Eerie 15

My first issue coverage in a while, featuring an issue I've recently been able to acquire. This issue came out shortly after Warren's first collapse at the end of 1967 and features approximately a third reprinted material and two thirds new material. The cover by Vic Prezio is an okay one, but quite unscary.

First is "The Graves of Oconoco" by Pat Boyette & Rocco Mastroserio (art) and John Benson (story). A pair of friends, Frank and Mitchell work in Brazil near a gravesite. Mitchell is a scientist working on making edible material from soil while Frank is an archeologist, who discovers a crypt of dead warriors and a wolf. Mitchell's work on the soil finally is successful but ends up bringing the wolf back to life, which Mitchell klls. Yet it wasn't Mitchell's work that actually brought it back to life, as all the corpses from the crypt soon spring to life themselves.

Second is "Wardrobe of Monsters" by Gray Morrow (art) and Otto Binder (story). For some unknown reason Angelo Torres, who is uncredited on the story (but included in the table of contents page) handles the final page. This story is a reprint from Creepy #2. Five men find a number of sacrophoguses in a pharoah's Egyptian tomb that house various monsters including a vampire, wolf man, devil and Frankenstein monster. One of the men, a translator finds the ability to transfer himself into these monsters. He does so, killing his various partners in monster form so he can get all the credit. He also destroys the mummy of the pharoah, fearing that he also has the ability to transfer into the bodies. However when he occupies a monster to kill his last partner, the pharoah's spirit, released by the destruction of his physical body, seizes the man's own body, trapping him in monster form for good.

Third is "The Demon Wakes" by Tony Williamsune (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). The story by Goodwin was likely left over from when Goodwin departed Warren, as this issue was printed over 6 months after he departed Warren. In the prologue we meet Harry Willet, an accountant entering a bar. The majority of the story features a bizarre monster, Moloch, who awakens chained up in a pit. Moloch breaks free of his chains and climbs out of the pit, killing the guards and breaking free. In real life Harry goes crazy and kills three people before being killed himself. Moloch apparantaly was a representation of the evil within Harry getting out.

"Under the Skin" is next, with art by Joe Orlando and Jerry Grandenetti (who is uncredited) and story by Goodwin. This story was originally printed in Eerie #3. An unsuccesful actor envies another actor whose able to get great roles due to his horrific makeup. By murdering the actor and stealing his technique, he is able to get a great role, but is unable to take off the makeup when he's done. It ends up that he hallucinated the whole thing, and ends up tearing all the skin off his face. Another really good story; its a shame Grandenetti got no credit as he appears to have a lot more influence in the art that Orlando did.

Fifth is the cover story, "The Doll Collector" by Gutenberg Montiero (art) and Dave Kahler (story). A gold digging woman has a vast collection of dolls. She heads to a theater with her latest lover who uses a number of "living" dolls in his act. She demands that the owner sell her one but he refuses. That night she tries to steal one but is attacked by the dolls. She is then shrunk and forced to become a doll-like participant in the show herself.

Last is "A Change in the Moon!" by Jeff Jones (art) and Clark Dimond (story). This story takes place in the late 1800's. A man tries to drown his wife by knocking her off a boat, only for her to be saved by a bizarre bald man. The two return to land, where it is explained that the wife was attacked by a wolf. The husband visits an occultist to see if something can be done for a werewolf, and all she can provide him with is silver bullets. He tries to kill his wife again by pushing her into a train but the bald man appears again to save her. The two confrotnt the husband on the roof and the bald man is revealed to be a werewolf himself. The husband kills him, but finds he can't shoot his wife, now in wolf form, so he lets her attack him such that they'll both be wolves on the next full moon.

Blazing Combat 1

After a very long wait Fantagraphics has finally released its Blazing Combat reprint book giving me the opportunity to finally read (and review) the remaining 3 issues of Blazing Combat that I don't own original copies of yet. Frank Frazetta provides the cover for this issue, something he'd do for each issue of this magazine. A good issue, but not at the level of issue 3 of this magazine, which I reviewed a while back.

First is "Viet Cong" by Joe Orlando (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). This story, like the first story of each issue of this magazine was about the Vietnam War. This story focuses on the experiences of a lieutenant while in the war.

Next is "Aftermath!" by Angelo Torres (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). Taking place during the civil war, a southern soldier and northern soldier befriend each other while burying one of their fallen comrades. The two soon get in a fight however over who started the war and end up killing each other.

Third is "Flying Tigers!" by George Evans (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). This story features a group of pilots working for the Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company and their adventures in the sky. One them are upset at the loss of life during their latest mission simply to protect a plane, although it ends up having their leader on it.

Fourth is "Cong View!" by Gray Morrow (art) and Archie Goodwin (story).A soldier is ordered to lead his troops through a mortar filled region during World War II to clear the way for another group of soldiers. He is hesitant to do so with his fatigued soldiers, but is forced to do so anyway. All his men end up dying during the mission. While more soldiers arrive and go through with their mission he just sits there and cries.

Fifth is "Cantigny!" by Reed Crandall (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). This story features a young soldier in World War I who is excited about facing German soldiers in battle but the regiment never comes across one. While heading through an abandoned city he finally comes across one as goes in an abandoned house to write a letter and ends up being killed by him.

Next is the one page Combat Quiz with art by Angelo Torres.

The sixth story is "Mad Anthony!" by Russ Jones, Tex Blaisdell and Maurice Whitman (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). In a battle in 1771 an american soldier has one of his eyes stabbed by a british soldier's bayonet. Two years later he takes part in a battle at Stony Point where his side wins. He ends up encountering the very soldier who stabbed him two years earlier and gets his revenge on him by stabbing one of his eyes.

Last is "Enemy!" by John Severin (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). An angry sargeant during World War II kills a German soldier they capture, mistakenly thinking he killed a colleague when he mistakes the soldier's initials on a lighter for the initials of the colleague.

Creepy 13

Gray Morrow provides the cover for this issue of Creepy, from February 1967.

First is "The Squaw" by Reed Crandall (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). 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.

Second is "Early Warning!" by Jerry Grandenetti (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A man gets off a bus in a town late at night and is unable to get into a hotel. In an alley he finds a dead woman's body and is blamed by a crowd as being a vampire. They plunge a stake into his heart, killing him. Suddenly the man wakes up, revealing this to all be a dream. He gets off the bus he was on into the town and everything happens exactly as it did in the dream up until when he finds the woman's body. He tells them he's not a vampire and that if they get a mirror he can prove it. But it doesn't do him any good, as the crowd is all vampires, and they kill him.

Third is "Scream Test" by Angelo Torres (art, his final Warren appearance) and Bhob Stewart & John Benson (story). A young reporter goes to see the owner of an old theater, who tells her of how he rised through the ranks from usher to owner of the theater. The owner is obsessed with Lon Chaney and also speaks of something that happened to him in his past. When he starts playing the organ the reporter removes a mask he was wearing, revealing his horribly burned face. Some very nice art here, including some photographs from Lon Chaney movies as well.

Next is "Madness in the Method" by Rocco Mastroserio (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). Our protagonist, Henry, murders his wife and convinces everyone, including the court that he is insane. He finds the insane asylum he's put in unbearable though, and admits to the murder, wanting to be sent to prison instead. The doctors there refuse though, only permitting him to take part in a test to see if he's normal. Unfortunately for him, that results in them taking his brain out of his body.

Fifth is "Fear in Stone" by Eugene Colan (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A sculptor is upset at the fact that he isn't successful. A critic tells him of a fellow sculptor who is very successful. Our protagonist goes to see his work and finds his sculptures to show people in absolute terror. After witnessing a homeless man he sees the sculptor with become the next sculpture, our protagonist breaks into his home where he finds how he does it, he possesses the head of Medusa! Our protagonist is turned to stone and becomes just another sculpture.

Sixth is "Adam Link, Gangbuster!", the latest Adam Link story by Joe Orlando (art) and Otto Binder (story). In this story Adam is disguised as a human and eavesdrops some mobster who have framed Eve for murder. He also finds that a local councilor is involved. While he is caught, he fakes death and makes it out of there. He records the councillor incriminating himself, but the tape is destroyed. He then confronts the councillor, making him confess in writing, but a grenade destroys his legs and his body is destroyed. Is this the end for Adam Link? You'll need to check out his next story, in Creepy 15 to find out.

Last is "Second Chance!", with art by Steve Ditko and story by Archie Goodwin. This story is about a man who makes a deal with the devil to stay alive longer. The devil brings him back to life, but he ends up being stuck in a coffin! Luckily for him a gravedigger digs him out, but upon seeing this 'corpse' come to life, he kills him, which finishes him off for good.

Creepy 55

An all reprint issue of Creepy, the cover being a montage of many previous covers. This issue is dated August 1973.

First is "Brain Trust" by Angelo Torres (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), from Creepy 10. A new doctor in town is perplexed by the town eccentric, a large man who doesn't show up in public often, and smells like shaving cream. Eventually the grocery store owner refuses his business and he dissappears. The doctor finds out that the man was one of a set of mutated twins. Having died in a car crash, his other brother used his brain to control his actions. When the doctorcomes upon him, the living twin uses the dead one's body to kill himself.

Second is "Welcome Stranger" by Al Williamson (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), from Creepy 2. Two men from Hollywood that work in the movie industry come across a town where they find some strange events occuring. They soon encounter some ghosts. It ends up all being fake, an act by the townfolk who want a movie filmed there, but their work had resulted in frightening the two men to death

Third is "Act Three", which is written and drawn by Johnny Craig. This story, from Creepy 18 is about an actress whose husband has turned into a werewolf. The two of them are able to get a doctor to create a cure, but when he injects both of them with the serum, the actress turns into a werewolf herself.

Fourth is "Thundering Terror!" by John Severin (art) and Clark Dimond & Terry Bisson (story), from Creepy 17. This issue was clearly originally intended for Eerie, with Cousin Eerie hosting it. This story is about an old man who tells of his brother, who was obsessed with killing buffalos. One such encounter resulted in the death of a man who was trying to stop him. Over the years our narrator becomes successful and grows a family while his brother vanishes and returns from time to time, always doing nothing but hunting buffalos. An old man, our narrator finds his brother dead after he tries to hunt one last buffalo, and sees the ghost of the dead man on a ledge above him. Like any story told in a western setting, Severin was perfectly suited for this story.

Fifth is "Incident in the Beyond!" by Gray Morrow (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), from Creepy 3. A ship heads through space, testing a new warp drive to ensure it works. There was one prior try at the warp, which failed before. Along the way they find an apparent alien ship, which they destroy. The warp drive works, but they find that it has not saved them any time, and they find another ship trying the drive thinking they're aliens, so they are destroyed as well, like they had destroyed the original ship.

Sixth is "Prelude to Armageddon" by Wally Wood (art) and Wally Wood & Nicola Cuti (story) from Creepy 41. Some very sexy art by Wood in this story about a medieval war between various creatures such as centaurs, minotaurs and other creatures. The moon explodes during the battle, dealing heavy damage to the Earth and wiping out the battlers, leading to our society many milleniums later.

Last is "The Law and Disorder" by Luis Garcia (art) and Dennis P. Junot (story), from Creepy 47. This story features a man who is angry at the board of trustees of a college, thinking they are responsible for his father's death. He creates a disintegration ray which he lets into their hands, and they die of radiation once using it. The protagonist then dies suddenly at the end of the story, with little explanation.

Creepy 6

Frank Frazetta provides a terrific, very dark cover for this issue of Creepy. Roy Krenkel draws the frontis, "Creepy's Loathsome Lore", which features the Mummy's Curse.

First is "The Thing in the Pit!" by Gray Morrow (art) and Larry Ivie (story). An excellent story, this features a man whose car crashes in the woods. He is helped by a pair of blind freaks who bring him to their house and warn him of 'The Thing in the Pit'. Curious, he finds 'The Thing' to be a beautiful, normal looking woman. The freaks throw him in the pit but when he tries to get out using some rope, he realizes its actually the tentacles of the Thing, which strangles him.

Second is "Thumbs Down!" by Al Williamson (art) and Anne T. Murphy (story). Murphy was Archie Goodwin's wife. This is her sole story though for Warren. The story features a crooked arena games master who has his top gladiator killed only for him to come back from the dead to take revenge. This story would probably be reprinted by Warren over the years more than any other story.

Third is "Adam Link in Business!" by Joe Orlando (art) and Otto Binder (story). Adam is about to be executed for the murder of Dr. Link, but at the last second his friend Jack Hall gets him saved because of a witness changing her story. Adam goes into business as a scientific consultant, making lots of money. He takes on a secretary, Kay, who is Jack's girlfriend. Jack wants to marry her but she refuses, as she's in love with Adam! Adam flees from society to avoid her.

Fourth is "The Cask of Amontillado!" by Reed Crandall (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), an adaption of the classic Poe story. 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.

Fifth is "The Stalkers" by Alex Toth (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A man goes to a psychologist, telling him of these bad dreams he is having where he is confronted by aliens that look like prune faced people. The psychologist reveals that he's an alien himself, and that our protagonist is one as well, who had been on Earth in human form so long that he forgot who he was.

Sixth is "Abominable Snowman!" by John Severin (art) and Bill Pearson (story). A group of four explorers search for adominable snowmen in the himalyas. Soon two of the men are dead. The other two set explosions, which go off as some of the creatures come. One of the men in their tent thinks he's safe, only to find that one is in the tent with him!

Last is "Gargoyle" by Angelo Torres (art) and Archie Goodwin & Roy Krenkel (story). A man seeks to find the power to turn stone into gold. He meets a mysterious dwarf who is the responsible for the deaths of multiple powerful men. He gets the dwarf drunk, who reveals how to make gold out of stone, so he pours it on a stone gargoyle. Only the dwarf actually told him how to turn the stone into life, and the gargoyle kills him!

Creepy 4

Frank Frazetta tackles the cover for this issue of Creepy, featuring a man confronted by a werewolf. The frontis is "Creepy's Loathsome Lore" by Al Williamson.

First is "Monster Rally" by Angelo Torres (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A mad scientist assembles a large group of monsters, all in order to find a formula that will give him eternal life. Eventually a town mob attacks him when one of his monsters, a vampire, escapes and attacks the town. The scientist frees his monsters, who kill him rather than attack the mob. The entire castle burns to the ground. There is only one survivor, a small baby... Uncle Creepy!

Next is "Blood and Orchids" by Al McWilliams and Archie Goodwin (story). A doctor assists in a murder investigation where multiple people have been found with their blood drained. He suspects it is because of a countess he met who doesn't use mirrors, brought over native soil for her plants, and doesn't go out during the day. He naturally thinks she is a vampire, but it is actually her blood drinking plants that are the culprit.

Third is "The Damned Thing" by Gray Morrow (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), an adaption of the Ambrose Bierce story. A group of men gather around in a cabin due to the death of the cabin's owner. One of the men, a friend of the murder victim, tells a story about how he believes the man was killed by a creature that is a color that the human eye cannot see. None of them believe him, but as they leave, they are attacked by the creature. A very good adaption (with a revised ending) by Goodwin. The 'Damned Thing' is very scary when it finally is seen.

Fourth is "Moon City!" by Al McWilliams (art) and Larry Engleheart (story). This story tells of a settlement made on the moon. One of the workers who constructs the settlement returns to Earth, gets married, and heads to the moon with his wife. But there they are attacked and killed by hungry dogs who were on the moon all by themselves.

Fifth is "Curse of the Full Moon!" by Reed Crandall (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). 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.

Last is "The Trial of Adam Link" by Joe Orlando (art) and Otto Binder (story). Adam is turned back on by Dr. Link's nephew, who is able to get him put on trial rather than being immediately destroyed. Adam is villified by the masses and torn apart by the press, except for a single writer, Jack Hall. Adam saves multiple peoples lives around the time of and after the trial, but is found guilty and sentenced to death.

Creepy 7

This issue of Creepy features a classic cover by Frank Frazetta of a werewolf fighting a vampire. A very strong issue, not a single bad story from an art or story standpoint here.

First is "The Duel of the Monsters!" by Angelo Torres (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A vampire finds that he has competition in the town he's in, a werewolf. The werewolf knows of him and plants a crucifix in his coffin. The vampire plots to get rid of the werewolf, thinking he knows who he is. He waits at the werewolf's house and kills him, only to find that the werewolf was actually someone else. The man he was suspecting was the werewolf appears, revealing it was a trap to get the two of them to eliminate each other, as he is a ghoul and wants no competition either.

Second is "Image of Bluebeard" by Joe Orlando (art) and Bill Pearson (story). A mysterious assassin plaugues the countryside. Meanwhile a young woman marries an older man who cares for her, but forces her to stay on his estate in the woods. He has a cabin near their house that he refuses her to go into. After finding out that he's married three times before and discovering a book about bluebeard in his library, she becomes convinced that he's the killer and stabs him just as he is about to bring her into the cabin. But it ends up that the killer had already been captured and the cabin was just filled with animals he had gathered to keep her company.

Third is the one page "Creepy's Loathsome Lore" by Frank Frazetta (art), his final interior artwork for Warren.

Fourth is "Rude Awakening!" by Alex Toth (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). This story is about a man who keeps having dreams of a glasses wearing man attacking him with a knife. He's so freaked out by them that he falls out a window and is brought to the hospital, where he faces none other than the glassed man!

Fifth is "Drink Deep!" by John Severin (art) and Otto Binder (story, as Eando Binder). A wealthy ship owner brings people on tours of the sea, telling them of his ancestor who was a pirate. He is very cruel to his crew, causing them all to quit. He soon is able to gain a new crew, but it ends up that they are actually dead, killed by his ancestor, and they cause his ship to sink, leaving him at the bottom of the ocean with his ancestor's victims.

Sixth is "The Body-Snatcher!" by Reed Crandall (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), an adaption of the story by Robert Louis Stevenson. A young doctor joins another doctor who is responsible for teaching students about autopsies. He soon finds from that they are forced to revert to digging up corpses to get bodies, or buying them from other grave robbers. One such grave robber becomes quite a nuisance and is eventually killed by the older doctor and used as one of their patients. But when they dig up a new corpse to use from the cemetary, it ends up being him, and he comes back to life to get revenge.

Seventh is "Blood of Krylon!" by Gray Morrow (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A vampire, who is finding it harder to find victims in a futuristic society decides to head to the colony planet of Krylon, where he thinks that it will be much easier to find victims. On the way there he kills all his fellow ship travelers, using them to feed himself. When he arrives at Krylon however, he soon dies when he finds out that the night is a lot shorter there.

Last is "Hot Spell!" by Reed Crandall (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). 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'be become as evil as he, and sets them aflame.

Creepy 9

Posting another issue today to make up for missing yesterday.

This classic issue of Creepy features a cover by Frank Frazetta featuring a swordsman fighting off 3 vampire creatures. The frontis is "Creepy's Loathsome Lore" by Roy Krenkel.

First is "Dark Kingdom!" by Gray Morrow (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A Spartan, Argo, finds himself in hell, battling various winged creatures, snakes and others. He's able to escape from Hades and live, with a scar on his back as a souvenier. As usual, great art from Morrow.

Second is "The Castle on the Moor" by Johnny Craig (story & art, credited to Jay Taycee). A group of tourists in a castle find themselves under attack by a werewolf, the son of the castle's owner. Soon only two are left, but are able to kill the werewolf with a silver bullet. One of the survivors reveals himself a ghoul however, and kills the last remaining person so he can eat her.

Third is "Adam Link's Vengeance" by Joe Orlando (art) and Otto Binder (story). This story continues from the prior one, where Adam was thrown off a cliff by Eve, who was possessed by a helmet she was wearing. Adam makes it to civilization, gets repaired, then takes on Eve in a new robot body. He defeats her, but ends up killing her. The man possessing her falls off a cliff soon afterwards.

Fourth is "Overworked" by Wally Wood & Dan Adkins (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). This story, which was Wood and Adkin's Creepy debut is about a comic book artist who is finds himself plauged by the monsters from the stories he creates. He tries to stop, but keeps getting more jobs and finds himself in horrific situations. Eventually he becomes trapped within his own strip.

Fifth is the second part of "The Coffin of Dracula" by Reed Crandall (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). This is a continuation from a story started in the prior issue. A man who had sat in Dracula's grave becomes Dracula himself. The story surrounds a number of men pursuing him, who eventually are successful in destroying him.

Sixth is "Out of Time" by Alex Toth (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A mugger kills his victim, and is under pursuit from the police. He manages to escape using a portal which brings him to the 1700's. A man there tells him that he created the portal and wants to switch places with him. They do so, but our protagonist finds himself in just as bad a position as he's burned at the stake for witchcraft, which the person he replaced had been performing.

Last is "The Spirit of the Thing" by Steve Ditko (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). It features a professor who hypnotizes a student of his, resulting in his spirit leaving his body. The professor then steals the student's body, as his is about to die. The student's spirit, now bodiless, steals the professor's corpse from the graveyard and uses it to brutally beat to death his own body (with the professor's spirit) until the professor is forced to leave. Outside of Collectors Edition from the next issue, Ditko's best story for Warren.

Creepy 87

This issue is a special issue dedicated to the planet Mars. Nicola Cuti is credited as an editor (below Louise Jones and Bill Dubay) for this issue only. The cover is by Berni Wrightson; it is not an original cover but rather colored reprinted panels from art he did within the magazine. Wrightson was reportedly rather upset when he found Warren had done this; its a practice they used occasionally throughout the years, although mostly on reprint issues such as Creepy 82 and Eerie 78. An excellent issue, with only one poor story.

First is a one page feature titled "Four Classic Martians", drawn by Berni Wrightson. It features four panels of various martians. Two of these panels would be used on the cover.

Next is "A Warped Tale" by Gray Morrow (art) and Al Sirois (story). This was Morrow's first Warren appearance since the cover of Eerie 10 in 1967, and his first interior story since Creepy 10 in 1966. Unfortunately it would also be his final Warren appearance. The story features two astronauts who end up going through a timewarp, and find themselves on Mars, thousands of years ago. Mars at this time is a beautiful planet, very similar to Earth. From two of its inhabitants who they meet, they find that Mars is battling a planet that exists between Mars and Jupiter. The aliens from that planet can't breathe on Mars, and vice versa. Eventually these aliens attack, pumping their atmosphere into Mars. When our heroes retaliate, its sets the entire planet on fire. The enemy's planet is destroyed, creating, the asteroid belt that exists today. A very interesting and well drawn story to start the issue.

Third is "A Martian Saga" by Berni Wrightson (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). Rather than an actual story, this is a 6 page poem, told with three panels per page. It features a man coming to Mars who meets a tribe there, confronts a monster, and meets a beautiful woman. Alas, its not a happy ending for him as he suffocated when he takes off his oxygen mask while with the woman.

Fourth is "Those 'Orrible Passions of '78" by Carmine Infantino & Dick Giordano (art) and Bill Dubay (story). This issue's best story, it features a retiring detective being interviewed about the most mysterious case of his career. It involved multiple events occuring within a short period of time where parents murdered their children, then died themselves shortly after. At the same time an old man off in the wilderness just lied down in his yard during a snowstorm and died. Throughout the story we are shown similar events occuring on Mars involving a martian and its dead children. The detective wonders if the death of an alien race somewhere in the universe occuring at the same time as these murders influenced them in some way. As an epilogue we are shown the mysterious face on Mars. A very interesting story.

Fifth is "The Last" by John Severin (art) and Roger McKenzie (story). This story features a humanoid Martin who lives on Mars all alone with a robot. The martian is very depressed over the fact that the humans that used to be there are now all dead. The robot starts playing a movie for him, but the martian, trying to get him to stop, electrocutes himself. Ironically, the movie reveals that he wasn't a martian at all, but a mutated human, effected by radiation from the war on Earth that forced humanity to flee to Mars. All alone, the robot kills himself.

Sixth is "They Come Out at Night" by Martin Salvador (art) and Bruce Jones (story). Some astronauts arrive at Mars and find a prior expedition wiped out, with just corpses there. The story then flashes back to the past where one of the astronauts arrives at Mars, finding that his wife is sleeping with another man. When learning of her infidelity he tries to leave her, but it ends up that she is actually possessed by roach like creatures who infect the other crew members when she kisses them. He kills her, but her corpse still comes after him as its still possessed by the roaches. In the present time, our protagonists are confronted by her corpse, which is still possessed by them!

Last is "Warmonger of Mars" by Ralph Reese (art) and Wally Wood (story). This story was reportedly created a long time before this issue, but not printed until now. The issue's sole poor story, it is a comedic effort featuring a man and creature on Mars. Yawn. Reese's art appears heavily inspired by Wood here.

Creepy 2

This classic issue of Creepy was from when the magazine was top notch across the board, great artists, great stories, very few flaws in these early issues. This cover is by Frank Frazetta, his first for Warren. Angelo Torres provides a one page Uncle Creepy intro for the frontis.

First is "Fun and Games!" by Joe Orlando (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). This story surrounds a middle aged couple who hate each others guts. At a carnival the husband participates in a game where he fires upon a model of his wife. When he gets home, he finds that she is dead. He heads back to the carnival, where the carnival barker he met before leads him through a door, where his wife is, who shoots him. A rather confusing ending to this story.

Next is the one page "Creepy's Loathsome Lore" by Bob Lubbers (art), in his sole Warren apperance. This feature focuses on vampires.

Next is "Spawn of the Cat People", the cover story, by Reed Crandall (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A hunter comes across a panther that has murdered a man in the woods. He comes across some other men that have tied up a young woman. He frees her and runs off with her, despite their warnings that she's not like them. The hunter soon suspects that she has the ability to turn into a panther and shoots her. But when he finds the men he met before they reveal the truth, that in their town she was the only one who could not tranform. They then transform into panthers and kill him.

Third is "Wardrobe of Monsters" by Gray Morrow (art) and Otto Binder (story). For some unknown reason Angelo Torres handles the final page. Five men find a number of sacrophoguses in a pharoah's Egyptian tomb that house various monsters including a vampire, wolf man, devil and Frankenstein monster. One of the men, a translator finds the ability to transfer himself into these monsters. He does so, killing his various partners in monster form so he can get all the credit. He also destroys the mummy of the pharoah, fearing that he also has the ability to transfer into the bodies. However when he occupies a monster to kill his last partner, the pharoah's spirit, released by the destruction of his physical body, seizes the man's own body, trapping him in monster form for good.

Next is the one page "Creepy's Loathsome Lore" by Frank Frazetta (art). This feature focuses on werewolves. It was one of Frazetta's very few interior art jobs for Warren.

Fourth is "Welcome Stranger" by Al Williamson (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). Two men from Hollywood that work in the movie industry come across a town where they find some strange events occuring. They soon encounter some ghosts. It ends up all being fake, an act by the townfolk who want a movie filmed there, but their work had resulted in frightening the two men to death

Fifth is "I, Robot" by Joe Orlando (art) and Otto Binder (story). This is the first story in the Adam Link series that ran throughout many of the early issues of Creepy. The story was originally written by Binder and his brother, and had actually been partially adapted before in EC comic's Weird Science Fantasy 27 - 29, which incidently enough was also drawn by Joe Orlando. This story introduces Adam, who is a robot created by the kindly scientist Dr. Link. Throughout the early part of the story we watch Adam's development from a blank slate to an intelligent creature. Unfortunately one day Dr. Link is killed accidently and Adam is seen there by the housekeeper, causing his death to be blamed on him. Adam is forced to go on the run and hide from the humans pursuing him.

The issue concludes with "Ogre's Castle" by Angelo Torres (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). An extremely good art job from Torres here, arguably his best job for Warren. A knight heads to a castle that is rumored to be where his younger brother dissappeared. Inside he finds an ogre who has captured a beautiful young woman. He fights off the ogre's various minions, then saves the woman. On his way out the ogre confronts him, and the knight kills the ogre. The ogre's corpse transforms into his younger brother as soon as he is killed however. The woman, now revealed to be a sorceress, transforms the knight into an ogre, to be used to guard the castle like his brother had before.

Of special note is the subscription ad at the end of the issue, drawn by Jack Davis. This ad would eventually be transformed into the cover for Eerie #1 about a year or so later.

Creepy 10

A classic Frank Frazetta cover starts off this issue of Creepy, featuring a green Frankenstein's monster before a mob.

First is "Brain Trust" by Angelo Torres (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A new doctor in town is perplexed by the town eccentric, a large man who doesn't show up in public often, and smells like shaving cream. Eventually the grocery store owner refuses his business and he dissappears. The doctor finds out that the man was one of a set of mutated twins. Having died in a car crash, his other brother used his brain to control his actions. When the doctor comes upon him, the living twin uses the dead one's body to kill himself.

Second is "Into the Tomb!" by Joe Orlando (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A group of archaeologists discovers a mummy's tomb, complete with one mummy of a servant and one of a pharoah. One of the archeologists reveals himself to be the pharoah, reincarnated, and destroys the mummy of his original body. The mummy of the servant arrives and the pharoah orders him to kill the others, but it instead wraps him up in wrappings and puts him back in the sarcophagus where his original body had been.

Third is "Monster!" by Rocco Mastroserio (art, his Warren debut) and Archie Goodwin (story). A man awakens in the body of a Frankenstein like monster. He becomes enraged at the scientist who did this to him and grabs him and walks into quicksand, just as the scientist reveals that he needed to do this to save him from a car wreck. A printer mistake causes the 6th and final pages in this story to be switched with one another.

Fourth is "Midnight Sail" by Johnny Craig (story & art, credited as Jay Taycee). Four young men and women go onto a sailboat and are helped by a friendly old captain who tells them a tale of the ship, which was occupied by a vampire which killed most of the crew and was obsessed with piloting the boat himself. In the present day the old captain pilots the boat over a waterfall to his death when a stake goes through his heart. Two of the young people are able to escape unharmed. The narrative of this story is very confusing, making it hard to tell when we depart the past and come back to the present.

Next is "Backfire!" by Gray Morrow (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A gunfight veteran arrives in a deserted town and meets an old man in the bar, who tells him of a jury thats forming. After the gunfighter tells the old man about his most previous gunfight it is revealed that the 'jury' is actually the ghosts of the men he's killed, who fire upon him. He wakes up, finding its a dream, but soon ends up in the exact same scenario all over again.

Sixth is "Thing of Darkness" by Eugene Colan (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A man working in the subway encounters a monster in the darkness which is afraid of the light. He is able to escape from the creature when the light of a subway car arrives, but his hair goes white from the fright. The monster still pursues him, but as long as he remains in the light he is okay. Unfortunately for him, the city has a great blackout, and all he has is a single candle which doesn't stay lit for that long...

Last is one of Warren's all time most famous stories, "Collectors Edition" by Steve Ditko (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). The story features Danforth, a man obsessed with the occult who hears of a book, 'Dark Visions' that he becomes obsessed with obtaining. Seeking to spend all of his wife's money on the book, he eventually murders the bookstore owner who told him of it in the first place, who had also committed murder to obtain the book. Reading the book, Danforth finds that it goes long past the time of the author, all the way to the present, and even the future, showing his own death, which shortly comes when his wife buries an axe in his head. Terrific art, terrific story, this is certainly up there among Goodwin's best stories. Ditko's drawing of Danforth's eyes slowly closing across the bottom of each page is also a nice touch.

Creepy 3

A classic early issue of Creepy, featuring a cover by Frank Frazetta. A scary looking cover, but one that was never chosen for reprinting. Jack Davis does the art for this issue's frontis, "Creepy's Loathsome Lore". During this era of Creepy's existence there was rarely if ever a dud story; this issue is a great example, nothing bad here at all.

First is "Swamped" by Angelo Torres (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A criminal is under pursuit by law enforcement in the middle of a swamp. He comes across a mansion occupied by three vampires. Rather than be killed by them, he leads them to the men pursuing him who are all killed by the vampires. He is captured by the vampires but kills them with stakes during the daytime and runs back out to the swamp... only to be killed by the vampires that the men pursuing him became.

Next is "Tell-Tale Heart" by Reed Crandall (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). This is an adaption of Edgar Allen Poe's classic story. This story tells of a servant of an old man who goes crazy due to the old man's eye and kills him. He hides the man's body in the floor boards and succesfully convinces the cops that he's done no wrong until he hears a beating heart which drives him to admit the truth. Goodwin's adaption adds a new ending to the end where the murderer is put in an institution and kills himself after seeing himself in a mirror with his bloodshot eye looking similar to the old man's.

Third is "Howling Success" by Angelo Torres (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A city is plagued by a werewolf. A man who hates his wife encounters the werewolf but is safely able to hide from it by running through a cemetary fence. He plots to bring his wife to this spot at he next full moon so she can get killed by the werewolf, making him money on insurance. Only when he brings her there he discovers that she's the werewolf and becomes its next victim!

Fourth is "Haunted!" by Gray Morrow (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A man inherits a hotel from his uncle rumored to be haunted, so he brings a supernatural expert there along with some of his cousins. The cousins leave, and the two of them head through the house, which does appear to be haunted, until the supernatural expert discovers that the cousins were faking it all in order to get the property for themselves. When asked how he knew they were faking it, the supernatural reveals the truth, that he's a ghost himself, as he removes his mask, revealing his skeleton face. A very enjoyable ending to this story.

Next is "Incident in the Beyond!" by Gray Morrow (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A ship heads through space, testing a new warp drive to ensure it works. There was one prior try at the warp, which failed before. Along the way they find an apparent alien ship, which they destroy. The warp drive works, but they find that it has not saved them any time, and they find another ship trying the drive thinking they're aliens, so they are destroyed as well, like they had destroyed the original ship.

Last is "Return Trip!" by Joe Orlando (art) and Arthur Porges (story, his sole Warren appearance). A man's corpse returns from the dead. As he heads towards his old house, we flashback to when he was alive, and his wife, bored with him, plotted to poison him with a friend of his. The corpse returns to the home and murders his old friend then finds his wife. Surprisingly enough, rather than kill her he kisses her!

Eerie 7

This issue's cover is by Frank Frazetta. Its rather different than his usual fare, dominated by a dark sky and dark sea with a woman in white beckoning whatever is in the sea. The frontis for this issue is "Eerie's Monster Gallery No 6: The Hydra" by Gray Morrow.

First story is "Witch's Tide" by Eugene Colan (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). The story is about a group of sea beasts that are attacking people in a small town. The townfolks think the daughter of an admitted witch is luring the beasts to the town, so they kill her and burn her corpse. But it ends up that she was actually attemping to keep the beasts away from the town, and with her dead, the beasts are quickly able to overrun the town. A great story to start off the issue with.

Next is "It That Lurks!" by Dan Adkins (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A pair of men encounter a dinosaur lurking in quicksand in the deep jungle. They shoot it with tranquilizer darts only for it to submerge under the quicksand. One of the men, seeking glory heads in the quicksand after it and is killed. The other man is about to depart when he sees his wife in the quicksand and also heads in, to his death. It ends up neither the dinosaur or the man's wife were ever truly there, but actually were generated as a trap (that which the victim wanted the most) by the quicksand. Yet another terrific story here.

Third is "Hitchhike Horror!" by Hector Castellon (art) and Goodwin (story). This is Castellon's Warren debut. His art, as usual is just way too ugly and has too many lines if you ask me. Anyway, this story is about a man who picks up a hitchhiker and soon after hears news on the radio about a maniac being loose. It seems as if the hitchhiker is the maniac, but in actuality he is after the driver, who is the real maniac. It ends up that the hitchhiker is a ghost of one of the driver's past victims and kills him by burying him alive.

Fourth is "The Defense Rests!" by Johnny Craig (story & art). A terrifically drawn and written story, featuring no dialogue at all. It is about a young lawyer who goes after the same woman as the very powerful mayor. When the town maniac kills the girl, the mayor blames it all on the lawyer and puts him on trial, where he stacks the jury with his allies and declares him guilty. The lawyer breaks loose and captures them all and unleashes the maniac on them, who was, like him, framed years before.

Fifth is "Fly!" by Steve Ditko (art) and Goodwin (story). This story is about a man covered in bandages who has had surgery to change his face. Only he keeps being bothered by a fly and falls out a window to his death. It ends up that the fly was attached to his head bandages near his ears which is why it bothered him so much.

Sixth is "The Quest!" by Donald Norman (art) and Goodwin (story). A powerful duke seeks eternal life, but every attempt at it fails. His advisor, an old man, tells him that he'll be able to give him eternal life if he will do good things for the town. The duke agrees so the old advisor brings him to a place occupied by vampires, who promptly turn him into one of their own.

The issue concludes with "Cry Fear Cry Phantom" by Jerry Grandenetti (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A man and his fiance go to his home, a large mysterious looking house, where his uncle lives with him. She repeatedly has visions of an odd looking woman with an axe, and suspects the uncle is up to something, particularly when she sees him burying that woman! It ends up however that the fiance is the true maniac, and chops her up with an axe.

Creepy 14

This issue of Creepy features a cover by Gray Morrow of a barbarian fighting a skeleton warrior. The frontis for this issue is "Creepy's Loathsome Lore" by John Severin.

First up is the cover story, "Where Sorcery Lives" by Steve Ditko (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A warrior, Garth comes after the sorceror Salamand who was responsible for the destruction of his town and capture of his lover. The warrior battles various beasts sent after him by the sorceror and finally comes upon him. The sorceror reveals that he is going to use Garth's body such that the lover will love him, but ends up getting stabbed by her because he let his guard down.

Second is "Art of Horror" by Jerry Grandenetti (art) and Goodwin (story). The story features a writer who plans to play a trick on his two friends in a haunted mansion by masquerading as a ghost. Only after frightening them he realized that he died when falling down the stairs, and truly is a ghost!

Third is "Snakes Alive!" by Hector Castellon (art) and Clark Dimond & Terry Bisson (story). The story is about musicians who come across an old musician who sends snakes after them. Eventually they end up turning into snakes themselves. Castellon's art is quite a dissappointment compared to the other artists in this magazine.

Fourth is "The Beckoning Beyond!" by Dan Adkins (art) and Goodwin (story). A man goes to see his friend, who has created a machine that opens up a portal to another dimension. The two head there, where they find bizarre creatures coming after them. They return to the normal world and the man destroys the machine, but his friend dies, as it ends up that he had already died the first time he used the portal and was only kept alive by heading to the other dimension.

Fifth is "Piece By Piece" by Joe Orlando (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A scientist creates a Frankenstein-like monster from five different people and takes the brain from his assistant. The monster takes revenge upon the townfolk who were mean to him when he was still alive, only for the corpses of the five people whom his body is made up of to climb out of their graves and take back all their body parts.

Sixth is "Castle Carrion!" by Reed Crandall (art) and Goodwin (story). This story features a knight who comes across a strange castle where a wizard brings multiple dead soldiers to life to fight. The knight tries to escape the castle with the wizard's daughter, but are pursued by the wizard, who turns into a vulture. The wizard is killed by the knight, but this ends up killing the daughter, who was originally dead but brought back to life.

Last is "Curse of the Vampire!" by Neal Adams (art, his Warren debut) and Goodwin (story). The story features a family curse where every member of the vampire is supposedly supposed to turn into a vampire after death. A doctor who has fallen in love with a young woman who is part of the family refuses to let the family servent drive a stake through her since he believes she is just in a coma. It ends up that the servent is the true vampire, and has been able to blame everything on the family due to the curse. The doctor kills him and the girl awakens. However it ends up that the doctor is a vampire, and now knowing that she's human, he makes her his next victim!

Creepy 8

An early issue of Creepy, featuring Gray Morrow's first cover for Warren's horror magazines. The frontis for this issue, "Creepy's Loathsome Lore" is by Angelo Torres (art) and Archie Goodwin (story).

Up first is "The Coffin of Dracula" by Reed Crandall (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A man comes into possession of Dracula's coffin and sits in it, becoming Dracula himself. He invites people to his mansion then steals one of the women and runs away with her. The Van Helsings start looking for him and find a monster in a cave. This story would be concluded in the next issue.

Next is "Death Plane" by George Evans (art) and Larry Ivie (story). Evans was a terrific artist at EC but unfortunately did very few Warren stories, just this and a few for Blazing Combat. This story features a mysterious plane that is taking out both American and German planes during the war. One of the American officers is killed and realizes that the ghost of each person killed appears in the plane until they can kill someone else.

Another EC great is next, Johnny Craig, using the pseudonym 'Jay Taycee' in his Warren debut, "The Mountain". This story, like the previous one, is done in pencil only. A woman wandering in the winter wilderness comes across a cabin on a mountain and meets a man inside who asks her to bring the town mayor to him so he can take over his mind. She does so and the young man reveals his true self, the Devil, who is able to wreak havoc on the world now that she has brought him a body he can use to escape the cabin in which he has been trapped.

Fourth is "The Invitation" with art by Manny Stallman (in yet another Warren debut in this issue) and story by Russ Jones, Larry Englehart and Maurice Whitman. A Baron gets in a car accident and comes across a mansion where vampires live. He convinces them to let him live as long as he brings them victims. He does, but eventually they turn him into a vampire as well. Whitman would very lamely repeat this exact same story in issue 17 in the story "A Night Lodging".

"Adam Link's Mate", one of the many Adam Link stories by Warren appears next, with art by Joe Orlando and story by Otto Binder. In this story, a scientist convinces Adam to create a female robot, Eve, which he does. The scientist then manages to manipulate their minds using a helmet he puts on them and gets them to rob banks for him. Adam is freed of the helmet's influence when a friend stops by, but he is attacked by Eve and thrown over a cliff to his apparant demise.

"A Vested Interest" is next, by George Tuska (art, his sole Warren appearance) and Ron Parker (story). A man sees a werewolf and confides in a stranger at a bar about it. He goes with the stranger to find the werewolf and brings a camera with him, and the stranger ends up being the werewolf. He reveals a gun with silver bullets in the camera, but the werewolf, whose wearing a bullet proof vest gets the better of him.

Last is "Fitting Punishment" by Eugene Colan (art, in his Creepy debut) and Goodwin (story). It features a grave digger who gets caught by the police in the act. He hides in a mausoleum and steals a dead man's clothes to escape, but the clothes shrink while he's wearing them, killing him.

Eerie 2

This is the first real issue of Eerie. It was intended to be the first issue, but when Warren realized that another company was attempting to use the name 'Eerie' prior to them, they rushed out a single 'ashcan' edition issue of Eerie containing three stories meant for Creepy to secure the copyright. A number of months later, the first real issue, this issue, came out. The cover is by Frank Frazetta featuring a wizard summoning monsters. Cousin Eerie and Uncle Creepy, drawn by Jack Davis are included as the frontis.

First is "Footsteps of Frankenstein" by Reed Crandall (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A doctor heads to a town to visit an old friend, who the entire town hates. The friend is working on creating his own Frankenstein-like monster, which he plans to put his own brain into since he is so old. The doctor goes ahead and does it, and the friend plans to go on a rampage against the town. He is struck by lightning however, and turns into dust.

Second is "One for De-Money" by Angelo Torres (art) and E. Nelson Bridwell (story). A man discovers his rich old uncle summoning a demon, who is trapped in a pentagram drawn on the ground in chalk. The uncle demands the demon give him money, which he does. The nephew, upset at the way his uncle has treated him, kills him, then summons the demon so he can get even more money. However, having smudged off the chalk line when killing the uncle, the demon quickly kills him.

Third is "Eye of the Beholder" by Johnny Craig (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A man becomes obsessed with bringing his dead wife back to life and finds a man who is able to do it. His wife returns exactly as she had before, but strange things start happening. The dog is frightened of her and dies of fright soon after. A man paid to deliver flowers to her runs off in terror. The man soon discovers the truth when he looks into a mirror, that she returned as a rotting corpse and she only appears normal when he looks at her.

Fourth is "Flame Fiend" by Gray Morrow (art) and Otto Binder (story). A man kills his business partner in a car explosion, but is visited by his ghost, in the guise of a humanoid flame monster soon after, who says he'll die by fire. The man avoids fire as much as he can, eventually heading to the woods during the winter, where he jumps into an ice-filled lake, causing him to die of a fever.

Fifth is "To Pay the Piper" by Eugene Colan (art, his Warren debut) and Larry Ivie (story). The story takes place in a town plagued by vampires. A piper offers to rid the town of the vampires by playing a song on his pipe in exchange for money. He does so and rids the town of vampires, but the town refuses to pay, so using his pipe he lures the children away, as in the classic Pied Piper story. Men wait for him in the woods however and kill him with arrows. They soon find however that he lured the children into wolfsbane, turning them all into werewolves!

Sixth is "Vision of Evil" by Alex Toth (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). The story features a rich man who becomes obsessed with the art of a madman living in an asylum. He heads to the asylum to see the artist, who is a usually comatose man except when he's painting. It soon becomes clear however that the monsters in his paintings are real, and they come for the rich man after he is featured in one of the madman's paintings.

Final story is "Ahead of the Game". The art is by Joe Orlando and Jerry Grandenetti (credited only to Orlando) and the story is by Archie Goodwin. It features a hunter who kills a white gorilla whose headless ghost continues to haunt him afterwards. Eventually he shows up for real and the hunter's head is cut off and put on a plaque!

Creepy 24

This issue's cover is by Gutenberg Monteiro. Our frontis is "Creepy's Loathsome Lore" by Gray Morrow (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), reprinted from Creepy 13.

Up first is "Black Magic" by Steve Ditko (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), originally from Eerie 5. A sorceror summons a woman from the dead, despite the warnings of his old master. When she ends up being crazy, he casts a spell that makes her dead again, only to suffer the same fate himself, since he was raised from the dead by his master!

Next is "You Do Something to Me" by Tom Sutton (art) and Bill Parente (story). My personal favorite of the new stories in this issue, it tells of a man who finds out that his wife is using black magic. He thinks she is trying to kill him, so he throws the amulet that she has (which contains a picture of him inside) into the fire, thinking that it will stop the magic. It does, but it ends up that the magic was keeping him alive, as he had been actually killed in a car accident years before! As a result he immediately rots into nothing.

Next up is "The Day After Doomsday" by Dan Adkins (art) and Archie Goodwin (story), from Eerie 8. A man finds himself in a post-apocalyptic world, and confronts multiple mutated beasts which he fights off. Eventually he finds normal humans whom he stays with, only to find that they are cannibals, who eat him! Very nice art by Adkins here.

Fourth is "Room For a Guest" by Reed Crandall (art) and Bill Parente (story). This was Crandall's first new story for Warren since their collapse in late 1967. A young man comes to see a man at a castle who is collecting tons of macabre books. It eventually ends up that he is Satan himself!

Another reprint from Eerie 8 is next, "Typecast!" by Jerry Grandenetti (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). An actor gets upset with being typecast into the role of a killer or monster in many horror movies. Eventually he goes crazy and kills his agent. Years later he is let out of the looney bin accidently and returns to his crazy ways.

Last is "A Silver Dread Among the Gold" by Tony Williamsune (art) and the team of Bill Parente & George Hagenauer (story). The story tells of a viking who seeks eternal life by heading out into the mountains, but comes back nearly frozen and in a bad state. Many years later climbers come across his body, surrounded by silver. They remove it, only for him to come to life as a werewolf!

Blazing Combat 3

My first issue of Blazing Combat covered on this blog, and it will be my last for a while as this is the only issue that I own at this time. The cover is by Frank Frazetta, who did all the covers for this magazine.

First is "Special Forces" with art by Joe Orlando & Jerry Grandenetti (uncredited) and story by Archie Goodwin. The story, occuring in Vietnam surrounds a group of soldiers in their battle with the Viet Cong.

Second is "Foragers" by Reed Crandall (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). The story features soldiers from the North, 'Foragers' heading through towns in the South during the civil war era. They ravage the towns they head through until they come across a cabin manned by a single old man with a rifle, who kills most of the soldiers. He finally runs out of bullers and the lead forager is about to kill him but is killed by his own man, who wants the killing to stop.

Third is "U-Boat" by Eugene Colan (art) and Goodwin (story). During World War 2 in the Atlantic a US boat is sunk by a German submarine. Two survivors are brought on board, one who is bloodthirsty and desires to be on the offensive for once. When his collegue plans to give away their position, he sells him out, but is killed by the Germans anyway when the allied forces spot the submarine and attack.

Fourth is "Survival" by Alex Toth (art) and Toth & Goodwin (story). An old man in a post-war landscape ravages for food found from small cans, and has to fight of wild dogs. He gets excited upon realizing that there is other people nearby when he finds a raft, but upon finding out that they have taken some of his food he goes on a rampage and kills them all. He is shocked to find a woman among the people he killed. My favorite story of what is already a superb issue. I love the final lines of the story "Suddenly, the air filled with a taut, shrill, horrible cry of pain and rage... Animal-like in pitch and quality, it rose higher into the night, ripping, tearing my head apart! I tried to shut it out... out... but it wouldn't! ...and couldn't stop it... for in a while, I realized the truth... and knew that the raw, shrill scream... was MINE!"

Fifth is "The Battle of Britain!" featuring art by Wally Wood & Dan Adkins (uncredited) and story by Wood. My least favorite story of the issue, it takes place in 1940 featuring allied planes facing off against Nazi planes. The hero of the story fails miserably his first time in the air and narrowly survives the second, but they call off the fighting in order to bomb the German cities instead, sparing him future combat.

Sixth is "Water Hole!" by Gray Morrow (art) and Goodwin (story). The story takes place in the late 1800's where US troops pusue Apache warriors. The story surrounds a single soldier who finds himself the last living soldier on the battlefield. He is willing to die and finds an Apache warrior, who surrenders to him, driving him crazy.

Last is "Souvenirs!" by John Severin (art) and Goodwin (story). The story occurs in Japan during World War 2. A soldier becomes obsessed with taking the gold fillings out of the teeth of dead japanese soldiers. His superiors tell him to leave a field of dead soldiers alone, but he returns that night to take the gold, only to find out that the soldiers were all playing dead. He is killed, but manages to break up the planned Japanese ambush because of it.

Creepy 1

Creepy's very first issue from 1964. The cover is by Jack Davis, his sole cover for Warren (unless you count the first issue of Eerie, which was actually taken from an ad he drew that was originally printed inside a Creepy magazine).

First is "Voodoo" by Joe Orlando (art) and Russ Jones & Bill Pearson (story). The story is about a man who throws out his voodoo practicing wife. He later finds her in the woods and a struggle ensues in which her head is chopped off. Before long however her headless corpse, with a shrunked head attacked chases after him!

Second is "H20 World". The art is by Al Williamson & Roy Krenkel and the story is by Larry Ivie. It is about a pair of divers who come across an underground civilization. There they meet the mutated people who live there, who force them to forget that they ever encountered them. Very beautiful artwork here, particularly Krenkel's backgrounds.

Third is "Vampires Fly At Dusk" by Reed Crandall (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). The story takes place in a town plagues 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.

Fourth is "Werewolf" by Frank Frazetta (art) and Larry Ivie (story). This is Frazetta's sole full story for Warren and infact is his last full comics story for anyone. It features a big game hunter heading after a werewolf like creature that oddly enough hasn't killed anyone. He finds it and shoots it, but this causes the werewolf to turn back into a human. The man thanks him for breaking the curse, saying he's been looking for someone to do this for years. By dying he passes on the curse to the hunter, who now becomes a werewolf himself.

Next is "Bewitched" by Gray Morrow (art) and Larry Ivie (story). A man buys some material which when burned is rumored to kill a witch. He soon finds himself pursued by a dinosaur and other bizarre events keep happening. He wakes up, finding it to be a dream, but then finds his daughter with a voodoo doll of him!

Sixth is "The Success Story" by Al Williamson (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). This story features a comic strip creator, Baldo Smudge who is actually ripping off three seperate people. He hires a penciller, whom he tells he is doing the inking and writing for. He also hires a writer whom he tells he is doing the pencilling and inking. And so on for the inker. All the while he takes the credit for the strip as a whole. This charade goes on for a long time, but the three of them finally catch on, so Baldo kills them. They come back as rotting corpses however and take revenge. This story is based on a true story (except the corpses part). Williamson drew Smudge based on himself and used Angelo Torres, Archie Goodwin and Al McWilliams as the likenesses for the three employees he was ripping off.

Last is "Pursuit of the Vampire" by Angelo Torres (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). The story features a group of townspeople being joined by a stranger who tells them two murder victims are actually going to turn into vampires since a vampire was their killer. He leads them to a house where they are and kill them. The town leader ends up being the vampire that killed them, but the stranger, who is a werewolf kills him to eliminate competition for victims.

Eerie 4

The fourth issue of Eerie, featuring a cover by Gray Morrow.

Our first story is "House of Evil", with art by Jerry Grandenetti (uncredited) & Joe Orlando, and story by Archie Goodwin. A man comes to a large house where his brother lived but finds only a tape recording there, telling him of how he came to the house, which has an evil past, for inspiration. Suddenly a rotting corpse arrives. The man destroys the corpse, but soon finds that it was his own brother! He then looks at his hands and realizes that he's starting to rot as well.

Next is "Hatchet Man" by Eugene Colan (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). The story is about a hatchet killer who has killed a number of woman with a hatchet. A night watchman plots to kill his wife with a hatchet and blame it on the hatchet killer. Only when the police arrive and find evidence of other murders, it becomes clear that he is the hatchet killer himself, possessing another personality who commit the murders.

Next is "Gnawing Fear" by Rocco Mastroserio (art) and Ron Parker (story). A pair of doctors are working on a poison for killing rats. One of them ends up dying when the rats attack him. The other doctor follows them into a large maze of tunnels. When he finds a number of rats coming after him he shoots at them with a gun, but that caves in the cavern and the rats completely overrun him.

Fourth story is "Shrieking Man!" by Steve Ditko (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). The man of the title is in a mental institution, a man who does nothing but scream like crazy and act like a maniac. An employee at the institution becomes fascinated with him and ends up letting him out by accident when he can't control him. The screaming man goes crazy and ends up killing our hero's boss, for whom he was originally his boss, who was killed by him and brought back to life.

Next up is "Undying Love!" by Donald Norman (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A man seeks to make a woman fall in love with her, so he has a sorceror cast a spell so that will happen. Only when he returns to see her, he finds that she has died! Soon afterwards however she comes back to life as a vampire, and being in love with him stays by his side. While he initially likes it, he is troubled by what she is doing, so he uses a stake on her and chops off her head. But even that isn't enough to stop her from coming back to him!

Last is the cover story, "Island At World's End!" by Gray Morrow (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A man lost at sea, Sturgis is found by a boat and tells his story. His ship was taken over by a mutiny and he escaped on a lifeboat. Eventually he is on his own and he comes across an island where he encounters beast men. They carry him to a large pit where sacrifices are made. A beautiful woman, Cythlla, who tells him she is the last of an elder race appears and rather than killing him she wants him to be her mate. She worships 'Shoggoth', a mysterious giant entity that appears. Seeing how evil she is, he runs off and shoots her. Eventually however Shoggoth returns to claim him on the boat.