Axe Elf

I haven't even started on the Famous Monsters of Filmland run yet, so limiting myself from peripheral Warren materials is still pretty easy. I did spring for a Warren Companion, though... Good luck with your sale! I'm interested to see if the Heidi sells; I got mine almost exactly a year ago for about $40 less, so inflation would suggest that your price is fair.

You just had me panicked for a moment as I thought there was a new hole in my Warren collection.

This first one isn't technically a Warren magazine, even if concerns Warren figures. It was published by Metropolis Publications.

Are you SURE it's not from sun-fading? There seems to be a consensus that red inks fade more quickly under exposure to UV rays than the others, which would be consistent with turning a purple color more bluish. We had kind of a similar discussion in the Warren Magazine Reading Club about the "brown" and "green" versions of CREEPY #20, and determined through the scientific method that the "green" versions probably started out as "brown" versions but were exposed to more sunlight, removing more of the red inks from the brown areas and leaving the cyan+yellow (green) inks more pronounced. If these books are worth slabbing, they're probably worth too much to do a similar experiment on a "purple" copy, but the results could be interesting.

I'd like you to grade this song I wrote. It starts out kinda slow, but then it ends up faster and louder. Do you think it could be a hit? What? You want to hear the song before you grade it? Well, maybe we'd like to see your comic book before we grade it too... Welcome to the boards and all; I hate to reply to your first post with some sarcastic snark--but come on, you really want us to try to grade a book sight unseen? Have you looked at any of the other posts in this section? Or even the pinned guidelines? ETA: Sheesh, I thought this was at least in the "Buddy Can You Spare A Grade" forum; I forgot where I was! You need to take a look at that board and post this there--with pictures!

I love all the background info you give on the artists, and with an issue like this where more than half of it is from fairly unfamiliar contributors, that's a big contributiion!

CREEPY #39 - May 1971 According to the Warren Magazine Index... 39. cover: Basil Gogos (May 1971) 1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: The Evil Eye! [Richard Grose/Clif Jackson] 1p [frontis] 2) Uncle Creepy: Where Satan Dwells… [Al Hewetson/Sal Trapani] 8p [gueststars Cousin Eerie] 3) C.O.D.—Collects On Death! [Dave Wood/Dave Cockrum] 8p 4) The Water World! [Buddy Saunders/Pablo Marcos] 6p 5) Death Of The Wizard [Pat Boyette] 6p 6) Harvest Of Horror! [Phil Seuling/Frank Brunner] 7p 7) The Dragon-Prow! [Steve Skeates/Richard Bassford] 7p 8) Puzzling Monsters: Who Drew What? [?/Carlos Garzon, Pat Boyette, Tom Sutton, Jack Davis, Jerry Grandenetti, Bill Fraccio--Tony Tallarico, Syd Shores, Ernie Colon, Billy Graham, James Warren & William Barry] 2p [match the artist page] 9) The Creepy Fan Club: The Lesson/The Gravekeeper/The Year 2,000/The Voice Of Death/Little Miss Muffet [Billy Rand, Danuta Kwapisz, Mark Rone, William Buchanan & John Leho/Harry Glienke, Edgar Maggiani, Daniel Smeddy, Sam Park & Randy Williams] 2p [text stories & poems] 10) Mad Jack’s Girl [Gary Kaufman] 8p Notes: When the Uncle Creepy story was first announced, Ernie Colon was listed as the artist. The art there is so much better than Trapani’s usual stuff that it might just be Colon pencils with Trapani inks. Dave Cockrum made his professional debut while Pablo Marcos made his North American one. Richard Bassford, a familiar name from 1960s fanzines, also made his professional debut. Although Dual Dragon’ was supposed to be Kaufman’s professional debut, ‘Mad Jack’s Girl’ actually appeared first. The ‘Who Drew What’ page featured partly new & partly old illos with the readers encouraged to guess ‘who drew what’. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here is another Gogos cover that I'm surprised is a Gogos cover. The man sure had a wide range of styles. I guess he was using up some extra red paint on this one. And those hellhounds... I wonder if it is the male or the female that has the ridge down its back...? We may need a Monster Gallery to be sure. As much as the last few issues have been celebrations of celebrated artists, this one promises a package of new and newish artists plying their trade for our perusal (alongside a couple of vets)--so I'm looking forward to making their acquaintance, as well as seeing what Boyette's latest offering holds. And speaking of the vets, just looking at that list of artists that are featured n the "Puzzling Monsters: Who Drew What?" quiz, I feel like I should do pretty good at it--there are several names there I like a lot--but I guess we'll see... So Uncle Creepy is in a lot of stories, but I take it he gets an extended role in one here, a la Vampirella in her own stories, or something like that--and a cameo by Uncle Eerie? That should be fun too...

#4 has an "A" and a "B" version... One of them has "The Power and the Gory" as the 2nd story, and the other one has a different story as the "Surprise Bonus Story" (as the Contents page reads in both versions)--but right now I can't remember the name of the second story in the other version. ETA: "Pure As Snow" is the 2nd story in version B. ...and, I should probably add that whichever version @OtherEric wants is WAY more valuable than the other.

Seems like there was a lot going on in the more trivial features of this week's issue, so I will start with them... Once again, the "Vampi's Scarlet Letters" and "Vampi's Flames" features were interconnected, with both (amateurish) sketches published in the latter accompanied by letters appearing in the former. The shortest letter award goes to John Baumann of Northridge, California, whose signature was longer than his letter, which reads simply, "Vampi, I love you." And for being even more pedantic than I am sometimes, I have to acknowledge Pete Caroselli for observing that if Drakulonians evolved on a liquid diet, they would have never developed teeth! There's lots of praise for the Vampi reboot in VAMPIRELLA #8, and future writer Mike Barr's letter was an extensive and literate critique of most of that issue. I'm sure it's just a coincidence that Thomas Pallant's letter includes a mention of Vampirella being the best thing since Raquel Welch. The Flames section was cut short to include a feature on the "Results of the First Miss Vampire Contest" (which was interesting, but seemed like it deserved at least one more page), which is ok by me, because the fan fiction was the usual festival of nonsense. The only story that KIND OF had merit was "The Telephone Terror," but the trope of "the call is coming from inside the house!" goes back to the 50s (though perhaps most popularized by "When a Stranger Calls" in the late 70s), so the idea may not have been entirely original to the author. Besides, while it's a stretch to learn that the call is coming from inside the house (maybe there is a second land line for an office or a child?), it seems really silly to say, "He's on your extension!"--how could the phone ring for an incoming call on the same extension? "Vampi's Feary Tales" was well-drawn by Billy Graham, although it's hard to imagine that there would be space on Medusa's head to attach the thick bush of snakes he drew around her. I had never heard the second part, about the shield later being found with Medusa's image imprinted on it, but it sounds like something he just made up. "The image was so powerful..."? An image is just the light reflecting off of something; it doesn't have any extra "power" to realign copper atoms from the Earth into a silver shield. Still, it's a nice frontis to an issue that delivers on the promise of superior art from superior artists. As I settled into the first story, "Fiends in the Night," I found myself really enjoying it--not only for Sutton's art, but for the story itself. By the time our hero was attacked by the vampire, I could see the delicious twist coming--after fighting his way through the night and all kinds of monsters, our hero would find himself alone on an open snowy hillside as the sun was rising, thinking he was safe, only to realize the REAL curse as he began to sizzle in the first rays of dawn--he had become a vampire himself from the attack! I was even willing to ignore an absurdity similar to the one in "I Fell For You" from EERIE #32 for that payoff (he happened to fall back into the same town when the balloon went down?). But then that's not how it ended at all--and the actual ending was dumb. Even if the book of spells had NOT been frozen shut, how was he going to locate and execute the proper spell in an unfamiliar book in the 10-15 seconds he had before the monsters closed in on him? Bah. And then there's Uncle Creepy instead of Vampirella to close the story, which isn't necessarily bad, but it just points to more sloppiness from the front office. "The Marriage" was much more consistent, and a pretty fair story, although it loses some impact in these days of wireless keyboards and such. After I read the twist, I went back hoping to find some trace of his connecting wire in the previous panels, but I couldn't find any. His feet weren't visible in a lot of panels, but I think it would have been a nice touch to add an indistinct line unobtrusively attached to his foot in one of the earlier panels, just so there WOULD be something to find for people like me who went back and looked. Just a little extra line on the floor in one of these panels, for instance... ...probably would have gone unnoticed on the first read, but would have made a great Easter Egg to go back and find. As it is, he's pretty clearly unwired in that frame, which kind of spoils the continuity. Still, it's a nice concept that probably played on people's fear of computers taking over (in the early years of computers), much like some people fear AI taking over now. I was a little confused as to when the events in the Prologue of "Eye of Newt, Toe of Frog" were taking place. That first part didn't seem very consistent with the ceremony taking place at the end of the story (she didn't recognize her husband was one of the priests?), but ignoring that, it was passable filler--and REALLY interesting to look at. Brunner really exploited the black and white medium to dazzling effect in some panels. While there was nothing wrong with the art for "The Soft, Sweet Lips of Hell," I had a hard time seeing Neal Adams in it apart from Steve Englehart, but then I know nothing of his work and precious little of Adams' work, so I'm sure it's just me. I liked the story itself for being as much of a love story as it was a horror story (albeit with the tired trope of the "life energy stealer" front and center). I was hoping that maybe after she offed the three thugs, she would have enough energy to save our hero AND herself, but then that wouldn't have been as tragic. This reminded me of a similar story of self-sacrifice that seemed kind of out of place in a horror magazine a while back, but I don't remember what it was called and don't want to go to the trouble of looking it up--but we thought it was also more romance than horror at the time--and like this, kind of a refreshing change of pace in that regard. Wally Wood's "War of the Wizards" is probably a highlight of the issue, both artistically and narratively, although it seems like Wood can only draw one heroine and one monster--these seem like the same two characters from "The Curse" in VAMPIRELLA #9. However, they came together for a panel that actually made me laugh out loud when I was reading it: "The power of my boobs compels you!" "A Thing of Beauty" is kind of, well, a thing of beauty, both for Billy Graham's stark contrasts, and for the contrast between the lighthearted nature of the tale (with the name parodies and all) and the various forms of ugliness in the tale (both his and hers). It's a nice little mixture of fun and horror that isn't absurd and it exemplifies the kind of stories I like most in Warren magazines--darkness with a wink. I agree with @OtherEric that "Regeneration Gap" is too close to Wood's "The Cosmic All" from CREEPY #38--both in content and publishing date--to stand on its own here; although it would probably be ok closing out the issue if we weren't comparing it to its predecessor. There was one other little bit of continuity from CREEPY #38--having an interior panel that looks like a photograph of the cover. We see a lot of covers that are similar to interior panels, but it seems like these last two were almost exact duplicates of their respective covers set into the rest of the art. The stories in this issue aren't bad for the most part, but it's definitely an issue you could give to someone to demonstrate the quality of the Warren artists at this point in time. Most of my complaints with this issue are in the minor supporting features; overall it's a pretty solid effort.

Be on the lookout; it seems that a whole lot of new fake I.D.s to the EERIE #23 Club are going to be circulating soon...

I was thinking of taking a shot at upgrading my membership to the EERIE #23 Club with some Christmas money last night, if this little beauty had stayed south of $200, but nope... It was actually kind of a double-whiff, as one hour earlier... Oh well... Here's to another year of searching.

VAMPIRELLA #10 - March 1971 According to the Warren Magazine Index... 10. cover: Bill Hughes (Mar. 1971) 1) Vampi’s Feary Tales: The Face Of Medusa [Billy Graham] 1p [frontis] 2) Fiends In The Night! [Buddy Saunders/Tom Sutton] 8p 3) The Marriage [Steve Skeates/Ralph Reese] 5p 4) Eye Of Newt, Toe Of Frog [Gerry Conway/Frank Brunner] 7p 5) The Soft, Sweet Lips Of Hell! [Denny O’Neil/Neal Adams & Steve Englehart] 10p 6) War Of The Wizards [Wally Wood] 8p 7) A Thing Of Beauty! [Len Wein/Billy Graham] 7p 8) Vampi’s Flames: The Night/The Protective Father/The Telephone Terror!/Results Of The First Miss Vampire Contest! [Diane Reed, henry C. Brennan, Susan Coakley & ?/Bob Garrison & Kevin Richert] 2p [text stories/article] 9) Regeneration Gap [Chuck McNaughton/Tom Sutton] 7p Notes: Future comics writer Mike Barr sent in a letter. The Vampirella story was skipped, presumably due to deadline problems, with two other Tom Sutton drawn stories put in as replacements. This strong issue led with artistic strength from Sutton, Ralph Reese, Frank Brunner (although the Conway story was noticeably weak), Wally Wood, Billy Graham and Neal Adams. Top stories came from Len Wein, Steve Skeates, Denny O’Neil & Buddy Saunders. Steve Englehart made his professional debut here as an artist. The Conway/Brunner story was originally intended for Warren rival Web Of Horror. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As much as the cover for VAMPIRELLA #9 had me anticipating its contents, this one did not; it's not particularly attractive to me. It's kind of amazing to me that it was done by Bill Hughes--the same guy who did the pretty amazing cover for VAMPIRELLA #2! I wouldn't have guessed that. I see more Gogos in it than Hughes, but then my eye is quite untrained. On this cover in my Gallery, @FoggyNelson commented that the gal looked like Raquel Welch. She was at the height of her popularity then, so there could definitely be some Raquel Welch in this cover art, especially given this image from the late 60s returned by a Google search: But perhaps even more apt was the comment from @The Lions Den (on the same gallery post) that it was not his favorite cover either, but that it was a great issue for interior art (and he also foreshadows an unscheduled cameo from Uncle Creepy--looking forward to that)! And a great issue for interior art it seems to be. Reading over the list of contributing artists to this issue gives me as much anticipation as the cover to the last issue did--Graham! Sutton! Wood! Adams! I hope the stories are up to par with the art! I'm not really sure why Sutton could do TWO stories and not run into "deadline problems," but he didn't have time to do the story for the titular character (Vampirella herself) this month? I really wouldn't have been upset to see Neal Adams take on "Superhero" from last week's EERIE #32--can you imagine? A new Batman artist (looks like Adams first did Batman work in early 1970) doing the "Bat"-man superhero for Warren at the same time?--and that would give Sutton the time he needed to do a Vampi story this issue, and everyone would be happy. Oh well, even with the sputtering start to the reboot of the Vampirella saga, I'm still looking forward to the art in this issue, if nothing else.

The theme for EERIE #32 seems to be "Fun, But Slight." Most of the stories are pretty entertaining reads, and most of the art is acceptable at worst, but there are some serious plot holes in some of them, and none of the stories were particularly striking visually or thought-provoking. In a sense, EERIE #32 was a bit of a letdown for me after some of the great stories we've seen recently, but they can't all be great--and this one is by no means "bad"; it's just a little lighter and more cartoony than usual, it seems. Maybe that's what they were going for, leading off with "Superhero" and all, intentionally looking more like a comic than a horror magazine--and kind of playing with the "Bat"-man idiom while at the same time giving the term a new meaning. It was probably a fun project for Sutton, and it's definitely a fun read and maybe the strongest story in this issue--justifying its position as the lead story and a cover story (since the Corben part of the cover doesn't seem to be related to any of the other stories). As I was reading it, I was expecting a more significant ending to "The Waking of the Hawk" than it delivered, but it was nice to see a more extensive display of Clif Jackson's work than just his single-page galleries--and the story is at least internally consistent. I did learn something from his "EERIE Monster Gallery" though. At first I was struck by the contrast between "creatures from the unknown" and "the creature from beyond Ultima Thule." Whaddya mean "the unknown"; you said they're from beyond Ultima Thule, amirite? So then I looked up Ultima Thule and found it isn't exactly a place, but more of a theoretical "furthest point"--so to be from beyond Ultima Thule is to be from beyond the furthest known point--makes sense that it would be "the unknown." It's kind of silly that the man stealing from the monastery would run INTO "The Wailing Tower" if he was trying to escape a mob hot on his heels, but I'm not so much bothered by the fact that it ended up being a monument to Satan. I don't think it means ALL other faiths are evil; more that there could be evil sects out there right under our noses and we might not be able to tell the difference. We've already discussed Corben's style on "Bookworm"; the story is ok, but I spent a lot of extra time just examining the art--which is interesting enough for this to be the second-best story of the issue, and a nice pick-me-up halfway through the book. @OtherEric was right about the twist being absurd enough to make "I Fell for You" more of a laffer than a fright. Sparling's art was on point for Janet, though; she was a hottie! Although I am largely ignorant of the basis for comparison to previous EC stories, the last two tales in this issue suffered the most from stupid plots. In "Soul Power," the deal is that the guy's soul stays in his body forever--despite the fact that his body ages, decays, and presumably decomposes normally. How is his soul going to stay in his body as his body is broken down over the ages, decomposing into component elements which are then recycled back into the universe? His soul will be dispersed throughout the ecosystem, a little bit in this tree, a little bit in that duck, etc. Silliness. And "Ice World" is just stupid on a lot of levels. It's an "Earth ship," so the icebox they end up in must belong to a race of giants on some other planet or something, but it seems more like they are tiny aliens who ended up in a human refrigerator, given the "housewife" at the end. And just how did they end up in a refrigerator anyway, without noticing how they got in there? Just some nonsense about the computer spitting out the formula for rubber as they were supposedly passing unaware through the rubber lining of the fridge. A strange shower of meteorites? Automatic icemaker, maybe? A barren icy landscape, no sign of a frozen dinner or leftovers from Christmas--this has to be the largest and most empty freezer in the universe. And hairy creatures running amok in the freezer?? That makes absolutely no sense in light of the twist. And worst of all, they couldn't even spell Cousin Eerie's name right in the intro: The best "Dear Cousin Eerie" letter complained about "only" getting 7 stories for 60 cents! As usual, the fan art was better than the fan fiction in "Eerie Fan Fare," although the short stories "Reversal" and "Your Last Child is Leaving" had decent ideas at their core, but weren't realized particularly well. So yeah, I could have done without the last couple of stories, and there's nothing other than Corben's work to elevate the rest of the issue beyond the entertainment to be gained by some of the earlier lighthearted pieces.

That is such a perfect way to describe it! I was searching for the words, as his work here seems kind of "cartoonish" but with a lot more heart than a typical cartoon--and I think the comparison to underground comics is entirely apt.

Ah yes; I'm an old KISS fan, but a relative comic newbie--I was scanning the recap posts for "KISS" and wasn't looking for "Marvel Super Special"!

I meant the KISS book specifically; I didn't see it listed in the sales thread.

Did I miss it?

EERIE #32 - March 1971 According to the Warren Magazine Index... 32. cover: Richard Corben & [in insert] Tom Sutton (Mar. 1971) [Sutton’s art is from an interior story] 1) Eerie’s Monster Gallery: The Creature From…Beyond Ultima Thule! [Clif Jackson] 1p [frontis] 2) Superhero! [Steve Skeates/Tom Sutton] 6p 3) The Warning Of The Hawk! [Gardner Fox/Clif Jackson & Syd Shores] 6p 4) The Wailing Tower [Larry Herndon/Frank Bolle] 7p 5) Bookworm [Gerry Conway/Richard Corben] 7p 6) I Fell For You [John Wolley/Jack Sparling] 7p 7) Eerie Fanfare: The Misunderstanding/Reversal/Ain’t It Not Funky Now Brother/Your Last Child Is Leaving [Clayton Fox, Michael Carlisle, Craig Hill & Ken Haubrock/Kevin Schaffer, Craig Hill, Steve Leialoha & Robert Monahan] 2p [text stories/poems] 8) Soul Power! [Don Glut/Mike Royer] 6p 9) Ice World [Bill DuBay/William Barry] 7p [art miscredited to DuBay] Notes: While a mainstay nowadays of such comics as Astro City, Steve Skeates’ ‘Superhero!’ was the first comic story to link up a night time Batman-like superhero with the vampire mythos. Pretty good story, too. Best story and art goes to the Conway/Corben ‘Bookworm’. Steve Leialoha made his second appearance on a fan page, along with an odd editorial announcement {that was not written by Leialoha} to the effect that he was ready to work for any comic publisher that wants him. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HAPPY NEW YEAR! Welcome to our first issue of 2024! While I'm pretty sure I've never heard of "The Creature from... Beyond Ultima Thule!" before, building my anticipation for this issue's Monster Gallery higher than usual, the big draw appears to be our second helping of Richard Corben, both on the cover, and with the Index's pick for the best art inside the book as well. It's not one of my favorite covers, but then I tend to dislike inserts and borders and "busy" covers in favor of greater focus on the art itself. I was kind of hoping that the "Superhero!" would be another recurring character for Sutton--in addition to his Vampirella duties--but I'm thinking this sounds more like a one-shot story about a (vampiric?) superhero rather than the origin of an ongoing character. Here's to another year of the best horror comics ever printed. I'm glad I'm still here, and I'm glad you are too!

Let's start with the cover and its associated story, "Secret of the Haunted Room," because that is the highlight of this issue--at least artistically. I'm sorry I referred to Ernie Colon as a "B-list" artist in this week's introduction, as he is responsible for this artistic masterpiece that I just couldn't stop admiring. The story is a little murky as to whether the gal in the haunted room was a ghost or a vampiress or a ghost of a vampiress, but my goodness, every page was a visual delight, combining photographs with simplistic line art in places and in other places producing art so good it looks like a photograph. I could go on and on with this one. And then you turn a page and there is the cover--appearing almost exactly as it does on the front, seemingly out of place with the story until you read the rest of the page. So maybe that's why the cover doesn't immediately make us think of Ken Kelly--because it's really a Kelly copy of Colon original panel! The "Loathsome Lore" feature on Killer Plants probably would have been better if it had just stuck to featuring actual carnivorous plants (which typically feed on small insects), rather than suggesting that carnivorous plants threatened our ancestors at some point. The writing and art by newcomer (?) Clif Jackson were credible, though. The "Contents" page still has a 1970 copyright listed. Again, the "Mail" and "Fan Club" features were connected, this time by the first appearance of new artist Gary Kaufman in the Fan Club, as well as his associated submission letter on the Mail page. There was also a lot of praise for "On the Wings of a Bird" from CREEPY #36, a long letter pining for the old (original) artists, and one of the more "feral" signatures in a long time, from Wilbur Bearsheart of Porcupine, SD. The single long story presented in the Fan Club section was one of the better fan stories in recent memory, although that's not a high bar to clear. And that brings us back to the stories... "Wooden Cross" was ok, although I'm not sure it was the strongest choice to lead off the issue. I kind of had trouble keeping the characters straight--all the men looked very similar to me. I would put "Revenge of the Hanged" in the same category; it's ok, but really just a capable re-telling of several similar "wronged dead put the perpetrator on trial" stories; a familiar story with new clothing. "Sticks and Stones to Break Their Bones" is this issue's clunker. Unless I'm reading it wrong, the big twist is that we've already been through a weapon-purging cycle, and we're only just now back to catapults as the cutting edge of military technology. Yet earlier on in the story, the protagonist is easily able to recognize "modern weapons," "the M-1," a "dogfight" between "two jet planes," and an "atomic explosion" in the background. If all memory of these weapons has been erased, and none of them have been re-invented yet, HOW WOULD HE KNOW WHAT THEY ARE??? Sheesh, one of the biggest facepalms yet in any Warren, ever. "The Way Home" turned a corner for the rest of the issue, delivering an interesting psychological horror piece that immerses us in the protagonist's madness as his tragedy unfolds. "Sleepwalker" opened with an amazing double-page spread centerfold, and added a few other engaging panels in the telling of another largely psychological horror piece that happens to also involve a couple of actual monsters. And finally, Wally Wood's follow-up to his VAMPIRELLA #9 masterpiece, "The Cosmic All." I think I was a little too distracted by some of the pseudo-scientific gobbledygook and non-sequiturs at the beginning of the story ("nothing but bones" on this planet, but there's no sign of animal life?) to call this one another "masterpiece" by Wood, but the overall concept is a good one, and the story is engaging and thoughtful, so it's really another very good offering from Wood, despite my pedantic quibbles. At least the story itself doesn't make the same error as the Contents page, which says that the story takes the reader "four light years into the future," turning a light year into a measure of time instead of distance. So overall I don't think I liked this issue as much as @OtherEric did, but outside of "Sticks and Stones" it ranges from competent to excellent, with the Colon art on "Haunted Room" being among the best we've seen from Warren.

I upgraded a few of my Warrens from this thread; lots of CREEPY, EERIE and VAMPI at mid- to high-mid-grade affordable prices--especially with the 20% off on $30+ books! Worth a look if you're in the market.

Per our PM, I will add the EERIE 1972 Annual (A) to my order. Thanks.

Yeah, it didn't really seem like a Kelly piece to me either. I guess it's still pretty early in his career here.

Well, I thought I was done upgrading my EERIEs, until I found this little 7.0ish beauty for $8.50! And digging a little deeper into Santa's Bargain Bag, I found a nice little lot of the other three Blazing Combats for just over $15 each--all of which are upgrades over my first copies! So $55 for the haul of all four!!! (Plus all the other Shipping Handling Insurance Taxes, of course...) And that will about put a wrap on the 2023 additions, other than 3 CREEPY upgrades I bought from a board member in the last couple of days; I should have those in hand in a week or two.

CREEPY #38 - March 1971 According to the Warren Magazine Index... 38. cover: Ken Kelly (Mar. 1971) 1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Killer Plants! [Clif Jackson] 1p [frontis] 2) Wooden Cross! [Steve Skeates/Rich Buckler] 6p 3) The Vengeance Of The Hanged! [Chris Fellner/Syd Shores] 8p 4) Sticks And Stones To Break Their Bones [Stu Schwartzburg/Bill Fraccio & Tony Tallarico] 5p 5) The Way Home! [T. Casey Brennan/Mike Royer] 8p 6) Sleepwalker! [Gerry Conway/Mike Royer] 7p 7) Secret Of The Haunted Room [Bill Warren/Ernie Colon] 9p 8) The Creepy Fan Page: Alpha 3 [Dan Thost/John Cornell, Gary Kaufman, Loper Espi, Jim Pinkoski & Steve Leialoha] 2p [text story] 9) The Cosmic All [Wally Wood] 8p Notes: Warren published new artist Gary Kaufman’s submission letter on the letters’ page and previewed his art on the fan page. Future Marvel editor & writer John D. Warner also sent in a letter. A fine art job by Ernie Colon enhanced ‘Secret Of The Haunted House’. Mike Royer & Syd Shores also contributed some nice art. Like Phillipe Druillet, Loper Espi was a professional artist whose submissions, for unknown reasons, were printed on the fan pages next to amateur submissions. Fan artist Jim Pinkoski also appeared on this issue’s fan page, as did future comic artist Steve Leialoha, making his comics debut. The big news, though, was the return of Wally Wood with an excellent little SF number. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Again this week it seems like there's a lot of interrelated action happening on the mail and fan pages, with a littering of letters and a deluge of debuts from future creators of which I've never heard. In fact, outside of Wally Wood, it seems like much of this issue is populated with "B-list" artists (IMO) like Royer, Colon and "Williamsune," which hopefully won't be too jarring of a break from the recently ubiquitous "A-list" artists (IMO) like Sutton and Graham. Colon is singled out for his work here, though--and I do always like to see a couple of new guys in the issue too, just to sample something fresh. I'm curious why the Index would call this "the return" of Wally Wood, though; since VAMPIRELLA #9 was dated January 1971 and this CREEPY is dated March 1971. I guess they just mean his return to CREEPY, and not to Warren in general?

All right; I'll spend some Christmas money on a few upgrades. Give me CREEPY #41B ($34), CREEPY #47 ($22), and CREEPY #77A ($26) for $82 total (if my math is correct); let me know about the shipping and where to direct the PayPal.