1994 20

Given the total ineptitude of Eerie 113, I'll be covering a second issue as well today.

The cover of this issue is by Nestor Redondo. Only a so-so issue at best unfortunately. It is cover dated August 1981.

First is another "Young Sigmond Pavlov" story by Alex Nino (art) and Bill Dubay (as Will Richardson, which is how he's referenced throughout the issue). This story is actually a vast improvement over the previous one. It features Pavlov once again talking to a patient, this time a guy who claims that God sent him a giant spaceship-like ark and ordered him to gather bizarre creatures from across the world. He does so only to find out its only a joke being played on him by God. Similar to the previous story, this story is primarily two page spreads by Nino, although the artwork is considerably toned down in terms of content compared to the last story.

Second is "Diana Jacklighter, Manhuntress!" a new series by Esteban Maroto (art) and Jim Stenstrum (story, as Alabaster Redzone, which is how he's credited throughout the issue). The most interesting thing in this issue, it kicks off a pretty long series. Jacklighter is a pilot responsible for what was supposed to be an easy mission, transporting a group of 7 criminals that are in suspended animation. When her ship is struck by a meteor however, the ship crashes and all the criminals, who also happen to be suffering from a plague, escape. Jacklighter is now forced to head out and capture all of them. Some nice art by Maroto although the suspended animation chamber appears to be ripped off from the movie Alien.

Third is "Little Beaver" by Vic Catan (art) and Bill Dubay (story). This story takes place in a future where the communists and capitalists have battled, wiping out most of the world. A teenage native american girl and her grandmother Running Box think they are the only humans left and live with a tentacled monster, but some communists still alive arrive and end up getting blown up by a nuclear bomb they possess.

Fourth is "Ghita of Alizarr" by Frank Thorne (story & art). This story's considerably shorter than the usual Ghita story, at only 8 pages. Ghita and friends come across an inn where they stay. There they witness a mute maid being decapitated as part of a magic trick. During the trick her head tells Ghita not to return to Alizarr.

Last is the return of "Spearchucker Spade: Intergalactic Eye" by Alex Nino (art) and Bill Dubay (story). The previous story was so-so, this one is rather lousy, although the art is nice. Spade heads out to a space station to help fight against Ronald Reagan's crazy descendent. Thankfully this was it for this particular character.

Eerie 70

Coffin gets yet another cover dedicated to him for this issue, done by Sanjulian. Berni Wrightson provides a one page intro by Cousin Eerie.

First story is Coffin's finale, "The Final Sunrise" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Budd Lewis (story). Coffin seeks to redeem himself by helping a native american tribe who has been ordered by the government to give up their land. Coffin initially tries to deal peacefully, but after multiple failures, he instead goes to battle with the native americans, who successfully defend their land. Coffin writes to his congressman brother hoping that he can help the native americans keep their land. Having done a good deed, Coffin goes to see the native american that cursed him, hoping that he can die for good. Only he finds the man already dead, leaving him alive for good. Coffin realizes how he can truly die for real, and allows himself to be completely consumed by ants, ending his saga once and for all. A terrific end to yet another terrific series drawn by Ortiz, who drew three of Eerie's best series ever, Night of the Jackass, Apocalypse and Coffin, all within the space of a year or so.

Next is the third part of the Hunter II series, "Goblin Thrust" by Paul Neary (art) and Budd Lewis (story). Hunter is confronted by a group of men who think he's a Goblin, but thanks to the Exterminator they reveal themselves to be allies. They head to an outpost where the Exterminator replenishes his energy, then helps defeat some Goblins. One of the men ends up being a traitor, summoning a bunch of Goblins, so Hunter and Exterminator head off on their own while the others fight, and unfortunately give up their lives.

Third is "From the Cradle to the Grave" by Leopold Sanchez (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). This story carries the series title "Code Name Slaughter Five" but as you'll see by the conclusion, this ended up being a self contained story. In the future overpopulation has plagued the Earth so much that the government has put into steps attempts to control the population, such as forcing abortions on pregnant women, castrating men, and lessening the penalties for murder. They also secretly support revolutions that will cause even more deaths. Our hero, Ames is a government agent sent to work with an activist, Winthrop and infiltrate her organization. He succeeds, but the two of them end up being eaten by cannibals!

Fourth is another appearance by El Cid, "Crooked Mouth" by Gonzalo Mayo (art) and Budd Lewis (story). El Cid defeats the Moors in battle, but is accused of being a traitor when he decides to let them live. An old enemy of Cid's, Count Ordonez tells this to the king, trying to get Cid in trouble, and summons a demon to kill Cid. Cid defeats the demon however, reveals Ordonez's treachery and kills him. He explains his reasoning to the King, which is accepted. Some very nice art by Mayo, but it does get rather confusing at times, particularly in the battle scenes because it is so complicated.

The issue concludes with "Oogie and the Junkers", the first part of the Oogie series. Art is by Esteban Maroto and story is by Bill Dubay. Not the greatest story, but some very enjoyable Maroto art, reminicent of my favorite art job of his, "Scourge of the Spaceways" from 1984 issue 2. The story is about Leroy, a crewmember on a Junker ship who is a big fan of Buck Blaster and his companion Thelma Starbust. While married, Leroy has a relationship with a female crewmember on his ship, Prunie. The two of them head down to a planet hoping to salvage some supplies, but instead find Oogie, a creature who has the ability to create anything he desires. Oogie, a big fan of Buck Blaster as well, desires for Leroy and Prunie to stay there with him and experience Buck Blaster for real. They end up having no choice as Oogie ends up destroying their ship, causing their allies to think they have died.

From front to back this is quite a good issue, not a single poor story.

Vampirella 106

One of the last original Vampirella magazines to come out is today's entry, with a cover by Enrich. Jose Gonzalez as usual provides a drawing of Vampirella on the Table of Contents page.

Vampirella's story for this issue is "A Love Blessed in Hell" by Jose Gonzalez (art) and Rich Margopoulos (story). Vampi's deceased husband from Drakulon, Tristan suddenly arrives at her door. It is a very happy number of days for our heroine, but in reality this is not the real Tristan, but rather a clone made by a sorceress who plans for him to kill Vampi. When it is time to kill her however he refuses, and instead heads back to the sorceress and kills her. Alas, Vampi has no idea what is going on and is saddened by his sudden dissappearance. A short story, but extremely good art by Gonzalez, probably his sexiest drawings of Vampirella to ever be in the magazine.

Next is the first part of "Sweetwater Nessie" by Auraleon (art) and Don McGregor (story). This story features the Loch Ness Monster and a family from an Oceanographic Institute which arrives to investigate it. While McGregor's story doesn't seem to go anywhere, the scenes with the Loch Ness monster are quite nice. It has a cameo appearance on pretty much every page while the rest of the story is happening.

Third is "On the Trail of the Cat", the latest story in the Pantha series. Art is by Jose Ortiz and story is by Rich Margopoulos. Conrad reveals to Adam and Pantha that they couldn't have normal children, so they break up. Vampi is chased by a hunter who has been hired to kill a man who can turn into a panther, and who thinks Pantha is that man. While he captures her, Pantha convinces him to let her become his traveling companion instead.

Fourth is "The Fox and the Deer", the latest segment in the Fox series. Art is by Luis Bermejo, with story by Nicola Cuti. Ming and Will go to visit an old teacher of hers, Chin-Li, but instead find him executed by Dung-Bin, a man who seeks Chin-Li's daughter. The daughter tells him to hunt a deer and then she'll marry him. He does so, but when he kills the deer he finds her corpse there instead, as she used the similar shapeshifting ability that our heroine has. Because of this, he is executed. A fairly good self-contained story that doesn't have the usual "The Fox" logo on it, but is obviously part of the series.

Fifth is part two of "Jeremy" by Paul Gillon (story & art). In this part Jeremy continues to be pursued by the Indian Tribe which he escaped from in the previous story. He manages to kill some of them, but is captured. Luckily, he is able to escape from them and even steal a boat, which he uses to escape from the island. An okay story, but I wonder why this story which has no horror or supernatural elements to it whatsoever is in a horror magazine.

The issue concludes with "Safari" by Esteban Maroto (art) and David Allikas (story). A man wins an olympic event only to find him brought on a spaceship to a primitive planet where he finds himself attacked by various creatures. Soon he realizes that he is being hunted by an ape-like man, who kills him, chops off his head, and puts it up on his wall as a trophy.

Overall, a fairly good issue with better than usual segments of Vampi, The Fox and Pantha, and a good conclusion to the issue with Safari.

Vampirella 103

A really nice cover for this issue by Enrich featuring Vampirella swimming. Jose Gonzalez contributes yet another table of contents portrait of Vampirella.

First up is Vampirella's story, "The Last Prince!" by Jose Gonzalez (art) and Rich Margopoulos (story). Gonzalez returns to Vampirella to deliver his first new story since issue 82. He would handle the lead Vampirella story from now until the end of the magazine's life. This story features Vampirella dissappearing below the depth of the ocean where she meets Ariel, a prince of the sea who looks just like Adam. He lets Vampirella live with him and others who have lived beneath the sea. It ends up that the others are all diead however and he's been hiding his true form from her. Vampi and he head for the surface and while she makes it, he is unable to make it out of the sea and returns to where he came from. A short story at only 8 pages, but much higher quality than the epic stories we've had in Vampi over the last couple of years of this magazine.

Next is "The Mephisto List", the final story in the Cassandra St. Knight series. Art is by Auraleon and story is by Rich Margopoulos. A rather dissappointing finale to a dissappointing series. Cassandra is recruited to help a tibetan monk discover who stole 'The Mephisto List', which enables its user to summon demons. Both suspects are murdered, causing Cassandra to find the true culprit, a servant to the head monk. The series ends here with no apparant conclusion whatsoever.

Third is "The Final Solution!" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Rich Margopoulos (story), part of the 'Pantha' serial. Dr. Rictus attempts to prolong his life by extracting cells from Pantha, which will kill her. Pantha breaks free of her bonds, defeats Rictus's wife, his bigfoot son, and finally Rictus himself.

Fourth is "Terror in the Tomb!" by Luis Bermejo (art) and Nicola Cuti (story), part of 'The Fox' series. Sha-Ming and Will head with her uncle to Ch'In's Tomb where he finally obtains the wand he's been seeking; it ends up being a fake however and the real one is buried within a dead buried soldier. While this seems like an apparant resolution to the storyline, this series will continue for a while longer.

Fifth is "Pentesilia" by Esteban Maroto (art) and Timothy Moriarty (story). The story features the battle between the country of Thornodium and the Amazon country of Sapphae. Sapphae's queen, Pentesilia refuses to bow down and battles Gleyin, who had originally attempted to be an ambassador between the two countries. After a long battle he succeeds in killing her. Quite a dissappointing story from a story and art standpoint compared with Maroto's recent Vampirella work.

The issue wraps up with "Lover" with art by Artifact (Val Lakey, John Lakey and Laura Buscemi) and story by John Lakey. This story features a space shuttle manned all by women and their robot companion, nicknamed Lover. Lover runs amock, killing all the women aboard except the Captain, the only one that didn't mistreat him. Not a great story, but the artwork is quite good and Lover is quite a scary looking robot.

Eerie 36

The cover for this issue is by Enrich, featuring... a hand! The frontis is "Eerie's Monster Gallery - Atoms" by Pablo Marcos (art) and T.Casey Brennan (story).

First is "Bad Moon on the Rise!" by Tom Sutton (art) and Doug Moench (story). This story surrounds a series of murders taking place by a werewolf. The werewolf is suspected as being the killer and is finally confronted on the night of the full moon. But an eclipse causes him to turn into a human and is killed, with the detectives thinking that the werewolf is still out there on the loose.

Next is "The Silence and the Sleep" by Rubio (art) and Steve Skeates (story). A jealous man kills the boyfriend of a woman he likes. She is so shocked that she becomes mute and is put in an institution. The killer, a piano player, hopes to keep the secret, but is eventually found out and arrested.

Third is "Prototype" by Bruce Jones (art) and Steve Skeates (story). Bruce Jones was quite a prolific writer for Warren during the late 70's, but did do a couple of art jobs for them around this time. This story, done completely in pencil, features Skeates's recurring character Targos, who is captured by odd looking sea creatures who create a robot clone of him to attack Atlantis. Fairly good story, although the ending, where the creatures abandon their attack was a tad confusing to me.

Fourth is "Look What They've Done!" by Esteban Maroto (art) and Steve Skeates (story). This unique story breaks the fourth wall, having the lead character argue with the writer and plead to the reader. A hippie, he refuses to go along with the plot, and ends up getting killed by an alien.

After that is "Crocodile", with art by Mascaro and story by Don Glut. Natives kill crocodiles for a scientist experimenting on the natives, trying to turn them into powerful crocodile men. He finally finds the solution, but his former assistant, one of the natives, turns on him and injects it into him. He turns into a crocodile and heads outside, only to be killed by other natives who seek to turn him over to the scientist!

Next is "The Trap" by L.M. Roca (art) and Greg Potter (story). A disgraced detective locks himself in a crypt with another man, telling him he'll only get the key if he kills him. He presses on the man until he finally kills him, only for that man to discover that there is no key, and hence no way out. The detective wanted to solve a crime and punish a criminal so much that he did it by getting himself killed!

Last is "Oh, Brother!" with art by Dave Cockrum and Steve Skeates yet again doing the story. Two monsters arrive in modern time and are promptly killed by the police. The story takes a step back to explain things, that these monsters were actually responsible for the creation of humanity when they tampered with time and screwed up their own history, erasing it and resulting in humans having control of the Earth.

Creepy 52

This issue's cover is by Sanjulian, featuring the interior tale "A Most Private Terror". The opening story is drawn by Esteban Maroto and written by Budd Lewis (miscredited to Doug Moench). 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.

Second is "The Last Hero" by Ramon Torrents (art) and Steve Skeates (story). It takes place in a future where robots run society and man's life is full of leisure. A cult of bald headed men rebel against this and destroy as many robots and factories as they can. The hero of the title decides to become a superhero and fight against them, but they capture him and brainwash him such that he becomes another one of them.

Third is "Halve Your Cake and Eat It Two" with art by Adolfo Abellan and story by Doug Moench. This story takes place in a post apocalyptic world where a man finds himself seemingly alone. He eventually meets a woman and a dog and they stay together. They are attacked by a bizarre looking mutant but make it out okay. He eventually heads out to find some uncontaminated food and when he returns, finds a mutant that has seemingly killed the girl and dog. He kills the mutant then eats it. He wanders off, coming across other normal people, only to find out that he is now a mutant, as he actually ate her, she mutated after eating the dog. The normal people, seeing him as a mutant, kill him and eat him, staring the cycle all over again.

Fourth is "Them Thar Flyin' Things!" by Jose Bea (art) and Greg Potter (story). A sheriff heads home to see his family. He sees his mother, but his younger sister is off trying to hook up with a man, Ronald who does nothing but fish. Heading through the woods, she spots a flying saucer with aliens coming out of it. She tells Ronald, but he ends up being an alien scout himself and kills her to keep things a secret.

Fifth is "The Man With the Brain of Gold" by Reed Crandall (art) and George Henderson (story). This is an adaption of a story that originally appeared elsewhere, but the actual origins are not mentioned, so the original source is unknown. It is about a boy born with an extremely large head. One day it is discovered that his brain is actually made of gold. When his parents ask him for some of the gold from his head, he does so, then goes off on his own, spending for things by taking some of his brain out. He eventually gets married to a woman who causes him to spend even more money, but she soon passes away. At her funeral he sees some shoes that he likes and tries to take more gold out of his head, but by this time he's taken all of it and he dies.

The issue finishes up with "The Killer" by Felix Mas (art) and Steve Skeates (story). The story is about a man who gets married but does little to distinguish himself in life. This upsets his wife, whom he suspects is having an affair. One day he finds his wife stabbed to death and suspects he did it. He runs off and ends up getting hit by a car and killed. It ends up however that it was a burgler who killed his wife and he was innocent all along.

Across the board a fine issue. Got little to complain about here.