issue 4 of Vampirella, published in April 1970 (the same month as yesterday's Creepy 32). The cover is a collaberative effort from Vaughn Bode and Jeff Jones. Tom Sutton provides the story and art for the frontispiece "Vampi's Feary Tales: Burned at the Stake!". As with many early issues of Vampirella, this issue doesn't feature a Vampirella
story, although she hosts each of the individual stories within.

First is "Forgotten Kingdom" by Ernie Colon (art, credited as David St. Clair) and Bill Parente (story). A woman finds an astronaut from a spaceship that lands on her planet. She brings him to their leader, who tells him that all men on their planet have died and that they need him to help restore their civilization. He refuses, and with the help of the woman that found him they escape. He brings her to his spaceship and they leave the planet. He soon reveals however that it is the exact opposite on his world, that there are no women, and he has similar plans for her as they had for him.

Second is "Closer than Sisters" by Mike Royer (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). A young girl, Olivegard, is staying with her aunt and uncle after her parents were killed in a car crash. The aunt and uncle hire a new governess, June, to take care of her, and wonder if she is Olivegard's long lost older sister. The two want to kill Olivegard so they can get her inheritance. The aunt tries to do so but is killed at the beach. The uncle plans to kill both Olivegard and June and digs a pair of graves at the beach for them. They get the better of him however and bury him up to his head in the sand, which results in him drowning. June reveals that she is not Olivegard's sister, but rather the future version of Olivegard, come back in the past to get revenge. As the story ends however it is revealed that these are actually the delusions of the present day Olivegard who has gone insane after murdering her aunt and uncle. The death of the uncle in this story is very reminiscent of a sequence from the movie Creepshow, making me wonder if this was inspiration for that part of the movie.

Third is "Moonshine!" by William Barry (art) and Don Glut (story). A salesman from the city has a flat tire in the Ozarks where he is told off by a pair of locals. The salesman is enamored with their attractive sister. While driving he comes across a black cat who hypnotizes him and he follows it, finding the sister. She convinces him to stay with her and become one of them, feeding him some moonshine. The moonshine transforms him into a monster, making him like her and her brothers who are a witch and warlocks.

Next is "For the Love of Frankenstein!" by Jack Sparling (art) and Bill Warren (story). Dr. Hedvig Krolleck, a descendent of Dr. Frankenstein continues his experiments with the help of her hunchbacked assistant, Eric. Eric is in love with her which is the only reason he continues to assist her. Eventually they succeed in their experiments, but a new brain is needed for the body. Eric has a change of heart and destroys it, so Hedvig kills him and uses his brain. In his new body, Eric kills her in revenge then blows up the entire laboratory.

Fifth is "Come into my Parlor!" by Dick Piscopo (art) and R. Michael Rosen (Story). A man is impressed by a daredevil at a circus, Miss Arachna. He convinces her to see him and wants to start a relationship, but she tries to avoid it. Eventually she submits to him and reveals that she has spider hands from an experiment on spiders she performed in the past and used herself as a test subject for. He wants to marry her and she tries to say no but gives in. When they move into their new home she reveals that she has taken on the mating habits of spiders as well and devours him.

The issue concludes with "Run for your Wife!" by Jack Sparling (art), Richard Carnell and Jack Erman (story). A mysterious Count Tsarov invites seven couples who his castle in Slovania. There, Tsavarov is revealed to be a woman in disguise and has the husbands killed by vicious dogs, snakes, aligators, ants and other creatures. One of the wives is revealed to be a man who is part of 'Investigators International' however and kills the count.

Creepy 22

Tom Sutton provides the cover for this issue of Creepy, from August 1968. As with all issues from this era of Warren, this issue has a few reprinted stories. Its a so-so issue at best, with multiple themes repeated in the stories, giving us not a lot of variety.

The issue starts with "Home is Where" by Pat Boyette (art) and Ron Parker (story). This story features a pair of thieves who break into a curio shop. They find a set of stairs that leads to the basement and head down there where they are pursued by various monsters and beasts including snakes, crocodiles, vampires, ghouls, zombies and others. They are eventually found by the police, having been driven insane by their experience. It is revealed at the end of the story that they had broken into Uncle Creepy's home. This story is practically an exact copy of the story "When the Cat's Away" from the EC comic Vault of Horror #34 which features a pair of thieves breaking into the Crypt Keeper's home.

Next is "Monster Rally" by Angelo Torres (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). This story was originally published in Creepy #4. A mad scientist assembles a large group of monsters, all in order to find a formula that will give him eternal life. Eventually a town mob attacks him when one of his monsters, a vampire, escapes and attacks the town. The scientist frees his monsters, who kill him rather than attack the mob. The entire castle burns to the ground. There is only one survivor, a small baby... Uncle Creepy!

Third is the cover story "No Fair!" by Tom Sutton (art) and Bill Parente (story). A group of young boys follow the night watchman in a cemetary and it is revealed that he is bringing bodies to a vampire that lives in a mausoleum. The boys ask around about how to kill a vampire, then head to the cemetary where they kill the night watchman and drive a stake into the vampire's heart, killing him as well. As the story ends it is revealed that all the boys are ghouls and they killed the vampire to prevent him from taking further bodies that they could instead have for themselves.

Fourth is "Strange Expedition" by Ernie Colon (art) and Bill Parente (story). A group of 5 astronauts head to the moon and upon landing due to necessary repairs on their craft find plant life growing, despite the lack of oxygen. A few of the men go exploring but one is found torn to bits after the men split up. Two more of the men face similar fates after heading outside on their own. The repairs to the ship are completed and one of the last 2 remaining men reveals to the other that the plant they found is wolfsbane and transforms into a werewolf, killing the other man.

Next is "The Judge's House" by Reed Crandall (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), originally published in Creepy 5. This is an adaption of a Bram Stoker story. A man moves into a house that was owned by an evil judge. As the nights pass he finds a number of rats inhabiting the house with him. Eventually the ghost of the judge himself appears from out of a portrait in the house and kills him.

The issue concludes with "Perfect Match" by Sal Trapani (art) and Ron Parker (story). This story features a woman who runs a computer dating scam where she finds people their 'perfect match'. She finds that her latest customer is a wealthy man and plans to scam him through several women before taking him for herself. When he immediately returns to her claiming the woman she set him up with was a perfect match and is going to marry her, she tries to blackmail him with a contract he signed but he reveals that both him and his fiance are vampires and they kill her.

Vampirella 1972 Annual

Today I take a look at the 1972 Vampirella Annual. This issue is supposedly rather rare, but I was lucky enough to get a copy for not that much money a while back. The cover is by Aslan in his only Warren appearance. This cover was originally intended for Vampirella 1, but was instead passed over for the famous cover made by Frank Frazetta for that issue. The inside front cover features "Vampi's Feary Tales: The Bride of Frankenstein" by Tom Sutton.

First is "The Origin of Vampirella" by Jose Gonzalez (art) and J.R. Cochran (story). This story features Vampirella on Drakulon with her lover Tristan. The planet is dying and while Vampirella seeks to kill animals for their blood, Tristan doesn't want to do so, nor does anyone else, resulting in the people all dying off. Eventually people from Earth arrive on Drakulon as well and end up killing Tristan, He rises up again however and confronts Vampirella one last time before she heads to Earth.

Next is "The Curse of Circe" by Jerry Grandenetti (art) and Gardner Fox (story), from Vampirella 6. A man is lost at sea and ends up landing on an island, populated by beautiful women, the most beautiful of which is named Circe. After a night of passion, he wakes up, to find that he's been turned into a pig! With the help of another woman he is able to return to his human form and the two escape, only to end up dying while at sea.

Third is "Goddess From the Sea" by Neal Adams (art) and Don Glut (story), from Vampirella 1. Adams' art is pencils only. A woman, Lanora, appears outs of the sea and tells a man who lives nearby that she's from Atlantis and is fleeing from those of her kind. Her fellow sea dwellers soon come out after her and grab ahold of her. He heads into the sea after her and ends up drowning.

Fourth is "The Curse" by Wally Wood (story & art), from Vampirella 9. A man has no memory of his past and finds himself in a bizarre reptilian man like form. A beautiful woman, Zara, tells him that he's been transformed into this state by a sorceress that they need to kill using an enchanted sword. Our hero fights off many beasts and eventually the sorceress herself. It ends up however that Zara was the one who transformed him, as she was given eternal life and wanted to die, which could only be done by killing the sorceress. After her death our hero turns back into his true form, a lowly lizard.

Fifth is "Snake Eyes" by Jack Sparling (art) and Nicola Cuti (story), from Vampirella 8. It's about a girl who has very snake like features, and she looks more and more like one as she gets older. She gets angry with her boyfriend and kills him when he sells a pendant of hers. It ends up that she is the decendent of royalty. She gets it back and uses it to get to a secret chamber, where she is confronted by a Mongoose man who was responsible for wiping her family out.

Sixth is "Vampi's Feary Tales: Love!", a one page feature from Tom Sutton.

Seventh is "Forgotten Kingdom" by Ernie Colon (art) and Bill Parente (story). A woman finds an astronaut from a spaceship that lands on her planet. She brings him to their leader, who tells him that all men on their planet have died and that they need him to help restore their civilization. He refuses, and with the help of the woman that found him they escape. He brings her to his spaceship and they leave the planet. He soon reveals however that it is the exact opposite on his world, that there are no women, and he has similar plans for her as they had for him.

Last is another one pager, "Vampi's Feary Tales: Lilith" by Jeff Jones (art) and Nicola Cuti (story), from Vampirella 9.

Creepy 74

This issue of Creepy is a reprint special dedicated to Reed Crandall. The cover is a montage of various drawings of Crandall's from previous issues, in color. This issue is dated October 1975.

First is "Vampires Fly At Dusk" by Reed Crandall (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), from the first issue of Creepy. The story takes place in a town plagued by murders, suspected to be by a vampire. A man is suspected to be a vampire, particularly by his wife who finds that he'll only let her do things at night. One night she finds him missing from his study and she pulls back a curtain, revealing the sunlight which she hopes to destroy him with. Only it ends up that she was the vampire; while he was killing the people in the town, he was feeding the blood to her in her food. Due to the sunlight she dies.

Second is "Curse of the Full Moon!" by Reed Crandall (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), from Creepy 4. A rich man, Henry, has his coach attacked by a wolf, and his driver killed, He encounters an old gypsy woman who tells him that it is a werewolf, and he is to be the creature's next victim. Henry plans to hunt the werewolf with his two hunting buddies and when the werewolf attacks him, he kills it with a silver bladed knife. Because he was bitten however, he becomes a werewolf himself and his killed by his friends.

Third is "The Cask of Amontillado!" by Reed Crandall (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), an adaption of the classic Poe story. This story was originally published in Creepy 6. The story features a man who encloses a colleague of his in a brick tomb. Goodwin adds a new ending to the story, where the protagonist, now an old man, returns to the scene of the crime and is killed when the chamber floods and the corpse of his colleague pulls him under water.

Fourth is "Hot Spell!" by Reed Crandall (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), from Creepy 7. A devil worshipper is captured by the townfolk and set on fire at the stake. Before he dies however, he curses them. Years pass and his descendants all pass away. The town however has multiple people who die due to fire. The townfolk think that an artist from out of town is a descendent of him, so they set his house on fire, killing his wife, then kill him too. But the ghost of the devil worshipper appears, saying that they'havea become as evil as he, and sets them aflame.

The next story, in color, is "The Beast on Beacon Street" by Reed Crandall and Budd Lewis. This story is a rewriting of the story "Wrong Tennant" from Eerie 24. A pair of ghost hunters arrive to help an old woman eliminate a ghost from her house. They initially have difficulty and one of them is killed, but the ghost is able to be stopped using electricity. Only it ends up the ghost was actually a victim of the old woman, who is a vampire and kills the last remaining ghost hunter.

Sixth is "Hop Frog" by Reed Crandall (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), an Edgar Allen Poe adaption from Creepy 13. It features the title character, who is a midget that is constantly teased and absued by the king and his men. One night Hop Frog convinces the king and two friends to dress up as gorillas to scare some guests. Hop Frog takes this opportunity to bind them then set them all aflame, and leaves the castle for good.

Seventh is "The Squaw" by Reed Crandall (art) and Archie Goodwin (story) is next, a reprint from Creepy #13. This story, which is an adaption of a Bram Stoker story features a man who kills a kitten by accidently dropping a rock on it. The mother of the cat follows him as he goes to see a torture chamber and steps into an Iron Maiden. The cat jumps at the tour guide holding the iron maiden open, resulting in it shutting on the man, killing him.

Next is "Frozen Fear!" by Reed Crandall (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), from Creepy 16. A team of explorers find a frozen warrior. One of the explorers is after the wife of another. It ends up that he is the descendent of someone known to the frozen warrior, who comes alive and kills him.

Last is "Keep Your Spirits Up" by Reed Crandall (art) and Bill Parente (writer), from Creepy 25. The story surrounds an artist who travels to the spirit world in order to get inspiration. The spirits don't like him being there, and he eventually ends up going there so much that he is killed by them.

Creepy 31

An extremely bizarre cover for this issue by Vaughn Bode and Larry Todd, their first for Warren. It features a chicken like creature standing over a torn apart robot man. The frontis for this issue is "Creepy's Loathsome Lore" by Tony Williamsune (art) and Bill Parente (story).

First is "In the Face of Death!" by Tony Williamsune (art) and Al Hewetson (story). A very short story at four pages featuring a man without a face who goes after a man named Arthur Merlin who stole his face. Only when he reaches Merlin he finds that he has lost track of time and become very old.

Next is "Telephoto Troll!" by Roger Brand (art) and R. Michael Rosen (story). This story is about an astronomer who takes pictures of things on a far away planet only for them to appear when the photos are developed. This results in a monster from the planet appearing. He destroys the photo, saving himself, only for his wife to develop multiple copies, resulting in multiple monsters appearing!

Third is "A Night's Lodging!" by Maurice Whitman (art) and Rhea Dunne (story), originally printed in Creepy 17. This story is about a man who is confronted by vampires after getting into an accident with his carriage. He tells them if they let him live he'll build them a hotel and bring many victims to him. He does so, but is eventually turned into a vampire himself. A very lame rehash of "The Invitation" from Creepy 8, which had Whitman as one of the writes.

Fourth is "Snowmen!" by Tom Sutton (story & art). A rich man gets extremely over the town's failure to catch a child killer. His lonely son meanwhile makes snowmen in the yard when he refuses to let him play with anyone. A vagabond is blamed for the attacks when the rich man's son says he did it, so the vagabond is hung. Only it ends up that the little boy was the killer all along, leaving the corpses in his snowmen. A very good story, which would win the Warren award for best story of the year.

Fifth is "A Wooden Stake for Your Heart!" by Bill Black (art) and Don Glut (story). A local castle dweller is blamed for the populace for recent vampire attacks. Although he looks like a vampire he really isn't one, and when the townfolk stake him to death, they open a nearby door which contains a number of monsters he had locked up, which are now unleashed on the town.

Sixth is "Death of a Stranger" by Ernie Colon (art) and T. Casey Brennan (story). A rather bizarre nonscensical story as usual from Brennan, about a man who thinks he's going to die, and that's what happens.

Last is "Laughing Liquid" by William Barry (art) and Kevin Pagan (story). This story is about a man who keeps having visions of alien like creatures and develops a fear of liquid for that's where they come from.

Eerie 25

A whopping eight stories in this issue, six of them new. This issue features a cover by Jim Steranko, his sole one for Warren. The frontis is "Eerie's Monster Gallery: Vampire!" by Tony Williamsune (art) and Bill Parente (story).

Up first is "Isle of the Vrukolakas" by Ernie Colon (art) and Don Glut (story). A town is plagued by a vampire. Zorko, a sheep herder is convinced that the vampire is the corpse of a man recently brought to the town. They consult a priest, who says the vampire's body will not be decayed. They find the corpse of the man brought to the town, but it is completely decayed so they now have no clue who the vampire could be. Yet it ends up that he was the vampire after all as he had leprosy, and he comes to kill Zorko!

Next is "Mistake!" by Bill Black (art) and Buddy Saunders (story). A mob boss plans to hide from the law by faking his death in Italy. There, in his home town he bribes various people to fake his death, declare him dead, and bury him in a maesoleum in a coffin with air holes so he can live. When he awakens he tries to escape the graveyard, only for people to mistake him for a vampire and kill him!

Third is "Hijack to Horror" by Tony Williamsune (art) and R. Michael Rosen (story). This story features a group of vampire like creatures that hijack a plane and bring it to their new Transylvania where they plan on using the plane passengers to be a never ending supply of blood for them.

Fourth is "To Pay the Piper" by Eugene Colan (art) and Larry Ivie (story), originally from Eerie 2.. The story takes place in a town plagued by vampires. A piper offers to rid the town of the vampires by playing a song on his pipe in exchange for money. He does so and rids the town of vampires, but the town refuses to pay, so using his pipe he lures the children away, as in the classic Pied Piper story. Men wait for him in the woods however and kill him with arrows. They soon find however that he lured the children into wolfsbane, turning them all into werewolves!

Fifth is "Southern Exposure" by Tom Sutton (art) and Bill Parente (story). This is the first part of a two part story that would be concluded in the next issue. A woman faints at a family party and an old woman who hasn't spoke in years says she must be destroyed. Her boyfriend refuses to do so, but at the end of the story, it is revealed that she is a vampire!

Sixth is "The Thing in the Cave" by Mike Royer (art) and R. Michael Rosen (story). Finally, a story not about vampires! A young man and his wife come to visit his parents. The man, who studies funguses, as investigating a mushroom that transforms anything that touches it into a monster! When he and his wife visit a cave and approach some, he turns into a monster and kills her, exactly what he had done to a friend when he was a kid. His mother meanwhile plans on cooking dinner with the mushrooms, unaware of their power.

Seventh is "House of Evil", with art by Jerry Grandenetti (uncredited) & Joe Orlando, and story by Archie Goodwin. This story is originally from Eerie 4. A man comes to a large house where his brother lived but finds only a tape recording there, telling him of how he came to the house, which has an evil past, for inspiration. Suddenly a rotting corpse arrives. The man destroys the corpse, but soon finds that it was his own brother! He then looks at his hands and realizes that he's starting to rot as well.

Last is "Hex Marks the Spot" by Bill Barry (art) and R. Michael Rosen (story). An evil man summons demons to attack those that won't sell their farms to him. But anyone who has a 'good hex' symbol at their house will cause the demon to go back and kill the one who summoned it instead of them. Once such man has a new wife who demands he take down the good hex signs as she doensn't believe him. He does so, but creates another hex sign in his wheat field which results in the evil man getting his just desserts.

Creepy 21

This issue of Creepy has a cover by Gutenberg Monteiro, featuring a man attacked by rats. Probably the worst cover in Creepy's history, this is absolutely awful. This issue's frontis is "Creepy's Loathsome Lore" by Bob Jenney (art) and Bill Parente (story).

First is "The Rats in the Walls" by Bob Jenney (art) and Unknown (story, a HP Lovecraft Adaption). A rather disjointed story featuring a man whose family committed many murder and has rats plauging his new home. Not that familiar with the orignal story, but this adaption didn't turn out to be that interesting a story.

Second is "Room With A View!", with art by Steve Ditko, and story by Archie Goodwin. This story was originally published in Eerie #3. A man arrives at an inn with no rooms available, except for a single one which the innkeeper warns him against staying in. The guest uses it anyway and sees a weird creature in the mirror. Each time he looks in the mirror he sees more creatures appearing until he is completely overtaken by them. Hearing his scream, the innkeeper comes up and finds the room empty, but sees the guest's corpse when he looks in the mirror.

Third is "The Immortals" by Sal Trapani (art) and Ron Parker (story). The Immortals of the title are powerful people who live forever in a futuristic society. A man seeks to become an immortal, even going as far as to reveal some conspirator's hideout. He is successful and made an Immortal, but loses all his individuality as the Immortals are actually controlled by a computer.

Fourth is "A Reasonable Doubt" by Tony Williamsune (art) and Ron Parker (story). A man rescues a girl, Elizabeth, who is pursued by a mob. She tells him that they accused her of being a witch after her parent's deaths. She tells him of her past and they head to a cabin in the woods. It is only there that he discovers the truth, that she's Lizzie Borden, who quickly comes after him with a hatchet!

Fifth is "Swamped" by Angelo Torres (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). This story was originally printed in Creepy #3. A criminal is under pursuit by law enforcement in the middle of a swamp. He comes across a mansion occupied by three vampires. Rather than be killed by them, he leads them to the men pursuing him who are all killed by the vampires. He is captured by the vampires but kills them with stakes during the daytime and runs back out to the swamp... only to be killed by the vampires that the men pursuing him became.

Last is "Timepiece to Terror" by Gutenberg Montiero (art) and Bill Parente (story). A pawnshop owner buys a watch which enables him to go forward and backwards in time. He's able to do so by summoning a demon at a certain time while protecting himself with pig blood. He becomes rich with the watch's powers but the demon eventually kills him when he forgets about daylight savings time.

Eerie 24

This issue came out right around when Warren was starting to rebuild itself from the horrendous state it had fallen into in the late 1960's. Alas, that still means there's some reprinted material here. The cover is by Vic Prezio, featuring a giant ghost near a lighthouse.
This issue's frontis is "Eerie's Monster Gallery: Perchance to Dream" by Tom Sutton.

Up first is the cover story, "Head For the Lighthouse!" by Mike Royer (art) and Bill Parente (story). A rather disjointed story with a poor narrative at times, it features an old lighthouse keeper who enjoys telling stories of pirates to young kids. The city decides to replace the light in the lighthouse and the old man dies, but comes back as a corpse and turns things back to normal.

Second is a reprint from the very first issue of Creepy, "Pursuit of the Vampire" by Angelo Torres (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). The story features a group of townspeople being joined by a stranger who tells them two murder victims are actually going to turn into vampires since a vampire was their killer. He leads them to a house where they are and kill them. The town leader ends up being the vampire that killed them, but the stranger, who is a werewolf kills him to eliminate competition for victims.

Third is "The Immortality Seeker" by Tom Sutton (art) and James Haggenmiller (story). A man overhears another man talking of immortality, so he follows him and kills him. Taking a map from the man, he heads to a planet and kills a monster, and finally finds a computer that will give him immortality. Only the computer ends up freezing him!

The following story is "Checkmate" by Tony Williamsune (art) and Ron Parker (story). A man meets an old friend at his his house, who possesses a chess set made up of demonic pieces. They play and the friend eventually wins. He tells the man that he needs to play someone every night to keep the chess set and if someone beats him they get it. But if he wins, he gets to take their soul, which is exactly what happens to our protagonist.

Fifth is "Scavenger Hunt", with art by Jerry Grandenetti and story by Don Glut. A short fat guy who loves the macabre keeps ruining parties, so the guests come up with a scavenger hunt of part of various monsters to keep him busy and out of their hair. He is able to find all the items however and returns to the party with them... along with the monsters they belong to!

Sixth story is another reprint, "Dracula's Guest" from Eerie 16. The art is by Frank Bolle and the story is by E. Nelson Bridwell. This story is originally from a Christopher Lee book of comic stories. It is an adaption of the events that occur in the novel Dracula prior to the start of the well known story in Translvania.

Last is "Wrong Tennant" by Reed Crandall and Bill Parente. A pair of ghost hunters arrive to help an old woman eliminate a ghost from her house. They initially have difficulty and one of them is killed, but the ghost is able to be stopped using electricity. Only it ends up the ghost was actually a victim of the old woman, who is a vampire and kills the last remaining ghost hunter. This story would be rewritten and published in color in Creepy 74 in 1975.

Creepy 24

This issue's cover is by Gutenberg Monteiro. Our frontis is "Creepy's Loathsome Lore" by Gray Morrow (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), reprinted from Creepy 13.

Up first is "Black Magic" by Steve Ditko (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), originally from Eerie 5. A sorceror summons a woman from the dead, despite the warnings of his old master. When she ends up being crazy, he casts a spell that makes her dead again, only to suffer the same fate himself, since he was raised from the dead by his master!

Next is "You Do Something to Me" by Tom Sutton (art) and Bill Parente (story). My personal favorite of the new stories in this issue, it tells of a man who finds out that his wife is using black magic. He thinks she is trying to kill him, so he throws the amulet that she has (which contains a picture of him inside) into the fire, thinking that it will stop the magic. It does, but it ends up that the magic was keeping him alive, as he had been actually killed in a car accident years before! As a result he immediately rots into nothing.

Next up is "The Day After Doomsday" by Dan Adkins (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), from Eerie 8. A man finds himself in a post-apocalyptic world, and confronts multiple mutated beasts which he fights off. Eventually he finds normal humans whom he stays with, only to find that they are cannibals, who eat him! Very nice art by Adkins here.

Fourth is "Room For a Guest" by Reed Crandall (art) and Bill Parente (story). This was Crandall's first new story for Warren since their collapse in late 1967. A young man comes to see a man at a castle who is collecting tons of macabre books. It eventually ends up that he is Satan himself!

Another reprint from Eerie 8 is next, "Typecast!" by Jerry Grandenetti (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). An actor gets upset with being typecast into the role of a killer or monster in many horror movies. Eventually he goes crazy and kills his agent. Years later he is let out of the looney bin accidently and returns to his crazy ways.

Last is "A Silver Dread Among the Gold" by Tony Williamsune (art) and the team of Bill Parente & George Hagenauer (story). The story tells of a viking who seeks eternal life by heading out into the mountains, but comes back nearly frozen and in a bad state. Many years later climbers come across his body, surrounded by silver. They remove it, only for him to come to life as a werewolf!

Eerie 16

An issue of Eerie from Warren's dark age. The cover is by Barry Rockwell. The frontis, "Eerie's Monster Gallery", about the Number 13, was originally intended for an earlier issue based on the letter pages. It is by an uncredited Tony Williamsune and Bill Parente.

We start off with "Dracula's Guest" by Frank Bolle (art) and E. Nelson Bridwell (story). This story is originally from a Christopher Lee book of comic stories. It is an adaption of the events that occur in the novel Dracula prior to the start of the well known story in Transalvania.

"Big Time Operator" by Ric Estrada (art) and E. Nelson Bridwell (story) is a story featuring a mad scientist who uses victims of a plane crash to turn into various mythological creatures like the Medusa, Minotaur and others. He uses the creatures to form his own freak show, but they eventually turn on him and turn him into a freak like them.

Third is "Sara's Forest" by Tony Williamsune (art) and Roger Brand (story). It features a girl who lives in the forest on her own. A pair of nomads come and meet her. The man falls in love with Sara and murders his wife. He grows bored of Sara quickly however and tries to leave for the city. She kills him and buries him with an acorn so he'll turn into a tree, apparently what happened to prior visitors of the forest.

"Evil Spirits" is fourth, by Johnny Craig (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). This story was done back during Warren's golden age, but for some reason was never published until now. The story features a woman who is in a haunted castle and is confronted by bad dreams and perhaps even ghosts. Her husband is cheating on her and the lover shows up, and they both kill each other. The husband, now with yet another lover, comes to the castle, where their ghosts remain waiting for revenge.

Next is "The Monument" by Alex Toth (art) and Goodwin (story), originally from Eerie 3. This story, which appears to be an unauthorized adaption of Ray Bradbury's "The Coffin" is about a design firm owner who convinces an aged architect build a house for him, by telling him that it will be his house. He kills him when it nears completion. Upon laying in his bed for the first time, he is killed by machinery in the house, which the architect had intended to be his tomb upon completion.

Last is "Ahead of the Game!" from Eerie 2. The art is by Joe Orlando and Jerry Grandenetti (credited only to Orlando) and the story is by Archie Goodwin. It features a hunter who kills a white gorilla whose headless ghost continues to haunt him afterwards. Eventually he shows up for real and the hunter's head is cut off and put on a plaque!

Eerie 27

A terrific cover for this issue, by Jeff Jones and Vaughn Bode. Unfortunately the contents itself aren't as good. The frontis is "Eerie's Monster Gallery: The Golem!" by Tom Sutton.

"Journey Into Wonder" with art by Kenn Barr and story by Bill Parente is about a imp like man that asks the king to let him be a knight. The king sends him to defeat a sorceress, who ends up being an innocent woman. he defeats a monster, and then after some questioning upon returning to the castle, wins a fight and transforms into a normal man.

"Amazonia" by Miguel Fernandez (art) and Gardner Fox (story) is yet another in a long line of barbarian/warrior stories set in a medieval setting. Amazonia would get another story, which I've already covered, from an early Vampirella.

"The Machine God's Slave" is this issue's best story, by Ernie Colon (art) and Buddy Saunders (story). An astronaut finds a planet with an ancient civilization which he angers by killing a priest. They chain him to a machine which drags him along throughout the planet, and eventually to his death when it goes into a body of water.

"Swallowed in Space" by Tom Sutton (art) and Bill Parente (story) features a spaceship of people who keep vanishing until only one man is left, who finds the secret of the universe.

"Enter Dr. Laenru!" by Disck Piscopo (art) and R. Michael Rosen (story) features a man who is able to deflect magic. A princess's younger sister turns her into a werewolf, and after he finds her out, he gets her turned into a pig, who is prompstly eaten by some hungry people! Funny ending to a not that great story.

"All Sewed Up!" by Mike Royer (art) and Buddy Saunders (story) is about a taxidermist who turns into a werewolf. His assistant desires his fiance and steals from him, and eventually kills him while he's in his wolf form. He sews him up for display in his store, only for him to turn back human, revealing the truth to everyone.

Last is "Face It!" by Jack Sparling (art) and Nicola Cuti (story) about a hooded man who joins a circus with a robot woman. He hides his face, but a curious girl in the circus keep trying to see it and its eventually revealed that he has a shrunken face and his wife has a shrunked body, hidden inside the robot.

Creepy 23

A pretty good cover for this issue by Tom Sutton, featuring a werewolf and a house on a cliff. This issue's frontis is "Creepy's Loathsome Lore" by Tony Williamsune (art) and Bill Parente (story).

Up first is "Way Out!" by Donald Norman (art) and James Haggenmiller (story). Its about a druggie who wants more money, so he decides to do a painting of evil. But he can't think of a model so he steals and gets even more drugs, which brings him to a world where he meets none other than Satan himself.

Second is "Gargoyle", a reprint from Creepy 6. The art is by Angelo Torres and the story is by Archie Goodwin & Roy Krenkel. A man seeks to find the power to turn stone into gold. He meets a mysterious dwarf who is the responsible for the deaths of multiple powerful men. He gets the dwarf drunk, who reveals how to make gold out of stone, so he pours it on a stone gargoyle. Only the dwarf actually told him how to turn the stone into life, and the gargoyle kills him!

"Jack Knifed" is third, by Barry Rockwell (art) and Bill Parente (story). It features a Jack the Ripper style killer whom a man suspects is himself, as he thinks he has multiple personalities. When he reveals this to his wife however, the truth is revealed, it is actually she who is the killer!

The cover story, "Quick Change" is by Tom Sutton (art) and Bill Parente (story) and features a werewolf who discovers that the town is going to kill him by stabbing him with silver. He works on making himself immune to silver, only it ends up turning him back into a human at the full moon, whom they are easily able to kill.

"Rude Awakening" by Alex Toth (art) and Archie Goodwin (story) is next, about a man who keeps having dreams of a glasses wearing man attacking him with a knife. He's so freaked out by them that he falls out a window and is brought to the hospital, where he faces none other than the glassed man! This story is originally from Creepy 7.

Last is "Cat Nipped" by Tony Williamsune (art) and Bill Parente (story). The story features a hunter in pursuit of a white panther, who ends up being a tribal queen. He battles her and manages to win by attacking her with silver teeth.

Creepy 34

Our next issue is Creepy #34, featuring a cover by Ken Barr, of his interior story "Lifeboat!". The frontis for this issue is "Creepy's Loathsome Lore" by Dan Adkins.

First up is "X-Tra X" by Jack Sparling (art) and Robert (Michael) Rosen (story). A man who is a werewolf approaches a professor whose been studying genes and believes that an extra chromosome is responsible for criminal behavior. The man volunteers to be experimented on by the professor to cure him from being a werewolf. He ends up dying from the procedure, which ends up being okay with the professor as he's a werewolf too.

Next is "Lifeboat!" by Ken Barr (art) and Bill Parente (story). Astronauts come across a planet with a died out race, except for one man, Aceles, a man of large stature and great strength. He goes back on the ship with them peacefully, but it soon becomes clear that the entire race on that planet are contained within him and he is seeking to revive the species by transforming the astronauts into those of his species. The astronauts respond by throwing him out of the ship to his death. Pretty good story.

Next is "The Cool Jazz Ghoul" by Ken Kelly (art) and Al Hewetson (story). This story's unique by being Ken Kelly's sole interior story, outside of this and a single frontis, he did exclusively covers for Warren. His art's okay here, but not great. Covers clearly suited him better. The story surrounds a jazz musician who ponders making a deal with the devil, but instead embalms his body and sells it for lot of money.

Fourth is "Minanker's Demons" by John G. Fantuccio (art) and Buddy Saunders (story). This rather poor story is about a wizard who captures a princess and the knight that tries to rescue her. When the knight reaches his castle, the wizard summons a demon, who kills him because of a crack in his pentagram that prevents him from being protected.

"The Forgotten Prisoner of Castlemare" by Tony Williamsune (art) and Robert (Michael) Rosen (story) is about dueling barons who try to get rid of each other. One ends up getting locked up in a jail cell and the other is killed by a trap. This story is based on the Castlemare prisoner ad in the Captain Company section of the Warren mags.

Next up is "The Swamp in Hell!" by Don Vaughn (art) and Al Hewetson (story). A swamp beast rises out of the swamp and heads to a nearby town. All are frightened except a blind old man who befriends the monster. The monster ends up vanishing because of the kindness of the old man.

Last is "Ando!" by Syd Shores (art) and Robert (Michael) Rosen (story). This story is about a baron and his powerful henchman, Ando, who bullies the local populace into paying the baron high taxes. The baron's quest to create a super race of people continuosly fails. He realizes that he must find a strong person to experiment on, so he uses Ando. Only it makes Ando too strong, he refuses to obedient to the baron anymore and kills him.

Creepy 30

Here's Creepy 30, which came out right around the start of Warren's rebuilding period. The cover is by Bill Hughes, featuring a Frankenstein-like monster. The frontis is "Creepy's Loathsome Lore: Exorcism!" by Tom Sutton (story & art).

First up is "The Mind of the Monster!" by Ernie Colon (art) and R. Michael Rosen (story). A scientist creates a bizarre three-headed, three-armed monster to defeat a beast on Mars that has been killing monsters. Only the intelligent monster, who has no reason to kill such a monster, decides to kill the scientists instead.

Next is "Drop In!" by Tom Sutton (art) and Don Glut (story), about an Earthquake thats about to occur in Los Angeles. Eventually the Earthquake does occur, killing everyone left in the city.

Third is "The Haunted Sky!" by Roger Brand (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), originally from Creepy 17. A pilot encounters his dead colleagues while aflight in an experimental airplane. Although the doctors don't initially believe him, there is proof left behind of the ghost's existence.

Next is "The River", another reprint, from Creepy 15 with story & art by Johnny Craig. A pair of thieves try to escape using the river, but one has second thoughts and is killed by his colleague. Although he is shot at, he is able to escape and is helped by an old man on a boat. However, it ends up the old man is bringing him to the lake of the dead.

Fifth story is "To Be Or Not To Be A Witch" by Carlos Prunes (art) and Bill Parente (story). Prunes was a spanish artist from Selecciones Illustrada who'd make his sole appearance here about a year and a half or so before many other S.I. artists started coming over. A man whose accused many of being witches visits an accused family lying to them about needing help removing a demon from him. Luckily for him it fails, as he truly is a demon, and kills them.

Sixth is "Piece By Piece" by Joe Orlando (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), reprinted from Creepy 14. A scientist creates a Frankenstein-like monster from five different people and takes the brain from his assistant. The monster takes revenge upon the townfolk who were mean to him when he was still alive, only for the corpses of the five people whom is body is made up of to climb out of there graves and take back all their body parts.

Last is "Dr. Jekyll's Jest" by Mike Royer (art) and R. Michael Rosen (story). A man believes his cruel colleague is abusing patients, and eventually finds that his fiance was experimented on and killed by him. Only it ends up that his colleague, Dr. Jekyll was the true culprit all along.

A so-so issue, nothing to great here, and half the issue's reprints so can't be too pleased about that.

Eerie 18

A mix of new stories and reprints in this issue of Eerie from 1968. The cover is by Tom Sutton, talking of 6 stories, when there are actually 7 stories in this issue. The frontis is a reprint from Eerie 4, "Eerie's Monster Gallery: Zombies!" by Roy Krenkel.

First is "Hard Luck" by Sal Trapani (art) and James Haggenmiller (story). The story is about three men in search for the fountain of youth in South America, seeking to live forever and become rich. One dies in quicksand along the way and another is killed by his partner when they arrive at the fountain. He drinks from the fountain, only to turn into stone.

Second is "Cry Fear Cry Phantom" by Jerry Grandenetti (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), originally published in Eerie 7. A man and his fiance go to his home, a large mysterious looking house, where his uncle lives with him. She repeatedly has visions of an odd looking woman with an axe, and suspects the uncle is up to something, particularly when she sees him burying that woman! It ends up however that the fiance is the true maniac, and chops her up with an axe.

Third is "A Change of Pace!" by Tom Sutton (art) and Bill Parente (story), featuring two scientists who create a time machine and go back in time to the prehistoric era. There one of them is killed and the other lives there for a long time but is finally able to return to the present, only to turn into an ape.

Next is "The Jungle" by Al Williamson (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), originally from Eerie 5. It is about a trio of men who slay a witch doctor only for the woods to come alive and kill them all.

Another reprint from Eerie 5 is up next, "Vampire Slayer" with art by Joe Orlando and Jerry Grandenetti (uncredited) and story by Goodwin. A vampire slayer meets a beautiful woman whom he suspects is a vampire, but she proves she isn't one by showing herself in a mirror. He sees her again unarmed, only for it to be revealed that she was a vampire all along, and her twin sister, a ghoul was the one seen in the mirror. They both feast upon him.

Yet another reprint is next, "Trial By Fire!" from Eerie 6, with art & story by Johnny Craig (credited as Jay Taycee). A politician's wife is practicing withcraft and causes multiple enemies of his to fall over dead. Eventually the town ties him up and burns him and he falls on top of her, burning them both.

Last is "Sideshow" by Tony Williamsune (art) and Bill Parente (story) about a suspected vampire in a freak show who is revealed not to be one when he appears in a mirror. But his brother, hidden underneath his clothes is the true vampire. Very similar to the story Vampire Slayer reprinted in this issue, so certainly a dissappointing way to finish the issue.

Creepy 27

A Frank Frazetta painting adorns this issue of Creepy, his first since Warren's collapse in 1967. The frontis for this issue is "Creepy's Loathsome Lore" by Tony Williamsune and Forest Ackerman (the editor for Famous Monsters).

As usual with the issues from this period, about half the magazine is reprints. Up first is one of Warren's all time most famous stories, "Collectors Edition" by Steve Ditko (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), from Creepy 10. The story features Danforth, a man obsessed with the occult who hears of a book, 'Dark Visions' that he becomes obsessed with obtaining. Seeking to spend all of his wife's money on the book, he eventually murders the bookstore owner who told him of it in the first place, who had also committed murder to obtain the book. Reading the book, Danforth finds that it goes long past the time of the author, all the way to the present, and even the future, showing his own death, which shortly comes when his wife buries an axe in his head. Terrific art, terrific story, this is certainly up there among Goodwon's best stories. Ditko's drawing of Danforth's eyes slowly closing across the bottom of each page is also a nice touch.

"Make Up Your Mind" by Tony Williamsune (art) and Bill Parente (story) is up next, about a man who keeps getting executed in all the various ways, electric chair, hanging, firing squad, gas chamber, etc... It ends up that he's forced in his own subconscious to continously die over and over again. This story seems like a ripoff of the Tales From the Crypt story "Four Way Split" from issue 43 of that title.

"The Coffin of Dracula Part 2" by Reed Crandall (art) and Archie Goodwin (story) is third, another reprint, from Creepy 9. A man who had sat in Dracula's grave becomes Dracula himself. The story surrounds a number of men pursuing him, who eventually are successful in destroying him.

"Barbarian of Fear", featuring the recurring character Thane is next, with art by Tom Sutton and story by Bill Parente. The Thane stories appeared on and off over the years, with a total of four unconnected stories appearing from 1966 through 1979. Thane, blinded by lightning, is brought back to health in a kingdom of people trapped by the barbarian Batu. Thane fights Batu and defeats him, but it ends up that Batu was actually created by the kingdom themselves, and the king dies as a result.

Fifth is "Brain Trust" by Angelo Torres (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), another reprint from Creepy 10. A new doctor in town is perplexed by the town eccentric, a large man who doesn't show up in public often, and smells like shaving cream. Eventually the grocery store owner refuses his business and he dissappears. The doctor finds out that the man was one of a set of mutated twins. Having died in a car crash, his other brother used his brain to control his actions. When the doctor comes upon him, the living twin uses the dead one's body to kill himself.

Last is "Surprise Package" by Ernie Colon (art) and Bill Parente (story). Astronauts transporting various monsters, such as a vampire, ghoul and werewolf head to Earth. It ends up that the astronauts are none other than Uncle Creepy and Cousin Eerie.

Overall, an okay story, with high quality reprints and so-so new stuff, aside from Frazetta's terrific cover.

Eerie 22

Another Eerie issue from Warren's dark ages. The cover, by Vic Prezio, is for the story H20 World. The frontis for this issue is "Eerie's Monster Gallery: The Minotaur" from Eerie 11 by Neal Adams.

First up is H20 World, originally published in the first issue of Creepy. The art is by Al Williamson & Roy Krenkel and the story is by Larry Ivie. It is about a pair of divers who come across an underground civilization. There they meet the mutated people who live there, who force them to forget that they ever encountered them. Very beautiful artwork here, particularly Krenkel's backgrounds.

Our first new story this issue is "Family Curse" by Tony Williamsune (art) and T. Casey Brennan (story, his first). A newlywed couple visits the castle owned by the bride's ancestors, who were rumored to be monsters. While there, she encounters an old woman as well as a book detailing the horrific family history. The bride decides to kill herself to prevent herself from being a burden on her husband and the world, only the husband finds out that she actually wasn't part of the family after all, but rather related to the old woman they met.

"The Devil To Pay", originally from Creepy 11 is next, with art by Donald Norman and story by Archie Goodwin. A duke summons a demon, seeking more power for himself. The demon refuses, instead telling him that he'll die within a year and his soul will belong to hell. He can prevent that if he finds someone wiling to give up their soul, but if he fails, he'll die within a day. The duke finds a man and hypnotizes him into doing his deed, only for the man to end up being Satan himself!

"Permanent Members" by Tom Sutton (art) and Bill Parente (story) is fourth, featuring an initiation into a kid's gang that takes place in a cemetary. One of the boys becomes a vampire, but it ends up all the other boys are werewolves and they kill him.

Fifth is "Scooped" by Ernie Colon (art) and Bill Parente (story). A reporter discovers two men that are actually cochroach-like aliens. He and his supervisor confront them, who say they're actually peaceful, and want to help mankind. This results in the reporter and his supervisor killing them, for they are also aliens, of a different race, who want to take over Earth.

Last is "The Spirit of the Thing!" by Steve Ditko (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), probably their best collaberation aside from the well known "Collectors Edition" story. This story was originally printed in Creepy 9. It features a professor who hypnotizes a student of his, resulting in his spirit leaving his body. The professor then steals the student's body, as his is about to die. The student's spirit, now bodiless, steals the professor's corpse from the graveyard and uses it to brutally beat to death his own body (with the professor's spirit) until the professor is forced to leave.

A very good issue, mostly on the strength of the reprinted stories, although the new stuff is fairly good too.

Eerie 20

Another Eerie from Warren's dark age, although the cover, by H.B. Harris ain't a bad one. Only five stories in this issue, making it a rather short one.

Up first is "Round Trip" by Tony Williamsune (art) and Bill Parente (story). The story features a cab driver who picks up Death itself, and gets in a car accident, dying.

Next is "A Cloak of Darkness" by Reed Crandall (art) and Bill Parente (story). A powerful magician is brought to hell where he steals Satan's cloak, making him the most powerful magician in the world, and ruler of the Earth. Satan comes to reclaim his cloak, but is defeated. Upon his defeat however, the magician is forced to become ruler of Hell in his place.

Another Crandall story is up next, "Cave of the Druids", with story by Archie Goodwin. It was originally published in Eerie 6. A gladiator comes across dead soldiers in the woods with their hearts cut out. He discovers that they were removed by a group of druids seeking to resurrect their dead king. By burning the staff possessed by a druid sorcerress, the gladiator is able to save himself and leave.

Tom Sutton's adaption of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" is fourth, featuring an adaption of the classic tale about a man visiting an old friend and the mysterious events that occur surrounding him and his ill sister.

Last is yet another reprint, "Dark Rider" by John Severin (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), originally published in Eerie 8. A group of horsemen in the snowy mountains are followed by a mysterious rider in the distance. They die one by one until only one remains. He shoots at the rider, which causes an avalanche that kills him. The rider reveals himself to be Death.

Sorry for the sparse posting lately, I'll try to make it up this weekend!

Creepy 26

This issue features one of the first reprinted covers by Warren (a practice which would become very common in the early 1980s), Basil Gogos's cover of Famous Monsters #20, featuring Lon Chaney from London After Midnight. As with all issues from this era, this is about half reprints, half new stories. The frontis for this issue, "Creepy's Loathsome Lore" is by an uncredited Tony Williamsune.

Up first is "Stranger in Town" by Tom Sutton (art) and Bill Parente (story). The art is miscredited to Reed Crandall. This was one of the first issues of Creepy I ever owned, and when I saw this story credited to Reed Crandall I initially was quite shocked at how much his art had changed since his EC days! A few minutes later through the contents page was able to easily tell that it was not him. Anyway, this is a pretty good story, about a stranger coming to a town and meeting a mysterious man who tells him about a freak who was shunned by the town. A mob burns down his home, kills his parents, and seemingly kills him. His body ends up in a swamp where it merges with various sludge and other stuff to become a large blob-like creature that takes revenge. The storyteller ends up being the blob, who kills the stranger introduced at the start of our story.

"Second Chance!" is second, with art by Steve Ditko and story by Archie Goodwin. This story was originally printed in Creepy #13. Its about a man who makes a deal with the devil to stay alive longer. The devil brings him back to life, but he ends up being stuck in a coffin! Luckily for him a gravedigger digs him out, but upon seeing this 'corpse' come to life, he kills him, which finishes him off for good. Pretty good story here by the strong team of Ditko and Goodwin.

"Completely Cured" is next, by Tony Williamsune (art) and Bill Parente (story). A man on a train comes across a strange town where everyone appears to be dead. It ends up that the man was dead the entire time and didn't know it. Very similar to a Vampirella story I covered in Vampirella #6.

"Untimely Meeting" by Ernie Colon (art) and Bill Parente (story) follows, about a man who escapes through jail and head out through a swamp, then a desert. There he meets a man with a mysterious car on a mysterious road, who he kills. As he drives down the road in the car he quickly ages. Realizing that by driving forward, he's going forward in time, he drives the other direction, only to end up driving right into his past self.

Another reprint is next, "Backfire!" by Gray Morrow (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), from Creepy #10. A gunfight veteran arrives in a deserted town and meets an old man in the bar, who tells him of a jury thats forming. After the gunfighter tells the old man about his most previous gunfight it is revealed that the 'jury' is actually the ghosts of the men he's killed, who fire upon him. He wakes up, finding its a dream, but soon ends up in the exact same scenario all over again.

Last is "Voodoo Doll" by Jerry Grandenetti (art) and Goodwin (story). This was originally printed in Creepy #12. An older man gets a voodoo doll to keep his young wife from leaving him. However, it ends up that it is all a trick by her and her lover. She shows him a voodoo doll of himself, which causes him to die of a heart attack. However, when she disposes of both dolls, it ends up that they worked after all. By throwing the two of them in a fire, she is burned up herself.

Like Creepy #25, which I've already covered, this is actually a pretty good issue, despite the era its from. Even the new stuff by lesser artists and a lesser writer are pretty good.