Highlights of Warren Publishing (Part 1)

After a lengthy writing absence, I’ve decided to revive this blog and focus on its original purpose, highlighting my love for Warren’s horror comics. This has been primarily inspired by my trip back through Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella for the first time in years as I follow the Bare Bones Ezine which I highly recommend checking out for Peter Enfantino and Jack Seabrook’s journey through Warren which is currently featuring Warren’s publications in 1975.

My new focus is to analyze particular story highlights of Warren’s nearly 20 year run of horror comics. Years back I had a post on my favorite Warren stories and I would consider this a sort of enhancement of that, providing a particular focus on stories that either are among what I consider Warren’s best, or at least ones that are historically significant. My ranking of Warren’s top stories has changed somewhat since I originally posted it years back (see here), and while I do plan on including in this series posts on those stories that I had included in my top 10, there are also many others I have interest in featuring as well. The frequency of posts or how many particular stories I will cover in a given post I cannot say at this time, and I do overall consider it a rather open ended initiative; Warren had such a large output that there should be enough to keep this series going for quite a while.

With that said, my first feature is going to be on a story that I reread for the first time in years just within the past few days.

The Wolves at War’s End (Originally published in Vampirella #43, June 1975)

Art by Luis Garcia

Story by Victor Mora and Budd Lewis

Taking place in the aftermath of the Crusades, this story features a wary soldier who returns to his home village after a lengthy absence. The village is far different than what he remembers; he faces jeers from the villagers, the streets absent of children and the plague having ravished things. Eventually the soldier comes upon his home, boarded up. His family is mostly dead, with only his sister still alive, accused by the local villagers as being a sorceress as she was the only one to survive the plague unscathed. The soldier attacks the villagers, taking off with his sister into the woods, with the holy men left behind proclaiming they will pursue them. The soldier and his sister make their way towards the castle occupied by the family of his lover Elenore. As they sleep in a tree that night he dreams of seeing Elenore again, only to find her as a skeleton. Wolves have gathered below the tree, although his sister claims he had simply conjured them up in his head. Eventually they come across the castle and the soldier heads inside, finding Elenore alive and unharmed, exactly as he remembered her. The soldier embraces her lovingly but she soon vanishes; their pursuers have found them and killed his sister. His sister truly was a sorceress and created the vision of Elenore, revealed to be long dead as he comes across her grave. The soldier leaves the castle, and his sister’s body, returning to the woods where the wolves eventually come upon him again.

The soldier returns to his home village

The Wolves at War’s End has a rather interesting history and back story behind it. The story was not a Warren original, but rather was originally published in the French magazine Pilote under the title “The Winter of the Last Combat”. The story was part of a series called “The Chronicles of the Nameless” as written by Victor Mora and drawn by Luis Garcia. The series, across 7 stories told of a being that explored the lives of different individuals across various times and places. Other stories in the series featured a contemporary comic book artist, a woman in an old west brothel, a downed World War I pilot and others. Warren would purchase the rights to 4 of these stories (along with one additional Garcia/Mora collaboration) and publish them in Vampirella in 1975. In all cases the stories were rewritten by regular Warren writers including Budd Lewis, Gerry Boudreau and editor Bill Dubay.

The soldier and Elenore

“The Winter of the Last Combat” appears to be the most well regarded of the stories in this series, and ended up also being reprinted in Heavy Metal magazine in issues published in February and March 1978. This version appears to be a more accurate translation of the original story and is properly credited (it should be noted that when Warren published the story, Victor Mora was not credited at all and Garcia was miscredited as Jose instead of Luis). Reading this version identifies several key differences with the version published in Vampirella. In particular the sorceress character was not actually the soldier’s sister. Also the wolves were not simply imagined up by the soldier but were real, and originally attracted to the area by the men pursuing him. We also get a better explanation of why these men disappear at the end of the story, they were only pursuing the “sorceress”, and they ended up getting killed by the wolves, the fate that the soldier suffers himself as the story comes to a close. Budd Lewis also adds in a lot of musings about war which wasn’t in the original story. In a way this reminds me much of the series he had written shortly beforehand for Eerie, “Apocalypse” which examines the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, War, Famine, Plague and Death. In fact it comes off as if The Wolves at War’s End is building on themes explored in the first three stories of that series and I think in a way is a good companion piece to it.

Effective forest shot

Warren evidently liked this story quite a bit, as a mere two issues later in Vampirella #45 we get an extremely similar story titled “The Winter of Their Discontent” as written by Gerry Boudreau and drawn by Isidro Mones. This story also features a soldier returning home to find his village ravished by the plague and the villagers showing no respect or appreciation for him. His parent dead, he searches for his sister, eventually finding that too she has died from the plague. Unlike the Wolves at War’s End, his lover is still alive and in good health, but feels so devastated by what has happened that she has no desire to live any longer. She requests he kill her, which he reluctantly does before committing suicide himself.  

From the Spanish version

This story is considerably acclaimed by David Roach, one of the co-writers of the Warren Companion, who rated it as his #2 Warren story of all time, behind only “Thrillkill” which by general consensus is the most acclaimed story Warren would publish. Richard Arndt also expressed praise of the story in his book “Horror Comics in Black and White”. I personally rated this as my #3 Warren story back when I rated my top 10 stories. It possesses arguably the strongest artwork to appear in a Warren story, at least for my tastes (as one who considers Garcia his favorite Warren artist). Garcia provides a dark and frightening atmosphere that really fits the nature of the story well, particularly after the soldier escapes into the woods. Lewis enhances what was already a strong story with his changes and dialogue. I particularly enjoy the final lines, “In my search for justice I created war. In my search for war, I created death. In my search for death… I have lost my soul.”

The soldier meets his fate

Creepy 73

Ken Kelly provides the cover for this sci-fi issue of Creepy, dated August 1975. For years fans on the letter pages requested a sci-fi magazine, and while it would still be a few years before 1984 came out, they at least got their wish temporarily with this issue. Berni Wrightson provides a one page intro from Uncle Creepy.

First is "Playpen of a God!" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Bill Dubay (story). This three page story features an old man and some wounded children in an apocalyptic world. The old man starts reading them some stories, telling them of how mankind destroyed itself.

Our first full length story for this issue is "The Argo Standing By!" by Paul Neary (art) and Budd Lewis (story). This story is about an astronaut who is part of a crew in space that is in suspended animation. When he wakes up he reports to Earth, where things are getting worse and worse due to a war. Eventually it gets so bad on Earth that everyone is killed off. Our protagonist decides to go back into suspended animation.

Next is "A Beast Within!" by John Severin (art) and Budd Lewis (story). This story features a man who lives in the wilderness, in an age where people need to wear a device on their chest in order for them to be able to breathe outside. At night bizarre creatures try to break into his cabin again and again but he always fights them off. Eventually he finds a young woman whom he marries but she ends up being killed by the creatures. He has one final confrontation with them outside and ends up being killed.

Next is "Unprovoked Attack On A Hilton Hotel" by Richard Corben (art) and Jim Stenstrum (story). This story is a comedic parody of World War II. It features the feud between two space hotel companies, the Hiltons and the Waldorfs. A war is started between the two when the Waldorfs attack a Hilton hotel. The Hiltons find a sculpter/scientist who helps them create a bomb to destroy the Waldorfs, but as the story ends it is revealed that the blast of the bomb will kill them too. Multiple characters here are parodies of World War II era people including Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Albert Einstein.

Next is "Purge!" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Bruce Bezaire (story). The color is provided by Bill Dubay. This story takes place in a future society where men called 'Enforcers' enforce the law, often with over the top results. This story features two stories in one, the top of each page features one of these enforcers while the bottom of the page features a fugitive on the run with a suitcase of illegal material. Eventually the two converge and the fugitive is killed. The illegal material he was carrying is revealed to be none other than Warren magazines!

Next is "Last Light of the Universe!" by Esteban Maroto (art) and Budd Lewis (story). This story is a retelling of Edgar Allen Poe's The Masque of the Red Death. Aboard a space station in space, a man, Block, argues with the head of the station, Hersey, who refuses to provide help with plague ridden people outside the space station. Space has been infested with a plague and the space station is the only place in the universe not infected. Block recalls the Poe story and gets more upset when he finds there is going to be a celebration later on, similar to what happened in the Poe story. Eventually Hersey has Block killed and torpedoed out of the space station. But by doing this he ends up letting the plague into the space station, and infects everyone else, wiping out humanity once and for all.

The issue concludes with one final page from the Playpen of a God story with the old man wrapping up his stories that he is telling to the children.

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 91

This is an all reprint issue of Creepy, dated August 1977. The cover is a reprint of Frank Frazetta's cover for Vampirella 11. Many very good stories are reprinted here.

First is "Nightfall" by Berni Wrightson (art) and Bill Dubay (story), from Eerie 60. A young boy is deathly afraid of monsters who live in his room that come out whenever his parents leave him there alone. Each time they turn out the lights and leave the monsters come and try to take him away. His parents don't believe him but eventually decide to let him sleep with them after his bed is nearly taken out of the window.

Second is "Creeps" by John Severin & Wally Wood (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), from Creepy 78. This story features an accountant who is bugged by homeless people and the more destitute in society, calling them "Creeps". Eventually it becomes an obsession to him and he starts killing them. It goes even further when he thinks his mother is a creep herself and kills her. Only this time someone sees it, so he has to flee and hide on the streets. As the days go by he takes on the appearance of a homeless person himself, then ends up killing himself when he sees his reflection. Very good story from Goodwin and an interesting art job from Wood and Severin.

Third is "Phantom of Pleasure Island" by Alex Toth (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story), from Creepy 75. This story is a murder mystery taking place in an amusement park where a mysterious sniper has killed multiple people. One of the suspects is killed while the other one agrees to sell his rival amusement park, removing him as a suspect. The killer ends up being the wife of the park owner, who wanted him to pay more attention to her than the park, and thought that her murder spree would accomplish that goal.

Fourth is "Benjamin Jones and the Imagineers" by Luis Bermejo (art) and Budd Lewis (story). This story, from Creepy 80, is about a boy whose toy soldiers can summon monsters. Naturally his mother doesn't believe him, until she is confronted by one of them and is killed by it. Weakest story here, but only because the other material is so strong.

Fifth is "Cold Cuts" by Jeff Jones (art) and Berni Wrightson (story), from Vampirella 34. Terrific contributions from these two, with Wrightson providing his only writing credit for a story he didn't draw as well. The story features a man in a winter wilderness who shoots a deer and carries it with him. Meanwhile his wife is snowbound in a cabin with a colleague of his who attacks her. While the hunter thinks about providing for his wife, the colleague's body is mutilated, as if he was being prepared to eat.

Sixth is "Thrillkill" by Neal Adams (art) and Jim Stenstrum (story), from Creepy 75. A truly great story, and arguably the most famous Warren story of all time, being ranked #1 overall as best Warren story in the Warren Companion. A young man with a sniper rifle shoots random people from the top of a building and is eventually killed by the police. While the artwork shows these events taking place a priest who knew the young man as a boy talks to a reporter, trying to explain why this happened.

Seventh is "Gamal and the Cockatrice" by Auraleon (art) and Bruce Bezaire (story), from Vampirella 47. A terrific story, one of the best of all time. It is included within the top 25 stories in the Warren companion. A tribe in the dessert is told by one of their members, Gamal, that he has killed the cockatrice, the half chicken/half snake creature that kills anyone who looks at it. Using a complex story he tells them how he killed it. When the man offering a reward for the death of the creature refuses to pay, Gamal admits that he also kidnapped another cockatrice and that he will unleash it unless they give him a third of the tribe's wealth and three of their women. They relent to his demands, and it is never really revealed whether he actually killed or captured a cockatrice.

Last is "The Shadow of the Axe!" by Russ Heath (art) and Dave Sim (story), from Creepy 79. This story was Sim's sole Warren appearance. It features a boy living in a small town who suspects his father is an axe murderer. To stop him, he turns on his father and kills him with an axe. The next day, his mother winks at him, making one wonder if she was responsible for it all.

Eerie 66

This issue of Eerie, dated June 1975, is an all El Cid special. El Cid was a spanish knight, who made his first appearance in the previous issue, Eerie 65. The cover is provided by Sanjulian. Berni Wrightson provides a one page intro from Cousin Eerie and El Cid on the inside front cover. Gonzalo Mayo provides art for the entire issue. Some very nice art here by Mayo, in some of his earliest work for Warren.

The first two stories are "The Seven Trials" and "The Seven Trials of El Cid Part Two" by Bill Dubay (story) and Budd Lewis (dialogue). El Cid defeats a sorceror king in battle, who curses El Cid to suffer from seven trials. El Cid's ship is soon attacked by a group of sirens that they defeat. The last one, a nymph is taken captive by them. More trials start arriving including a dragon, evil dwarves and others. El Cid falls in love with the nymph but she is killed as the last trial occurs. He awakens on a ship soon after however and realizes it has all been a dream, and that the nymph is alive and well as the nurse who has taken care of him.

Next is "El Cid and the Vision" by Gerry Boudreau (story) and Budd Lewis (dialogue). In this story the Moors have attacked El Cid's kingdom. El Cid encounters a mysterious black knight in the woods that he battles, but the knight vanishes just as he's about to kill El Cid. El Cid then goes to see his king and ends up killing a man who criticizes him. El Cid proposes that he take on the Moor's best knight to determine whether they or the moors will be the victor. The knight ends up being the very knight that he encountered earlier. By using his knowledge of that battle, El Cid is able to defeat him.

Fourth is "The Lady and the Lie" by Gerry Boudreau (story) and Budd Lewis (dialogue). El Cid encounters two demons, Ahriman and Az, known as the Lie and the Lust. The two demons try to get El Cid to damn himself by killing two imaginary lovers. They try with El Cid yet again later but once again fail. They turn their attention to a woman and get her to kill her lover by making it appear that he is sleeping with another woman. El Cid goes to hell to defeat them and save her.
Last is "The Emir of Aragon" by Jeff Rovin (story) and Budd Lewis (dialogue). El Cid assists in the defeat of the Emir of Aragon and is given a woman, Arias. El Cid brings Arias back to his kingdom with her, but she plots to frame him, sending a letter in his name to get the king to come and see him. Another man comes in the king's place and is killed by her when she enters. El Cid goes to battle and defeats the Emir of Aragon once again, and Arias while fleeing ends up falling on her own knife and dies.

Vampirella 40

Enrich provides the cover for this issue of Vampirella, featuring Vampi and a dark, caped figure. This issue is cover dated March 1975. Ken Kelly provides another cover on the back of the issue, and Jose Gonzalez provides his usual one page Vampirella intro in the front inside cover. This issue was one of the first issues of Vampirella I ever read, so still remains somewhat memorable to me for that reason.

First is Vampirella in "The Nameless Ravisher!" by Leopold Sanchez (art) and Mike Butterworth (story, as Flaxman Loew). This story continues from the previous one, where a man who hunted human heads wanted to take Vampirella's head. He was killed at the end of the story, being decapitated. In this story we meet his two sisters, a pair of crazy old women who want revenge on Vampirella. They summon a demon, the Nameless Ravisher, which takes the shape of various entities, mostly those based in nature. The Nameless Ravisher attacks Vampi, first by flooding the room she is in, then taking the shape of a tree that attacks her. Eventually Vampirella defeats it, and the two old women are done in by the corpse of their brother. An odd Vampirella story, but Sanchez's art is a nice, rare alternative to the usual artwork on this series (not to say the usual artwork is bad, Gonzalez and Mayo were usually great. Just enjoyed someone else drawing Vampi for a change).

Second is the second part of the three part Dracula series, "The Winged Shaft of Fate" by Esteban Maroto (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). Color is provided by Michelle Brand. This story continues from the previous one, with Dracula now having a female vampire companion. Similar to the previous story however, this story primarily focuses on another couple that becomes involved when the carnival stops by. A man steals a large sum of money and plans to meet his lover, but the lover ends up getting bitten by Dracula. The man ends up leaving with another woman instead when his lover doesn't show up, only she does, as a vampire, killing them both.

Third is "The Face of Death!" by Ramon Torrents (art) and Carl Wessler (story). A man is angry at a former lover who has moved on and married someone else. He seeks to get back at her by attacking her during a halloween party. When he realizes that the party is only for people who bring children, he finds a boy alone on the street, Mort, and they go in togehter. Mort keeps trying to hang out with the man, who finally finds his former lover upstairs. When he is about to attack her however, he trips on her kid's blocks and falls out the window. Mort comes to see him, and reveals that he is death.

Fourth is "The Man Who Never Was" by Fernando Fernandez (story & art). Fernandez turns out a very interesting sci-fi themed story here, but his art is absolutely horrible compared to his normal work. Quite a dissappointment from someone who is usually so good. Not that its horrible compared to some other artists seen over the years in Warren publications, but for him, a big dissappointment. Anyway, on to the story, which is quite good. A man awakes after some sort of coma or unconscious state to find himself in a society that doesn't recognize him. His cash is worthless and those he talks to refer to society rules that he has no familiarity with. Further investigation by the police and doctors realize that the man has no record of existing. At least that's what they tell him. In actuality, they realize that the man existed in society nearly 200 years ago and must have been in some state of suspended animation. Rather than accept him into their society, fearing he may cause others to believe in the freedoms that no longer exist, they inject him with a substance that causes him to go unconscious for another 50 years, so those in the future can deal with him instead.

Fifth is "The Time Eater" by Paul Neary (art) and Jack Butterworth (story). Another sci-fi themed story that is very interesting and unique. One of Warren's most unique stories in fact. The Time Eater of the title is an entity that exists out in space, consuming time. As the story begins, the time eater is quickly reaching the point where it has consumed all future time. As a result, it has to start eating the past. We see the Time Eater consumer the past, causing time to go back further and further. A spaceship that approached the Time Eater lands back on Earth, then is deassembled. People who have died come back to life, then grow young, and eventually return to their mother's womb. Humankind de-evolves as does all other life. Eventually the Earth itself ceases to exist and the universe slowly shrinks until it too is gone. At this point the time eater has eaten all time that has ever existed and soon starves to death. A gaseous particle breaks off the time eater, causing the universe to slowly start reforming again. Time once again starts to pass by, the universe slowly returns to normal and the time eater eventually comes back to life to start the process all over again.

Last is "Home For the Holidays" by Luis Bermejo (art) and Budd Lewis (story). This is a Christmas themed story. It is told in two parts, very similar in fashion to the story "Bless Us Father" from Creepy 59. On the left side of each page we see a little girl and her nanny, who get ready for Christmas day and the return of her parents. On the right side of the page we see the parents boarding a plane to head home. The wife seems quite upset with the husband, who appears to have been recently released from prison. The husband realizes that a fellow passenger has a gun and tries to stop him. This results in a confrontation in the cockpit which results in the plane crashing... right into the home where the daughter and nanny are. Quite a bleak and depressing ending compared to many of the other Christmas themed stories that appeared in the Christmas issue of Creepy that came out the same time as this issue (issue 68).

Eerie 137

This reprint issue of Eerie is dedicated to the various heroes and characters of Eerie's past. The cover is a montage of various past covers featuring these characters. This issue is dated December 1982.

First is Darklon the Mystic in "The Price" by Jim Starlin (story & art) from Eerie 76. This story tells of Darklon's origin, how his father disliked him because of his peaceful nature. His father finds a new 'son' that Darlon reveals is going to betray him. Darklon goes to see the mysterious 'nameless one' who agrees to give him power, but does so by chopping off his head, killing him. An interesting origin for this Warren superhero.

Second is "Exterminator One" by Paul Neary (art) and Bill Dubay (story). This story is from Eerie 60 This story features a robot that used to be a man, who was jailed and given the opportunity to be let out if he becomes a robot assassin. In the future people are only allowed to have kids if they are genetically perfect and he committed the crime of having a kid anyway. It ends up that the planned victim of his is his own daughter. While he can't do it on his own, the computer overrides him and smuthers her to death with a pillow.

Third is the Mummy in "The Mind Within" by Jaime Brocal (art) and Steve Skeates (story), from Eerie 50. This segment gives us some background info on the mummy, Jerome Curry, about how he found the amulet he used to become the Mummy, and about his desire to kill the various women who have spurned him in the past. When thieves steal the amulet however, Curry might find himself trapped in the Mummy's body forever!

Up next is "Death Wish!" the first part of the series Coffin, from Eerie 61. Art is by Jose Ortiz and story is by Budd Lewis. Coffin is a man whose stage coach in the desert is attacked by Indians, resulting in harm to the many aboard. Coffin heads after the Indian tribe and kills them, but the last three capture him and stake him to the ground, where ants ravage his body. He wakes up much later finding his decayed body and seeks revenge on the Indians, killing two of them. The third tells him they had nothing to do with the attack and curses him to live forever in his mutilated form. Coffin is brought to a hospital and while leaving discovers the true culprits, three white men who posed as Indians. Coffin enacts his revenge on them. A nice start to a really good series.

Fifth is the beginning of Eerie's more popular series, "Hunter" by Paul Neary (art) and Rich Margopoulos (story), from Eerie 52. Hunter is a half man half demon in the future who battles demons. This first story takes place in a snowy wilderness where Hunter comes across a church and battles three demons within it.

Last is "Stridespider Sponge-Rot!" by Esteban Maroto (art) and Doug Moench (story), from Eerie 57. This is the first of a seven part series entitled 'The Spook' about a black zombie. The term, which is a racist way to refer to black people, had been created by Bill Dubay, who told Doug MOench to write a series featuring. Anyway, this is a fairly good story, featuring the title character encountering a sorceress woman who brings numerous zombies to life. The Spook is able to stop them by throwing her into a fire. Really nice art by Maroto.

Eerie 136

Nestor Redondo provides the cover for this issue of Eerie, featuring the interior story Starlad. This issue is dated November 1982. Lots of stuff coming to an end in this issue.

First is the Rook in "The Fallen Part Two" by Luis Bermejo (art) and Budd Lewis (story). This story was the last Warren appearance of the Rook. This story continues from the previous issue, where the Rook has traveled into the future and encounters a crashed spaceship. In this story an evil alien being breaks out and starts killing people. The Rook and the others realize that the ship's pilot caused the creature's creation and that any exposure to it will cause the person being exposed (or animal being exposed) to also turn into a monster. The Rook solves things by traveling back in time and removing the alien pilot from his ship such that the alien monster was never created.

Second is "Space Force: Shipwrecked", by Paul Gillon (art) and Jean Claude Forest (story), in its final appearance. Chris and the others travel to one of Saturn's moons. The natives tell them of rat-like aliens gathering and of Valerie, that she is there and is considered a goddess. Chris heads there and finds talking frog creatures who attack him. After escaping he finally comes across Valerie, still encased in the orb that he too was encased in while in space. Mara meanwhile is confronted by the frog creatures as well. Unfortunate that the series suddenly ends here when it is getting interesting.

Third is "Starlad" by Vic Catan (art) and Bill Dubay (story). This story is another color insert story in the style of the one appearing in Eerie 134. This story features a sick boy who is about to die. His doctor tells him that he is actually an alien superhero, and he makes the boy into a superhero as well. In reality, the boy has died. I could tell by page two exactly where this story was going as Bill Dubay simply rips off his own story "Dick Swift and His Electric Power Ring" from Creepy 86. Very lame.

Fourth is "Haggarth" by Victor de la Fuente (story & art). Haggarth's last appearance, this story resolves a number of running storylines such as the amazonesses, the stones, and the spirit Haggarth had encountered earlier. A fairly good finale, although not as well resolved as the earlier Haggarth storyline. Still the best story in the issue though.

Creepy 74

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Eerie 133

Sanjulian provides the cover for this all reprint issue of Eerie, dated August 1982. This issue is dedicated to the artist Ramon Torrents, and also features all three Fleur stories.

First is "Destiny's Witch" by Ramon Torrents (art) and John Jacobson (story), from Creepy 59. Hundreds of years ago a servant is suspected of being a witch when she tries to remove some leaves from her master's daughter, which is supposed to ward off a vampire that's been plauging the village. In actuality she is a witch, and is betrayed by her boyfriend Oliver multiple times, who reveals her as a witch, then frames her as being a vampire when he is actually the vampire. Hundreds of years later however she gets revenge by getting him fried by the sun.

Next is "From the Spain of Legend" from Vampirella 34, featuring the character Fleur, in her first of four appearances. Art is by Ramon Torrents while story is by John Jacobson. Richard, a traveling Earl visits a fellow noble, Chelidonius, seeking lodging while he returns home from the Crusades. Chelidonius tricks the Earl, having him locked up as an accussed witch so he can take over his property. Within the prison Richard meets Fleur, a woman who claims to actually be a witch. When it is time for the 'witches' to be burned at the stake, Fleur kills their captors and escapes with Richard. Richard however attacks her since she is a real witch, and Fleur kills him.

Third is "Our Tarts Were Young and Gay", from Vampirella 35 by Ramon Torrents (art) and John Jacobson (story). This story also stars Fleur and features her encounter in a brothel with a very odd customer. After this story Fleur wouldn't have her own story in Vampirella again for years, although she did have a short cameo in a Vampirella story in Vampirella 50. Terrific art by Torrents and the best of the Fleur stories in my opinion.

Fourth is the final Fleur story, "Night of the Alley Cats" by Ramon Torrents (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story), from Vampirella 68. This was Fleur's last appearance overall. Its a good thing, as this was quite a poor story, not on the level at all of her other stories. Fleur gets involved with the investigation of a murder involved with a gang. It ends up that the man she is seeing is responsible for the murders and through her witchcraft he gets whats coming to him.

"The Quest" by Ramon Torrents (art) and Budd Lewis (story) is last, from Vampirella 67. This story features an Amazoness-esque heroine who tries to save a holy city from a group of barbarians. In the city she finds a group of dead lords as well as a pair of bizarre pillars made up of naked people who ask her to join them. After saving the city from the Barbarians she does so. The final page reveals that the entire city is actually a giant spaceship of aliens whose time goes much, much slower than ours. All the humans in the pillars end up being used as fuel for the ship. Quite an interesting story here.

Creepy 82

This issue of Creepy is all reprints, featuring Esteban Maroto. The cover is a montage of panels from the interior story "A Scream in the Forest". This issue is dated August 1976.

First up is "Forgive Us Our Debts" by Esteban Maroto (art) and Jim Stenstrum (story), from Creepy 50. The story is about a pair of drug smugglers whose plane crashes in the jungle. One of the smugglers, Manning, escapes while the other, Hunter, loses one of his arms to a crocodile. He gets his revenge by later taking Manning captive and forcing him along with his collegue Sharon in the jungle to recover their lost drugs. Along the way they encounter a bizarre group of humanoid creatures who are guarding the drugs along with a large amount of treasure. When Hunter goes to get the drugs, Manning shoots him in the back. He goes to claim the treasure himself, but when Sharon is unable to cover him due to going insane from fright, the creatures kill him. Pretty good story with very good Maroto art, although its a tad long and drags a bit in the middle.

Next is "A Most Private Terror", from Creepy 52. This story is drawn by Esteban Maroto and written by Budd Lewis. This story takes place in a winter setting, featuring a man hiding in a cave from a snow beast. He thinks to a past encounter with such a beast, which was a beautiful woman who turned into a werewolf that he had killed. Realizing he's going to freeze to death, he sets himself on fire, then once putting the fire out heads out of the cave. He becomes so frightened however that he falls off a cliff to his death. It is revealed at the end however that all that was following him was a little white rabbit.

Third is "Deja Vu" by Esteban Maroto (art) and Doug Moench (story), from Creepy 51. This reprint is in color, with a page removed from the original story. A psychologist hypnotizes a young woman, who tells him of a past life where she was a witch who was burned at the stake after being accused by a man who ends up being her ancestor. She curses him, saying that his descendents will be killed by cats. He tries to convince her to stay, but she runs off, and ends up being killed by a cat, just like the curse said. He is revealed to be a descendent of the witch.

Next up is Relatives by Esteban Maroto (art) and Bruce Bezaire (story), from Vampirella 35. This story is about a pair of astronauts who encounter a civilization of bizarre looking aliens. One of the astronauts, a deeply religious man, refuses to believe that the aliens are intelligent and kills one of them, only to later find out that they were praying when they met him. A fairly good, although quite short, sci-fi story with some extremely odd looking aliens.

Last is "A Scream in the Forest" by Esteban Maroto (art) and Greg Potter (story), from Creepy 53. An extremely good story with some very beautiful artwork. A society of dwarves is plauged by Fearies, large one eyed beastly creatures that kidnap their women for food. Screams echo throughout the forest, most likely from their victims. One of the dwarves, Ussel, is nearly captured by one, but is saved by Arn, a powerful swordsman. Arn agrees to help Ussel wipe out the Fearies and they head through the woods, fighting off another one along the way. Eventually they come across a large cave, and inside Arn knocks out Ussel, handing him over to the Fearies. Arn is actually working with the Fearies, capturing them prey in exchange for diamonds. Ussel awakens just as they are about to eat them, and there is another scream in the forest.

Eerie 134

Rudy Nebres provides the cover for this issue of Eerie, cover dated September 1982. The cover features the hero the Fighting Armenian, who makes his first Eerie appearance within.

First is the Rook in "The Fallen" by Luis Bermejo (art) and Budd Lewis (story). The Rook discovers that the world is going to end in 2011 unless he does something (yet he's traveled further than that in the future many times in stories past). He heads there and arrives at a outpost off the coast of Mexico. There an alien ship crashes, and a sleeping alien is found inside. The story ends just as the creature wakes up and escapes.

Second is "Space Force: Shipwrecked", the third story in this series. Art is by Paul Gillon while story is by John Claude Forest. A ship crashes on the shore, resuling in some refugees fleeing, chased by aliens, which Chris and some others help defeat. Heading inside they find many more robots with the face of Valerie, the woman who was sent out into space along with Chris. Our heroes then travel through the ocean, but are attacked by Lizard Men. Chris is injured and comes down with a disease, but due to Mara kissing him, not his injuries.

Third is "The Fighting Armenian" by Rudy Nebres (art) and Bill Dubay (story). This story is in color, but not the traditional color one is used to seeing in a Warren magazine. Instead its like someone tore 8 pages out of a color comic and put it in the middle of the magazine. Very poorly done. An extremely lame story as well, featuring a dumb Russian super hero who is recruited by a woman to save her husband, but it all ends up being a trap by her in order for some bad guys to get their hands on a scientist. The woman ends up being a man in the end. Oh yeah, and the Rook randomly appears as well. This character originally appeared in the Rook's magazine and thankfully would not appear in Eerie again.

Fourth is "Zud Kamish", the final story for this character. Art is by E.R. Cruz and story is by John Ellis Sech. In this story Zud goes after the assassin from the previous story who killed his son, lover and robot friend (seems like they died for real, something I doubted would be the case when the previous story ended given the rather light hearted nature of the series). The assassin meanwhile also swears revenge on Zud for throwing acid in his face in the previous part. The two do battle, eventually getting blown up by a grenade. Zud survives though, and runs his own adult book store, with no arms and legs left however.

Last is "Haggarth" by Victor de la Fuente (story & art). The man that Haggarth saved a few stories ago works with some of the amazonesses in order to obtain the stones he's looking for. Haggarth, Ethan and Eco run into some more Amazonesses themselves, but do eventually find the stones they are seeking. Haggarth wants to dump them and escape, upsetting Ethan. They do so, although Ethan still keeps one to himself.

Creepy 71

A terrific issue of Creepy, dedicated to Luis Bermejo. Five new stories from him in this one, all with extremely good artwork. This issue came out in May 1975, at which point Bermejo was at the top of his game. Unfortunate that he couldn't always stay this good. Some very strong stories too. Berni Wrightson provides a one page intro from Uncle Creepy in the frontis.

First is "Room For One More" with story by Doug Moench. A mysterious killer with a skull-like mask collects corpses, sitting them next to each other in a room. The story then changes focus to a young undertaker, who meets the wife of a deceased man, Rita and the two hit it off. It ends up that her deceased husband is alive however, and plotting with his wife's lover, Augie, to fake his death. He demands the undertaker get involved with them and help him continue to fake his death. Instead the mysterious killer shows up and kills him. Later Rita sneaks in and faces a similar fate. As does Augie when he tries to kill the undertaker to keep things a secret. The undertaker ends up being the killer, collecting corpses and talking to the corpse of his dead fiance, whom he is upset at, suspecting she didn't want to marry him. When he mistakenly goes out in public with his mask on he loses it and the police find him shooting at a fiance's body, trying to kill her again like he did before. A little complicated, but a very good story to start the issue.

Second is "But When She Was Bad" with story by Gerry Boudreau. A young woman is in a car crash with her parents, being the only one to survive. Soon afterwards she starts hearing voices in her head, telling her to do bad things. This starts with her killing the family dog, but escalates to her tampering with stop lights, causing a car crash, and beating to death her guidance counselor and another man with a baseball bat. As the police come to collect her it is revealed that this behavior started before the crash and is why her parents were killed.

Third is "His Name Was John!", with story provided by Budd Lewis. This story is told through two perspectives, at the top of the page an alien creature approaching the Earth, and at the bottom a priest named John. The alien being causes John to collapse, sending his consiousness to his ship. There, the alien reveals that he created all life on Earth and that was created himself from another being long since dead. He decides to make John his own 'son', returning him back to Earth where he soon finds tentacled growths appearing on his back. A very similar story to Jose Bea's "The Other Side of Heaven" from Vampirella 28.

Fourth is "The Song of Alan Bane". Story here is by Gerry Boudreau. Alan Bane of the title is knight of darkness who kills many and causes the people of the countryside great fear. Multiple times knights and armies try to defeat him but are all killed. Eventually he is done in however by a young woman and priest who head to his lair. This story is told in the form of a poem. Some very nice art, but easily the weakest story here.

Last is "The Minotaur", an adaption of the Nathanial Hawthorne story. Adaption is by Rich Margopoulos. The minotaur is a half man/half bull creature who is possessed by King Minos and kept in a labyrinth. Every year the King demands fourteen people to be handed over to be sacrificed to the Minotaur. Prince Theseus volunteers to head there such that he can defeat the Minotaur. With help from the princess, he is able to defeat it and escape with his people.

Eerie 132

Sanjulian provides the cover for this issue of Eerie, featuring Haggarth (although the character painted here looks nothing like Haggarth!). This issue is cover dated July 1982.

First is the return of the Rook to Eerie, in "The Dane Curse!" by Luis Bermejo (art) and Budd Lewis (story). A pretty good story, but we kick off right in the middle of things, meaning this story probably originated from the Rook magazine (which by this point was cancelled) and is continued here. In this story the Rook is in the past, helping a woman who others are accusing as a witch. The Rook takes the blame himself to save her and is jailed, then they go ahead and jail her too. It ends up that the mob is possessed with a demon and that when they are about to execute him, the demon comes out and he destroys it. The past changed, the Rook appears back in the present, not remembering what happened.

Next is Zud Kamish in "Hero of the Milky Way" by E.R. Cruz (art) and John Ellis Sech (story). In this story Zud is recruited to guard an ambassador. He agrees to do so, then helps save the ambassador from an assassination attempt. The assailant responds by blowing up Zud's home, apparently killing his son, lover and robot friend. Or so it seems. The story ends here, to be continued later.

Third is "Space Force: Shipwrecked", by Paul Gillon (art) and Jean Claude Forest (story), continued from Eerie 129. In this story Chris is on Venus, battling aliens with some soldiers in a facility. One of the robots he comes across has the face of the woman that he was jettisoned out into space with. They are able to narrowly escape from the facility before it explodes.

Last is "Haggarth" by Victor de la Fuente (story and art). Haggarth once again runs into Ethan and his friend Eco. Haggarth agrees to help them search for the treasure they are looking for when they let him borrow their canoe. They later come across an amazoness that Haggarth helps. Later when Ethan and Eco are captured by them Haggarth captures their princess, enabling them to escape.

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.

Eerie 115

Jim Laurier provides the cover for this issue of Eerie, featuring Night of the Jackass. This issue collects all four stories in the series within this issue.

First is part one of 'Night of the Jackass', titled "24 Hours of Hell!" by Jose Ortiz (art, his Eerie debut) and Bruce Bezaire (story). This story is from Eerie 60. A terrific, terrific serial, probably my favorite in Eerie after 'Apocalypse'. The story surrounds a drug which when taken causes a person to turn into a monster, but kills them after 24 hours. A group of poor old people head to a hotel, lock it up and take the drug, then go on a rampage, killing and raping everyone inside. A newlywed, Garson, witnesses his wife murdered by them, but is one of only two people to survive, the other being Bishop, a man who planned to kill himself but changed his mind when the jackassers went on their rampage.

Second story is the second part in the 'Night of the Jackass' series, "Storm Before the Calm!" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Bruce Bezaire (story), from Eerie 63. Garson and Bishop meet up once again at a church that has been taken over by the Jackassers. While no one else wants to go inside and help the victims, Garson and Bishop do so and with the help of people inside are able to defeat all the monsters.

Third is part three of the Night of the Jackass series, "The Children's Hour", with art by Jose Ortiz and story by Bruce Bezaire, from Eerie 64. A group of children take the Hyde (25) drug, causing another rampage. Bishop and Garson once again arrive to help stop them and meet Berthe Astruc, a chemist who seeks to create a cure for the drug. During the fighting Garson realizes that Bishop's nearly as bloodthirsty and willing to kill as the Jackassers and is helping more out of a desire to output his rage upon them than save others. As the story ends they decide to help Berthe find a cure.

Fourth is the final entry in the Night of the Jackass series, "Endstorm", from Eerie 65. Art is by Jose Ortiz and story is by Bruce Bezaire. Bishop and Garson head to Berthe's lab where she hopes to finish her Bishop reads Berthe's notes and realizes that she was the one responsible for creating the Hyde drug. Berthe forces him out, but Garson gets upset and leaves as well, only to find that Bishop has taken the drug and become a jackasser. Bishop goes out of control and attacks them, but Berthe is able to use her antidote which works, turning him back to normal. The series ends here on an optomistic note, with our heroes now having a way to cure the jackassers. Overall this is certainly one of Eerie's best series ever, with a unique and interesting storyline and great Ortiz art. While the series certainly had an open ended conclusion, Bezaire avoided a lame ending and let it end on a high note.

Last is "Excerpts from the Year Five", from Creepy 67, by Jose Ortiz (art) and Budd Lewis (story). This story takes place in a future where all the power in the world has vanished. The story focuses on a man, who meets a woman when receiving first aid. They help fellow people and find a young boy eating the remains of his mother. Eventually Satan worshippers kill the boy however, and the woman dies soon afterwards as well.

1994 #23

This issue of 1994, dated February 1982, is the only reprint issue in the magazine's history. Alex Nino provides the cover, credited as A2-120.

First story is "Break Even" from issue 9, by Alex Nino (art) and Kevin Duane (story). This is... believe it or not... a well thought out, intelligent story to kick off an issue of 1984 that doesn't feature sex! It features a pair of astronauts hired to scope out the asteroid field between Mars and Jupiter who find a very small planet that's actually a shrunk gas giant planet which they end up destroying.

Next is "Painters Mountain" by Alex Nino (art) and the team of Bill Dubay & Budd Lewis (story). The star of the story, Painter is a man who grows a distaste of the tribe he lives with and leaves them. He forms his own society but realizes that his old tribe is in danger. He tries to warn them, but they ignore him and are all killed by a mass flood.

Third is "Teleport: 2010" by Alex Nino (art) and Budd Lewis (story). This story is about a madman who hijacks a teleportation shuttle used to transport thousands of people a day. He kills numerous people, demanding the captain transport him to a place out of government jurisdiction. They fight, more people die, and eventually the captain transports him and everyone else, who he hopes to use as hostages... into the middle of space by accident, killing them all.

Last is "Zincor and the Fempire" by Alex Nino (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). This story takes place in the future where women have abandoned men, and are seeking out and destroying any they can. Our hero Zincor along with some of his fellow men spots a Fempire warship which lands near them and attack, spawning a battle between them and the women. Zincor rapes one of the women, Marta, which causes her to betray her allies and join the men. The women's battleship is destroyed by her and only one woman is left. Marta spots her with Zincor however, killing them both, leaving her as the only person left.

Eerie 127

Nestor Redondo gives us the cover for this issue of Eerie, dated December 1981. This cover features Haggarth taking on King Thall and his tiger.

First is "Justin, King of the Jungle" by Rudy Nebres (art) and Bill Dubay & Rich Margopoulos (story, Dubay as Will Richardson). Justin King , who spends much of his time in the jungle gets upset when poachers kill an elephant. They shoot him and leave him for dead, but he survives, then comes after them, killing them one by one until all are dead.

Second is "Reuben Youngblood" by Howard Chaykin (art) and Budd Lewis (story). An uncredited Lee Elias draws the first page. Reuben Youngblood originally appeared back in Eerie 72 in 1976, and makes his second appearance here. One wonders whether this second appearance was meant to appear around back then. In this story Youngblood acts as an undercover bodyguard for a bootlegger during prohibition. Only the bootlegger is actually a vampire! Luckily Youngblood kills him with a grenade.

Third is "Merlin and the Sorcerer from E.R. Cruz (art) and Budd Lewis (story). Merlin, from the Cagim series tells this story of his encounter with Harry Houdini during the 1920s. Merlin poses as an archeologist who is an expert on druids, and when he finds a collegue dead, with an object down his throat, he heads to the archaeological site. There he meets Houdini and they head down a long tunnel where they encounter bizarre tentacled monsters.

The issue concludes with the latest "Haggarth" story by Victor de la Fuente (story & art). Haggarth and Borin confront the priest and Haggarth reveals that he has the manuscript that so many are after. Sensing how power hungry Borin is, Haggarth kills him. He then goes to confront Thall, who has the priest killed when he turns up empty handed without the manuscript. Thall takes it when Haggarth throws it to the ground, but when he flees Haggarth causes the place to collapse, killing Thall. A pretty good conclusion for the story that has been going on here for a number of issues, although the series will continue for a while.

Creepy 79

Enrich provides the cover for this issue of Creepy, which is miscredited to Sanjulian. This issue is cover dated May 1976, and was the first issue during Louise Jones's era as editor. Jose Ortiz provides a one page intro from Uncle Creepy on the inside front cover.

First is "As Ye Sow..." by Luis Bermejo (art) and Bruce Jones (story). This story takes place in a post apocalyptic society featuring a family of cannibals. The daughter of the family finds a man hiding in the woods. They fall in love with each other and she hides him from the others. When her family finds him and tries to eat him, she tries to scare them off with a cross but they shoot her in the face. They force her to have babies with the man, which they then proceed to eat.

Second is "Kui" by Alex Toth (story & art). This story features a man traveling to a South American temple during his vacation with his reluctant wife. They search for an entrance and eventually find it, going inside. They end up trigger a trap however, and are buried alive with sand because of it.

Third is "The Super-Abnormal Phenomena Survival Kit!" by John Severin (art) and Jim Stenstrum (story). This hilarious story is a parody of the Captain Company ads that appeared in the back of each Warren magazine. Eight pages of parodies and horror movie staples/homages results in a fairly good effort, one of Warren's best humorous stories.

Fourth is "The Shadow of the Axe!" by Russ Heath (art) and Dave Sim (story). This story was Sim's sole Warren appearance. It features a boy living in a small town who suspects his father is an axe murderer. To stop him, he turns on his father and kills him with an axe. The next day, his mother winks at him, making one wonder if she was responsible for it all.

Fifth is "Visitation at Pliny Marsh" by Martin Salvador (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). This story features mysterious events occuring near a swamp including the corpse of a man killed years before by his wife and lover appearing, and a mysterious fish like alien. The corpse attacks the lover of his wife, killing him, then confronts her, but is stopped by the alien, who apologizes for bringing the corpse back to life by his presence there. The alien is shot however by one of the men in the town, and the wife hangs herself soon afterwards.

Last is "The Pit in the Living Room Floor!" by Joaquin Blazquez (art) and Budd Lewis (story). A very good, odd story. A man hears mysterious noises from under the floor in his living room. Eventually a bizarre looking man bursts out of the floor, and our protagonist kills him. Looking at where the man came from, he finds a seemingly never ending pit coming below the floorboards. He decides to head down into it and after a very long time, reaches the bottom. He bangs on the floor of the pit, eventually breaking through, only to be shot by himself, much like what happened at the start of the story.

Eerie 124

This issue of Eerie, cover dated September 1981 features a reprint of Frank Frazetta's cover from Creepy 7. Great cover, but alas, its a reprint, one that has nothing whatsoever to do with the sci-fi content of this issue.

First is Cagim in "The Sea of Red" by E.R. Cruz (art) and Budd Lewis (story). Cagim finds a chain within Merlin's clothes which directs him to the British Treasury. There he meets Cecily, a woman who is unaffected by the spells of Vivien, but also oddly enough cannot be seen by anyone in society! Despite this, she is convinced that she should report on Cagim to
the news (which makes no sense since how would they know she exists?). Eventually Vivien's minions end up capturing her. Yet again, a rather lame story, and the worst material in this issue.

Next is "Pyramid of the Black Sun: Orka", a new series from Luis Bermejo (art) and Jim
Stenstrum (story, as Alabaster Redzone). This story was originally printed in Europe, and is
reprinted here. Orka, an ambassador of the United Stellar Republic travels through a desert
on the planet Arkaran in search of a man named Ulzan who is member of a Alliance of Light
that was rebelling. Ulzan ends up being Blekos, the person in charge there, whom Orka is
still searching for at the end of the story. A somewhat interesting story, heavily influenced
by the book Dune, with the desert setting, sand worms that appear in the story, and the name
of the planet, Arkaran (based on the planet Arakis in Dune).

Third is "God of Light", the finale of the Born of Ancient Vision series. Art is still by Bob
Morello, with story by Budd Lewis. The demons summon a large demon, Baligorn, then challenge Mah' Sess to fight him, saying only he will die if he agrees to fight the demon one on one. Mah' Sess does so, after his people prepare their weapons for battle. Mah' Sess defeats
Baligorn, then there is a large battle in which his people destroy the demons for good. Mah'
Sess then ascends into space, to seek his place in the universe. A fairly interesting series,
particularly on the art side of things. Alas, this is it for it, as well as it for Morello,
who'd do no more Warren work.

The issue concludes with Haggarth in "The Sacred Scroll" by Victor de la Fuente (story &
art). Haggarth meets with Borin, the very man whom he was asked to kill. Haggarth doesn't
want to kill him, but a remark causes Borin to attack him. They stop fighting and Haggarth
tells Borin to take responsibility as leader and stand up to King Thall. Haggarth's friend
meanwhile searches for his treasure and finds a jade statue and blade, but is offered very
little for it when they return to town. Not that good a segment this time, luckily this series isn't asked to prop up the entire issue so thats okay, for now.