Eerie 113

Jim Laurier provides the UFO themed cover of this issue of Eerie, dated August 1980. This issue kicks off a long stretch of very poor issues of Eerie, probably the worst issues of material that Warren ever put out. This is going to be rough.

First is "The Manifestation" by E.R. Cruz (art) and the team of Bill Dubay & Budd Lewis (story, Dubay as Will Richardson). This story features an encounter in space with a blob like entity that takes over many astronauts. A rather dull story that goes on for far too long. But far worse is Cruz's art. Cruz is probably the worst artist who ever worked for Warren. Every single character he ever drew looked exactly the same. And unfortunately there's lots of him over the rest of Eerie's life.

Second is "Code Name: Nova" by Alfredo Alcala (art) and Bill Dubay (story). This story features a man taking on mutant revolutionaries. Better art, but poorer story than the previous one.

Last is "Haxtur and the Slow Death God" by Victor de la Fuente (story & art). Haxtur comes to a new village where he is told of the deadly God Mokt, who is keeping people from leaving the village. Haxtur encounters Mokt, which ends up being a radioactive statue. He later encounters the diabolic master "Khut", who wants to take over Haxtur's body, but he is able to kill him and escape.

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.

Vampirella 21

Enrich provides the cover for this issue of Vampirella, showing Vampi in the desert with a skull as the sun. Bill Dubay provides the two page "Mind-Benders" on the front and back inside covers.

First is "Slitherers of the Sand" by Jose Gonzalez (art) and Steve Englehart (story, as 'Chad Archer'). A fairly good story to kick of Engleheart's short run at writing Vampi, which would last only 3 issues. In this issue Vampi, the Van Helsings and Dracula are transported to the desert where they encounter an extremely ugly giant slug which ends up killing itself when Vampi tricks it into traveling over its own waste.

Next is "A Legend", the latest "Tomb of the Gods" story by Esteban Maroto (story & art). Like most of the stories in this series it just isn't all that great, about a man, Altik the warrior who is used by the Gods. Yawn.

Third is "Paranoia" by Luis Garcia (art) and Steve Skeates (story). A rather confusing story about a man put into deadly situations by a bizarre group of creatures. He eventually meets his end when a train car hits him. Unfortunately this would be Garcia's last story for Warren, although they would reprint stories he had done elsewhere in 1975.

Last is "The Vampiress Stalks the Castle This Night" by Felix Mas (art) and Don McGregor (story). A fairly good story about a pair of 17 year olds who have gotten pregnant who come across a large castle occupied by a vampiress. They are luckily able to stop her and escape. Some very nice art by Mas, much of which was used within the inside covers of the Warren companion.

Eerie 111

This issue of Eerie features a cover by Ken Kelly.

First is the finale to "Blood on Black Satin" by Paul Gulacy (art) and Doug Moench (story). Our heroes are caught in a frenzy as Simon Whately and his mob overrun the town. Our protagonist awakens the next day, believing it all ot be a dream. In actuality everything did happen, and Whately is still in control.

Second is "Moto Psycho Cop" by John Garcia & Rudy Nebres (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). This stand alone story tells of a 'pyscho cop' and the mind induced experiences he gets in. Eventually he is killed, but another man gets revenge for him on those he had worked for.

Third is "The Messenger", the final Samurai story by Val Mayerik (art) and Larry Hama (story). In this story Samurai is helped by a friend who looks like him to helps take out some Yagyu Clan ninjas who are after him. Unfortunately this would be Samurai's final appearance, despite the fact that the story is nowhere close to a conclusion.

Fourth is the final Mac Tavish story, "50 Million Spacemen Can't Be Wrong" by Pepe Moreno Casares (art) and Jim Stenstrum (story). In this story Mac Tavish discovers how Gorgo was able to track Spider's attack, and also finds that Gorgo himself is paralyzed now and portrayed in public by one of his men. Spider appears on the scene, now with all his hair shaved off, and angry at Mac Tavish, not knowing the truth, blows up both himself and Mac Tavish's lover, Ida. Mac Tavish, upset, tries to destroy the Earth by plowing a ship into it, but stops at the last minute and decides to spare it.

The issue concludes with "Beware of Glahb", the third story in the Haxtur series by Victor de la Fuente (story & art). This series, which was a reprinting of a series that originally appeared in Europe initially started in 1984/1994 before moving here with this issue. In this story Haxtur saves a sacrifice for a giant lizard creature, Glahb, and is saved by her later on when he becomes the intended sacrifice. He later contends with a priest that forbids people to talk

With the ending of multiple long running series and Louise Jones's departure as editor, Eerie would quickly collapse to ineptitude after this issue.

Creepy 89

This issue of Creepy is an all war special issue. Alas, the stories here aren't at the quality of the Blazing Combat days, which would have made this quite the issue. The cover is a reprint of Frank Frazetta's cover for Blazing Combat 1.

First is "Blood Brothers" by Jose Ortiz (art) and Bruce Jones (story). The issue's best story, it is about a soldier who meets another soldier, Voper among the dead of a destroyed fort. Voper travels with him, but constantly dissappears and appears fine after being shot by our protagonist. At the end of the story it is revealed that Voper was dead the entire time and was actually being eaten by our protagonist.

Second is "The Windmill" by Leo Duranona (art) and Lou Rossin (story). This short story, at only 5 pages, features a hunchback in the days before World War II who fights to save his country of Liechenstein from the Nazis.

Third is "Angel of Jaipur" by John Severin (art) and Bill Dubay (story). This story features a young pilot flying a plane who goes back in time and manages to save his father from a military assault. Despite there being some sceptics, the gun marks on his plane are proof enough that it really happened.

Fourth is "The Hungry Dragon" by Carmine Infantino & Alex Nino (art) and Nicola Cuti (story). A soldier comes across a village in Vietnam where he finds some young children which he attempts to care for. He heads out and kills some enemy soldiers to find food for them, but upon returning finds them eating the remains of some dead soldiers, causing them to kill them... in his mind. In actuality, he only harmed one of them, who ended up becoming his wife years later, but in his mind he is convinced he killed them all.

Fifth is "The Door-Gunner" by Leopold Sanchez (art) and Larry Hama & Cary Bates (story). This story is drawn in pencil only. It features a veteran back from Vietnam who is convinced that he is still there at the war, resulting in murderous rages from him. In the end it ends up that he's in a mental hospital.

Last is "Coggin's Army" by Martin Salvador (art) and Roger McKenzie (story). Similar to the last story, this story takes place in an institution, where an old general, his wheelchair bound friend and others are convinced they are still at war.

1994 19

This issue starts off with a good cover by Jordi Penalva.

First is "Young Sigmond Pavlov!" by Alex Nino (art) and Bill Dubay (story, as Will Richardson, which is how he's credited throughout the issue). Its around this point in this magazine's life where you truly start to wonder whether Bill Dubay and Alex Nino have lost their minds. This story kicks off a completely nonscensical series of stories with little to them in terms of plot, but with by far the most bizarre and over the top artwork Warren ever published. Not just extremely bizarre, but also incredibly offensive as well. This story, which has Pavlov, a psychologist, talking to a patient, consists pretty much entirely of two page spreads of incredibly over the top material (much of it sexual in nature). And trust me, its gets even more over the top in the stories to come. You wonder how Nino even thought of much of the stuff he starts drawing with this story. This stuff has to be seen to be believed. Probably on its own makes this issue, and the later ones featuring this stuff a worthwhile purchase.

Second is "Fugue for a Ferrite Fugitive" by Vic Catan (art) and Bill Dubay & Kevin Duane (story). This story features a robot who is accused of murder who is innocent, as another robot who looks just like him committed the murders. Unfortunately things don't go well for the robot; even though he does find the other robot, the both of them end up getting destroyed. A so-so story at best.

Third is "The Holy Warrior!" by Delando Nino (art) and John Ellis Sech & Bill Dubay (story). This story takes place in a future where there are Jesus clones. Our hero, the Holy Warrior, is seeking to rescue one, which is just a child from communist enemies. He is able to do so, but the two of them are so hungry that he ends up killing the clone and eating him! Quite a bizarre and heretical ending for this story.

Fourth is "Ghita of Alizarr" by Frank Thorne (story & art). Rahmuz, leader of Urd, is introduced. He desires for Ghita to join his harem, which already includes a four breasted woman (!). He hopes to make Ghita his Queen and as a result rule over Alizarr as well. Ghita meanwhile meets an old lady who reveals that the unicorn she's traveling with has the spirit of Khan Dagon within it. Sartan arrives and cuts off the horn from the unicorn, hoping to make himself rich with it. Ghita bids farewell to the old woman and meets back up with Thenef and Dahib.

Fifth is "Et Tu Casey!" by Abel Laxamana (art) and Kevin Duane (story). This story, as one would think from the title, is heavily inspired by the story of Casey, the great baseball player who struck out when his team needed him most. The twist on this story is that first, it takes place on an alien planet, and second, Casey does manage to hit the ball, but it explodes, blowing up the entire ballpark.

Last is "Steele!" by Alex Nino (art) and Bill Dubay & Budd Lewis (story). This story makes a hell of a lot more sense than Dubay and Nino's first story for this issue. It features a man who is severly wounded, losing the bottom half of his body. He is put in suspended animation then later brought back to life to become an assassin, assigned to killing demons. Eventually the original Hunter makes an appearance and after being severly injured, our protagonist is transformed once again, into the Exterminator featured extensively in the Hunter II series. A pretty good prequel story tying in to the Hunter and Hunter II serials from Eerie.

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.