Psycho 1974 Yearbook

The Psycho 1974 Yearbook is another issue dominated by reprints, with only one new story. Again the stories are mostly from early in Skywald's run. The cover is made up of covers of various prior issues. Paul Pueyo provides the one page frontispiece.

We begin with the issue's sole new story, "The Brides of the Frankensteins", part of the Saga of the Frankenstein's Monster series. This story has story by Al Hewetson and art by Cesar Lopez. Frankenstein's monster desires a mate and Dr. Frankenstein agrees to create him one. Frankenstein grows wary of what he has done though and seeks to kill the monster and its mate. After heading to town, he decides to return to the desolate place where the monster and his now created wife are. He destroys her, but the monster declines to kill him, instead killing Frankenstein's wife. This is where the story ends. This story is fairly faithful to a segment from the original Frankenstein novel, except my recollection is that Frankenstein destroys the monster's mate before she is brought to life, earlier than he does so here.

"The Brides of the Frankensteins"

Second is "Slime World" by Chuck McNaughton (story) and Ralph Reese (art). This story was originally published in Nightmare #5. A couple, Sidney and Susan, make their way into the Parisian sewers after a mysterious man tells them to follow them. Underground they find a race of people who have been mutated by the slime in the sewers. They capture and mutate people, either joining their forces, or serving them as food. Sidney and Susan escape their bonds and split up, and after a few weeks Sidney starts transforming into one of the mutants, both physically and mentally. Eventually he is permitted to become someone who tricks people into following him into the sewers, much like what originally happened to him. One of the stronger earlier stories from Skywald's run; Reese also provides some good artwork.

Third is "The Man Who Stole Eternity" by Gardner Fox (story) and Bill Everett (art), originally published in Psycho #3. A thief named Mike kills a man in an alley and steals a pearl necklace from his wife. He hears that he can make a lot of dough by stealing from a Magic Museum. However upon going there he finds a variety of monsters that draw him into a realm of even more monsters! Eventually he sees the woman he stole from, revealed to be a sorceress. She demands he steal her the elixir of life which he agrees to, especially after she sends some monsters after him while he sleeps. He successfully steals the elixir, and wanting eternal life, drinks some before giving it to her. A couple of days later, Mike finds himself completely unable to move. He is declared dead and is buried, alive! While he has eternal life, he has to spend the rest of it in a coffin!

"Slime World"

Next is "Beware Small Evils!" by Jack Katz and Frank Giacoia (story and art), originally published in Nightmare #3. In the polluted future of... 1983 (lol), a motorcyle gang, the Spitfires are running amok. Meanwhile a Senator is visiting a scientist who hopes to use the plant culture mutation #320 to restore oxygen to the atmosphere. When the Spitfires arrive at his lab and cause some of the mutation to fall outside, it quickly spreads, consuming the spitfires, growing and multiplying. Using detergent and oil supplied by the senator, the mutations are destroyed, although this leads to any remaining oxygen running out.

Next is "The Inner Man" featuring story and art by Tom Sutton, with assist on the art by Dan Adkins. This story was also originally published in Nightmare #3. Dr. Wroclaw experiments on the soon to be executed prisoner Varga, shrinking his body considerably. Varga is soon mistakenly swallowed by Wroclaw when he downs a pill and ventures his way through his body, eventually reaching his brain. Being inside Wroclaw, Varga is able to control his actions, causing him to slap, then strangle his wife, then murder a man at a pawn shop and run over people in a car. Eventually Wroclaw is decapitated by a closing elevator door and some subconscious monsters kill Varga. A pretty fun story, especially when Wroclaw starts going on his rampage.

"The Deadly Mark of the Beast"

The issue concludes with "The Deadly Mark of the Beast!" with art by Syd Shores/Tom Palmer and story by Len Wein. This story was originally published in Skywald's very first horror issue, Nightmare #1. A werewolf has been ravaging the countryside. A man named Collins is convinced that a newcomer to the village, Blake is the werewolf because he's seen walking around at night with his hound. But when Blake is revealed to be blind, people dismiss Collins' claim and leave. When Collins' wife is killed, he becomes enraged, taking Blake at gunpoint at his home and saying they'll wait until the full moon. When Blake grows agitated at the full moon, Collins guns him down. But Blake's hound suddenly reveals that it is a wereman and kills Collins! The ending to this story was quite hilarious and is similar to a comedic episode of The X-Files from a few years back during its short lived resurrection.

Psycho #4

Today I'm covering Psycho #4, cover dated September 1971. This cover is handled by Ken Kelly, the prolific cover illustrator for Warren.

The one page "Innsmouth Apparition" frontispiece is provided by Larry Todd.

First story is The Heap in "Night of Evil" by Ross Andru (story) and Ross Andru/Mike Esposito (art). The Heap watches as the authorities bring bodies of corpses from the last story, including Hitler, to his friend Monty Elliot to investigate. After they leave The Heap reveals itself and through writing to him, Monty realizes it is his friend Jim and agrees to help him try and turn back to human. When Monty's daughter arrives, The Heap hides and leaves. He comes across some thieves who have kidnapped a woman and had witnessed him fighting zombies in the previous story. He attacks them and frees the woman, but falls into quicksand, sinking as the story ends. A big cliffhanger to end the story, but I'm sure the Heap will make it out okay and this storyline will continue.

Next is "Out of Chaos... A New Beginning" by Marv Wolfman (story) and Rich Buckler (art). This story is quite the mess, the weakest of the issue. The universe is being destroyed, and Satan is upset. He summons an Oracle whose face shocks him any time he looks upon it. Satan leads an army to the surface where they battle forces led by a man named Hyperion, who Satan slays. Meanwhile a group calling themselves the Procreators of Eternity are creating a universe in the shape of a fetus. The ending of the story says it will be continued in the next issue, so looks like we'll get at least one more segment for this, which I'm sad to see!

Third is "Museum Piece" by Len Wein (story) and Serg Moren (art). Andre Lamont owns and manages a House of Wax. His son Louis had been in a car accident years before and is quite ugly and a hunchback as a result. At the time of the accident, the doctors thought he was done for, but Andre was able to help him recover through unrevealed means. The arrogant Louis wants to go to America to form his own Wax Museum when the opportunity arrives, but Andrew refuses and Louis attacks him. Louis decides to set the place aflame and start anew in America, but finds he is made of wax himself and melts!

The Heap on a rampage!

Fourth is "Comes the Stalking Monster!" by Tom Sutton (story) and Tom Sutton/Syd Shores (art). The story is credited to Larry Todd, and Sutton goes under the pseudonym David Cook here. Usually Sutton dominates in any collaborative efforts, but not here: I hadn't realized he even worked on this story until I looked up the credits. Dr. Aleister Kohner is obsessed with the occult and along with his girlfriend Erica summons the demon Asmodeus in a pentagram. Asmodeus agrees to teach him the knowledge of the ancients, which he does. However over several weeks Al finds himself growing weaker, his hair losing color and falling out. He summons Asmodeus who reveals that radiation has been emitting from the pentagram. Erica, having worn a pentagram necklace is unharmed and at story end is revealed to be the master of Asmodeus.

Fifth is "Escape" by Dennis Fujitake (story and art). This is a brief 2 page story. The evil Baron Renphrew is captured and chained to a wall in a dungeon. He plans on getting away by having men he paid for dig him out. They are able to dig into the dungeon, but break their way through a stone above the Baron's head, which crushes him! A brief, fun story. Fujitake's art reminds me a lot of Jeff Jones. We'll be getting more quality work from him in the future.

Sixth is "Plague of Jewels" by Bruce Jones (story and art). A pair of men, Gary and Wayne, make their way through the jungle with some jewels they have stolen. They find an Incan idol which upon touching causes them to fall into a chasm. Wayne has broken his leg and needs some help from Gary. They make their way to a massive pile of treasures and the two fight each other, with Gary killing Wayne. Suddenly a group of walking skeletons come before Gary and bring him to a chamber where a beautiful woman awaits, her face masked. She claims to be Princess R-Shann, last of the Incan nobles and wants to marry him, his blonde hair matching that of the legends of those she was to marry. Upon marrying her though, she removes her mask, revealing a rotted face. Gary flees, but trips over Wayne's grave. The Princess tears his eyes out and he remains there beside her. This story kinda goes all over the place, but I particularly liked the last few pages. Jones provides quite a strong art job.

"Plague of Jewels"

Seventh is Frankenstein in "Freaks of Fear!" by Tom Sutton (story) and Tom Sutton/Jack Abel (art). Frankenstein's monster desires to learn about his past before he became a monster. He comes across a group of freaks and stays with them, covering his face. One of them is a beautiful woman, Lilith, who is blind but can see the past and future. The monster has her look into his past, but he is then drugged by the head of the Freak Show, who removes his mask and puts him on display at Notre Dame cathedral. There, Quasimodo the hunchback, steals Lilith, causing the monster to go after them. The monster falls as the story concludes. Meanwhile, Dr. Victor Frankenstein (his name now changed to Henry) finds himself revived by his own teacher, Dr. Pretorius, but only his head! Unlike Sutton's earlier collaboration with Shores, this is quite obviously his story, and it looks a lot like a solo effort, even though Abel is credited for the inks. Henry's face seems totally restored at story's end, which is odd, as he had a freakish appearance in the prior story.

The issue concludes with a one page pin-up of The Heap by Bill Everett.

Psycho #1

Brendon Lynch provides a strong cover for this first issue of Psycho, dated January 1971.

First is "The Skin and Bones Syndrome" by Roger Ellson (story) and Gray Morrow (art). A mysterious beam starts appearing on Earth, causing anyone it touches to immediately turn to a skeleton and die. While the Earth's scientists try to figure out what is going on, a young man named Jimmy sends out a radio signal into space and it successfully reaches the planet Aranus, who is sending out the signal. The inhabitants of Aranus are horribly disfigured, due to a mysterious plague that arose from a space probe. Realizing that the signal they are sending is causing death on Earth, they decide to blow up their entire planet! Wow, it was surprising to see a race of alien beings willing to off themselves like that to save Earth. It was good to see Warren regular Gray Morrow here.

Second is "The Glistening Death", drawn by Martin Nodell and Vince Alascia. Warren Arno gets in trouble in the city and heads to the swamp lands where his reclusive uncle Robert lives. Robert warns him to leave, saying there is an unknown terror out in the swamp, but Warren doesn't believe him. That night a blob-like creature comes in through the window but flees when Warren wakes. The next day a beautiful woman comes to see Robert and Warren follows her into the swamp, soon coming upon the creature again. He returns to his uncle's home where he finds he has been hoarding gold and kills him. Suddenly the woman appears again, and reveals that she is the swamp creature and had given Robert gold in exchange for bringing her red meat, essentially making him her slave. With Robert dead, she takes on Warren as her new slave. This is a decent story but the reproduction of the art, at least in the copy I'm reading is quite horrendous making everything quite dark.

The next story is "I Painted Only Terror!". An artist, Paul Beaumont only paints one subject, people that look scared or terrified. His doctor tries to get him to paint other things to stop some nightmares he's having, but Paul instead decides to paint one supreme masterpiece to obtain worldly fame. He recruits a model, then gets into a monster costume to scare her, but it ends up frightening her to death. Soon, her ghost starts appearing, urging him to paint. Eventually Paul's apartment is broken into by the police after his rantings make his housekeeper think he's gone out of his mind. Inside they find Paul dead, and his painting completed, showing him terrified.

Following this story is a one page feature, "Psycho's Gruesome Gallery No. 1", showing a monster coming out of a mirror, as drawn by Steve Hickman.

Incidentally enough, the fourth story is "The Thing in the Mirror" drawn by Everett Raymond Kinstler. James Crawford is an orphan brought up by a wealthy family who grows up mean and cruel. At the age of 25, James becomes obsessed with a woman named Barbara, who is marrying an older man, George. James goes to work for George and causes him to get electrocuted in what he makes look like an accident. Soon James starts seeing strange visions of a monster in the mirror. Eventually, George's ghost appears and transforms James into the small, monkey-like monster he had been seeing in the mirror. In this new form, James wonders out of the mansion he lives in, is captured and becomes part of a freakshow! I enjoyed the ending to this story quite a lot.

Next is the text story "The Steps in the Cellar!" by Art Stampler. A man named Pete Welch finds an abandoned home in a storm. Looking for alcohol, he dismisses a warning message in front of a door and heads down to the cellar. He finds an old woman in the cellar and continues past her, making his way to a chamber with men chanting and where a woman is sacrificed to summon a green scaly monster. The old woman, who is named Mother Satan decides to keep him alive as a witness. Pete is able to use a wine bottle given to him to kill Mother Satan, but fails to kill the fetus Asmodeus she was carrying, lord of the Netherworld. A baby, Asmodeus is found by a couple and adopted.

Fifth is "...And Then There's Cicero" written by Gardner Fox and drawn by Paul Reinman. Ben Slick goes to stay with his elderly aunt Hildy, who has numerous cats, including one named Cicero who she says never seems to be around. While she's asleep, Ben searches the house for her fortune. Seeing a key around her neck, Ben is convinced it leads to her fortune and throws Hildy down the stairs so he can take it. He opens the locked door with the key, only to discover that Cicero is a tiger, who promptly eats him! The start of this story is quite similar to "The Glistening Death", but it does end in a new direction.

Next is "Anatomical Monster" with art by A.C. Hollingsworth. A medical student named Jack Kirk, while shopping for something for his girlfriend is instead given an anatomical chart of a human body by a shopkeeper. Jack gives the chart to his professor who uses it in teaching. However that night the image in the chart comes alive and stalks the city, soon killing a couple. Jack confronts the shopkeeper, who reveals how the chart came to be. As a young man, he was jealous of his colleague Bill and killed him. He drew the chart, basing it on Bill, but soon found that he came to life and started killing people. Back in the present, to destroy the monster, Jack and the shopkeeper burn the chart, but realize it is now blank. The monster comes from the darkness and kills the two of them.

Our next story is "The Hands of Death", drawn by Norman Nodel and Vince Alascia. Eric Dulan, a world famous violinist has his hands mangled in an accident. Devastated over the fact that he can no longer play the piano, Dulan resorts to black magic, finding a man named Dr. Necros who claims he can give him new hands in exchange for "everything". Dulan is able to pick a new pair of hands from a group of dead men. He returns to his career as a violinist, but finds the hands on their own trying to kill someone. He locks himself away, only to kill his friend when he finds him. Dulan goes on the run but is caught by the police. Fingerprinting him, they find it to be the hands of a previously convicted killer and lock him up. Dulan screams for Necros to take back the hands as the dead mock him.

The issue concludes with "The Gruesome Faces of Mr. Cliff!", written by Len Wein and drawn by Mario Acquaviva. Noel Cliff is a once great actor, known for playing monsters in various plays. Now he is an old man, suffering from pain and told he has an incurable disease. Cliff decides that he wants to return to playing the monsters as one final performance, but upon putting on the costume of one of them, becomes the monster itself and kills someone. Cliff starts putting on different costumes, becoming said monsters and killing more people. When a woman at a bar taunts him, he dons the costume of Dracula and kills her, but is chased by the police. Running onto a stage with bright lamps, he finds he has truly become a vampire and dies from the light.

This is another issue dominated by reprints, with only "The Skin and Bone Syndrome", "...And Then There's Cicero" and "The Gruesome Faces of Mr. Cliff" (as well as the text story and one page Gallery feature) being new. The rest are reprints of 1950s stories. That said, I did enjoy this issue a bit more than Nightmare #1.

Nightmare #1

The cover to this issue, dated December 1970, is by Brendan Lynch. The art and script for these stories are uncredited; those I have listed below I obtained from Richard Arndt's book "Horror Comics in Black and White".

We begin with the cover story, "The Pollution Monsters" with art by Don Heck/Mike Esposito and story by Mike Friedrich. Bikers Butch, Annie and Sunny sell 'the soul of the nation' to an old man offering them a fuel that is far more powerful than regular gasoline. They use it on their motorcycles and ride off. The old man is quickly revealed to be the devil. As they ride, the fumes from the motorcycle creates giant pollution monsters that run amok. The rest of the story is these monsters on the attack. They eventually seize the three main characters and turn them into pollution monsters as well. This two-part story is quite the flop to kick off the start of my Skywald coverage, a rather pointless and silly tale.

Second is "Master of the Dead!", drawn by Norman Nodell and Vince Alascia. Pierre Jarnac is obsessed with trying to raise the dead and lead them under his command, causing his own brother to have him committed. Pierre fakes things long enough for them to let him out on good behavior then finds a job as a caretaker at a graveyard where he renews his obsession and experiments. Finding no success, he calls out to the dead to rise for their own sake, and they do so! Yet when his brother arrives and Pierre starts calling out to the dead to kill those who mean them no harm, the dead turn on him and stomp him to death.

In "Dance Macabre" drawn by Bill Everett, a couple, Jack and Daisy Blake are dancers on the island of Morando. After being fired, they come up with a voodoo-themed dance of the restful dead, thinking it will be over the top and make them famous. It does, and they get more and more well known but start seeing visions of the dead claiming they will be punished. This causes the two to grow apart and eventually hate each other. Jack tries to strangle Daisy, but she pulls out a knife and the two end up killing each other.

In "Orgy of Blood" by Ross Andru/Mike Esposito (story and art), a man named Phillips meets a woman at a bar that he takes to her home only to discover she is a vampire when she chains him to the bed and drinks his blood. Phillips wakes, revealing it to all be a dream and sees his psychiatrist who hopes that a prescription will solve things. Phillips dreams intensify however. The vampire woman first brings her daughter with her, and in a later dream brings her mother too and they all feast on him. Phillips is told only a sanatorium can help him but when the nurse arrives and looks quite familiar, Phillips realizes that the psychiatrist visits were all a dream, and getting bitten by the vampires was the reality. A rather silly tale, I found it funny just how further and further over the top it was getting as the vampire brought more members of her family to feast on Phillips.

Next we have the one page "Nightmare Pin-Up" drawn by BIll Everett. This is a one page illustration of a Grave Ghoul digging what else, a grave. The one page of art without a story is something Warren also commonly had done for many years, so this is quite in line with what I'm used to.

The three page "The Skeletons of Doom" is a text story by Art Stampler, featuring a young woman named Myra whose research into ancient pharaohs gets her seized by a group of underground skeleton men who worship Isis who has power through a giant diamond. When a fellow captive Alan (who for some bizarre reason suddenly is called Rich for much of the climax) damages the diamond, they are able to escape to safety. Bill Everett provides a few images for this story.

"Help Us to Die!" features a man named Jim Torrence who is obsessed with Egypt. While at the museum with his wife Mary, he spots a newly discovered mummy, who he sees opening and closing its eyes. Jim thinks if they steal the mummy they could be world famous and even find the secret to eternal life. That night they steal the mummy and bring it to a cave in the hills. The mummy is revealed to be alive after all and they help it remove its bandages, revealing an old man with a small canister with him. Jim reads on the canister to drink it for eternal life, and that only those of royal lineage may partake of it. The mummy gets angry causing Jim to attack it and smash its head against the rocks until it seemingly dies. Jim and Mary then drink from the canister, only to find that while the vial provides eternal life, it doesn't provide eternal youth. We see the years quickly go by and they become withered and aged, hoping for someone to find them and help them die. A rather silly story, Jim reads a warning on the canister, yet promptly ignores it and soon he and his wife discover eternal life isn't as great as they thought it to be.

Next is "The Thing from the Sea". The original art for this story was by Wally Wood but Mike Esposito has also amended the artwork A man named Smithers gets into a gambling argument with a colleague named Murray while working as crew members on a ship. Smithers throws Murray, presumably to his death. But Murray soon rises back to life and starts his long walk back to the shore. Smithers arrives on land and meets Murray's fiance, eventually getting into a relationship with her and asking her to marry him. But just then Murray's rotted, bloated corpse arrives. It grabs a hold of Smithers and brings him into the sea with him until they both sink under the water. The ending of this story is extremely similar to the story "Scared to Death" from Tales from the Crypt #24, which incidentally enough was also drawn by Wally Wood.

Our following story is a mere 3 pages, "The Creature Within". Playwright Nathan Foxx dreams of a horrifying vampire-like creature. This inspires him to write a play, which quickly sells out due to his good reputation. However the night of the performance the monster appears to attack the lead actress, and the lead actor is soon killed as well. Foxx is told they were bitten by some kind of animal and wonders if it was the creature from his dreams. All of a sudden the creature appears out of nowhere and kills him. This story was super rushed, but it was also so predictable it was good to get it over with quickly. The play in the story seems somewhat inspired by The Phantom of the Opera and the lead actor's name is a reference to the star of the movie, Lon Chaney.

The issue concludes with "The Deadly Mark of the Beast!" with art by Syd Shores/Tom Palmer and story by Len Wein. A werewolf has been ravaging the countryside. A man named Collins is convinced that a newcomer to the village, Blake is the werewolf because he's seen walking around at night with his hound. But when Blake is revealed to be blind, people dismiss Collins' claim and leave. When Collins' wife is killed, he becomes enraged, taking Blake at gunpoint at his home and saying they'll wait til the full moon. When Blake grows agitated at the full moon, Collins guns him down. But Blake's hound suddenly reveals that it is a wereman and kills Collins! The ending to this story was quite hilarious and is similar to a comedic episode of The X-Files from a few years back during its short lived resurrection.

Overall a rather mediocre issue to kick things off with. A lot of the issue (Master of the Dead!, Dance Macabre, Help Us to Die, The Thing from the Sea! and The Creature Within!) are reprints from various 1950s horror comics.

Vampirella 45

The cover aside, this is a tremendous issue of Vampirella, my pick for the overall best issue of the magazine ever produced. Cover dated September 1975, the cover is a montage of various covers including Enrich's covers for issues 17, 29 and 40, Sanjulian's cover for issue 38, Jose Gonzalez's cover for issue 19 and the background from Frank Frazetta's cover of Creepy 7. Extremely attractive artwork, and strong stories from all concerned make this a must have issue.

First is Vampirella in "Blood Wager" by Gonzalo Mayo (art) and Len Wein (story). This was Mayo's first story on Vampirella and probably the best art job he ever did for the character. This story takes place in a dream of Pendragon's as he lays in a hospital bed, dying of gunshot wounds (a single panel of him by the artis Zesar, from the next issue is included here). Vampirella and Adam have a fight, causing him to go back to an old lover, who brings him to a casino on an island called Lemondo. Conrad and Pendragon meanwhile think a friend of theirs has a cure for Vampirella's bloodlust, and they head to the same island. In actuality, the friend and the head of the casino are agents of Chaos. Vampirella and Adam's former lover are able to defeat them.

Second is "The Parable of the Hermits of Glastonbury Tor" by Ramon Torrents (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). Bertrand, a scholar, comes to the town of Glastonbury. He heads to the Hermit's Abbey where he meets a beautiful woman to whom he makes love. The woman tells him she is life, and introduces him to the seven hermits of Glastonbury Tor. She tells him that he'll be given eternal life, that others who have come eventually chose death, but he can avoid that by choosing to marry her and always remaining faithful to her. He gladly does so, and the hermits also give him a gift of whatever he wants, so he tells them that no matter what they can never inflict death upon him. The years go by. He is happy for a while, but eventually becomes bored and leaves the abbey to sleep with women from the outside world. While his wife cannot kill him due to the deal with the hermits, she does cause him to fade from existence entirely.

Third is "Janis!" by Luis Garcia (art) and Victor Mora & Budd Lewis (story). This story appears in color, although the colorist is uncredited. Like many stories done by Garcia during this time period, this story was originally printed in Europe and appears as a reprint here. This story possesses in my opinion the most beautiful artwork to ever appear in a Warren magazine. A man comes across a statue of a beautiful woman in a Greek harbor. The woman, named Janis, vanished into the sea ten years ago. He sits down to play the guitar, and suddenly she appears. Janis brings her with him into the depths of the sea. All is alright at first until two humanoid monsters appear and carry him off with them.

Fourth is "A Hero Made of Wishes" by Esteban Maroto (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). A kingdom is treated harshly by their lord, Cervantes. One of the townfolk, Chaucer, talks to the priest of the town, saying that they should summon a champion using the book of Asmodeus, which the priest believes to be evil. Later, when Chaucer's lover and the priest's niece is taken captive by Cervantes, the priest agrees to the plan. The townfolk summon their champion, a powerful looking knight who acts based on the will of the people. Their will to topple Cervantes causes the champion to charge towards Cervantes' castle and kill him and all his men. The townfolk are pleased, but when they start thinking about who will now be leader, their greed to be leader causes the champion to kill them all.

Fifth is "The Winter of Their Discontent" by Isidro Mones (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). This story is heavily influenced by the story "The Wolves at War's End" from issue 43. An english soldier returns home from the war against Holland in the 1600's to find his hometown heavily in ruin, ravaged by the plague. Being told that his parents have died from the plague, he searches for his sister, but finds her among a pile of corpses being buried by the side of the road. He returns to the town to look for his lover and finds her family being blamed for the plague, with her father being thrown on a fire by a mob. After they escape, she tells him there is nothing worth living for and that he should kill her. He does so, then kills himself.

Last is "There Are No Children in Hungry Hollow, Tennessee" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). A man comes to the town of the title to write a book. He finds it quite odd that there are no children whatsoever in the town. Everyone he talks to tells him that they are sent away, but their stories contradict one another, causing him to suspect something. He changes his plans to instead write his book about the town, but when he tries to mail it out, the town postman, who inspects all the mail stops it from going out. He is confronted by him, the local store owner and the boarding house host who reveal to him that the town reverted to cannibalism afer the war. After revealing this secret, they make him their next meal.

Creepy 121

Jim Laurier provides the cover for this issue of Creepy, cover dated September 1980. This story is an all John Severin special.

First is "A Toast to No Man's Memory" by John Severin (art) and Len Wein (story), from Creepy 92. A group of pilots, including a young newbie, Babbit agree to save a bottle of wine for the last one of them that lives. The pilots slowly start dying in battle, much due in part to Babbit's cowardice. Eventually the last one of them is shot by Babbit himself when he threatens getting him court martialled. Babbit drinks the wine, but it ends up that the last of the pilots poisoned it, so it kills him.

Second is "The Star Saga of Sirius Sam" by John Severin (art) and Nicola Cuti (story), from Creepy 95. Two men come to meet Sam of the title to head to an alien planet and steal a gem which they hope to use to keep alive a woman who is the wife of one of them and the sister of the other. They head to the planet, which is ruled by chimps. They find the gem, but discover it is only made of glass, the real one was taken long ago. The glass substitute is destroyed while they are there. They are able to escape safely by using the glass eye of one of the men to replace the destroyed substitute.

Third is "Battle Rot" by John Severin (art) and Bill Dubay (story), from Creepy 81. A soldier tells another soldier of corpses rising back to life. His fellow soldier doesn't believe him, but when he crashes his plane into a hospital, he comes across just that!

Fourth is "Professor Duffer and the Insuperable Myron Meek!" by John Severin (art) and Bill Dubay (story), from Creepy 100. Duffer of the title introduces Myron Meek to a top Hollywood agent and he makes it in Hollywood as a comedic actor, although he never speaks. It ends up that Meek is a robot. Meek has fallen in love with the robot from Metropolis, so they are able to find her for him, and he heads off for good with her. A nice comedic story with some good art from Severin.

Fifth is "Angel of Jaipur" by John Severin (art) and Bill Dubay (story), from Creepy 89. This story features a young pilot flying a plane who goes back in time and manages to save his father from a military assault. Despite there being some sceptics, the gun marks on his plane are proof enough that it really happened.

Sixth is "Visit to a Primitive Planet" by John Severin (art) and Bill Dubay (story), from Creepy 105. A pair of aliens come to Earth, but find the people in a small town they arrive in not moving at all. It ends up that they arrived at a test site for a bomb and are soon all killed because of it. A nice story with very little dialogue.

Last is "Warrior's Ritual" by John Severin (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), from Creepy 112. Taking place in the 1930's, a group of troops come across a base full of dead people. There they find a diary from a dead man with a missing heart. The diary tells of a young soldier who is obsessed with fighting, sneaking out of the base to kill more people each night. Eventually it is discovered that the young man is obsessed with eating other's hearts, thinking he can get their courage from it. In the present, he meets his end after trying to eat his own heart! Some very good art by Severin here, one of his best looking stories.

Creepy 119

Jim Laurier provides an interesting and somewhat funny cover to this issue of Creepy. This issue is an all Alex Nino reprint special, dated July 1980.

First is "A Boy and His Thing" by Alex Nino (art) and Bill Dubay (story), from Creepy 101. A young boy visits a ship captain who is a friend of his. The captain tells him of a giant tentacled creature they fought and killed at sea. He brought back the baby of the creature, which he gives to the boy.

Second is "Keep Kool" by Alex Nino (art) and Bob Toomey (story), from Creepy 104. An old man who is quite wealthy despises humanity so he heads off to another planet where his only companions are robots. He has the robots fight one another, then receives a giant box that he can create monster from to fight one another.

Third is "Always Leave 'Em Laughing!" by Alex Nino (art) and Len Wein (story), from Creepy 105. All clowns are banned from Earth and forced to head to the moon if they want to remain a clown. There they fail to generate any laughs from the robot population and decide to bomb the surface of the moon to turn it into a clown face It is successful, but they are killed by Earth who misunderstand their intensions.

Fourth is "Sisters" by Alex Nino (art) and Bill Dubay (story), from Creepy 97. This story contains two parallel stories featuring a human girl and alien girl facing extreme mental anguish. It ends up that both had twin sisters that were stillborn, and that the two are connected to each other as the alien is the human girl's dead sister and vice versa. Both girls end up killing themselves, reunited when reincarnated as twins on yet another alien planet.

Fifth is "Backwater and Timing Circles" by Alex Nino (art) and Budd Lewis (story), from Creepy 94. A boy takes a trip to the past to go fishing in the prehistoric era through the company Timing Circles. His guide warns him that they can't take anything back with them and must not kill anything, but when the guide gets in trouble, the boy stabs the dinosaur attacking him. This changes the present such that everyone becomes bizarre looking monsters. This story is blatant plagarism of Ray Bradbury's story A Sound of Thunder. Luckily for Warren, they never got in trouble with this as they did with Harlan Ellison's A Boy and His Dog.

Sixth is "Alien Strain" by Alex Nino (art) and Bill Dubay (story), from Creepy 96. A 'Banggi' and his human friend are attacked by various aliens when they arrive at a planet where they have transported some robots. The mob has good reason to fear him however, as by arriving the Banggi has caused an epidemic where thousand of Banggi larva work their way through various prostitutes, infesting the planet. Very odd looking aliens here by Nino, as usual for him.

Creepy 92

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Creepy 100

Creepy's 100th issue contains a whopping 8 stories. It starts with a cover by Bob Larkin.

First is "The Pit at the Center of the Earth" by Pablo Marcos (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). A very poor story with some ugly as usual art from Pablo Marcos about a battle taking place on an oil ring. Yawn.

Second is "Professor Duffer and the Insuperable Myron Meek!" by John Severin (art) and Bill Dubay (story). Duffer of the title introduces Myron Meek to a top Hollywood agent and he makes it in Hollywood as a comedic actor, although he never speaks. It ends up that Meek is a robot. Meek has fallen in love with the robot from Metropolis, so they are able to find her for him, and he heads off for good with her. A nice comedic story with some good art from Severin.

Third is "Tale of a Fox" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). This story is about a Chinese princess, Ming Toi, who has the ability to transform herself into a fox. She is captured by her evil uncle Quang, who plans to replace her on the throne with his daughter Sun Li, who looks just like her. Ming Toi transforms into a fox however, and the guards mistake Sun Li for her, leading to her execution. This story would become a series in Vampirella a few years later.

Fourth is "Nobody's Home" by Joe Vaultz (art) and Cary Bates (story). As usual for Vaultz this story features alien creatures, this time creatures that live on the moon in an enforced enclosure. One alien tries to escape and succeeds, only to crumble to dust when he gets out.

Fifth is this issue's color story, "Winner Take All!" by Luis Bermejo (art) and Len Wein (story). A soldier plays cards with an old man and beats him so much that all the man has to offer is his beautiful female slave. The soldier heads through the desert with the slave, who never says a word. Various monsters start appearing and attacking him. Eventually it is revealed that she is the one summoning them, and that she has magic powers. She transforms him into an old man who is soon gambling her away as well.

Sixth is "Hell Hound" by Russ Heath (art) and Bruce Jones (story). A man finds an injured hound near his house and nurses it back to health. Soon he finds his enemies, such as his ex-wife and a man who fought him in a bar dead. It ends up that the hound is killing any enemies from his past. He goes to see a psychologist who wrote him a bad check in the past, but it ends up that this man has his own 'Hell Hound' too.

Seventh is "Wisper of Dark Eyes" by Auraleon (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). A meteor crashes into the sea near a small fishing town. A woman watching it is given special powers which she uses to get her husband to kill the woman she's having an affair with. The special powers go away however when the meteor goes away, and the husband tears her eyes out. She jumps off a cliff to her death and he goes crazy.

Last is "They're Going to Be Turning Out the Lights" by Alex Nino (art) and Bill Dubay (story). This story tells of the panic that occurs when there is a massive blackout in a big city and the steps the government takes to keep things under control.

Creepy 107

This issue is an all sci-fi special issue of Creepy. The cover is by Romas Kukalis. All the stories in this issue are uncredited, although the creators would be revealed in later issues.

First is "The Rubicon" by Pepe Moreno Casares (art) and Budd Lewis (story). The issue's best story, a legitimately scary one (a rarity for this part of Creepy's life), it features a group of astronauts sent to some ruins where a number of astronauts have dissappeared. There they make a major discovery regarding the origin of mankind.

Second is "Family Ties" by Val Mayerik (art) and Bruce Jones (story). Another very good story, with some really good art from Mayerik, it takes place in a world where animals are able to talk through mental powers. The story stars a dog, who is to be the representation for the animals when humans arrive. He travels around, meeting various animals and creatures, and finally meets the humans, who are astronauts. They are unable to understand his mental communication however, and plan to blow up the whole place due to the radiation that gave the animals these powers.

Third is "The World from Rough Stones" by Joe Vaultz (art) and Jean Michel Martin (story). A group of radioactive aliens arrive at Earth only to be destroyed due to the oxygen there. They leave behind ruins, what we know as Stonehedge. A very short story at only 4 pages long.

Fourth is "Stainless Steel Savior" by Leo Duranona (art) and Len Wein (story). A robot is dumped in the trash by the family that owns him when a newer model comes out. The robot initially stays with some homeless drunks but he has a vision of god and becomes a famous prophet who gets many followers. He is about to broker peace in the middle east when he is shot by one of his friends, who just wants to get drunk. The robot is dumped in the trash, his teachings are forgotten, and everything goes back to normal.

Fifth is "Quirks" by Walt Simonson & Terry Austin (art) and Bob Toomey (story). A group of astronauts come to a planet with a lot of dangerous creatures. They find one small monkey like creature who sleeps through everything, making them wonder how he is able to do this. They are surprised to hear that its not due to any special mental powers that he is able to ignore predators, but because he's inedible. This story would have a sequel in issue 112.

Last is "Mindquake" by Garcia Pizarro (art) and Jim Stenstrum (story). This issue's poorest effort, it is about a spaceship that has a man on it who has mental powers which cause harm to come to the ship. It is later revealed that the harm is actually from spies who have infiltrated the ship who are defeated. A dissappointing story from the usually dependable Stenstrum.

Vampirella 26

An odd cover of Vampirella; rather than a painted cover it features colored panel excerpts from four of the stories within. While two of the panels are from the actual story, two other ones are new entirely, uncredited, most likely drawn by Bill Dubay.

First is "Demons in the Fog!" by Escolano & Jose Gonzalez (art) and Len Wein (story). Escolano's sole Warren appearance was reportedly so awful that Dubay had Gonzalez redo the entire story. As a result things are pretty inconsistent here, some very well drawn panels from Gonzalez while there are some very awful ones from Escolano too. The story is a continuation of a storyline that had been running over the past few issues involving Pendragon's family. Here, Pendragon's grandson, having been attacked by Vampirella in the prior issue needs a blood transplant. Since the doctor's refuse to take Pendragon or Vampirella's blood, he receives help from a third party, which ends up working for Chaos. In the end everything works out okay and the boy is able to get a transplant from the Van Helsings. Except for Pendragon that is, who is told off for good by his ex-wife.

Second is "Moonspawn" by Esteban Maroto (art) and Doug Moench (story). A very quick paced story with not much dialogue, it features the origin of werewolves on Earth, which occurs when a meteor crash mutates a wolf, which attacks a gypsy, turning him into a werewolf. He battles a fellow gypsy who stole his girlfriend and they both end up dying.

Third is "Fringe Benefits" by Jose Bea (art) and Doug Moench (story). This is one of Warren's earliest color stories, but the coloring is horrific; so bright that in some panels the art is completely incomprehensible. A masked criminal murders a young woman in her home and starts stealing things from her. Her husband arrives while he's there and he pulls off the mask, but the crook stabs him in the face and runs off. The husband chases him, and the crook ends up getting hit by a car. He awakens in the hospital finding that no one suspects him of anything. He thinks he's going to be able to escape freely, but realizes the doctor operating on him is none other than the husband.

Fourth is "Demon Child" by Ramon Torrents (art) and James Crawford (story). An old man whose an expert on the paranormal suspects that his granddaughter is actually a demon known as a Changeling, who took her place shortly after her birth. His wife passed away soon after, which he suspects it is because of the demon. His daughter and son in law don't believe him, thinking that they will have him committed due to this, although he is right after all as the ending shows.

Last is "Blood Brothers" by Isidro Mones (art) and Lynn Marron (story). Revolutionaries in Guatemala find a religious cult which they believe possesses gold that they can use to fund the revolution. One of the revolutionaries tries to join the cult and does so by replacing a member which he had killed. Yet when he is officially brought into the cult he is eaten by the others, which is what their plans were for the man he had killed.

Vampirella 75

A terrific cover for Vampirella starts off this issue. It's by Jose Gonzalez and Kim McQuaite, featuring Vampi and a furry black creature behind her.

First is "The Blob Beast of Blighter's Bog" by Jose Gonzalez (art) and Bill Dubay (story). Vampi, in Hollywood is recruited for a new movie with Pantha's help. The movie is directed by Emile Gorgonzola and is also starring his fat wife Beatrice who is a cannibal that desires to eat Vampi. Beatrice is actually an alien who has controlled Emile's mind and gotten him to bring her victims. With her getting old her power is slipping and Vampi and Pantha are able to defeat her and escape. A nice play on words with the villain of this story and some very nice art by Gonzalez.

Second is "Peter, Peter" by Leo Duranona (art) and Gerry Souter (story). A man named Peter in the early 1800's is very successful at carving wooded creatures based on drawings he has made. He becomes fairly well off by selling them for use on ships, but with the War of 1812 most of the ships are destroyed, his work is no longer in vogue and he loses it all, including his wife to illness when former customers won't give him a loan. He seeks to get revenge, first by burning all his pictures, resulting in all the ships they are on burning as well. He then makes pumpkins carved like the faces of those he wants revenge on and give it to them, which result in burning the people when they put the flame inside. He then ends it all by carving a pumpkin to match his own face, then smashes it. A very good story, the best of the issue easily.

Third is "Sasquatch Love" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Cary Bates (story). A trio of campers discover a sasquatch which they call Martha. In order to get pictures of her and test a love potion they're making, one of them dresses up as a sasquatch and temporarily lives with her. In order to let him escape, one of the other two dresses up as a sasquatch as well and do some things which Martha mimicks. When a fly flies inside the man's mask though, they take off his mask, causing Martha to tear the head off their colleague.

Fourth is "Business is Booming" by Isidro Mones (art) and Bob Black (story). An undertaker murders his wife and gets away with it. Enjoying what he did, he starts murdering other people on the street and doesn't get caught. When a potential victim gets away from him, he runs to his lab where those he killed get their revenge on him.

Last is "A Matter of Principle" by Azpiri (art) and Budd Lewis & Len Wein (story). This story features a man in a post apocalyptic future who enjoys eating worms and maggots. He fights off birds to get them, and waits around corpses to get at them. He finds a few men fighting over a women, so he kills them, but since she's already dead he plans to use her to attract more bugs to eat. A disgusting story with so-so art from Azpiri, who only did two stories for Warren. One part of the art is dated "72" making me wonder if this was a story they held on to for a while before printing.

Creepy 105

A fairly good issue of Creepy featuring a rare Esteban Maroto cover, his sole for Creepy.

First is "Shrivel" by Val Mayerik (art) and Bob Toomey (story). The story features a talking dragon that attacks a kingdom. Not too big a fan of this story, the worst of the issue in my opinion.

Second is "Night Life" by Auraleon (art) and Bob Toomey (story). This story surrounds a man who has eternal youth meeting a woman he had been with long ago, but is now middle aged. After remembering their meeting, she kills him by opening the blinds, revealing him to have been a vampire.

Third is "Dime Novel Hero!" by Russ Heath (art) and Nicola Cuti (story), a very good werewolf story taking place in the wild west. The story focuses primarily on the children of a farmer whose plagued by the werewolf, who works for the corrupt sheriff. In the end the lone ranger himself ends up showing up and saving the day.

Next is "Always Leave 'Em Laughing!" by Alex Nino (art) and Len Wein (story). All clowns are banned from Earth and forced to head to the moon if they want to remain a clown. There they fail to generate any laughs from the robot population and decide to bomb the surface of the moon to turn it into a clown face It is successful, but they are killed by Earth who misunderstand their intensions.

Fifth is "The Sign" by Pepe Moreno Casares (art) and Roger McKenzie (story). This story tells of the 'true' source of the star that the three wisemen were led to baby Jesus by, that it was a self-destructing rocket.

Next is "Visit to a Primitive Planet" by John Severin (art) and Bill Dubay (story). A pair of aliens come to Earth, but find the people in a small town they arrive in not moving at all. It ends up that they arrived at a test site for a bomb and are soon all killed because of it. A nice story with very little dialogue.

Last is "The Summoning" by Gonzalo Mayo (art) and Bruce Jones (story). This story takes place in a swamp where a man's baby is born as a deformed monster that wanders the swamp. It behaves, not killing anyone as long as a deer is sacrificed to it each month. It is summoned by a dog whistle. Naturally when a couple comes to the swamp and uses one to search for their lost dog, this causes a big problem.

1984 5

Up first for this issue is "The Greatest Hero of Time and Space!" by Jose Ortiz doing the story and Bill Dubay (as Strontium Whitehead) and Jim Stenstrum (as Alabaster Redzone) doing the story. Standard Dubay sex fantasy story to open up the issue. A young boy's father dies, so he goes to live with his uncle, an old man who lives with about a half a dozen beautiful naked women. He tells the nephew of his various adventures through time with them as they rescue humanity and have other various adventures. It ends up that the women are all actually robots, but that doesn't stop the boy from having an orgy with them all at the end of the story.

Second is part three in the Idi Amen storyline, "Idi and the Ratment of Hunger Hollow" by Esteban Maroto (art) and Bill Dubay (story). Dogmeat and Idi head to an area where there is a bunch of rats, in an attempt to find a rocket they can get to use to the US. They are confronted by many real rats and the ratmen, but are able to get to the rocket and take off.

"Timothy Sternback and the Multi-Colored Sunrise" is about a man who experiments with sex with numerous different women. He finds himself transported to another dimension where he's supposed to marry the King's daughter and produce a child to be heir. He does so, but desires to return to Earth so wishes himself back there when the King give him a wish. In actuality, there was no wish, and they had sent him back by their own choice anyway.

"I Wonder Who's Squeezing Her Now? follows, with art by Wally Wood & Ernie Colon and story by Nicola Cuti. Story surrounds a man whose life is falling apart around him. His wife is having an affair, so he leaves her and has an affair with a woman from his office, which becomes public, getting him fired from his job. His lover ends up in the hospital and he gets beat up by his wife's lover. He decides to kill them, but upon seeing the lover beat her up for having an affair with yet someone else, our hero finds a little better and decides to call it off.

"Luke the Nuke Brings It In!" by Rudy Nebres (art) and Jim Stenstrum (story). A rather boring story about the Luke of the title piloting a shuttle, smuggling illegal aliens, who makes his way through various enemies traps, etc...

The latest segment of "Mutant World" by the team of Rich Corben (art) and Jan Strnad (story) features Dimento in yet another battle with other mutants over food. He also battles with a wolf-like crerature. Meanwhile a soldier finds Dimento's friend, the woman, and brings her to a nearby compound. Dimento follows but can't get in.

"The Box" by Mike Nassar & Alfredo Alcala (art) and Len Wein (story) is a rather interesting story about a tower which contains a civilization in it serving an entity known as the box. At the end it ends up being a TV show which is cancelled. Not an overly complicated story, but a fairly good one.

Next is "Killman One" by Herb Arnold (art) and Jim Stenstrum (story, as Alabaster Redzone). The story is about an alien woman who hates her husband, a star 'Killman', who fights various competitors in one on one battles to the death. She decides to take him on in one such competition and ends up killing him.

We wrap up with another installment of Rex Havoc, entitled "The Spud from another world! or Who Grows There?". Art is by Abel Laxamana and story is by Jim Stenstrum. This story is a parody of the movie "The Thing From Another World", and the book it was based on, "The Thing From Another World". It features our heroes in the arctic where an alien being is found frozen. It ends up getting thawed and is an alien potato monster that our heroes try to take out by frying him on a frying pan. A sympathetic scientist screws things up, but Rex is able to set the alien on fire in his ship and take him out.

Creepy 118

A fairly good issue for issue for this era of Warren, where things were quickly collapsing. The cover's a good one by Enrich.

Up first is "Nursery School" by Leo Duranona (art) and Bob Toomey (story, which was a rewrite of Duranona's original story). The story is about a man attached to a bunch of machines that is instructed by his computer 'mother' to fire upon approaching vehicles. Eventually real humans come across him, but he's so far under the machine's control that he fires upon them as well.

Next up is "Epitaph" by Joaquin Blazquez (art) and Len Wein (story). Blazquez was kind of a poor man's Luis Garcia, with a very detailed art style, although his characters were frequently in odd positions. Still, his art generally was pretty good. This was his first story for Warren in a number of years and he would vanish again for good after this one. The story's about a man who kills his wife due to infidelity. Visiting the graveyard however, she and other corpses come to life and kill him.

Third is "The Curse of the Binder Woods" by Isidro Mones (art) and Mark Laidlaw (story). A man finds that his sister is suddenly pregnant, and a doctor who is actually a monster arrives, saying that a demon baby is gonna be born. In the end however, the baby ends up being born from the man himself. Definately an odd story.

The issue's best story is "Junior Was a Momma's Boy" with art by Carmine Infantino & Jorge Benuy and story by Gerry Boudreau. A young lady, Ida marries a man, Stuart and finds that he's obsessed with his mother, who never speaks. After the mother's death, Ida finds herself rapidly aging, yet oddly enough Stuart likes her even more, and eventually starts calling her mother. She eventually discovers that he's done this to many other women as well using pills discovered by his father. Benuy does a good job inking Infantino's art in his only Warren story, aside from a part of the story that Ida talks about looking old when she looks as young as she did at the start of the story.

Last is "Process of Elimination" by Pablo Marcos & Val Mayerik (art) and Bob Toomey (story). A man finds out that his father is a sorceror and has dissappeared. Eventually his mother vanishes as well. The man is forced to confront Satan himself and pick his transformed parents out of a crowd. He succeeds and leaves hell with his father, leaving his mother behind since she was behind the trouble in the first place.

Vampirella 10

After two days away, I'm back with a new issue of Vampirella.

This early issue of Vampirella is a rarity in that there is no Vampirella story. While she hosts the majority of the stories in the issue, her usual own story is strangely absent.

Behind the Bill Hughes cover is the frontis, "Vampi's Feary Tales" The Face of Medusa", by Billy Graham.

First up is "Fiends in the Night!" by Tom Sutton (art) and Buddy Saunders (story). This story was clearly meant for Creepy, as it is hosted by Uncle Creepy instead of Vampirella. The story is about a crook who steals a small chest from an old man, who curses him. Finding only a book in the chest, he tosses it aside. Fleeing from the city in the midst of winter, he is confronted by ghouls, werewolves and a vampire. He goes back to get the book, thinking that it holds spells that he'll be able to use to defend himself, only to find it frozen shut as a bunch of rotting corpses start after him.

Up next is "The Marriage" by Ralph Reese (art) and Steve Skeates (story). Its about a man so obsessed with building a machine that his girlfriend leaves him. He punches the machine and is electrocuted to death, but is brought back to life by the machine which keeps him alive solely to do chores for it. Reese's art kind of looks like Richard Corben's in this story.

"Eye of Newt, Toe of Frog" is third, with art by Frank Brunner and story by Gerald Conway. It's about a woman whose annoyed by her husband so she looks into the black arts. She soon finds things too much for her to handle, and it ends up that her husband was into the stuff the whole time too.

"The Soft, Sweet Lips of Hell!", with art by Steve Englehart & Neal Adams and written by Denny O'Neil is next, about a succubus who falls in love with a boxer being pressured by the mob. The boxer is killed, but she uses her power to bring him back to life, with the price being her life.

"War of the Wizards" is the fifth story, and is both written and drawn by Wally Wood. It's about a pair of rival wizards who use a soldier in their fight between each other. The soldier is able to defeat both wizards, and is revealed to be a wizard himself. As usual, Wood's art is quite good, and the story, while not having a horror theme, is pretty good too.

"A Thing of Beauty" is this issue's cover story, with art by Billy Graham and written by Len Wein. Its about a very beautiful actress who fakes a relationship with a very ugly special effects producer to get publicity. Upon finding out how she really feels about him, he switches her with a dummy of hers that gets set on fire, killing her.

Last up is "Regeneration Gap", once again with art by Tom Sutton and written by Chuck McNaughton. With over-population, food shortages and pollution destroying the Earth, a spaceship departs to space. Returning to Earth 100 years later, a man returns as all that's let of humanity and finds Earth a wasteland except for a single beautiful woman who keeps talking about 'purifying him'. The woman ends up being a blob-like creature and turns him into one too. I'll probably lean towards this one as my favorite story from the issue.

A so-so issue. Sutton and Wood's stories are quite good, while the others are average at best.