Eerie 15

My first issue coverage in a while, featuring an issue I've recently been able to acquire. This issue came out shortly after Warren's first collapse at the end of 1967 and features approximately a third reprinted material and two thirds new material. The cover by Vic Prezio is an okay one, but quite unscary.

First is "The Graves of Oconoco" by Pat Boyette & Rocco Mastroserio (art) and John Benson (story). A pair of friends, Frank and Mitchell work in Brazil near a gravesite. Mitchell is a scientist working on making edible material from soil while Frank is an archeologist, who discovers a crypt of dead warriors and a wolf. Mitchell's work on the soil finally is successful but ends up bringing the wolf back to life, which Mitchell klls. Yet it wasn't Mitchell's work that actually brought it back to life, as all the corpses from the crypt soon spring to life themselves.

Second is "Wardrobe of Monsters" by Gray Morrow (art) and Otto Binder (story). For some unknown reason Angelo Torres, who is uncredited on the story (but included in the table of contents page) handles the final page. This story is a reprint from Creepy #2. Five men find a number of sacrophoguses in a pharoah's Egyptian tomb that house various monsters including a vampire, wolf man, devil and Frankenstein monster. One of the men, a translator finds the ability to transfer himself into these monsters. He does so, killing his various partners in monster form so he can get all the credit. He also destroys the mummy of the pharoah, fearing that he also has the ability to transfer into the bodies. However when he occupies a monster to kill his last partner, the pharoah's spirit, released by the destruction of his physical body, seizes the man's own body, trapping him in monster form for good.

Third is "The Demon Wakes" by Tony Williamsune (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). The story by Goodwin was likely left over from when Goodwin departed Warren, as this issue was printed over 6 months after he departed Warren. In the prologue we meet Harry Willet, an accountant entering a bar. The majority of the story features a bizarre monster, Moloch, who awakens chained up in a pit. Moloch breaks free of his chains and climbs out of the pit, killing the guards and breaking free. In real life Harry goes crazy and kills three people before being killed himself. Moloch apparantaly was a representation of the evil within Harry getting out.

"Under the Skin" is next, with art by Joe Orlando and Jerry Grandenetti (who is uncredited) and story by Goodwin. This story was originally printed in Eerie #3. An unsuccesful actor envies another actor whose able to get great roles due to his horrific makeup. By murdering the actor and stealing his technique, he is able to get a great role, but is unable to take off the makeup when he's done. It ends up that he hallucinated the whole thing, and ends up tearing all the skin off his face. Another really good story; its a shame Grandenetti got no credit as he appears to have a lot more influence in the art that Orlando did.

Fifth is the cover story, "The Doll Collector" by Gutenberg Montiero (art) and Dave Kahler (story). A gold digging woman has a vast collection of dolls. She heads to a theater with her latest lover who uses a number of "living" dolls in his act. She demands that the owner sell her one but he refuses. That night she tries to steal one but is attacked by the dolls. She is then shrunk and forced to become a doll-like participant in the show herself.

Last is "A Change in the Moon!" by Jeff Jones (art) and Clark Dimond (story). This story takes place in the late 1800's. A man tries to drown his wife by knocking her off a boat, only for her to be saved by a bizarre bald man. The two return to land, where it is explained that the wife was attacked by a wolf. The husband visits an occultist to see if something can be done for a werewolf, and all she can provide him with is silver bullets. He tries to kill his wife again by pushing her into a train but the bald man appears again to save her. The two confrotnt the husband on the roof and the bald man is revealed to be a werewolf himself. The husband kills him, but finds he can't shoot his wife, now in wolf form, so he lets her attack him such that they'll both be wolves on the next full moon.

Eerie 14

Vic Prezio provides the cover for this all reprint issue of Eerie, cover dated April 1968. The frontis for this issue is "Eerie's Monster Gallery: The Mummy" by Wally Wood & Dan Adkins (art) and Archie Goodwin (story).

First is "The Stalkers" by Alex Toth (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), from Creepy 6. A man goes to a psychologist, telling him of these bad dreams he is having where he is confronted by aliens that look like prune faced people. The psychologist reveals that he's an alien himself, and that our protagonist is one as well, who had been on Earth in human form so long that he forgot who he was.

Next is "Pursuit of the Vampire" by Angelo Torres (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), from Creepy 1. 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 "Howling Success" by Angelo Torres (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), from Creepy 3. A city is plagued by a werewolf. A man who hates his wife encounters the werewolf but is safely able to hide from it by running through a cemetary fence. He plots to bring his wife to this spot at he next full moon so she can get killed by the werewolf, making him money on insurance. Only when he brings her there he discovers that she's the werewolf and becomes its next victim!

Up next is "Untimely Tomb!" by Angelo Torres (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), from Creepy 5. The title is credited to Anne Murphy, Goodwin's wife. This story features a doctor who is humiliated when a girl whom he pronounced dead is found alive by her brother, only for her to die due to being entombed alive. The brother confronts the doctor, who strikes him down and ends up killing him. When his corpse is put in the doctor's family crypt he fears that it is alive and heads inside, dying of fright after thinking it true. Only it ends up the corpse was stored elsewhere and he was all on his own after all.

Fifth 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.

Last is "Blood and Orchids" by Al McWilliams and Archie Goodwin (story), from Creepy 4. A doctor assists in a murder investigation where multiple people have been found with their blood drained. He suspects it is because of a countess he met who doesn't use mirrors, brought over native soil for her plants, and doesn't go out during the day. He naturally thinks she is a vampire, but it is actually her blood drinking plants that are the culprit.

Oddly enough, this Eerie reprint issue has all Creepy reprint stories.

Creepy 28

Our cover for this issue is by Vic Prezio, featuring the interior reprint story "The Doorway". This issue is from August 1969.

First is "Madness in the Method" by Rocco Mastroserio (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). Our protagonist, Henry, murders his wife and convinces everyone, including the court that he is insane. He finds the insane asylum he's put in unbearable though, and admits to the murder, wanting to be sent to prison instead. The doctors there refuse though, only permitting him to take part in a test to see if he's normal. Unfortunately for him, that results in them taking his brain out of his body.

Our first original story this issue is "In the Subway" by Tony Williamsune (art) and Reuben Reid (story). Reid was the winner of an amateur writer contest Warren held. The story is about a shapeshifter who eats people in the subway. He confronts a man who confounds him, who ends up being another shapeshifter that eats him! Williamsune's monsters are pretty cool looking here.

Next is "The Worm is Turning" by Ernie Colon (art) and Kim Ball (story). A sorceror summons a worm like creature and promises him 5 servents in exchange for eternal life, but dies when his house collapses. The five men scheme over obtaining him money, but all end up dying due to tapeworms.

"Grub" with art by Tom Sutton and story by Nicola Cuti (his Warren debut) is next. The story is about a derelict ship found in space that contains an odd monster and a number of beautiful women. The women are actually there as bait for the monster, who kills everyone but two, and tells them they have to have children in order to feed him!

"Valley of the Vampires" by Bhob Stewart & Steve Stiles (art) and Arnold Hayes (story) features a vampire society discovered in the jungle. The vampire expert there is convinced that they need holy water and says they don't need guns to protect themselves, but when the vampires capture them, its the opposite that is true and they are all killed.

The cover story, "The Doorway" is by Dan Adkins (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), originally from Creepy #11. A security guard comes across a destroyed lab with an odd doorway. He goes through and finds himself in another world, where a large bat like creature with a skull face takes over a man's body. Another creature arrives and takes over our protagonist, who destroys the doorway and kills himself in order to stop it from taking over Earth. Only the creature takes over a nearby person upon his death, enabling him to restore the doorway.

The issue wraps up with "The Adventure of the German Student" by Jerry Grandenetti (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), originally published in Creepy #15. This is an adaption of a Washington Irving story. A german student staying in Paris meets a beautiful woman by the guillotine and sleeps with her. The next day he wakes up to find her dead! When he summons the authorities, they reveal that she was executed the previous day and her head falls off! The student goes crazy and ends up in an asylum, where he dies.

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.

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 21

This issue of Eerie, another one from Warren's dark ages in the late 1960's features one of their most bizarre covers, by Vic Prezio, featuring a weird creature that looks like a pumpkin with legs and a face. Behind the cover is this issue's version of Eerie's Monster Gallery , "Lucifer's Legions" by Tom Sutton.

Up first is "Point of View" by Rocco Mastroserio (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). This story is a reprint from Eerie #6. It features an insane asylum where one of the patients thinks he's Dr. Frankenstein. After the inmates take over the asylum, he transfers the director's brain into one of the other inmates.

"Miscalculation" is next, with art by Tony Williamsune and story by Bill Parente. The story surrounds a war between the US and the USSR based on calculations from a computer. It ends up that the comptuers wanted humanity to wipe itself out and that's exactly what ends up happenening.

Another reprint drawn by Mastroserio and written by Goodwin is up next, "Terror in the Tomb", from Eerie #9. A pair of archeologists encounter a mummy guarding a pharoah's tomb which ends up coming alive. They destroy it, only to later find out that it was guarding them from the evil pharoah, whose still alive and kills them.

"Fatal Diagnosis" by Ernie Colon (art) and Bill Parente (story) is next. Similar to the story "A Stake in the Game" which I reviewed from Eerie 38, this features a vampire in a hospital that has been stealing blood. A doctor manages to kill the vampire, but it ends up he did it because he's a vampire himself and wanted all the blood to himself. Colon's art is quite poor in this story.

Another reprint is next, "Warrior of Death", by Steve Ditko (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A warrior, Zahran finds himself dying after a long battle and is encountered by Death. Zahran deals with Death to become invulnerable so he can kill many more on the battlefield. As he gets more and more powerful, Zahran becomes drunk with power. He encounters a young boy, Valric on the battlefield but ends up being killed by him, as it ends up that Valric made the same deal with Death that Zahran had. Good story that Ditko's art fits perfectly.

Last up is "House of Fiends" by Jerry Grandenetti (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A new doctor visits a young woman who is chained up by her aunt and uncle, accused as being crazy. She tells the doctor that they are a werewolf and vampire, and that their servant is a ghoul, and he has been brought here for them to kill. The doctor witnesses all three becoming the creatures she stated they were and manages to kill them all. Only it ends up that she is a witch and had tricked him into thinking they were these horrific creatures. Grandenetti's art style was quite different than most of the artists that worked for Warren but I've always enjoyed his work a lot.

Overall can't say I'm too pleased with this issue as 4 out of 6 stories are reprints. Neither of the new stories are all that good. The reprints certainly are good stories, particularly the Ditko and Grandenetti ones, but that 2/3 of the issue is reprints certainly is dissappointing.

Creepy 18

For my second Creepy review, I'm going to tackle issue 18, the first issue of Creepy to come out in the what is generally called the dark age of Warren. After 17 issues of Creepy (and 11 of Eerie), Warren hit some financial difficulty, and as a result editor Archie Goodwin resigned and all the artists except for Tom Sutton and Rocco Mastroserio departed as well. Not only were the issues reduced to far lower quality artists and writers, but reprints started populating the magazines like mad. At the very least, Creepy was lucky in that no issues were all reprint, although some Eerie ones during this time were.

The cover is by Vic Prezio and is of a sea monster attacking a couple on a raft. The frontis for this issue is "Creepy's Loathsome Lore!" which was a continuing feature included on all of the early Creepy issues. This particular one was written by Goodwin, and had art by Roy Krenkel. It was a reprint from issue 9.

Our first story is "Mountain of the Monster Gods" by Roger Brand (artist) and Ron White (writer). The story is about a pair of brothers who climb the mountain named in the title. One of the brother kills the other, only for him to come back from the dead and seek his revenge. Not a bad story although Brand's art is very simple and compared to the excellent artists who were mainstays at Creepy just an issue before, it just isn't on the same level. Brand's ex-wife Michelle would later join Warren herself as a colorer in the mid 1970's.

Next up is "The Rescue of the Morning Maid", the story's best issue. The art is by Rocco Mastroserio and Pat Boyette (who was uncredited) and the story was by Raymond Marais. The story surrounds a monster who finds a sorceress and a young girl who is kept captive by her. The monster is able to kill the sorceress only for the young girl to crumble to dust, having actually been much older and just trapped in the form of a young girl. Very good story, its unfortunate that Marais didn't do more work for Warren.

"Act Three" is written and drawn by Johnny Craig and is about an actress whose husband has turned into a werewolf. The two of them are able to get a doctor to create a cure, but when he injects both of them with the serum, the actress turns into a werewolf herself. Craig was my personal favorite of the EC artists and his Warren work was quite good as well. Unfortunately he would depart Warren for good after only a couple of more stories after this one.

The next story, "Footsteps of Frankenstein" is a reprint from Eerie #2. It is drawn by Reed Crandall and written by Archie Goodwin. The story is about a mad scientist who has created a Frankenstein monster and gets an old collegue to transplant his brain into the creature's body. Just as he's about to wreak havok on the villagers however, he is struck by lightning and is killed. Very good story by Goodwin and great Crandall art, although it is a reprint.

Last is "Out of Her Head!" by Jack Sparling (artist), in his first Warren story, and Clark Dimond & Terry Bisson (writers). The rather poor story surrounds a haunted mansion where a headless ghost seeks a head from someone else's body. Not that much special here.

Considering the era its from, this actually isn't that bad an issue. Unfortunately things would go quite downhill even further from here.