Creepy 141

One of Creepy's last issues, featuring a cover by Richard Corben.

First story is "I Created the... Gargoyle!" by Delando Nino (art) and Danielle Dubay (story). This story is about a pair of men working on a cancer treatment who find a way to cure it, but it turns the patient into a gargoyle like monster. One of the men thinks that their work has failed because they've done it on animals, so he volunteers for the treatment. His cancer is cured, but he too turns into a monster that runs amok before being destroyed.

Second is "The Puppet Master" by Fred Carillo (art) and John Ellis Sech (story). A hit man gets mad at his mob boss for his treatment of him in public so he kills him. He also kills a homeless puppet player who saw it happen. He tries to escape on a plane, but finds himself controlled by the ghost of the puppet player.

Third is "The Check-Out Counter" by Alfonso DeLeon (art) and Timothy Moriarty (story). An interesting story about a pair of men who are searching for the Garden of Eden in a post apocalyptic world. They kill an old man and follow a boy to find it... which ends up being a convenience store run by a robot which kills them and takes their organs then they try to take some food. The boy survives, but ends up loosing his tongue.

Fourth is "Covering All Bases" by Martin Salvador (art) and Kevin Duane (story). The story features a newscaster who is always all over the place. It ends up that he cloned himself multiple times. Although one is murdered, getting him in trouble, he is able to get out in the end.

Fifth is "Candle in the Wind" by Jun Lofamia (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). The story features an investigation of people who are spontaneously combusing. Eventually it is discovered that it is due to a nurse treating people for cancer. It cures the cancer, but eventually causes them to burst aflame. By the end of the story the last remaining patient wraps his arms around her and they both burst into flames.

Last is "Moral Blood" by Al Sanchez (art) and Don McGregor (story), the first of a continuing series. The story is Don McGregor's return to Creepy after a long absense. Its a horror story told in an old west setting. A group of demon like creatures attack a caravan. Not that good in this opening entry of the series.

Creepy 138

Here's one of the later issues of Creepy, from the summer of 1982. By this point the quality of the Warren magazines were even lower than they had been in the late 1960's, with numerous reprinted covers and pretty much every other issue was all reprints. And the new material? Hardly that good. Anyway, this issue's all new, starting with a cover by Sanjulian, his final for Creepy. Uncle Creepy also has an early one page feature drawn by Berni Wrightson. One of the few good things about the final couple of years of Warren is that they did return the one page intros by the hosts (except for Vampi, who would have a drawing on the table of contents page), although they did include them in the inside of the mags rather than the front inside cover as they had done in the mid 1970's.

First story is "Lamb to the Slaughter" by Delando Nino (art) and John Jacobson (story). The story features a woman, Caroline, who comes under a strange trance due to a connection she has with a newly discovered mummy. At the same time, a colleague of hers, Portia has found the ability to use the mummy's body to commit murder using a medallion she has. Portia tries to get Caroline to kill her father, whom she has a grudge against, but Caroline is able to destroy the mummy instead, and all ends up okay. This story uses similar plot devices from the series "The Mummy Walks", which appeared in Eerie in 1973 and 1974.

Up next is "Derelict!" by Fred Carrillo (art) and Danielle Dubay (story). I would assume Danielle is Bill Dubay's, wife, but I don't know for sure. This story is about a father and son who come across a derelict german ship in the ocean. They head aboard and through the ship's log, find that a werewolf had run loose on the ship. The werewolf eventually is able to kill both the father and son. Yawn.

Third is a fantasy story, "Fools and Kings!" by Martin Salvador (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). A court jester and his witch friend try to manipulate a king, wizard and barbarian into taking each other out so they can control the thrown. In the end they are successful as the witch is wed to the prince and both the king and wizard are killed. The witch betrays the jester though, as she's truly with the barbarian.

Fourth is "Dreamworld" by Jun Lofamia (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). A soap opera star quits her role and returns to her hometown and stays with a neighbor and her retarded son when she finds her parents aren't home. The son, obsessed with TV, thinks that she is a real murderer and tries to kill her, taking place in a chase that occurs through the woods. The son eventually ends up accidently killing his mother then is killed by the actress.

Last is "The Cry of the Glipins" by John Garcia & Rudy Nebres (art) and Dan Hallassey (story).
A spaceship comes across a lizard like creature whose race was wiped out by humanity. The creature demands a human as a sacrifice to let them pass. The men initially fight it, but eventually give in and give it the man it desires. The two either merge, or interbreed (the end of the story is kind of confusing) into a new being.

Just not that great an issue. Can't say I'm a big fan of many of the artists here, and even the good ones like Sanjulian and Salvador are hardly in their finest hour. Likewise from a story standpoint, Jacobson and Boudreau, who turned out a bunch of terrific stories in the 1970's have quite dull stuff in this issue. Definately not a recommended issue from me!