Eerie 1

Today will be covering the first ever issue of Eerie. I'll start off by saying I don't actually own this issue. I do own all the content in it in some form or another though. This is the rarest Warren magazine of all time, only approximately 200 issues or so actually existed. The story goes that back in September 1965 Warren was planning on creating a companion magazine for Creepy called Eerie, but heard that a rival publisher was planning on using the same title. By rushing this issue to publication with a reprinted cover and all reprinted stories, Warren was able to copyright the name. What was supposed to be the first issue of Eerie became the second issue of Eerie.

The cover for this issue is by Jack Davis, and is a reprint of a subscription ad from the second issue of Creepy.

First story is "Image of Bluebeard" by Joe Orlando (art) and Bill Pearson (story), from Creepy 7. A mysterious assassin plagues 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 see. 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.

Second is "Death Plane" by George Evans (art) and Larry Ivie (story), from Creepy 8. 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.

Last is "The Invitation" with art by Manny Stallman and story by Russ Jones, Larry Englehart and Maurice Whitman, from Creepy 8. 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 Creepy 17 in the story "A Night Lodging".

Creepy 12

Dan Adkins provides the cover to this issue of Creepy, although it is miscredited to Frank Frazetta. The frontis, "Creepy's Loathsome Lore" is provided by Dan Adkins as well.

First is "Dark House of Dreams" by Angelo Torres and Archie Goodwin (story). An artist moves into the house of Matthew Gaunt, an evil man who was killed by a mob almost 200 years earlier. The artist has a number of dreams where he encounters Gaunt, and other evil beings, which become worse and worse with each one. Eventually he dies and turns into Gaunt, resurrected. Another very good story, as usual from Torres and Goodwin.

Second is "Turncoat!" by Bob Jenney (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). This story features a member of the Union army in the Civil War, who, hoping to escape from battle, puts on the uniform of a dead confederate soldier when he spots some confederate soldiers. The soldiers end up being dead however, and force him to die as well.

Third is "Maximum Effort!" by Rocco Mastroserio (art) and Ron Parker (story). A pair of men open a funeral business and find a lot of success with it. A skeptic thinks he realizes whats going on when he finds that they're grounding the bones of the dead to sell for fertilizer, but find that they also find other uses for the corpse, as they are a vampire and ghoul!

Fourth is "Voodoo Doll!" by Jerry Grandenetti (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). An older man gets a voodoo doll to keep his young wife from leaving him. However, it ends up that it is all a trick by her and her lover. She shows him a voodoo doll of himself, which causes him to die of a heart attack. However, when she disposes of both dolls, it ends up that they worked after all. By throwing the two of them in a fire, she is burned up herself.

Fifth is "Blood of the Werewolf!" by Steve Ditko (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A man wandering the city in a drunken stupor is found by a psychologist who has a werewolf for a son. The psychologist manages to transfer the werewolf curse onto our protagonist, who soon becomes a werewolf himself. He ends up going to a psychologist to tell him whats going on, but it ends up that the man is actually the son who was originally a werewolf, and shoots him dead with a silver bullet.

Sixth is "Idol Hands!" by Manny Stallman (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). This story is about a large idol statue that is discovered and brought to a museum. It is soon discovered however that it isn't just a statue, and is alive. A so-so story, the weakest in this issue.

Last is "Adam Link, Robot Detective" by Joe Orlando (art) and Otto Binder (story). Adam dons a human disguise in order to investigate some murders that have been accused as having been committed by his robot mate, Eve. A rather interesting twist in this story, with Adam looking like a normal human being for most of it.

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.

Creepy 11

A nice cover for this issue by Frank Frazetta, featuring a giant beast man pursuing a beautiful woman. The frontis for this issue is "Creepy's Loathsome Lore" by John Severin (art) and Archie Goodwin (story).

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

"Sore Spot" by Joe Orlando (art) and Archie Goodwin (story) features an executioner who sets up an innocent man to die for a murder he committed. After the murder a red spot appears on his chest which grows bigger and bigger, and eventually ends up being the executed man's face!

Next is "The Doorway" by Dan Adkins (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A security guard comes across a destroyed lab with an odd doorway. He goes through and finds himself in another world, where a large bat like creature with a skull face takes over a man's body. Another creature arrives and takes over our protagonist, who destroys the doorway and kills himself in order to stop it from taking over Earth. Only the creature takes over a nearby person upon his death, enabling him to restore the doorway.

"The Black Death" by Manny Stallman (art) and Ron Parker (story) feature a pair of men who dispose of corpses whose demise was due to the black death. They sell the jewelry of the dead to various people, causing more deaths, which in turn enables them to get even more jewelry to sell. Eventually one of their larger benefactors dies due to them and they go to his house to take all his treasure. They get trapped in the basement when they find it... and unfortunately that's as far as I can go, as my copy of this issue is missing the last page.

"Beast Man" by Steve Ditko (art) and Archie Goodwin (story) is next, featuring a boxer who has a bad heart, so he gets it replaced with a gorilla's heart! Only he finds himself becoming a monster! Or does he? It ends up everything is in his mind, but that doesn't stop him from going on a rampage anyway.

"The Devil To Pay" is next, with art by Donald Norman and story by Archie Goodwin. A duke summons a demon, seeking more power for himself. The demon refuses, instead telling him that he'll die within a year and his soul will belong to hell. He can prevent that if he finds someone wiling to give up their soul, but if he fails, he'll die within a day. The duke finds a man and hypnotizes him into doing his deed, only for the man to end up being Satan himself!

Last is "Skeleton Crew" by Angelo Torres (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). A pair of men come across an abandoned ship where they find only skeletons. The ship's log talks about a coffin they took aboard in order to avoid it being mutilated by natives. Only a mysterious plague engulfs the ship, killiing anyone who come in contact with the coffin, leaving only skeletons behind. Eventually everyone has died from it. In the real time the truth is soon revealed, that warrior ants put in the coffin killed the crew, and attack the two men that found it as well!