The Various Sources for Warren Publishing

After another extended absence I'm happy to return with another article on Warren, this time on the various instances in the Company's history where they drew upon outside sources for stories. This article focuses on already produced material, and does not discuss stories that were simply adaptations, such as the various Edgar Allen Poe stories that appeared along the years. Three primary references utilized for this article are the Warren Companion by Jon Cooke and David Roach, Gathering Horror by David Horne and Richard Arndt's Warren bibliography from Enjorals World.

Warren's magazines drew source material from many different external outlets over the years, and this article highlights many of such instances. The reasons for drawing on outside material to fill the contents of Warren's magazines varies at times, but it typically occurred in those periods of time where finances were running low and it became necessary to draw on some other outlets to ensure that magazines had sufficient material to be published.

The first such instance where Warren drew on outside material occurred during the first down period of Warren, in 1968. At the time, Warren faced the crippling blow of the loss of editor/main writer Archie Goodwin, as well as the vast majority of all freelance artists who worked for the company due to a reduction in funds to pay such contributors. In order to bide time until the company could get back on its feet, Warren started using a number of reprinted stories from the first 17 issues of Creepy and first 12 issues of Eerie. Warren also reprinted the entire contents of Christopher Lee's Treasury of Terror, a book published in 1966. Each of the stories in this book, which were done in comic form, was based on stories by well known writers such as H.P Lovecraft, Bram Stoker and Ambrose Bierce. The five stories, including the Warren issue that they appeared in, are as follows: Creepy #19 - The Mark of the Beast!; Eerie #12 - The Past Master; Eerie #13 - Wentworth's Day; Eerie #16 - Dracula's Guest; and Eerie #17 - The Death of Halpin Frayser. Surprisingly enough, the editor of the book was Russ Jones, the original editor for Creepy, who had a falling out with Warren and had left the company several years earlier, and any involvement he had with these stories was left out entirely when they appeared in the Warren magazines. A sixth story, which was intended for a second, never published volume of the book, "Carmilla", also appeared in Creepy #19.

Following the usage of these stories, the usage of outside source material for Warren ceased for the next few years. Starting in 1971, when Warren began a relationship with Josep Toutain's Spanish artist agency, Selecciones Illustrada, it resulted in not only the addition of a great many Spanish artists to the Warren line for new stories, but also started the beginning of the usage of many stories by these artists that appeared originally elsewhere. The most notable example of this in these first few years of their involvement with Warren was the inclusion of two series by Esteban Maroto, “Dax the Warrior” and “Tomb of the Gods”. Dax the Warrior originally appeared in Spain under the name "Manly el Guerrero". Dax first appeared in his self named story "Dax the Warrior" in Eerie #39, and had an appearance in every non-reprint issue of Eerie through issue 52, marking 12 total appearances. Each of the original Dax stories had been written by Esteban Maroto but were translated and rewritten by various Warren writers who were never credited. The majority of the Dax stories were later compiled and rewritten as "Dax the Damned" in Eerie #59, the 1975 Eerie Yearbook. "Tomb of the Gods" had originally been published in Spain and was featured in five straight non-reprint issues of Vampirella starting with issue 17. Similar to Dax, these stories had also been rewritten and rearranged at times; for example the stories "Gender Bender" from issue 20 and "Orpheus" from issue 22 feature a page of identical artwork although the written content is different. "Tomb of the Gods" was rather unpopular compared to Dax and there may have been other segments that never appeared in the Warren magazines.

“Dracula”, a magazine originally published in Spain by Buru Lan, and in England by New English Library, was probably most notable for the "Dracula Book 1" that was featured heavily in advertisements for Warren for many years following the joining of the Spanish artists at Warren. Esteban Maroto and Jose Bea were two of the principal artists of this publication and each had a story from it published in the main Warren magazines. "The Viyi", written and drawn by Esteban Maroto is notable for being the first full color story published in Warren's horror magazines and was featured simultaneously in Creepy #51 and Vampirella #22. Surprisingly enough it took Warren quite a bit of time to be able to match the color quality appearing in this story after they started using color on their own original stories a few issues later. "Invasion", drawn by Bea and written by Maroto appeared in 1976 in Eerie #75, this time with the color removed. Surprisingly enough Warren also used the final panel of the story as the central part of the pink colored cover to the issue, resulting in one of the most bizarre looking Warren covers of all time.

The next notable outside material that Warren utilized was five stories from the French Magazine "Pilote" that were written by Victor Mora and drawn by Luis Garcia (with collaboration in one instance by Carlos Giminez). The first such story appeared in Vampirella #42, with one additional story appearing in each non-reprint issue through #47. As with the earlier Dax and Tomb of the Gods stories, each of these stories were rewritten or rearranged in some form, including at times, the moving of pages from one story to another, removing of panels or the addition of color. Unfortunately this resulted in the dropping of writing credits from the story entirely for Victor Mora for some of the stories. I've written about these stories in my earlier article on Luis Garcia and found each to be very strong and a highlight of Warren publishing, it’s just unfortunate that they didn't include more of them, as Mora and Garcia later had additional collaborations that never saw print in a Warren magazine. These five stories included the following: Vampirella #42 - Around the Corner… …Just Beyond Eternity!; Vampirella #43 - The Wolves At War's End; Vampirella #44 - Love Strip; Vampirella #45 - Janis!; and Vampirella #47 - The Secret Legacy of Gaslight Lil!

"Tales of Peter Hypnos", a short lived series that appeared in Eerie #72, 73 and 76 also had outside origins and was originally produced by Jose Bea as part of a larger series of at least 7 stories. The first story in the series had originally appeared in Spain in the Spirit, and the entire series had been printed in a single compilation in Australia in 1976 as well. As with the previously discussed stories, this appears to be another set of stories that was largely rewritten, although Jose Bea was the only one credited.

There were various one-shot usages of source materials through the mid to late 1970s in the Warren magazines. "Now You See It" in Creepy #83 featured the return of Al Williamson to Warren after an absence of nearly 10 years, but it wasn't due to a commissioned story, as the story was originally intended for the magazine Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction that had been cancelled by Marvel before it could see publication. "Warmonger of Mars" by Ralph Reese (art) and Wally Wood (story) appeared a few issues later in the all Mars issue of Creepy #87, but was apparently originally intended for an underground comic. "Scheherazade" by Esteban Maroto, the color story in Vampirella #72 was supposed to be the first part of a series, "Thousand and One Nights" as published in Cuando el Comic es Arte: Esteban Maroto in Spain, but this was the only story of the series to see print, at least in the Warren magazines.

Jose Gonzalez was most notably Warren's Vampirella artist and was featured almost exclusively on her stories. He did have a 3 part non-Vampirella story, "Herma", although the story was originally published in Spain in 1974 in Cuando El Comic es Arte: Pepe Gonzalez". All 3 of the stories were rewritten by Bill Dubay and resized to fit the magazine format. Leo Duranona had a trio of stories under the title "Fallen Angels" appear in Eerie #96 as well as an additional story titled "A Nightmare for Mrs. Agatha" in Vampirella #72 that appear to have been originally published in South America, with a 1976 date and Guillermo Saccomanno storyline. Saccomanno never wrote any other stories that appeared in a Warren magazine which lends credence to the theory that these stories were not originally commissioned by Warren.

Towards the end of Warren's run in the early 1980's, the usage of source material from previously published works in Europe picked up steam in a big way. By this point in time that Warren's finances were quite strained was very apparent, with reprint issues appearing with increasing intensity. Victor de la Fuente drew only a single story directly for Warren, appearing in Eerie #35, but the 1980's saw him appear in over 20 issues of 1984/1994 and Eerie. Seven stories from the "Haxtur" series appeared in 1984/1994 #10 and 11 and Eerie #111, 113, 114, 116 and 117. Haxtur originally appeared in the Spanish magazine Trinca and was approximately 10 years old by the time it appeared in Warren. As with most stories there was some rewriting and the original color had been removed. Haggarth was a bit more recent than Haxtur and had a longer run of 14 appearances in Eerie starting with issue #118. Warren also went back even further than Haxtur, to the 1960s, where the strip "Spacewrecked" by Paul Gillon (art) and Jean Claude Forest (writing) appeared. Four stories from this series appeared in Eerie issues #129, 132, 134 and 136. More work from Paul Gillon, "Jeremie: Les Dieux Barbares" which was originally published in France in 1971 appeared in Vampirella issues #104, 106, 108 and 110. Unfortunately both series never saw their conclusion appear due to the bankruptcy of Warren publishing in 1983. The series "Torpedo 1936" saw print in the last 3 non-reprint issues of Vampirella, with writing by Sanchez Abuli and art by Abuli or Alex Toth. These stories originally appeared in the Spanish version of Creepy and as with some of the other series discussed here never saw a conclusion due to Warren's bankruptcy.

Various other stories or series that were shorter in scope also appeared during the waning days of Warren. "Pyramid of the Black Sun", which appeared in two parts in Eerie #124 and 126 originally appeared in Europe in the late 1970s, with story by Antonio Segura and art by Luis Bermejo. The story originally appeared in one part in its original publication, but was split in two for its Warren appearance and was rewritten by Jim Stenstrum, under the pseudonym "Alabaster Redzone". "Korsar", another series spearheaded by Esteban Maroto originally appeared in the magazine Cimoc in Spain in 1979 and was featured in Eerie #126, rewritten again by Stenstrum. Although there were other parts to the series, this was the only one that saw print in a Warren magazine. Two stories from Fernando Fernandez's Bruce Bloodletter educational series appeared rather far apart in Eerie #94 and #117, both originally appearing in the Spanish publication Space and Adventure. The following issue saw another Fernando Fernandez story, "Space Kids" which first saw print in 1978 in Italy in the magazine Alter Ego. That said, I've also heard that this story was originally created around the time of Fernandez's other stories for Warren which appeared in the early to mid-1970s and that it sat around for many years. It may have originally been intended for a Warren magazine but due to its more science fiction related nature (and poor quality compared to other Fernandez stories) was held off on until the time it saw print, which was a time when many old inventory stories saw use by Warren.

Many additional Warren stories that saw print through the years, particularly the late 1970s and early 1980s likely appeared elsewhere, although the true source is unknown (or at the very least I haven't found an English-language source mentioning it!). Warren was notorious for rewriting stories that had been drawn previously. While oftentimes there was no way to tell this for sure simply by reading the Warren magazines, two writers, Bob Toomey and Jim Stenstrum made this known by using aliases for stories that they had rewritten based on already created artwork. Bob Toomey used the name "Gary Null" while Jim Stenstrum used the name "Alabaster Redzone". Both rewrote some Jesus Blasco-drawn stories that appeared in Creepy #110, 120 and 123. The first of these stories, "The Clockmaker" was about as obvious a rewrite as possible as the art makes it very clear that it’s an adaption of the Telltale Heart, while the writing goes in a completely different direction. That Jesus Blasco was miscredited in all 3 stories lends credence to the theory that none of these stories were originally created for Warren. A pair of Leo Duranona stories in Creepy #117 and 118 was also rewritten by Toomey, although they don't feature his Gary Null alias. Whether these were originally commissioned for Warren, or like previously mentioned Duranona stories saw print in Europe or South America earlier, I am not sure. The "Alabaster Redzone" stories by Stenstrum are typically a lot harder to pin point about whether they were originally commissioned for Warren or came from elsewhere. "Lullaby" by Jose Gonzalez in 1984 #4 is one such story, and given that Gonzalez drew only one other non-Vampirella story for Warren that was commissioned by them makes me think this could have been a story originally done in Europe. Much of the "Mac Tavish" series by Pepe Moreno Casares features Alabaster Redzone as the writer, although I cannot say whether these were Warren commissions or not. Most of his other "Alabaster Redzone" stories appeared in 1984, which frequently saw rewrites, so most may have been originally commissioned stories. 1984/1994 features so many stories where the story and artwork differ greatly (the entire Idi Amin series comes to mind) that many of these stories may have been originally done for Warren. Three stories by Carlos Giminez, who has been mentioned previously regarding his collaboration with Luis Garcia in Pilote, appeared late in Warren, in Eerie #114 and 1994 #15 and 16. All three were both strongly drawn and written, and it’s unfortunate that Warren did not utilize more stories by him in the waning years of the company.

Warren's hero-themed magazine "The Rook" hasn't been featured much on this blog due to my lack of interest in the subject matter, but is notable for featuring a large amount of outsourced material. Issues 2 through 9 featured "Voltar", as drawn by Alfredo Alcala. The barbarian themed series originally appeared in the Philippines and had actually been printed in America previously in Magic Carpet. Bill Dubay rewrote the story for the entire series. "Viking Prince" as drawn and written by Jose Ortiz originally appeared as "Sigur the Viking" in Spain, and first appeared in the late 1950s. Two of these stories appeared in issues 5 and 6 of the Rook. "Kronos" by Lee Elias originally appeared in the Joe Kubert publication "Sojourn" and first appeared in The Rook #8. This series was unique in that its appearance in Warren resulted in the creation of new stories which appeared for several more issues. "Eagle" by John Severin (art) and Colin Dawkins (story), who had worked together back at EC comics, also originated from "Sojourn" and appeared in the final 3 issues of the Rook.

This article has focused primarily on the interior stories, but Warren also had a number of covers that originated from outside sources. Patrick Woodroffe had a series of covers that appeared in Warren's magazines, particularly for the early issues of 1984, each of which had been originally painted for paperback books. Vampirella #31 heralded the return of famous cover artist Frank Frazetta, but the cover had actually been originally commissioned for the book adaption of the movie Luana. Interestingly enough, each of Richard Corben's late Warren covers had originally appeared elsewhere, including from the book "A Feast Unknown" (used for Creepy #141), the cover to the 1975 Annual World's Best Science Fiction (used for Creepy #140), and an painting that had been originally commissioned by Selecciones Illustrada (used for 1984 #26). Many other paintings originally commissioned by S.I. as painted by Richard Courtney (Creepy #136, 142) and Sanjulian (Eerie #129, 132, 133 and 135) also were used in the late days of Warren. Creepy #120 featured a cover painting from Jeff Jones, his sole that appeared for Warren, although it was originally intended for the magazine Weird Tales of Macabre but never saw print. In what must have been humiliating for Warren, towards the very end they even used covers that had been used by their competition back in the mid-1970's, including the covers for Vampirella #111 by Pujolar (originally used as the cover for Devilina #1) and Creepy #145 by Jose Miralles (originally used as the cover for Nightmare #9).

Creepy 119

Jim Laurier provides an interesting and somewhat funny cover to this issue of Creepy. This issue is an all Alex Nino reprint special, dated July 1980.

First is "A Boy and His Thing" by Alex Nino (art) and Bill Dubay (story), from Creepy 101. A young boy visits a ship captain who is a friend of his. The captain tells him of a giant tentacled creature they fought and killed at sea. He brought back the baby of the creature, which he gives to the boy.

Second is "Keep Kool" by Alex Nino (art) and Bob Toomey (story), from Creepy 104. An old man who is quite wealthy despises humanity so he heads off to another planet where his only companions are robots. He has the robots fight one another, then receives a giant box that he can create monster from to fight one another.

Third is "Always Leave 'Em Laughing!" by Alex Nino (art) and Len Wein (story), from Creepy 105. All clowns are banned from Earth and forced to head to the moon if they want to remain a clown. There they fail to generate any laughs from the robot population and decide to bomb the surface of the moon to turn it into a clown face It is successful, but they are killed by Earth who misunderstand their intensions.

Fourth is "Sisters" by Alex Nino (art) and Bill Dubay (story), from Creepy 97. This story contains two parallel stories featuring a human girl and alien girl facing extreme mental anguish. It ends up that both had twin sisters that were stillborn, and that the two are connected to each other as the alien is the human girl's dead sister and vice versa. Both girls end up killing themselves, reunited when reincarnated as twins on yet another alien planet.

Fifth is "Backwater and Timing Circles" by Alex Nino (art) and Budd Lewis (story), from Creepy 94. A boy takes a trip to the past to go fishing in the prehistoric era through the company Timing Circles. His guide warns him that they can't take anything back with them and must not kill anything, but when the guide gets in trouble, the boy stabs the dinosaur attacking him. This changes the present such that everyone becomes bizarre looking monsters. This story is blatant plagarism of Ray Bradbury's story A Sound of Thunder. Luckily for Warren, they never got in trouble with this as they did with Harlan Ellison's A Boy and His Dog.

Sixth is "Alien Strain" by Alex Nino (art) and Bill Dubay (story), from Creepy 96. A 'Banggi' and his human friend are attacked by various aliens when they arrive at a planet where they have transported some robots. The mob has good reason to fear him however, as by arriving the Banggi has caused an epidemic where thousand of Banggi larva work their way through various prostitutes, infesting the planet. Very odd looking aliens here by Nino, as usual for him.

Creepy 97

This issue is a "Monsters!" special issue from May 1978. The cover is a reprint of Frazetta's cover for Eerie 3.

First is "Momma is a Vampire" by Leo Duranona (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). A woman becomes a vampire thanks to her cousin, who is one herself. After she kills her cousin and beheads her, she is told by a doctor that she can be made human again through a blood transfusion from her husband. Alas, it doesn't work, and he is forced to kill her. Duranona and Cuti would reunite for the excellent vampire series 'Honor & Blood' in Eerie roughly around the same time as this issue.

Next is "The Wax Werewolf" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Bob Toomey (story). A detective investigating a werewolf is dating the local librarian. In order to defeat the werewolf, he is assisted by a witch who creates a wax version of the creature, which he'll be able to kill by stabbing the wax figure. He does so, but the werewolf ends up being his girlfriend. Upset, he throws the wax figure in the fire, but that causes her corpse to burst aflame and the fire ends up killing him too.

Third is "Black Death" by Leopold Sanchez (art) and Bruce Jones (sotry). This story is a murder mystery surrounding black people dying in a southern town. The local KKK leader is suspected, but ends up dying as well. It ends up that the murders were caused in order to summon an army of zombies, and the story's protagonist is set to become one himself as the story ends.

Fourth is "Snaegl or How I Conquered the Snail that Ate Tokyo" by Martin Salvador (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). This story features a giant snail that comes out of the Ocean near Tokyo and wreaks havoc. Various people, such as a stripper who claims to be a princess from an island that worships the snail to a boy possessing uranium think they are responsible for its arrival and being able to drive it away. In the final panel a bunch of snails arrive in other countries and this time destroy everything.

Fifth is "Dragon Lady" by Esteban Maroto (art) and Bill Dubay (story). An old man tells of a story of a princess whose mother got her turned into a dragon because she was jealous of the attention given to her by the Emperor. The old man tells a warrior that a reward is offered for defeating the dragon, and gives the warrior magic powder he can use to change it back into the princess. The warrior does so, and makes love to her, but she turns back into the dragon and kills him. In actuality, the powder caused him to hallucinate; as the story was all a lie, all made up to feed the dragon, the old man's pet.

Last is "Sisters" by Alex Nino (art) and Bill Dubay (story). This story contains two parallel stories featuring a human girl and alien girl facing extreme mental anguish. It ends up that both had twin sisters that were stillborn, and that the two are connected to each other as the alien is the human girl's dead sister and vice versa. Both girls end up killing themselves, reunited when reincarnated as twins on yet another alien planet.

Creepy 112

Richard Corben's Phantom of the Opera style cover headlines this issue of Creepy, one of the better of their later issues, from October 1979.

First is "The Homecoming" by Al Williamson (art, his final Warren story) and Archie Goodwin (story). A very good sci-fi story features an astronaut on a craft that is responsible for going into other dimensions, trying to find one suitable for humans. When he finally finds it, the computer controlling the craft reveals that an error has caused it to forget where they came from, and the astronaut goes from dimension to dimension, trying to find his home to no avail.

Second is "Warrior's Ritual" by John Severin (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). Taking place in the 1930's, a group of troops come across a base full of dead people. There they find a diary from a dead man with a missing heart. The diary tells of a young soldier who is obsessed with fighting, sneaking out of the base to kill more people each night. Eventually it is discovered that the young man is obsessed with eating other's hearts, thinking he can get their courage from it. In the present, he meets his end after trying to eat his own heart! Some very good art by Severin here, one of his best looking stories.

Third is "Nobody's Kid" by Leo Duranona (art) and Bob Toomey (story). A man goes crazy when he finds that his kid isn't really his. He kills the kid's real father, then his mother, then goes on a rampage after the kid, carrying an axe. Most of the story features the man chasing the kid until he climbs a try to hide from him. The father chops the tree down, only for it to fall down on him, killing him.

Fourth is "Relic" by Walt Simonson (art) and Bob Toomey (story). This story is a sequel to "Quirks" from issue 107. Some astronauts looking for a planet instead find a humungous craft that looks like a giant fly. They are sucked inside where they are trapped. Our heroes are able to recruit the furry little creature from the previous story to help themselves escape by bargaining with the bugs that control the craft.

Fifth is "Beastslayer" by Val Lakey (art, her Warren debut) and John Lakey (story). Some very beautiful art in this story by Lakey, some of the most realistic seen in a Warren story. A hunter who has shot all there is to hunt. He heads into the mountains, where the native americans claim is the greatest beast of all. He is eventually done in by an avalanche, and the beast is revealed to be the mountain itself.

Sixth is "Sunday Dinner" by Auraleon (art) and Larry Hama (story). The issue's weakest story, it features dual storylines. In the first, a man brings his two kids to dinner at a chinese food restaurant. In the second, a pair of criminals break into that restaurant and battle with its cooks. The criminals are killed, and served as dinner to the family.

Last is "The Last Sorcerer" by Alex Nino (art) and Archie Goodwin (story). This story is the last appearance of Thane, a recurring character done by Goodwin. Thane, now an old man, is searching for the last sorcerer, having defeated all other ones. He is joined by a young warrior and a minstrel. Heading through a wintery landscape, they finally find the sorcerer after fighting off bats and a robot. The young warrior attacks the sorcerer, but his body is just a shell. Thane kills him, then it is revealed that the sorcerer has taken the body of the minstrel. Thane decides to let him live.

Creepy 95

This issue is an apes special issue. It is cover dated February 1978. All stories within feature apes in some manner. Doing themed issues like this based on the cover was a very common Warren theme throughout the years. Two stories that were clearly intended to appear in this issue also appeared in Creepy 99 and Eerie 92. Don Maitz provides the cover.

First is "The Star Saga of Sirius Sam" by John Severin (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). Two men come to meet Sam of the title to head to an alien planet and steal a gem which they hope to use to keep alive a woman who is the wife of one of them and the sister of the other. They head to the planet, which is ruled by chimps. They find the gem, but discover it is only made of glass, as the real one was taken long ago. The glass substitute is destroyed while they are there. They are able to escape safely by using the glass eye of one of the men to replace the destroyed substitute however.

Second is "The Laughing Man" by Berni Wrightson (art) and Bruce Jones (story). The best story of the issue, it features a man found by a doctor in the African jungles laughing maniacally. With some drugs the man calms down and tells how he and his business partner headed to the African jungles in an attempt to find intelligent chimps. They catch one dead, and our protagonist's business partner skins the creature and uses it as a costume to attract another one. He vanishes after a while and turns up later, but it ends up he is actually an ape, wearing the dead partner's skin as a costume! A terrific story, unfortunately it would be Wrightson's last Warren story.

Third is this issue's color story, "Murder on the Vine" by Esteban Maroto (art) and Cary Bates (story). In this story a young woman and a boy kill Tarzan in order to steal his treasure. Meanwhile the animals of the jungle, aware of whats going on, take steps to arm themselves and fight back, led by a chimp friend of Tarzan. The murderers are caught and dumped into a tar pit. Some so-so color on this story, nowhere as good as it has been in previous issues.

Fourth is "The Empire of Chim-Pan-Zee" by Luis Bermejo (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). The empire fights neanderthals, but is hopelessly outnumbered and is losing ground fast. A few of the chimps find modern humans nearby who have gone back in time and have powerful rockets and other devices. They hope to use them by taking the button that activates them, but find it useless on its own and are wiped out by the neanderthals.

Fifth is "The Oasis Inn" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Bob Toomey (story). This issue's weakest story by far, it features ape soldiers, one of whom is after a woman whose going out with a gorilla officer. They go through various escapades and all end up friends at the end.

Last is "The Old Ways" by Leo Duranona (art) and Roger McKenzie (story). This story takes place in a post apocalyptic world where talking apes reign supreme. The sole remaining living human fights them off, shooting at them. Eventually one of them finds a gun and confronts him, killing him.

Eerie 110

Jim Laurier provides the sci-fi themed cover of this issue of Eerie. A very good issue, standing out among those issues of Eerie around this time. In fact given how deeply Eerie declined, this might by the last really good issue of the magazine left. This was Louise Jones's final issue as editor.

First is "Blood on Black Satin" by Paul Gulacy (art) and Doug Moench (story). Our protagonist is attacked after finding the body of Uncle Jock but is saved by Heather. They travel to the basement of an old courthouse where our heroes find the skeletal remains of Whatley's followers. Seconds later Whatley himself appears. This series would be concluded in the next issue.

Second is the finale for "Beastworld" by Pablo Marcos (art) and Bruce Jones (story). In this story Tyler and Thomas have their last confrontation. Ruth falls to her death accidently after being used as bait by Tyler. Tyler and Thomas fight each other and Monica kills Tyler just as he's about to kill Thomas. The series ends with Tyler and Monica sleeping with each other. Overall, this 6 part story probably would have worked better in no more than 2 parts. A big waste of time and a huge dissappointment from Bruce Jones.

Third is "Francois", the finale to "The Open Sky" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Bob Toomey (story). This story features Francois, the evil assassin that Moonshadow was coming after. Francois travels in a hot air balloon which crashes into the sea. He is saved by some dolphins which bring him to an island where he meets the Grim Reaper, as well as Moonshadow and Arianne. Upon fighting, Francois discovers that both he and Arianne are dead. Moonshadow, still alive, is able to leave. A pretty good finale to this series, which was missing for a while.

Fourth is "Firefly/Starfight" by Auraleon (art) and Budd Lewis (story). This story features an ordinary man who witnesses spaceships battling for control of Earth. Convinced that the aliens will control the Earth, he decides to kill himself. A slow paced, but okay story.

Last is "The Rainmaker" by Leo Duranona (art) and Michael Fleisher (story). During a heavy drought, a con man fools a town into giving him $500, saying that its for materials to bring rain. While traveling to the next town he comes across a cabin where a man tells him he's a rainmaker as well, and makes it happen by sacrificing the conman to the Gods by chopping his head in with an axe.

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.

Eerie 105

Jordi Penalva provides the cover for this issue of Eerie, featuring Mac Tavish and Spider Andromeda.

First is the Rook in "Robot Fighters" by Jim Janes & Alfredo Alcala (art) and Bill Dubay (story). The Rook, Dane and Manners help defeat a robot that is a descendent of one the Rook built in different times. The best part of this story is that its a lot shorter than the usual Rook fare, getting it over with quickly. Thankfully the Rook exited the magazine for quite a while after this issue, due to having his own magazine.

Second is the finale for The Trespasser, in "Ruins" by Paul Gulacy (art) and Don McGregor (story). A rather short finale to this series at only 6 pages. Dr. Cavanaugh defeats the Cope's last guard, then fights Harris Cope, who shoots his wife Rebecca. Harris falls out the window to his death and Cavanaugh is finally able to leave with Rebecca in his arms.

Third is "Beastworld" by Pablo Marcos (art) and Bruce Jones (story). Thomas and Monica find some giant bugs attacking them and Thomas is saved from a deadly spider only when a giant wasp arrives and fights it. Tyler and Ruth meanwhile have some more success and Tyler starts making out with her. The usual extemely dependable Bruce Jones hasn't impressed that much so far with this series.

Fourth is "Demons of the Zodiac", the return of Mac Tavish, unseen for a while. Art is by Pepe Moreno Casares and story is by Jim Stenstrum & Bob Toomey, under their pseudonyms Alabaster Redzone and Gary Null. A so-so continuation of this Star Wars ripoff, featuring Mac Tavish summarizing the history of Spider Andromeda while he sleeps.

Fifth is "Hunger Strike", the latest segment in the Horizon Seekers. Although the prior issue said this would be the conclusion, the story doesn't end here, and ends rather abrubtly. Art is by Leo Duranona and story is by Duranona and Cary Bates. In this story our heroes are confronted by a group of giant bugs but get them to eat each other, similar to the prior story. Also, the cannibal girl who was with them starts her cannibal ways again but is killed by the bugs before she can eat our heroes.

Last is "Lair of the Assassins", the latest story in the Samurai series. Art is by Val Mayerik and story is by Larry Hama. Samurai goes to the castle of Yagyu Ninjas and inside is forced to battle old man Yagyu's son, who has the niece of their lord strapped to him. Samurai easily defeats him and after Yagyu has his minions shoot arrows at him, Samurai grabs them and throws them back, striking him in the eye. Samurai escapes with the niece, who has been blinded, and she helps him escape after his own eyesight is affected by an attack.

Eerie 104

Kirk Reinert provides the cover for this issue of Eerie, featuring the new serial Beastworld.

First is the Rook in "The Trouble With Tin Men". Art is by Jim Janes & Alfredo Alcala while story is from Bill Dubay. Think of the usual cliches in the Rook storyline and this story has it. Rook going into the future for another adventure, telling Dane to stay there, and Dane heading off on another adventure with Manners yet again. Yawn. After the same storyline 15 times this is getting rather dull. Notable is that the Time Castle is destroyed, apparantely stranding Dane and Manners in the time they have gone to.

Second is the second part of "The Trespasser", in "Dusk" by Paul Gulacy (art) and Don McGregor (story). Dr. Cavanaugh is thrown in a prison in the basement where he finds Kelsey, the man he had seen captured before. Kelsey reveals that the Cope's house is built on a site where nuclear waste had been kept, the reason for the family's illness. Rebecca soon arrives and lets them out. As they are crossing a bridge one of the Cope family's guard finds them and a fight ensues in which the bridge is destroyed. Luckily Cavanaugh is able to throw the man into crocodile infested waters, saving himself and Rebecca. A good continuation to this story with some fine art by Gulacy and shockingly enough a good story from McGregor that doesn't go overboard with his usual polical ramblings.

Third is "City of Shadows" by Leo Duranona (art) and Jean Michel Martin (story). This story is told mostly through photographs of clay figures and toys. It features a group of people traveling through a post apocalyptic landscape looking for a mysterious city, which ends up being Manhatten.

Fourth is "Beastworld", a new series from Pablo Marcos (art) and Bruce Jones (story). A man, Tyler, and his friend Monica come across a giant beetle while flying in a ship. They meet Peter Thomas and his wife, Ruth. Peter has an inferiority complex with Tyler from their time in school together. He drugs our two heroes, but then without any explanation Tyler ends up with Ruth and Thomas ends up with Monica, seperated from each other. They fight off some giant bugs while arguing with each other. A rather poor start to a long running serial with Marcos art, an guy whose style I've never been too fond of. A poor site in a mostly good issue.

Fifth is the second part of The Open Sky, "Vladimir" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Bob Toomey (story). Moonshadow and Arianne come across a two headed man who had a hot air balloon stolen from him by Francois, the head assassin that Moonshadow is after. After convincing the two headed man to let them use their hot air balloon, they head through the sky, and are eventually seized by the winged people from the previous story, who drop Moonshadow and Arianne into the ocean.

Last is "Temple of the Ravengers" the latest story in the Horizon Seekers series. Art is by Leo Duranona, while story is by Duranona & Cary Bates. Allison and Jesse travel through the desert with Merlin and find some ruins of a mansion, leaving Merlin behind to rest while they explore. Inside they find a group of women cannibals that capture them. By convincing the cannibals that she is ill, Allison is able to start some infighting, and she and Jesse are able to escape.

Eerie 103

Terrance Lindall provides the cover for this issue of Eerie, featuring the series "The Horizon Seekers".

First is the Rook in "Terror of the Spaceways!" part 2 by Lee Elias (art) and Bill Dubay (story). This story continues from the previous issue and contains some reprinted artwork from that story. The Rook saves the woman from the destroyed ship, then heads out despite the danger due to the battles occuring. Despite the danger he is able to make it out okay. Some very good art by Elias but not that great a story.

Second is a new series, The Open Sky, which is a prequel to the series Moonshadow. The first story is titled "Arianne", with art by Jose Ortiz and story by Bob Toomey. Arianne is a girl living in a cave whose family has been plauged by winged monsters. Moonshadow, a skilled assassin arrives and helps awaken her to the outside world. He defeats the head monster and she decides to head off with him.

Third is another new series, "The Trespasser" by Paul Gulacy (art, his Warren debut) and Don McGregor (story, his first Warren appearance in quite a while). A doctor is summoned to the home of a rich family, the Copes. There he encounters a man on the run from the Cope's guards, the Averdine brothers. The doctor meets Rebecca Cope, the woman who summoned him. Soon afterwards however her husband arrives and ignoring the doctor's warnings about having skin cancer, has his guards take him away to lock him up.

Fourth is "Credentials", from a new series called Samurai. Art is by Val Mayerik and story is by Larry Hama. This series started in Creepy 106 and moved here for the rest of its run. Samurai is revealed to have been recruited by his lord as an assassin. He goes to the priest Do-Shin who trains him by locking him up for 3 years during which he trains his mind and body. When he's finally released he kills Do-Shin.

Last is the latest Horizon Seekers story, "The Damned & The Dead" by Leo Duranona (art) and Duranona & Cary Bates (story). Millions of small creatures run towards the castle that Allison and Jesse are in. They are able to hide themselves from them by covering themselves with the blood of one of the creatures. Realizing that the creatures are carrying their queen with them, Jesse manages to kill it, and the creatures mindlessly run themselves off a cliff to their death.

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.

Eerie 93

A very good Don Maitz cover starts off this issue of Eerie.

First is the Rook in "Strangers in the Strangest Places" by Abel Laxamana (art) and Bill Dubay (story). An uncredited Alfredo Alcala draws the first two pages. This story continues on from the previous issue, where the alien fan of the Rook, Organ Lo is in the old west, being forced to rob people to payback the evil Granny Filcher. The Rook & friends interfere, revealing her as the true evil one, and allowing Organ Lo to return to his original time.

Second is "Honor and Blood", a new series by Leo Duranona (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). This series was one of Eerie's best series around this time of its existence. This story tells of a pair of brothers who were born from their dying mother and discovered in her coffin, eating her. The boys grow up and mysterious murders start occuring. One of them is obviously a vampire, although he is able to cure his vampiric impulses and eventually go to college, marry and have a daughter. His brother acquires bodies for him, but eventually admits that the brother was blacking out and killing them, and that he's a ghoul. The brothers kill themselves, but the daugher appears to have vampiric tendencies herself...

Third is the finale for Moonshadow, titled "Kingdom of Ash" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Bob Toomey (story). Moonshadow, who quickly recovers from the previous story and is introduced by Suzanna and a tentacled creature to the Changer, which is actually a giant machine storing an epic body of knowledge and possessing magical powers. The Changer transfers its power into Moonshadow, giving him tremendous powers, enough to recreate the desert he is stranded in. A very interesting story to conclude this interesting series. About 10 issues or so later a new series would start starring this character.

Fourth is "The Einstein Factor" by Pepe Moreno Casares (art) and Casares & Nicola Cuti (story). In this story a jet pilot lands his jet in a body of water and gets out, traveling around a bizarre landscape in his raft. He eventually climbs aboard the rocky land around him, finding a weird cushiony ground and large worms chasing him. It ends up that he has shrunk and is wandering around the skull of a dead animal. The letter pages raged with letters about this story for months afterwards.

Last is the latest Abelmar Jones story, "The Slime Creature of Harlem Avenue" by Alex Nino (art) and Bill Dubay (story). Abelmar and his brother Stanley rob a home where they find an egg, which hatches, causing a blobish creature to come after them.

Eerie 92

This issue has a sports themed cover by Kim McQuaite, featuring the opening story.

First is "Cold Sweat" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Bill Dubay (story). A pair of hockey players traveling in space are brought to a iceberg shaped asteroid where they are forced to play hockey with a number of robots. It ends up that the robots are controlled by an alien whose planet they were to play in their next match. By shooting a puck at his hidden lair, they are able to destroy him and escape.

Second is the Rook in "Strangers in the Strangest Places!" by Abel Laxamana (art) and Bill Dubay (story). An alien, Organ Lo who is a big fan of the Rook desires to be in the old west with him, so he transfers himself back in time to that very location. There he is helped by an old woman, Granny Fincher who demand so much money from him that he has to resort to becoming a crook to pay her back. This is the first part of a two part story concluded in the next issue.

Third is "Lets Hear it For Homo Sapiens" by Auraleon (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). This story was originally intended for Creepy 95's apes special. This story tells of a revolution of evolved animals and a young girl that befriends one of the intelligent chimps during their battle.

Fourth is the second Moonshadow story, "Suzanna, Don't You Cry" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Bob Toomey (story). In this story Moonshadow wanders through the desert, finding 'The City of the Changer', which is actually a secret underground lair. There he finds Suzanna, a lover and mentor from his childhood when he became an assassin. Suzanna looks exactly as she did back then. Through flashbacks we find that Moonshadow ended up killing her when she was ordered to kill him. Suzanna takes off her clothes for him, then completely rots away, causing him to become comatose.

Fifth is a new series, Abelmar Jones with "Bad Day 'Cross 100th Street" by Alex Nino (art) and Bill Dubay (story). this story tells of two inner city youth who go to work for a wizard, resulting in the typical number of bizarre looking monsters showing up. Not very good, but this series would continue on for a while.

Gaffer's long awaited conclusion ends the issue in "Final Wish" by Leo Duranona (art) and Roger McKenzie (story). A rather unexpected, but still good conclusion for this series. Infact this might be the most depressing ending a series in Eerie ever had. Gaffer dies of old age and leaves his third and final wish to Jaime. Many years pass, Jaime is now an old man himself, living in a mostly abandoned New York in the midst of a devastating winter. Even worse, news of a war soon comes. Jaime rushes to the old slip of paper where Gaffer left him his wish only to be shot by looters. Jaime wishes for peace on earth just as a nuclear weapon strikes New York, causing a blinding white light that engulfs Jaime and everyone else. The true conclusion to this series appears left to the reader's interpretation. Did Jaime's wish for peace on Earth occur due to everyone being wiped out? Or was the light signalling the end of the devastating winter? Alas, this was it for this series so we'll never know. A minor blooper by the production department in this story, with the "End" logo appearing on the second to last page.

Eerie 91

A terrific cover by Don Maitz starts this issue of Eerie.

First is the Rook in the absurdly titled "The Incredible Sagas of Sludge the Unconquorable, Helga the Damned, and Marmadrake, the Magnificent!". Its done by the usual team of Luis Bermejo (art) and Bill Dubay (story). After a number of good Rook stories, the series starts to lose some of its luster in this rather poor, overcomplicated story. Three stories are going on at once here. In one, the Rook is taken over by an evil alien brain and forced to work towards sending weapons to its homeworld. In the second, Bishop Dane goes back in time and encounters some vikings. In the third, Manners and the ladies encounter a robot monster controlled by a mad scientist. Eventually the stories converge and everything comes out okay.

Second is a much better story, "Elijah Arnold and the Angel's Egg" by Leo Duranona (art) and Jonathan Thomas (story). This story takes place a couple of centuries ago, when Elijiah Arnold discovers a UFO that crashed in the woods near his house. Inside the UFO he finds various alien livestock, which he brings to his farm. He breeds one of the alien cows with one of his own, but a horrific monster is born as a result. Eventually the alien owning the livestock returns, and kills Arnold. The alien helps his neighbors bury the creature in one of Arnold's barns using cement. In the present, construction workers attempt to build a highway where the farm is, resulting in releasing the monster.

Third is the second and final part of "Francesca" by Gonzalo Mayo (art) and Bruce Jones (story). Jean's vision of a dead man in Francesca's room appears to be nothing but a dream. She continues to be suspicious of her however, and through some investigating realizes that she is the reincarnation of a woman who died centuries before and has returned from hell. She seeks to get Jean's husband to kill himself, which she'll do as well, resulting in them being together in hell. Luckily a lighting bolt ends up causing a grave to fall on Francesca, killing her.

Last is a new series, Moonshadow, with "Against the Sun". Art is by Jose Ortiz and story is by Bob Toomey. Moonshadow, an old assassin is confronted by the Grim Reaper. Moonshadow tries whatever he can to get the Reaper to spare his life, and the Reaper decides to allow it by having him kill someone else for him. The victim ends up being a sick little boy. Rather than kill the boy however, Moonshadow outsmarts the Reaper and instead kills all the germs in him, making the boy better. Angered by being outsmarted, the Reaper sends Moonshadow to the middle of a desert.

Eerie 90

This issue of Eerie is a special issue based on the cover painting by Richard Corben, featuring a beautiful woman sitting on top of a large blue lizard. All of the non-Rook stories in this issue are based on this cover. Another story originally intended for this issue appeared in Creepy 96, which came out a month after this issue. This is a very consistent, fun to read issue, continuing a pretty strong run from Eerie at this stage in its existence.

First is "Carrion" by Gonzalo Mayo (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). A beautiful girl travels across the wilderness with a large monster who was transformed into that form by a wizard. The wizard sends various monsters after them, all which fail to stop them. The two of them search for another wizard that can turn him back to human, but find that he has died already. Hungry, in a wintery setting, the monster sacrifices himself and lets the girl eat him to stay alive.

Second is "The Show Must Go On!" by Leo Duranona (art) and Roger McKenzie (story). This story is about a girl who departs the circus that she's in with Tolk, a large monster. She heads to a bar and agrees to sleep with a man to earn some money, but Tolk goes crazy and kills him. It ends up he had a price on his head, so they make some money out of it, and become sheriff of the town.

Third is this issue's color story, "A Woman Scorned" by Richard Corben (art) and Bruce Jones (story). Corben's color in this story isn't as good as usual. This story features a girl and the talking blue lizard she travels with in a desolate world, who keeps trying to get her to remember things, which appears as soon as she does. This includes a car, a house, trees, etc... We head to the past where we learn about the girl's childhood and her ability to cause anything she want to happen. She is soon able to get everything back to normal, including turning the lizard back into her boyfriend, but when she remembers him cheating on her, she resets everything to nothingness once again.

Fourth is "The Fianchetto Affair or: A Matter of Great Delicacy" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Bob Toomey (story). This story takes place sometime in the future, where dinosaur like aliens have come to Earth with humans viewed as food! This story focuses on one of those aliens, who takes a liking to one of the humans, a girl named Fianchetto. She escapes with Fianchetto after resigning from her job and they head to the ruins of New Jersey where she rescues Fianchetto from some human savages, but they are captured and she eats Fianchetto soon afterwards, having learned the errors of her ways.

Last is this issue's Rook story, "What is the Color of Nothingness?". For the first time, someone other than Bermejo draws the Rook, here Alex Nino. Story is by Bill Dubay, as usual. The Rook decides to head to the beginning of time. When he gets there however, he finds many aliens there as well, so many that some start fighting. The Rook meets some friendly aliens who try to stop the fighting and reveal that they harness a great amount of energy from the expanding universe. Another universe nearly expands into ours, but stops just before they come together, avoiding disaster. The Rook returns to the present, where Bishop Dane has been hard at work trying to create robot companions for Manners. Some very good art by Nino and a better than average story by the Rook, which has been very good for three straight issues now.

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.

Creepy 140

A terrific cover by Richard Corben starts off this late issue of Creepy. Unfortunately the inside of the magazine isn't as good as the cover is.

First is "The Big Itch!" by Delando Nino (art) and Roger McKenzie (story). This story is about a man who tries to punish a city with a secret compound. A detective he kills however ends up causing the potion to be poured on him, killing him. This story homages "Denny Colt" of the Spirit with the detective Benny Dolt.

Next is "The Silver Stallion Conspiracy", told in two stories. The art is by Fred Carillo and the story is by Gerry Boudreau. An overly complicated story about a woman at a help line who ends up getting involved in a complex conspiracy involving a cartel called the Silver Stallion who lie to her about keeping left wing leaders alive in secret when they're actually a right wing group. Unfortunately for them, an even more powerful secret group finds them out and kills them all.

Next is "There is No Werewolf" by Martin Salvador (art) and Mark Willard (story). This story tells of a group of Russians who come to a small town. One of the professors wants to be famous while the other is more caring of other people. They find a man fighting wolves in the woods which they bring to their cabin with them. He ends up being a beast man however, and kills them. The professor gets his wish of being famous... as a victim of the creature.

After that is "Mummy, Jr." by Jun Lofamia (art) and Gerry Boudreau (story). This is a very short story at only 3 pages long, telling of three archeologists who discover a mummy of a little kid. One of them ends up being a descendent of the Egyptians and kills one of the other archeologists. He plans on stranding the other one there, but she shoots him. Her shots cause the ceiling to collapse however, leaving her with the now awakened mummy.

"One Good Turn" is next, by Victor de la Fuente (story & art). A Lord asks an old sorceress to help him conceive a child. She gives him a potion which he takes and its successful. But when his son is born, he's just a skeleton. It ends up that the sorceress gave him a potion of death instead of a potion of life. As a result, she is executed.

The issue concludes with "Spidership Season" by Peter Hsu (art) and Bob Toomey (story). A very poor, childish story with childish art from Hsu about a pair of kids looking for a firefly. The kids are taken care of by a bizarre octopus like creature. Quite odd.

1994 12

Sanjulian provides a rare cover for this latest issue of 1994. Only six stories in this issue, not too many compared to how many it usually has, but a very good issue.

First is "The Seed!" by Alex Nino (art) and Bill Dubay (story, as Will Richardson). After a major interstellar war has ended, the various races of the universe discover that they are now sterile. The only race left in the world that can procreate is incidently enough, the Earth. The universe sends two creatures with the appearance of human women that sleep with many men; the semen is then used to populate the universe once again. When the Earth destroys one of the ships heading there to get more semen however, it triggers an even bigger interstellar war.

Next is "Jailbreak... On Channel 69" by Jose Gonzalez (art) and Bob Toomey (story). This is a very short story at only four pages long showing a jailbreak at an all women's prison. It is used as a TV program, but ends up getting cancelled partway through. This story's reminisent of the story "The Box" from issue 5.

Third is "Over Four Billion Served" by Delando Nino (art) and Kevin Duane (story). This story features a man writing a letter to the Secretary General of the UN explaining why he should be compensated for spending a lot of money on feeding an alien ambasador. The alien was at an event with the man, and stated that his race would like to start eating humans. Our protagonist tries to change his mind by feeding him various types of common Earth food. The alien is so disgusted by the food that he thinks it is poison and starts barfing it up. This ends up saving humanity as the alien tells his planet that they can't eat us.

Fourth is the fourth part of "The Starfire Saga" by "Rudy Nebres" and Bill Dubay (storym as Will Richardson). This story continues to be the poorest part of the magazine. Kris and Snuffy are still being attacked by the strange monster by the prior part, but are saved by Drago, a strong man in a prehistoric getup. When some starfighters arrive and blast him, his true form, a very small creature comes out of Drago's 'body'. The people from the Starfighters come out and Kris awakens after being knocked out having been raped by one of them. This is where this latest segment ends.

Fifth is the fifth part of Ghita of Alizarr" by Frank Thorne (story & art). This latest segment continues the upward trend started in the previous one. We return to the cave that Ghita, Theneff and the others are training their army of halftroll soldiers. The rogue halftroll, Sef, summons his lord, which appears to be a giant worm. He then captures Ghita and brings her to it, trying his hardest to resist the urges he feels by carrying around her naked body. This part ends just as his lord approaches the passed out Ghita.

Last is the first part of a new series, "Baby Makes Three!" by Abel Laxamana (art) and Kevin Duane (story). This interesting new story starts with an extended history lesson about the discovery of the outer planets in our solar system. An unknown entity in the universe, called 'Baby' is discovered in space. Our hero, Turner is about to go on leave when he is summoned to be sent out into space to encounter 'Baby'. Along with his ship mate, Kelly, he heads outside our solar system and they approach a large space station called George Peterson Field.

Creepy 99

This issue is an "Earth Shattering Disasters" special issue featuring stories about the apocalypse or disasters. Bob Larkin paints the cover, featuring people fleeing from a mushroom cloud explosion. The bottom right portion of the cover features a man who looks strikingly similar to Roger Moore, who was playing James Bond at the time.

First is "An Old Game" by Pepe Moreno Casares (art, his Warren debut) and Nicola Cuti (story). This story is about an old submarine captain who plots to kills his wife and her lover due to her having an affair. He acts towards his fellow soldiers as if there's a nuclear war on the surface and he fires off a torpedo that blows up the city his wife is in. At the same time however her lover is in the air in a plane that blows up the sub.

Second is "Ssshh!" by Joe Vaultz (art) and Cary Bates (story). Aliens come across Earth, now in ruins. Multiple aliens end up causing large explosions by doing harmless things such as stepping on a horn and firing a toy gun. About to take off one of them discovers that humanity polluted the Earth so much that any slight noise will cause an explosion. Them taking off ends up blowing up the entire earth.

Next is "Brothers" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Bill Dubay (story). This story is about two robot children who live with the only normal human left on Earth. The ruins near them are overrun with mutants who try to kill them. While the old man tells the children that the mutants are the deformed remains of humanity, the mutants themselves reveal the truth, that they are aliens and that the old man was actually one of them who was transformed into a human in order to trick humans into destroying themselves. The mutants 'cure' him by destroying him and his robots.

Next is "A Slight Case of Overkill" by Leopold Sanchez (art) and Bill Dubay (story). This story surrounds the last two men on Earth as they try to escape. Due to the arms race a crazy scientist created a gas that de-evolved humans. It worked too good, turning everyone to turn into chimps. This story appears to have been originally intended for issue 95's all apes special.

Fifth is "There Shall Come a Great Darkness" by Alfredo Alcala (art) and Bob Toomey (story). In this story a great darkness is heading across the universe. On Earth people know they don't have much time left and decide to punish the astronomers who discovered this by hanging them. A friend of the astronaut allows his wife to kill herself then watches the darkness come with her corpse.

Last is "One Hell of a War" by Leo Duranona (art) and Roger McKenzie (story). This story features a war between Earth and alien beings. A man on a ship with a robot witnesses the Earth destroyed, but in actuality it is all due to drugs that he is under that will keep him focused on the alien enemy.