Axe Elf

If I speak the same dialect of autocorrect, I believe the accurate translation is "silver age." Whoever invented autocorrect should burn in hello.

CREEPY #42 - November 1971 According to the Warren Magazine Index... 42. cover: Manuel Sanjulian (Nov. 1971) 1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Captain Kidd! [T. Casey Brennan/Ken Kelly] 1p [frontis] 2) The Quaking Horror [Gardner Fox/Rafael Auraleon] 6p 3) A Change Of Identity! [Don Glut/Dave Cockrum] 6p 4) The Amazing Money-Making Wallet [Steve Skeates/Joe Staton] 6p 5) Spacial Delivery [R. Michael Rosen/Larry Todd] 7p 6) A Chronicle! [Steve Skeates/Jorge B. Galvez] 4p 7) Escape From Nowhere World [T. Casey Brennan/Jerry Grandenetti] 8p 8) The Creepy Fan Page: Jerry Grandenetti Profile/The Demon/The Old Lady And The Cats/The Problem [Jerry Grandenetti, Jim Fadler, Randy Kirk & Robert Nason/Donald MacDonald] 2p [text article/stories] 9) Ice Wolf [Gary Kaufman] 10p Notes: Although it wasn’t completely apparent from this issue, the Spanish invasion of artists had begun a couple of months earlier in Eerie, which would eventually result in most of the American artists being driven from the Warren pages. The professional artists and writers’ debuts, which had highlighted the previous two years, also began to dry up. The sorceress in Sanjulian’s first Creepy cover was largely naked and while an effort was made to cover up her breasts with a yellow bra overlay, the technique used clearly didn’t work. ‘Escape From Nowhere World’ was a sequel to the earlier ‘On The Wings Of A Bird’ from #36. Brennan says he wrote the original story but the version here is not that story. His original script was apparently rewritten by various Warren staffers. Ernie Colon had a letter reprinted from the New York Times while future writer/artist Frank Miller also contributed to the letters’ page. ‘Ice Wolf’ was the best story. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ah yes, the infamous "yellow bra overlay" cover. I think this is the first time we've seen illustrated nudity on a Warren cover, isn't it? Or do you even still consider it "illustrated nudity" after the yellow bra overlay? I'd always kind of thought of the "Spanish Invasion" as a good thing; an influx of foreign talent--but the Index makes it sound more like a predatory thing--"Those Spanish artists came in and took our jobs!" I certainly hate to hear that all these new artists and writers are going to be drying up, as I have considered (most of) their appearances to be a welcome influx of talent as well. So I'm hoping to hear some opinions from our readers about the pros and cons of the "Spanish Invasion." Lots to look forward to here! A sequel to "On the Wings of a Bird"? Yes, please! I hate to hear it was altered from the author's original version, though; I hope it was only in the details, and that they didn't change his entire vision or something--but then again, I guess we'll never know (unless someone has access to his original script). At least Grandenetti is still the artist--and I always look forward to the artist profiles in the Fan Pages; his will be no exception! I would expect Grandenetti to be quite the character, just based on his highly stylized art. And speaking of artists, we have letters from Ernie Colon and Frank Miller (like "Sin City" Frank Miller??) and Ken Kelly doing the Loathsome Lore!! So I'm hoping to put the debacle that was VAMPIRELLA #13 behind me and enjoy this Sanjulian-covered issue instead!

I cheated and looked ahead to the letters sections of VAMPIRELLA #15 and #16 to see what the fans had to say, and for the most part it looks like they liked it--though there was one dissenting opinion. That was more about the artwork than the story itself, though. But this one was more @OtherEric-level of praise: Me and Randy will just be over here in our corner telling each other how smart we are and laughing at the rest of you. But seriously, I do feel BETTER about disagreeing, now that we've done it a few times and everyone realizes that there is no "right" or "wrong"; just different opinions on creative works of art. This reading club is still one of my favorite things in life right now.

Hoo boy, where do I start with this one? Did I mention it has a really nice cover? Didja know you can't judge books by those? The highlight of the week for me is probably the synchronicity of Trina Robbins' mention as the designer of Vampirella's costume to lead off "Vampi's Scarlet Letters"--in the very same week in which she passed away! I wasn't really familiar with her before, but it seems like she was a very interesting, accomplished and independent woman. The same writer said the cover to VAMPIRELLA #11 (Frazetta's classic "Woman with Scythe") "wasn't spectacular, but just 'good'." I also wish we could have seen the nude photo of Linda, the Vampirella look-alike secretary, but I suppose that Jim Warren had had his fill of publishing nude photos by then. I also enjoyed the Vampirella installment, "Lurker in the Deep," quite a bit. I don't care what the Index says, I like Gonzalez' art for her stories, even when it's a little scratchy/scribbly. The "lurker" itself kind of pushed the limits of that style, being kind of a scribbly "Creature from the Black Lagoon" with octopus arms, but overall I find his art very interesting. The twist of a jealous female monster was clever, too. I enjoyed the double-sized Vampirella story so much that I kind of convinced myself that I was liking "From Death's Dark Corner" the first time through as well, but by the time I got to the end and reviewed the story, I was a lot less impressed by it. @OtherEric was put off by the repetition of "Death's Dark..." in the title, and I don't really see why it was named that in the first place--it should have been something more like "The Changeling in the Swamp" or something--but I thought the story was poorly told and constructed (and ended). She hated her monster child so much that she killed her husband, faked the kidnapping of the child, and abandoned it in the swamp--but continued to bring it food until it was old enough to kill her? Unfortunately, it's probably the second-best story in the issue. And if there was redundancy in the "Death's Dark..." titles, then there was also Egyptian redundancy in multiple recent stories about the Ramses kings that brings us to the piece that @OtherEric called one of the all-time Warren classics--"The Silver Thief and the Pharoah's Daughter." I hate when we disagree so sharply, and I love ya Eric, but I feel like I must be missing something here! The debut of the Jose Bea art was ok, but it was a long (11 page) story for a small payoff--the thief was so good that the king gave him a job?--and his daughter's hand in marriage? It seems ridiculous to me, as were some of the plot devices (how did the chopped-off arm get him past the guards in the chamber with the king's daughter?). And further, this isn't even a horror story--not even a psychological or human nature horror story--it belongs more in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine or something! I could have gone through all the Warren magazines without reading this bloated historical crime drama. For me, it just doesn't fit and it's not that great--but I always hate dissing a piece that other people enjoy! Forgive me! And speaking of redundancy over the past couple of issues, for some reason they reprinted the same exact "Annual Warren Awards" feature in this issue that was printed in VAMPIRELLA #12 (although for some reason, this escaped listing or mention in the Index). "The Frog Prince" was the lowlight of the issue, and that's saying something. It might even be the lowlight of the VAMPIRELLA series thus far. The whole thing seems like it could have been a Don Martin one-pager in MAD magazine and still delivered the joke. And the joke might have landed a little more effectively for me if the frog prince's "CROAK" at the end hadn't been so over-the-top. Like if his throat and upper chest had just puffed out a little--instead of turning him completely into a ball with arms and legs. And after all that talk about "reversing the spell," "turning him into a man again," and so on, the twist isn't really even that logical--unless of course he was a man who croaked BEFORE the enchantment! And finally, "Eye of the Beholder" was every bit as grim and ugly as @OtherEric described--and that was even with it reminding me of a darker version of Shel Silverstein's "The Giving Tree" a little bit. It's only redeeming feature was the closing line, "...and then her left eye popped out," which broke the darkness of the piece with a little piece of even darker levity. Kaufman's work on "Vampi's Feary Tales" was indeed better than his work on that last story, even if the narrative was a little fragmented. I like that they are digging deep for some of these Gallery/Lore/Tales features rather than just rehashing well-known monsters. I'm learning from some of these, including this one, as I had never heard of the Lamia before. The "Vampi's Flames" fan pages left me cold as usual, especially the conclusion to the fan fiction epic, "The Leaking Bathtub." The only reason I can see for ever opening this magazine is the Vampirella feature--worst issue of the series so far, in my opinion.

OMG She engaged with underage girls??

I thought you were quizzing us.

VAMPIRELLA #48?

Mylar & the Fullbacks Or Fullback & the Mylars (Fullback & the Mylites?)

In the same vein would be the Cover Pieces. They're #1.

I don't think I saw this one, but it seems obvious. Detached Cover (They only do other people's songs, but they don't care about them.)

The real irony would be if CGC did the pressing, and then dinged themselves for doing a poor job. P.S. As I understand it, pretty much ALL grader's notes are "opinions."

Good call! That's probably the middle ground between ignoring the tape and not ignoring the tape. Parenthetically, I may be using the term incorrectly, but I was considering a "bindery tear" to be any tear to the binding, not necessarily a production defect. The way a couple of you have answered, I get the impression that the term "bindery tear" refers only to production flaws? Yes, I think this cover started to tear at the bottom of the spine, after it was in circulation, and someone applied tape to stop the spread of the tear. Sorry if calling it a "bindery tear" caused any confusion.

It's a really interesting question, because to me, tape on the cover is one of those "hard" defects where there's no "slight" or "moderate" tape on the cover; if there's tape on the cover, then there's tape on the cover, and the highest the book can possibly grade is a 4.0. If you have tape on the cover of a Gem Mint book, then it becomes a 4.0 book. Period. But if CGC was forced to abide by their own policy on tape, then this book would have to receive (in your estimation) a 7.0, because their official policy is to ignore the tape and grade on the basis of the defect that is addressed by the tape. I'm just really curious how CGC would actually grade this book, given their policy (but not curious enough to pay them to find out.)

So I just noticed not too long ago that my nice-ish copy of VAMPIRELLA #16 actually has a little piece of tape on the cover! It's a small piece at the bottom of the spine, wrapping from back to front, apparently put there to keep the little bindery tear at the bottom of the spine from getting worse. I've read the Official CGC policy on tape--if the tape is there to correct a defect, the tape is ignored and the book is graded on the basis of the defect alone without the tape. But this would likely still be an 8.0ish book if it was graded without the tape, even with that little bindery tear--but it has tape on the cover! Surely you can't have an 8.0+ with TAPE ON THE COVER--can you??? So what's your wild guess as to how this book would be graded?

Lawdhammercy...