Eerie 97

Val Mayerik provides the dinosaur themed cover for this issue of Eerie, featuring four dinosaur themed stories, three of them from a single series. The issue is dated November 1978.

First is "Within You... Without You" the first part of the series from Richard Corben (art) and Bruce Jones (story). This issue was originally from Eerie 77. A group of scientists manipulate the mind of a telepathic young woman, who happens to be the wife of one of them, such that she thinks she is in prehistoric times, finding dinosaurs. When an Earthquake hits her link to reality gets screwed up, so they recruit Lydecker, a man who has similar telepathic abilities, but he also had a prior relationship with her. When a dinosaur attacks however, Lydecker is eaten, and while its not technically reality, whatever happens in their mind effects his real body, killing him. An interesting story that becomes even more complicated over the next few stories.

Next is "Time and Time Again" by Richard Corben (art) and Bruce Jones (story), from Eerie 79, a continuation of the "Within You Without You" story. Karen is requested to go back in time through her mind to retrieve a gun that had been left behind. While there she seeks revenge on the Tyranosaurus that killed Lydecker. She gets her timing mixed up however, and ends up killing the dinosaur before it killed him, so she encounters the past version of him and herself. The scientists bring her out of it, but Lydecker ends up occupying her mind when they do that.

Third is "Years & Mind Forever", the conclusion to the Within You Without You trilogy. This story is from Eerie 87. Art is by Richard Corben and story is by Bruce Jones. In this story it is revealed that Lydecker has been setting up everyone, and that many of the trips into the past have actually been staged by him and an actress pretending to be Karen. Meanwhile he himself has actually made it to the past where he has found the ancestor of humanity. The scientists send another telepath after him and he finds Lydecker in a lab with the ancient man. During a struggle with 'Karen' however the ancestor is shot by him, wiping out humanity. A terrific end to a terrific trilogy, which would be ranked as one of the top 10 Warren series in the Warren companion.

Last is "The Terror Beyond Time!" by Neal Adams (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), from Creepy 15. Searching for a professor, a man heads deep into a cavern where he had dissappeared. Inside he finds a prehistoric world with dinosaurs and prehistoric men. In addition various other people throughout time have been summoned here including a beatiful woman from England. The professor is found, but it ends up that he's working for an evil being who is responsible for summoning everyone there as well as controlling people's thoughts. Our hero refuses to work under his control and instead kills the professor and the evil being. Afterwards he awakens in the modern age, with the woman there with him. A fairly good story although as discussed by Neal Adams in the Warren companion, the evil being ends up looking like an ice cream sundae rather than something supremely evil.

Eerie 123

Sanjulian provides the cover for this issue of Eerie, cover dated August 1981. This cover was originally meant for Creepy 47, but after not being finished in time for that issue, it was held onto for 9 years before being used here. Thankfully no Zud Kamish this issue, so things are a tad better than usual.

First is the latest story in the Mist series, "Token Resistance" by Val Mayerik (art) and Don McGregor (story). Victoria continues to hide on the subway from Lucifer's henchmen, along with her ally, who is revealed to be a CIA agent. Eventually they are found and fight Lucifer's men. Some of the men are killed, but by the end Victoria is still in Lucifer's hands and is dragged off by him. Only a so-so story at best with some lapses in logic; it does feature a funny scene with a panhandler declaring himself an alien though.

Next is the second story in the Born of Ancient Vision trilogy, "In Sight of Heaven In Reach of Hell" by Bob Morello (art) and Budd Lewis (story). The creatures that came due to Mah 'Sess's third eye start creating a large hive in the sky. They are revealed to not be from hell, but from another dimension. They plot to defeat Mah 'Sess and succeed by convincing some of his men to betray him. One of the creatures attacks Mah 'Sess but is killed. As the story ends, an odd reaction occurs with Mah 'Sess's third pair of eyes.

Third is "Remember All the People" by Leo Duranona (art) and Don McGregor (story). This story surrounds a couple on the day of John Lennon's death. Lots of this is the typical psychotic hippie nonsense from McGregor here unfortunately. Duranona provides a good art job at least, in his last Warren story.

The issue concludes with "Path of the Tempered Soul", the latest Haggarth story, but Victor de la Fuente (story & art). King Thall continues his search for a parchment left behind by his former head priest. Some barons meet with him and he tells them off. Haggarth meanwhile meets with the mysterious priest in the obselisk then departs with his friend. His friend plays cards in an inn while Haggarth meets a mysterious man who is working for the King and asks Haggarth to assassinate one of the Barons, Borin for him. Haggarth's friend wants him to come with him to find a treasure, but Haggarth has other plans.

Eerie 122

Romas Kukalis provides the cover for this issue of Eerie, cover dated July 1981.

First is the stand alone story "The Beast Of Sarnadd-Doom!" by Gonzalo Mayo (art) and Budd Lewis (story). Good story and art, quite a contrast to the usual fare from Eerie from this time period. The story features a warrior, Behk-Bagahn returning to the city Sarnadd Doom which he had taken over at an earlier time. An evil lizard giant lives in the city which Behk-Bagahn fights. By destroying the creature however, he transforms into a smaller one himself, and is slain by his fellow men who are hunting, soon afterwards.

The latest Zud Kamish story is next, "The Chameleon Stands Revealed!" by E.R. Cruz (art) and Jim Stenstrum (story). Nothing all that new here; both the art and story continue to be an extreme dissappointment. Zud tries to figure out who the traitor in his group of friends is. Cole Saxon, another friend of his tells him that his enemies, the Desperados want to meet with him. He does so, then escapes from them. Zud then steals Cole's ship and takes off with it.

The latest story in 'The Mist' series is next, "Victoria Rode the Subway Last Night!". Val Mayerik takes over with the art starting with this story, while Don McGregor continues to be the writer. Lucifer and Victoria meet on the subway again, this time due to Lucifer setting it up. Minions of his accompany him on the subway. She is helped from being harmed by a man on he subway, and they escape.

"Haggarth Book II' is next, the latest in the Haggarth series. Art and story continue to be by Victor de la Fuente. A group of priests pray to their God, 'Khost', and the head priest is killed by their king, a very short individual named Thall. The friend that Haggarth made earlier gets in trouble when he takes a vest off a dead man, then gets caught by the man's allies. Haggarth meanwhile meets the old man who helped him in the first few stories of the series, who fills him in on whats going on with Thall. Haggarth runs into his friend again and they wander towards a large stone obelisk. Haggarth heads inside where he encounters a priest.

Eerie 109

This issue of Eerie features a Beastworld themed cover by Kirk Reinert.

First is "Blood on Black Satin", a new series by Paul Gulacy (art) and Doug Moench (story). An interesting new series that is one of the most praised of Eerie's latter day series. A man comes to the town of Middlesex where he finds a large celebration of the macabre taking place. Having received a letter from a woman named Heather McKinnon, he visits her and the wheelchair Uncle Jock, who tells him the history of the town, which is filled with Satan worshippers descended from the villanous Simon Whately and demons. They tell him a new Simon Whately is in town and asks him to investigate at the local library. He does so, but the document he finds there bursts aflame. He returns to the McKinnon home, finding Jock dead.

Second is "Beastworld" by Pablo Marcos (art) and Bruce Jones (story). Thomas saves Monica from the waterfall and decides that he's going to stop his manic quest to outdo Tyler. Tyler meanwhile defeats a giant praying mantis, and sets up a path for Thomas, but wants to kill him.

Third is "Race of the Damned", the second and final part to this short series. Art is by Joe Vaultz and story is by Norman Mundy and Cary Bates. We get an explanation of the race here, as it is explained that robots took over Earth, but give humans the chance to win it back through a race each year where nine humans face one robot. The robots are able to win the race however, keeping things the same.

Fourth is "Fugue State", the latest story in the Samurai series. Art is by Val Mayerik and story is by Larry Hama. In this story a man offers to help the Samurai and the princess, but instead he plans on attacking them. Samurai goes on a rampage, killing everyone.

Last is "The End of the Steel Gang", the latest Mac Tavish story by Pepe Moreno Casares (art) and Jim Stenstrum & Alex Southern (story, Stenstrum as "Alabaster Redzone"). Spider Andromeda plots to kill Gorgo and the entire Board of Directors of his corporation during his victory speech. Mac Tavish heads there as a spy but is caught. Spider kills the Board, but not Gorgo, and blames Mac Tavish for him not being completely successful.

Eerie 108

Jim Laurier provides a cover painting of a giant spider in this issue of Eerie.

First is "A Lion in Our Midst" by Jess Jodloman (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). This story features an interstellar war between a race of lion-like humanoids and humans. A third group called Gadfly tries to broker peace between the two by taking on the disguise of the leaders of each army. They are able to successfully broker peace, although they are killed while leaving by the leader of the human forces.

Second is "Beastworld" by Pablo Marcos (art) and Bruce Jones (story). This story continues the series theme of our heroes battling giant insects. Monica is saved from the flood by Thomas, but by the end of the story pretty much the exact same thing happens as she is caught in a waterfall. Little dialogue in this fast paced, poor story. I'm still waiting for something interesting to happen after four parts.

Third is "A Juggler's Tale", the latest Samurai story. Art is by Val Mayerik and story is by Larry Hama. The issue's best story, it features Samurai and the princess joining a carnival as blind performers. The head of the carnival had his daughter kidnapped by the Yagyu clan and plans to kill Samurai to get her back, but the princess helps him kill the man. They escape, with the one eyed head of the Yagyu Clan quickly on their tail.

Fourth is "Race of the Damned" by Joe Vaultz (art) and Norman Mundy & Cary Bates (story). This story features a race taking place in space. Like all of the stories of this type published by Warren, this is an extremely dull and boring story.

Last is "Growing Pains" by Mike Zech (art) and Bob Toomey (story). This story features a baby that kills its parents. A rather simple story with not much of a point to it.

Creepy 107

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Vampirella 76

This issue of Vampirella features a cover with a photo of Barbara Leigh.

First is Vampirella in "Curse of the Pasha's Princess" by Jose Gonzalez (art) and Bill Dubay (story). In this story Vampirella and Pantha attend a seance with a sultan hoping to speak to his dead wife. The dead wife's spirit appears, but transfers into Vampirella's body, causing Vampirella to act very out of character. Eventually the spirit is expunged from out of Vampirella, returning her to normal.

Second is "Gravity Field" by Pepe Moreno Casares (art) and Bob Toomey (story). This story features a group of astronauts that come across a black hole. One of the astronauts kills one of the others, not under his own control, and they throw his corpse into the black hole. He returns alive soon after however. The black hole starts speaking to them, revealing that he caused the murder then brought the man back to life. Lonely, the black hole asks them to bring it with them, which they do.

Third is "The Games of Sharn" by Ramon Torrents (art, his final Warren story) and Bruce Jones (story). In this story an alien creature who has lived on Earth is found by his home world, who plan to destroy Earth as punishment. Our protagonist demands the ability to play 'The Games of Sharn' and save Earth if he wins. The 'game' involves him dying over and over again throughout time as varous men in search for a key, which ends up being inside his lover's heart. By winning he spares Earth and life returns as if it never happened.

Fourth is "Swift Sculpture" by Val Mayerik (art) and Bob Toomey (story). A hunter woman travels through the arctic with her wolves, fighting off some yetis along the way. She eventually reaches a cave where they encounter a dragon, which was the purpose of her trip. The dragon is able to heal her wounded wolf with her blood, and creatues ice sculptures with his breath. She bring him back to her society where they have a female dragon waiting for him.

Fifth is "Time For a Change" by Alex Nino (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). This story features a crew on a spaceship where it is suspected that there is an alien among them. The alien reveals to the last remaining human that everyone is an alien clone but her. It tells her she should keep it alive to provide company but she kills it anyway.

Last is "The Haunted" by Russ Heath (art) and Bruce Jones (story). This story features a man, Roland, who goes into a haunted house. Since childhood he's always tried to compete with his succesful and brave brother, even if it gets him in danger. The brother goes overseas during the war and continues to have a lot of success. Roland ends up going crazy from his experiences in the house and his brother returns, revealing that he was hiding in another country to avoid going to war and that he's actually a coward.

Creepy 106

Romas Kukalis provides the cover for this issue of Creepy, his Warren debut. This issue is called a swords and sorcery special, although as you'll see within, only half the stories have the swords/sorcery theme.

First is "Quimby the Barbarian" by Pablo Marcos (art) and Bob Toomey (story). This story tells of a man who uses a dream device to become a barbarian, battling other dreaming people. He battles a powerful sorceress who manages to defeat him, and upon returning to the waking world realizes that its his wife!

Second is "Fangs" by Leo Duranona (art) and Laurie Sutton (story). Duranona uses both real photos and his own drawn artwork in this story. A group of mermaids are brought to be entered into 'the shark cult', but upon arriving there realize that it is actually a den of vampires that kill all of them and feed their corpses to sharks. One of the mermaids survives, but is made a vampire herself. She convinces her fellow mermaids to kill all the remaining vampires. She then flees to above the water to escape, where she is soon found by a human.

Third is "Swords in the World Series" by Jim Starlin & Joe Rubenstein (art) and Ken Gale (story). Two sorcerors battle each other and one of them is victorious. The loser tries to escape by going back in time to the present. There he learns about baseball and becomes a player on the Yankees, making them very successful, within one win of the championship. At that time however the winning sorceror arrives on the scene, to have a one on one battle with him this time. Both are transported away, with one of the henchmen recruited for baseball as well.

Fourth is "Primal Equation" by Isidro Mones (art) and Budd Lewis & Jon Sinsky (story). Two soldiers from opposing sides of a large scale war, the only survivors, discover a space ship collecting bodies. Thinking this must be occupied by aliens, responsible for the fighting, they board the ship and inside find a giant embryo, being fed the corpses. One of the soldiers destroys it, but the scientists there, who are fellow humans, reveal that the creature was to be a new breed of human, one that would have kept the world peaceful.

Fifth is "Sudden Death Playoff" by Pepe Moreno Casares (art) and Bob Toomey (story). This story tells of a one on one golf game between a human and alien, with the survival of the Earth at stake. The human is able to beat him in golf and in a duel when the alien pulls out a sword.

Last is "The Art of Killing" by Val Mayerik (art) and Larry Hama (story). A samurai is trained by his elderly father and three uncles. One day a notice from their lord arrives, resulting in the samurai having to kill his uncles to keep his life. He then battles his father and kills him as well. This story would become a new series in Eerie titled "Samurai" shortly after this issue.

Vampirella 79

Jordi Penalva provides the cover for this issue of Vampirella, featuring Vampirella and a dragon.

First is "Shanghaied" by Gonzalo Mayo (art) and Bill Dubay (story). Vampirella and friends are in Hong Kong, where drug dealers have been dying mysteriously. This is part of a long storyline which has already been covered by me in other issues on this blog.

Second is "Edward & Griselda" by Val Mayerik & Joe Rubenstein (art) and Cary Bates (story). This story tells of a woman in medieval times pursued by dinosaur like creatures. Her husband chases after her and threatens to cut off her foot so she can't get away, but thanks to the creatures it is he who loses a foot instead.

Third is "I Think I'll Keep Her" by Auraleon (art) and Cary Bates (story). A man's beautiful wife dies, so he brings her to Haiti where they are able to bring her back as a zombie. The voodoo expert tells the man that she can't have any salt, making him extra paranoid. When he falls into the ocean on their way back to the States however, she jumps in after him, into the salt water.

Fourth is "Night of the Squid" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Michael Fleisher (story). This story tells of a pair of scientists who are able to switch the body of one of them with a squid. The other scientist has a heart attack however, trapping the other man in the squid's body. When detectives arrive they take his body to the morgue, thinking he is dead. A fellow scientist figures out whats going on, but when she switches bodies back it ends up that the man's body is already filled with formaldehyde.

Last is "Fungus" by Leo Duranona (art/photos) and Archie Goodwin (story). This story is a fumetti story, where instead of drawn artwork there are photographs, with word balloons pasted on. Duranona does do some drawings over the photos on some of the panels. The story surrounds a boarding house where a mysterious fungus starts contaminating one of the guests. The fungus was originally discovered by the creator of the house, who opened a door to another dimension, allowing the fungus to arrive. The fungus soon takes over everyone in the house and starts working on taking over the town as well.

Creepy 108

Terrance Lindall provides a fine cover for this issue, his first for Warren. Unfortunately there's not much fine work inside this issue. In fact this may be the single worst issue of Creepy I've reviewed to this point. While there's a few good art jobs here, the stories here are all absolutely dreadful. Please pardon the very short summaries.

First is "Hole in the Head" by Alex Nino (art) and Frank Salvatini (story). This story tells of a man in an insane asylum who claims he's not crazy, but tells a story about monsters he encountered. Some terrific, surreal artwork from Nino but a very confusing nonscenscial story.

Next is "Camelot Crosstime" by Val Mayerik (art) and Jean Michel Marin (story). This very boring story takes place in a medieval setting. That's all I've got to say.

Third is "Sultana" by Pepe Moreno Casares (art) and Budd Lewis (story). Another dreadfully boring story, it tells of a battle and the important part that a woman named Sultana takes in it.

Fourth is "Going by the Book" by Alfredo Alcala (art) and Kevin Duane (story). This story is about a fat demon and the wizard that he serves. Despite being credited to Alcala, this looks nothing like his usual work, making me wonder if it was really Alcala who drew it.

Fifth is "House of Magic" by Pablo Marcos (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). This confusing story tells of a man who moves into a house with a painting of a magician who defied death. Various magical stuff happens, and the house is destroyed.

Last is "Hell's Playground" by Leo Duranona (art) and Jean Michel Martin (story). Devils from hell suddenly arrive in a man's backyard one day. The various things he tries to do, like bringing a priest doesn't help. Eventually he gets them to leave by building a playground.

Creepy 134

This issue of Creepy features Ken Kelly's final Warren cover. Rudy Nebres provides a one page Uncle Creepy introduction.

First story is "Guardians of the Universe!" by Delando Nino (art) and Budd Lewis (story). This story features a pair of men on a planet whose ship is destroyed and confronted by a large tentacled monster.

Next is "Hear the Organ Grinder Play" by Martin Salvador (art) and Mark Willard (story) about a group of homeless people who come across an organ grinder who collects real organs!

Third is "Soul Sucker!" by Fred Carillo (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story) about a man at a hotel who faces a soul sucking monster which he is able to kill.

Fourth is "Wreck of the Vendigo Shafter!" by Gene Day & Rudy Nebres (art) and Rich Margopoulos (story), which tells of a ship that is overtaken by vampire rats.

Fifth is "Nefites" by Jun Lofamia (art) and Bruce Jones (story). A woman goes to a planet with uncivilized frog like creatures who act very bad. Eventually she is impregnated by one of them.

Sixth is "Orson Who?" by Carmine Infantino & Wayne Howard (art) and Nicola Cuti (story) a futuristic retelling of the Orson Wells incident when people believed his reading of War of the Worlds were real. Only this time there really were aliens!

Seventh is "War is Hell!" by Val Mayerik (art) and Roger McKenzie (story) about a soldier on D-Day who finds bizarre things keep happening to him which he dreams of. It ends up that he is in hell.

Last is the issue's best story, "The City of God" by Steve Gan (art) and Budd Lewis (story). Two people in a plane crash come across a giant bald man and a large city, which he says they built for him but passed away, leaving him alone. They die too, as he is radioactive and causes anyone near him to die of poisoning soon after.

Overall a rather lousy and boring issue, which is why my summaries are so short this time.

Creepy 127

Terrance Lindall provides the artwork for this issue's cover. Its quite an interesting and funny cover, with various monsters holding (and licking) a very scared looking man. Lindall's five Warren covers were all quite good and unique looking. Rudy Nebres provides a one page Uncle Creepy intro. With this issue Bill Dubay left as editor (once again!) and Chris Adames took over for a little less than a year.

First story is "Hoodoo the Magnificent!" by Martin Salvador (art) and Bill Dubay (story, as Will Richardson). This story is about an old magician/daredevil who tells a reporter about his crazy feats when he was younger. This story ends rather abrubtly with not much of a point to it, it seems. A poor way to start off the issue.

Next is "Forbidden Fruit!" by Luis Bermejo (art) and Bruce Jones (story). This story is about a shipwrecked man who is rescued, but when the rescuers arrive they find him calling a baby his wife! He tells them the story of how she ate some fruit on the island, which turned her into a tree which grew fruit, out of which came the baby. He becomes convinced that he must eat the fruit himself so he can turn into a baby as well. An alright story but Bermejo's art is a bit down, making the 'wife' look like a male in her baby form.

Third story is "Prism Second Generation Blues" by Noly Panligan (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). This is another story featuring a shipwrecked man, who this time comes across a strange colored meteor which turns into a beautiful woman when he touches it. The woman says her name is Prism, and that she is an alien who can absorb or release light, making it dark around her. They are caught and chased by a Nazi who hopes to overthrow American society, but they are able to stop him. Panligan's art is quite good, with a variety of styles in telling this story.

Fourth is "Daddy is a Werewolf" by Fred Carrillo (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). This story features a werewolf man with a family who hopes to cure his affliction due to a doctor that thinks he can cure him of his affliction. The doctor hasn't realized however that he should avoid using silver instruments on his patient...

Fifth is "Wind" by Val Mayerik (art) and Roger McKenzie (story). Very good art by Mayerik in this story about a native american warrior society and the bad weather that brings their doom.

Last is "Escape" by Herb Arnold (art) and Steven Dietrich (story). A wealthy man seeks to be able to fly, so he visits a voodoo expert who is able to accomplish his goal by turning him into a crow. Once he starts flying though, the man realizes that this isn't as interesting as he thought and he desires to return to his human form. Unfortunately for him, the voodoo expert is murdered, leaving him in the crow form forever.

Creepy 120

This issue features a rare Jeff Jones cover, originally done back in 1975. Rudy Nebres contributes a one page Uncle Creepy intro.

First story is "Deathwatch" by Leo Duranona (art) and Roger McKenzie (story). An old woman keeps alive by refusing Death each time the Grim Reaper comes for her. She befriends a sick young boy in the hospital and finds that he's soon going to die. To save the boy's life, she finally offers herself to the Reaper in order to take the boy's place. A terrific story to start the issue, the best stuff here.

Next is "Hell house" by Jesus Blasco (art, miscredited to Jaime Brocal) and Jim Stenstrum (story, credited to Alabaster Redzone). This story features a hippie and three beautiful women with him who sneak into a seemingly deserted house which is actually occupied by a small impish monster that rapes and kills them all.

Third is "Black Rainbow" by Rueben Yandoc (art, his Warren debut) and Budd Lewis (story). Men in a submarine find a mechanical device deep below the ocean. Soon after finding it a black ring surrounds the Earth and starts blasting the surface with fire, killing all of humanity. The last survivors, who escaped by being out in space think that an alien race planted the device to destroy humanity once they became too advanced.

Fourth is "One Mind, Closed for Alterations!" by Jess Jodloman (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). The mafia is suspicious of a senator running for president, so they plot to manipulate a mentally unstable man to get him to kill them through subliminal messages. It works and the senator is killed, and the assassin is killed immediately afterwards, making it looks like he was on his own. The mob boss soon is manipulated in the same way to kill himself however by the man who created the subliminal messages. This man then kills himself over fear that it could happen to him as well.

Fifth is "A Taste for Heroes" by Carmine Infantino & Pablo Marcos (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). This story is about a kayak race on a river rumored to be where Ulysses blinded a cyclops. Along the river are numerous traps that kill all of the kayakers except one, who believes that the cyclops is still out there.

"Winterbeast" by Val Mayerik (art) and Budd Lewis (story) is next. This story is told from the perspective of a wolf being chased by french hunters. While the wolf is shot by them a giant indian woman appears and saves him, freezing the men.

Last is "Black Snow" by Herb Arnold (art, his Creepy debut) and Jeff Rovin (story). This story surrounds an author working on a book who sees black snow falling from the sky. Thinking its the apocalypse, he goes out to see if a lady friend is okay but finds her dead. With her dog he wanders around looking to see if anyone else is around.

Overall a so-so issue. No real terrible stories, but aside from the first one, nothing that great either. The art is for the most part quite good here though.

Creepy 105

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Creepy 117

Only a so-so issue at best. The cover, by Ken Kelly is a reprint of a design used years earlier for tshirts sold by Warren. This issue features a new Creepy logo which wouldn't last that long.

First is "Scream" by Leo Duranona (art) and Bob Toomey (story). A very long, drawn out story about a couple that awakens from suspended animation and finds everyone else gone and the world apparantly destroyed. They head out for a while and are confronted by some beast men who they are able to escape from. A rather long, drawn out and non-interesting story including a four and a half page stretch with no dialogue or captions whatsoever. Art by Duranona is okay.

Second is "A Noble Gesture" by Adolfo Abellan (art). The writer is uncredited. Abellan makes his first Warren appearance in a number of years and would vanish for good after this story. It takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where a man finds himself the only one left alive. His body is covered with boils that end up containing minuature people inside of them.

Third is the cover story, "The Beast" by Isidro Mones (art) and Michael Fleisher (story). A rich man is convinced that he is a werewolf who has been committing murders. His doctor tells him that's not so and ups his medication. In actuality the doctor is drugging him to convince him that he is the werewolf, so he can steal his wife and money. He screws up and is arrested, but it ends up that the rich guy is the werewolf after all.

Fourth is "Nightmare Highway" by Carmine Infantino & Steve Leialoha (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). The story is a mystery about a number of murders taking place on the highway of the title. It is thought that a young woman is committing the murders but it ends up instead being a man wearing women's shoes.

Last is "The Silkie" by Val Mayerik & Jeff Easley (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). A man catches a bizarre dolphin-like creature that ends up transforming into a beautiful woman. She remains as a woman out of water, but turns into the dolphin-like creature due to a trigger in her body that occurs when she is in the water. He has surgery done for her so she'll stay human forever, but they botch it and she must stay in the dolphin-like form forever. Years later her daughter shows up. An okay story, best of the issue considering its competition here.

Creepy 109

Very bizarre looking spaceships on the cover of this issue of Creepy, done by Jim Laurier.

Up first is "Vampire Dawn" by Pepe Moreno Casares (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). The story features a vampire found in an outpost in the Arctic. By biting some of the men, they are turned into vampires, and soon all but two of the men are vampires. While a helicopter comes to rescue them, knowing that they will just be attacked as well, the last remaining man blows everything up.

"The Organizer" is next, by Leo Duranona (art) and Bruce Jones (story). It features scientists turning prison inmates into bugs so they can use miniature cameras to find information on another criminal. All but two are killed, but they do successfully complete their mission only to find themselves abandoned as there is no way for the scientists to turn them back to normal. They get revenge by amassing a large swarm of bugs to attack them.

Third is "The Ravenscroft Affair" with art by Paul Neary and story by Bill Dubay. It features a man who opens up a hole to another dimension. There he sees a monster that he becomes obsessed with encountering again. He spends a long time building a machine to open up the hole to the other dimension again and builds a sculpture of the creature to provide as a gift. Not having a gift however, the monster tears his head off and tries to use that! This art looks absolutely nothing like Neary's usual stuff.

Next is "Alien Affair" by Val Mayerik (art) and Cary Bates (story). It features an alien organism that starts growing around a ship and eventually transforms the three astronauts within the ship to turn into alien like creatures as well. Two are killed while the last one is captured.

Last is "Heart of Darkness" by Luis Bermejo (art) and Bill Mantlo (story). It features a man in possession of some animals that he crashes on a planet with. Aliens that look like chimps come after him. He eventually is killed by them. Not that good a story and Bermejo's artwork is absolutely dreadful, its hard to even tell that its him.

Vampirella 82

A cover by Jose Gonzalez begins this issue of Vampirella.

Up first is "The Lost Soul of Adam Van Helsing" by Gonzalez (art) and Bill Dubay (story). Adam's soul is taken control of and Vampi has to head through some Buddhist tasks to save him including encounters with various creatures. Eventually she is successful in saving him.

Next is "Blind Justice" by Leo Duranona (art) and Bruce Jones (story). This story, which has both drawings and photographs within it (something common for Duranona around this time period) is about a man on trial for the murder of his new wife. They had headed to another planet for their honeymoon and got seperated after an argument. The husband left only to come back to find her impregnated by a bizarre tentacled creature. She ended up killing herself and blowing up the whole place. While the husband tries to hide this, he eventually reveals it, which proves his innocence.

Third is "Prey For the Wolf" by Brian Lewis (art) and Cary Bates (story). The story features a Wolf mask that actually comes to life and attacks people. Lewis, in his sole Warren appearance provides some fairly good art, but not that great a story.

Fourth is "Fever" by Val Mayerik (art) and Roger McKenzie (story). The story features a native american warrior with a sick wife about to give birth who heads out to find a magical buffalo that can save her. He eventually does find the buffalo, but too late to save his wife's life.

Next is "Deep Love" by Joe Vaultz (art) and Cary Bates (story). The story features a mother & daughter mermaid duo who capture human men underwater and eat them. The mother comes across a man who ends up being an alien creature that captures her and kills her.

Last is "The Night Willa Jane Gornley Went Home" by Val Mayerik & Jeff Easley (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). In a rather poor issue this story sticks out like a sore thumb. In fact I'd probably rank it among Warren's 25 best stories, and it was honored as best story of the year during the Warren awards. Willa Jane of the title is a handicapped girl who was discovered in an empty shack. She lives a hard life, but is taken in by an elderly couple, Mr. & Mrs. Gornley. After learning how to read she becomes convinced that she is an alien and goes to the hills where UFOs have been spotted each night hoping for the aliens to come take her away. After Mrs. Gornley's death and learning that she's going to an institution, she heads out for one last time and a UFO actually does appear and land. A skull-faced alien comes out to take her away. In reality, its all in her mind, as she's passed away.

Creepy 115

An odd looking cover by Sanjulian for this issue, featuring a man with a fly's face, carrying a passed out woman.

First up is "Gabriel's Horn" by Leo Duranona (art) and Roger McKenzie (story). A story about a black family in the south being mistreated by the KKK, and a magic horn that is used to take revenge on them.

Next is "Last Labor of Hercules" by Delando Nino (art, credited as A2-120) and Budd Lewis (story). The story is about a sorceror who temas up with Hercules. A boring action story.

Third is "Cyrano" by Mike Sanez (art) and Bob Toomey (story). Really good story with extremely good looking art from Saenz, who unfortunately did very little work for Warren. The story features a ship, Cyrano, that heads through space looking for alien civilizations.

"Rapid Fire Angel" by Abel Laxamana (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story) is our next story, about an assassin who is chased down by a living motorcycle possessed by the soul of a former biker. Another rather poor action story.

Fifth is "Et Tu, Brutus?" by Val Mayerik & Rudy Nebres (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). The story is about a pet pig who due to waste contamination turns to a giant size. It eventually needs to be killed to feed everyone.

Last is "War Children" by Val Mayerik (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). It is a Romeo & Juliet style love story between a prince and princess from warring nations. In the end it is revealed that they are brother and sister, spoiling that romance! A good way to end the issue.

Vampirella 86

Here's the final Vampirella issue from the Louise Jones era. Only four stories, but aside from the Vampi story its not that bad an issue. The cover is by Terrance Lindall.

First up is "Revenge of the Renegade Wizard" by Gonzalo Mayo (art) and Bill Dubay (story, under the name Will Richardson). Vampi, Adam and Pantha fight Tenichi, an evil wizard they had originally fought in issue 73. An action filled story that just is not that interesting to me, like most of Vampi's later stories.

Next up is "Snarking Down" by Auraleon (art) and Bruce Jones (story). Its about a man going to see a woman and her husband who he hasn't seen in years. While working on another planet, the husband got as a pet a 'snark', an ugly tentacled creature that has the ability to hypnotize people into thinking its their lover. Naturally his wife wants to get rid of the thing, but there are unintended consequences and it is she who ends up dying.

"Brain Food" by Jun Lofamia (art) and Michael Fleisher (story) is third, about a man who discovers the healing powers of a tribe living deep within a jungle. He also finds out their favorite meal, monkey brains. He kills one of them and steals what he thinks is a magic blanket, only for them to catch him, cause two new heads to grow on his body, and eat the brains of all of them.

Last up is the "Pygalion Effect" by Val Mayerik & Jeff Easely (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). The story's about a girl who can make inanimate objects alive. Her father tells her to stop, but when she's kidnapped, she uses her powers to rescue herself.

My personal fave is 'Snarking Down' although the last 2 stories are fairly good too.

Creepy 118

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

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

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

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

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

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