Axe Elf

I like the cover to CREEPY #37 a lot, but I'm finding it hard to express why I like it. I remember that it was one of the covers that struck me when I was unboxing the run last year; I guess it just looks like something that should be a CREEPY cover. Now that I'm becoming more familiar with Ken Barr's work, I think I have liked his interior work even more than his covers, but it's still a striking cover. Tom Sutton really outdid himself for the "Loathsome Lore" feature, which was almost like a little "mini-story" all on its own--and while fictionalized, definitely had more of a basis in fact than many of these features. Oops, looks like someone forgot to change the year on the "Contents" page... ...although I suppose since it was published IN 1970, the copyright could still be 1970, but I would think that the "No. 37, 1970" designation should match the cover date of 1971. The two notable entries on the "Mail" page were from the guy asking for less for his money--that nine stories in one issue was just too much (lol)--and another from the guy who told of his mother buying him his first CREEPY when he got sick in 1963--which caught my eye because that was the year I was born, but it's also a couple of years before the first CREEPY came out in 1965. So I can only assume that this was probably a misprint of 1968. I'm not quite sure what was happening in the first panel of "The Cadaver," but it sure looks like the lucky stiff had a happy ending... Besides that schoolboy snicker, I found this piece to be exactly what I think of as a CREEPY story--classic horror layered with humor and an ironic twist--a very satisfying start to the issue. And look, the students found that humerus too... (Ok, I know the humerus is the upper arm, but the joke was there for the taking, so I went out on a limb...) "King Keller," which went with the cover, was also a pretty competent story. The only thing I didn't understand is why the yeti were all gathered around the rocket that was annoying them so badly with it's ultrasonic transmissions--why would they all be close to it? You'd think they would all abandon and avoid that area of the village like the plague, or at least as much as possible, rather than gathering around it with their hands over their ears. But overall it was a credible plot with one of those "careful what you wish for" endings. Having spent most of my career working with abused, neglected, runaway and delinquent teenagers and their families, I expected to be more affected by the subject matter of "I Hate You! I Hate You!" than I was, when I found out what it was about. But the "abuse" aspect of the story was really minimized in comparison to the "time loop paradox" aspect of the story, so I wasn't really affected by it emotionally. In fact, while the "time loop paradox" is a pretty common trope by now, I thought this one added a bit of a twist that isn't usually present in the paradox. Usually when someone goes back in time, that creates two copies of them--an older one and a younger one. The older one eventually dies (or returns to his original timeline), and the younger one goes on to become the older one, who then goes back in time, and the loop is closed--no real paradox there. But in this story, each time the older one goes back in time, he is actually responsible for his own birth, and a NEW loop starts--so each closing of the loop in fact begins another loop. Now instead of going through the loop one time and done, with no paradox, our hero in this story is doomed to go through the loop an infinite number of times! And the loop itself never would have started--other than as a consequence of the loop itself! It's probably been done before, but that's kind of a new wrinkle to the time loop paradox for me--so again, fairly high marks from me on this one. Kinda weird that he had never seen his own face in a mirror before his son was born, though... Between "Tender Machine 10061" and "The Cut-Throat Cat Blues," Ernie Colon wins the art in this issue fairly easily for me. The former was especially interesting visually, as Colon played with layouts and panels as well as textures and shading to sort of mimic the dreamlike "reality" of the brainwashed citizens. I'm not sure I really got the ending--some nameless woman in the crowd wrote him a note identifying him as a deviant which led to his demise, but why? Who is she? How did she know? Was she "waken" too? It left us with more questions than answers. Colon's other piece now owns the distinction of being the first Warren story to use color, on the inside of the back cover for the final page of the story (color - Colon?). The use of color does kind of make the "cartoon world" come to life, a la "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?", and it serves to distinguish "cartoon world" from the "real world," but I think the story would have worked without the color too. It's interesting that they chose to integrate color in this way for the first time, though--and again, Colon playing fast and loose with traditional layouts and panels makes the story all the more visually interesting. "Coffin Cure" was almost more of a true crime story than a horror story--the only real horror coming from the victims being buried alive to keep them quiet. Seems like the doc might as well have dosed them with enough of the drug to make them REALLY dead, rather than just appearing to be dead, if he had no intention of digging them up later anyway--having them wake up alive but abandoned in their coffins was just needlessly cruel. As an aside to @OtherEric, I think the last panel shows Hawkins chowing down on Denton's arm--collecting on his venture for the third time, as a ghoul. I think the body on the ground in the back, therefore, is Denton's exhumed body, but I agree it's not drawn particularly well. Maybe having his victims die in terror by being buried alive makes them taste better later? And finally, I was not disappointed by Pat Boyette's Victorian sensibilities in "The Castle." He does so well with these period pieces, and his writing is as on point as his art--a jack of all trades! I felt there were some aspects of Poe's influence on the atmosphere of this piece too. So overall and again, this was a pretty solid issue. The art was good to great and the plots were pretty tight, continuing a trend of fairly good issues that we have seen in all three main titles lately. 1971 is off to a very strong start!

That kid obviously lacks any parental guidance. Look at the way he's holding that book! And he's what, 12 years old? With all these R-rated movie posters on his bedroom wall? What are his parents thinking??

Nice!

CREEPY #37 - January 1971 According to the Warren Magazine Index... 37. cover: Ken Barr (Jan. 1971) 1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: I Was Buried Alive! [Tom Sutton] 1p [frontis] 2) The Cadaver [Chris Fellner/Bill Stillwell] 8p 3) King Keller [Nicola Cuti/Syd Shores] 7p 4) I Hate You! I Hate You! [Bill Warren/Mike Royer] 9p 5) Tender Machine 10061 [Ernie Colon] 6p 6) The Creepy Fan Page: To Fill A Bottle Of Blood/The Anniversary/Ghouls Power/The Ape Man [Paul E. King, Jr., Brad McEwen, Howard Williams & Jim Erskine/Tony Boatwright, Jim Erskine & Charles Jones] 2p [text stories] 7) Coffin Cure [Doug Moench/Don Brown] 7p 8) The Castle [Pat Boyette] 8p 9) The Cut-Throat Cat Blues [T. Casey Brennan/Ernie Colon] 7p [last page on inside back cover] Notes: The first use of interior color appeared on the last page of ‘The Cut-Throat Cat Blues’. Chris Fellner made his professional debut. ‘I Hate You! I Hate You!’ is a pretty good story which dealt with an early treatment of child abuse. Pat Boyette’s ‘The Castle’ is also nicely done. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The first use of interior color in this issue is noteworthy--although it's kind of cheating as it's actually on the inside of the back cover. I could have sworn there had been color inside covers before--solid red (or blue?) backgrounds on Warren announcements/advertisements--but maybe I'm confusing the back covers for inside covers? I don't know. I do know that the colors on this front cover are pretty awesome! Seems like almost every issue marks the debut of some new artist or writer; this one being no exception--and I always look forward to the debuts. I'm also looking forward to the Boyette piece--he's probably written a "Castle" story that's right up his Victorian art alley. As a meta-observation, we are now entering the year 1971 in the Reading Club, which I believe is the only historical year in which all three titles--CREEPY, EERIE, and VAMPIRELLA--were published in the same six alternating months for the entire year (January, March, May, July, September, and November--and I've placed all 3 Annuals in August). I have no idea which title actually came out first in any given month, so I have arbitrarily listed them in the order of title seniority--CREEPY first, then EERIE, then VAMPIRELLA--as I have done any other time two or more titles were released in a given month. This pattern actually goes back to September and November of 1970, and extends onward into January of 1972 before breaking down into less predictably bimonthly patterns--so we'll be following this same regular cycle for another six months or so of real time here in the Club--but I find it interesting that 1971 is the only full calendar year in which this regular publishing cycle held consistent throughout. It seems like it was a year of relative stability, marking the distance Warren has come from their "Dark Ages."

I know this issue isn't really any bigger than any of the others, but after I'd read the Feary Tales, the Scarlet Letters, and the 21 page Vampirella epic, it kind of felt like I had read an entire issue already--and there was still another whole issue (5 stories and Vampi's Flames) to go! So it sure felt more like an issue and a half this week. But back to the beginning... Tom Sutton really put in some work for this issue, doing "Vampi's Feary Tales" as well as the Vampirella epic--and doing a pretty solid job all around. It's kind of an interesting perspective, casting "Love" as the driver of horror plots, but then sometimes Love Hurts (with a nod to Nazareth). The headline for "Vampi's Scarlet Letters" was pretty funny--"Your magazine is TWICE as good as Playboy!"--even if that's not the exact quote from the actual letter. Maybe check back after you hit puberty, junior... Nothing else really stood out to me among the praises and criticisms of past issues, but the guy who thought Kelley had already surpassed Frazetta brought a grin. And that brings us to the Vampirella epic, "Who Serves the Cause of Chaos?" and this issue's first real facepalm: It was really kind of nice to read a story that had room to breathe like this one did--it took a page and a half just for Vampirella to collapse in the snow (and she really was not dressed for the weather). This felt more like a proper start to an epic serial, taking the time to introduce us to what I assume will be a few recurring characters in the Vampirella saga and setting the stage for ongoing drama while still successfully telling a story that could stand alone if it had to. At some point in this issue, they referred to Vampirella's home planet as "Draculon," too, which I thought was another pretty big facepalm, but I can't find it now. You would think that the magazine that invented the backstory could get the name of the planet (Drakulon) right. But I still think this was a pretty strong tour de force for Tom Sutton as an artist and for Vampirella as a character, and I really enjoyed letting myself be immersed in it. The character of Amazonia, returning for an appearance in "The Demon in the Crypt," is not nearly so strong of a character, and I can kind of see why she didn't have much of a run. The Billy Graham art is top notch, as usual, and plays expertly with contrasts of darkness and light, but the character herself is kind of bland. Giving her sword an almost intentionally silly and quasi-plagiaristic name like "Excalifer" was kind of dumb, too, and the story raises so many unanswered questions I can scarcely enumerate them here. An ancient castle with a vast subterranean system of dungeons beneath it was lost for ages, but apparently enough people wander down there to keep the demon fed--like the girl with the basket of fruit. I thought that was supposed to be Amazonia herself at first, because I couldn't figure out why a servant girl would be carrying a basket of fruit down into the lost catacombs in the first place. And the magic dirt in the demon's crypt that saved her life and made her sword effective against the demon--she took some with her in a basket, but it never really came into play. So yeah, great story to look at, difficult story to read. "Out of the Fog and Into the Mist" was another story that was probably more interesting to look at, with the various textures and shades of darkness by Ken Barr. The story wasn't bad, but given the two previous chapters out of longer epics, this little filler piece seemed a lot lighter by comparison. That's not necessarily a bad thing in context, though. "Snake Eyes" was a lot of fun to read, starting with the shock of little Sara eating two hamsters alive, and how that somehow brought her closer to Charlie (I never would have spoken to her again!). The twist was almost painfully silly, even though it made sense in a cartoonish kind of way, but I still enjoyed the piece as it developed. It's kind of nice that "Vampi's Flames" seems to be moving away from the fan fiction, which is so often really dumb, and featuring more fan art, which usually isn't as bad as the stories and poems. I wouldn't recognize the names, but it's interesting to see contributions from fans who would later become paid artists. "Signs of Sorcery" was another story that was kind of fun to read, but it was really hampered by a lot of voodoobabble about controlling the signs of the zodiac with a wand made of the "elements of the stars" (yeah, we're all made of the same elements as the stars). Naming the sorceror "Zodak" wasn't very creative either. I was probably most disappointed by "The Gulfer," which the Index had led me to believe was some of "Williamsune"s finest art ever. I thought it was some of the sloppiest art in this issue, and definitely not one of their best, but I guess there's no accounting for taste. I also didn't really get the twist. When the Gulfer took the form of the little girl, it wasn't ACTUALLY the little girl, it was just the Gulfer taking her form--clothing included. So why when it took the form of the kitten would it have the kitten's REAL collar around its neck, rather than the collar just being a part of the illusion? And even if it was being choked by the collar, why wouldn't it just shapeshift into a mouse or something and get out of it easily? Kind of a pity that was the final story in the issue, leaving me with more of a bad taste in my mouth than the issue deserved. In fact, the sheer breadth of subject matter in this issue would make it one I might give to someone as an introduction to Warren (and especially Vampirella), as it was in general a superlative issue in terms of its art, with fairly entertaining stories, even if their plots weren't particularly tight in places. There was a lot of fun "hip jargon" in this issue though, to put it in historical perspective. And as much as I liked the art, I'm surprised I didn't focus in on more art excerpts for this review, but I think if I started pulling panels I liked from this issue, the review would soon be twice as long as it is now. So suffice to say that I liked Vampirella #8 a lot, despite its faults, even if it took me a couple of days to read this overstuffed issue. @OtherEric ended his review with the comment that this is "another one of the books where our knowledge of the future skews the view." As a relative neophyte to all things Warren, I don't really have much knowledge of the future for Vampirella, so I don't think my assessment is skewed much by that--but I'm having fun learning as I go!

I just think that my Warren MAGAZINE collection is complete, because EERIE #1 isn't really a magazine... ...but we all cope with that in our own ways.

This one just sold in the past week for $227, but it was in a little nicer condition ("VF" advertised). Hope that helps. LINK (I would be interested in it, but I'm kind of a cheapskate and probably wouldn't be interested at a fair price. If you're willing to accept a ridiculously low offer, then I'm all over it!)

VAMPIRELLA #8 - November 1970 (A near-flawless red cover!) According to the Warren Magazine Index... 8. cover: Ken Kelly (Nov. 1970) 1) Vampi’s Feary Tales: Love! [Tom Sutton] 1p [frontis] 2) Vampirella: Who Serves The Cause Of Chaos? [Archie Goodwin/Tom Sutton] 21p 3) Amazonia: The Demon In The Crypt! [Gardner Fox/Billy Graham] 6p 4) Easy Way To A Tuff Surfboard! [Archie Goodwin/Frank Frazetta] ½p reprinted from Eerie #3 (May 1966) 5) Out Of The Fog…And Into The Mist! [Steve Skeates/Ken Barr] 5p 6) Snake Eyes [Nicola Cuti/Jack Sparling] 7p 7) Vampi’s Flames: Do You Want To Be A Queen?/Queen Of The Night [Steven Teal & Patrick Boles/Robert Thivierge, Toby Caputi, Phillippe Druillet, Peter Sedeky, Tony De Sensi & John Wojick] 2p [text stories] 8) Signs Of Sorcery [Don Glut/George Roussos] 7p 9) The Gulfer [Nicola Cuti/Bill Fraccio & Tony Tallarico] 6p Notes: The first real Vampirella story appeared as her character was revamped into a more serious mode. I should go on record here and state I don’t think Vampirella was ever a strong character. In fact, although generally drawn well, her stories were usually quite bland and often lacking in logic. However, she started up here with a trio of very strong stories from Archie Goodwin & Tom Sutton. Some of the best art Sutton produced for Warren. Amazonia moved here from her previous appearance in Eerie. Bill Fraccio & Tony Tallarico delivered the best art job they did for Warren. Phillippe Druillet contributed a rendering of Vampirella but for some reason it appeared on the fan page. Peter Sedeky’s fan page illustration was later reworked into the cult underground comic character Octobriana, who later also appeared in Bryan Talbot’s Luther Arkwright series. Another solid issue. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ken Kelley ends this little back-and-forth volley of Vampi covers between himself and his Uncle Frazetta here with VAMPIRELLA #8. I'm looking forward to the "revamping" of Vampi (I see what you did there, Index) by her original artist, Tom Sutton, with Goodwin at the scripting wheel this time instead of Ackerman. Bland stories lacking in logic? They should fit right in after that last issue of EERIE! I kid because I love... It's kind of remarkable, though, that even with that 21 page Vampi epic, there are still 5 other full-length stories (plus the usual letters, fan contributions, and Frazetta surfboard ads) featuring a cross-section of some of the more interesting current artists (Graham, Sparling and Barr, with newcomer Roussos) and if the Index is to be trusted, some of Sutton's and "Williamsune's" best art ever! So I guess we should prepare ourselves for some outstanding art carrying underwhelming scripting...

I’m not sure that I’m totally on board with “EERIE’s Monster Gallery” being a “class” of monsters (the “bug-eyed monsters,” or “BEMs”) as opposed to a single type of monster (which would seem more appropriate for a “gallery”). I get that the “BEM” trope itself is kind of being parodied here, but it seems like a “BEM” can be basically anything gross and scary. It would be like featuring “hairy monsters” or “scaly monsters” or some other broad class, rather than particular monsters. A few things stood out in “Dear Cousin EERIE” this week. First was the overflowing praise for Billy Graham’s art on EERIE #28’s “The Beast in the Swamp.” Second were the two letters regarding Warren magazines as a “family” interest—one mother who shared her love for Warren mags with her three children, and the rival brothers who were reading each other’s books. We may never see a Norman Rockwell piece in a Warren magazine, but it was kind of endearing anyway. And finally I think it’s interesting that (Uncle) CREEPY and (Cousin) EERIE seem to always be in “competition” with each other, yet both tend to speak warmly of VAMPIRELLA. It was kind of an interesting market dynamic, creating enmity between the two main titles and encouraging fans to pick a side—but using both to promote the new VAMPIRELLA. I’ll admit up front that I wasn’t very impressed with much of this issue, but the first story, “The Entail,” is probably the highlight of the issue for me. I wasn’t familiar with the use of the word “entail” in this way (apparently as an inheritance remaining within a particular group or family), so I learned something from it in that sense—and the denouement was one of the more horrible twists we’ve seen in a while—a body torn to shreds and bones, which can’t die but experiences all the agony throughout the centuries! And Pat Boyette seems to be really good with capturing these Victorian-style period pieces with his art. “Mirror, Mirror” was kind of a mess in comparison. I like the idea of a recurring character who is an investigator of the supernatural, but it was like they tried too hard to make the supernatural “natural” with all that nonsense about the demon being “layered” onto the mirror, “no more than one molecule in thickness” underneath a protective coating that eventually evaporated away, freeing the “demon layer” into existence. And then the big mirror that led into “negative world” and maybe even “topsy turvy world” was kind of out of left field... Good thing they found the “control mirror” in “negative world” so they could get back home, but then they also found Dr. Gessler painted one molecule thick on a mirror in “negative world” (where it wouldn’t have been much of a threat to them anyway), painting over the protective coating so that he would be trapped in the mirror—in negative world—forever. If the second October Weir story isn’t any better, then I can see why he only recurred once—there was way too much suspension of disbelief required for all this nonsense. I was a little surprised to see that “Life Species”—the story that the Index promises will stick with me for a lifetime—was only four pages long; but hey, sometimes good things can come in small packages. But I was in for another disappointment upon reading it. How could three trained explorers for a race technologically advanced enough to successfully travel through space in advanced machinery not be able to tell the difference between biological organisms and primitive machinery? It’s almost like they were counting on the “beetle” designation to provide plausible bio/mech confusion, but I'm glad it didn't take more than four pages to be that stupid. I just recently learned about the pentagram on the hand aspect of the werewolf legend in a recent issue, and here it is again in “I, Werewolf”—although it appears to be used in a different way this time. Whereas before the pentagram appeared on the palm of the werewolf’s next victim, in this tale the pentagram appears on the palm of the werewolf himself. Still, this is a competent vampire vs werewolf story, and it is my second-favorite story in the issue to “The Entail,” and probably the only other story in this issue I would count as “good.” Ken Barr offers up a great fight scene to rival the cover of CREEPY #7! I had a hard time understanding why a stone cold landlord who thought nothing of letting his tenants die en masse in faulty buildings would be so discombobulated by thinking a lone person was following them that they would climb to the top of a tall building and subsequently fall off of it as with “In Close Pursuit.” And while I’ve grown to like a lot of Grandenetti’s work, it wasn’t particularly appealing to me in this piece either. I think @OtherEric may be on to something with his analysis of the art being a reflection of the character's grotesque nature, but at the time I was reading it, I didn't really make that connection--it was just annoying. The cover does spoil the ending of “The Return of Amen-Tut" (and it is "Amen" rather than "Amon"), although it is kind of a thoughtful twist that the “unraveling” of the mummy only worked because the body inside had not been embalmed, and so it fell to dust and powder once the bandages were released. On the other hand, if there was really no body inside the bandages, what was moving them? Ok, ok, it’s “magic,” but the whole thing felt a little lightweight, like a Saturday morning episode of Jonny Quest or something. And finally, “The Creation” wasn’t terrible, although you could plainly see the twist coming. I think I would like this story more if it hadn’t come at the end of an issue with which I was largely already disappointed—but then again, it’s probly not the kind of story that would stick with you for a lifetime, either (you know, like “Life Species”). Somewhat paradoxically, I liked the “EERIE Fan Fare” offerings more than usual this time, in an issue where I wasn’t as fond of most of the main stories. I like how they started designing actual title graphics for the stories, rather than just using typeset. The “BEM” illustration tied back to the Monster Gallery, and it’s pretty cool that Gray Morrow did art for the last story (if he did, in fact, do art “for” the story, and didn’t just have one of his illustrations attached to the story after the fact). Now let’s work on getting Morrow back on some of the featured stories! Overall it seems I didn't like this issue as much as @OtherEric did; I recognize a few highlights (though some are different from his), but overall I was too bothered by plot holes and technical errors (missing letters and words) to really enjoy the issue as a whole.

You do you, but I'm going for the Lost Island of Lusty Women, myself...

EERIE #30 - November 1970 (Ugh. I hadn't looked at this issue since I first graded it, back when I was still learning to grade. I called it a 5.0, but with those big rips on the right side of the cover, I'm sure it's not. I'll add one more needy issue to the upgrade pile.) According to the Warren Magazine Index... 30. cover: Basil Gogos (Nov. 1970) 1) Eerie’s Monster Gallery: BEM [Dan Adkins] 1p [frontis] 2) The Entail [Pat Boyette] 6p 3) October Weir: Mirror, Mirror [Nicola Cuti/Frank Bolle] 10p 4) Life Species [Bill DuBay] 4p 5) Eerie Fanfare: The Prophetic Dream/Escape Claws/Nuts To You!/The Mistake [Carmen Minchella, David O’Dell, Rodney Schroeter, David E. Bruegel/Arthur Suydam & Gray Morrow] 2p [text stories] 6) I, Werewolf [Ken Barr] 9p 7) Easy Way To A Tuff Surfboard! [Archie Goodwin/Frank Frazetta] ½p reprinted from Eerie #3 (May 1966) 8) In Close Pursuit [Gordon Matthews/Jerry Grandenetti] 8p 9) The Return Of Amen-Tut! [Don Glut/Jack Sparling] 8p 10) The Creation [Doug Moench/Carlos Garzon] 8p Notes: Price increase to 60 cents. Behind a not particularly good cover was a quite good issue! The BEM in Eerie’s Monster Gallery is old science fiction slang for ‘bug-eyed monster’. Future artist Tony Meers sent in a letter. Pat Boyette’s story ‘The Entail’ was not only quite good, but quite gruesome as well. Psychic detective October Weir had only two appearances, which was a pity, as his stories were good and Bolle was perfect as the artist. The classic SF tale ‘Life Species’ by DuBay is the kind of story that stays with you all your life. Future artist Arthur Suydam made his comics debut on the fan page. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a Gogos cover? (And no, I don't mean a new rendition of "We Got the Beat.") I have somewhat limited exposure to his work, but I never would have guessed from what I've seen on other Warren mags that this cover was his. I suppose if Gogos has other covers like this, I maybe just don't know that they are in fact Gogos covers, so my idea of his style may be much more limited than it actually is. Despite the Index's scorn, I actually think it's a decent cover--the little boy appears to be saving the day by unraveling the mummy, while mommy and daddy cower in fear. Kids who read Warren mags probly fantasize about saving their parents from monsters already, so it's good targeting for their audience. I would assume the cover relates to the mummy story inside, although it's "Amon-Tut" on the cover and "Amen-Tut" inside the magazine, so you never know. I hope the Index is right about it being a quite good issue, though; I'm especially looking forward to the DuBay story that will stay with me all my life (although that's not nearly such an accomplishment now as it would have been in 1970). Seems like an issue packed with an impressive balance of creators both old and new, if nothing else--and of course, another surfboard ad...

When you say "complete collection," do you just mean all of the numbered issues, or everything ever published under the MAD copyright? It's the latter that would be the biggest headache--all the extra annuals and other publications that weren't part of the numbered run itself.

Again, we are faced with the question of which came first, the cover or the story, as the first appearance of "Alice" in Sutton's "Weird World" is almost an exact replica of the cover (or vice versa), even mirroring the odd angle of the triceratops' horns. Given that Sutton is the more established Warren artist, I would guess the cover was an homage to the story, rather than the other way around. It's an interesting story, which is at once equal parts sci-fi and fantasy, but merges into more of a psychological horror piece at the end--and it certainly gave Sutton a vehicle to indulge his predilection for spacey material. Sutton was also responsible for the "Loathsome Lore" feature, which was actual lore this time. It's not an entirely unique situation, as various body parts are currently on display in various museums both with and without the consent of their former owners (including the brain of Einstein--a mental giant), but it does seem more "ghoulish" when it occurs without consent. One little oddity of note on the "Contents" page; most stories have always had a little blurb about the story under the title, but there was no description for "On the Wings of a Bird," for some reason. It's probably just coincidental, but given that the story itself is kind of a change of pace for Warren stories, it does make me wonder if it was intentional or if they just ran out of room. The story itself is unusual for relying on allegory and metaphor for its horror, but it does so fairly well in spite of jumping into a story already half-untold. It's really fairly powerful in its symbolism. Ironically enough, Grandenetti's work on this piece doesn't really hit me as well as it sometimes does--while a couple of other people have expressed appreciation for it. Different strokes (literally) I guess... One highlight of the "Mail" pages was the extensive letter comparing the news magazines of the day to horror magazines, with more blood and gore in the news magazines. I'm sure that was right up Jim Warren's alley, after his anti-war editorial that ran in all three titles' previous issues. The other highlight was that someone pointed out an error in CREEPY #34 that I am truly surprised not to have noticed myself, because it's kind of a biggie--the last panel on page 10 and the first panel on page 11 both have the same dialogue, but the pictures are different! I guess I was just glossing over the technobabble in the script by that point, so I didn't realize that they said the exact same thing when I turned the page--but it's kind of glaring now! "One Way to Break the Boredom" was a light opener to the issue, frolicking with hip jive through another deal with the devil gone wrong thanks to the loophole--deals with the devil always seem to have a loophole, don't they? "Frankenstein is a Clown" was a clever update to the classic tale, including elements like the monster's encounter with the innocence of children, and the fact that both the monster and his creator die in the end. It's a good monster-tragedy couched in a clown suit, and the new art by Carlos Garzon seems to fit the Warren idiom perfectly. Another new artist, Rich Buckler, made "Forbidden Journey" a little more interesting with his use of brown shading on the jackets and a few other things, but even if I can't fault the art, I don't really get the story. They already told us early on in the story that they were raiding the Thorium from the "dump" on Planetfall-3, but then the fact that the planet is a huge dump seems to be presented as the "twist" at the end. And dump or not, what's with all the mud? It's not like anyone could store anything here anyway, as everything quickly sinks into the mud! "If a Body Meet a Body" would have been SO much better if they hadn't muddled the final frame. There was Alvin the ghost, and Alvin the dead body with half its face ripped off--the ghost should have been speaking about the dead body while seeing it on the ground next to the car. Instead, it appears that the dead body is speaking, and that makes it a little less clear what's happening (or what I think was happening). And that brings us to what I will probably remember this issue for more than anything--the debut of Richard Corben in "Frozen Beauty." This was so much fun to read, noting various telltale Corben traits in the illustrations, but also noting several places where his style in this first effort seemed understandably a little simplistic or unpolished--but still decidedly Corben. I think I'm also used to seeing more Corben art in color than in B&W, so that was kind of new to me as well. And I don't have much to say about the "CREEPY Fan Club" offerings in this issue. I wasn't big on the poems, but the stories were a notch above some of the tripe they print. I guess the "highlight" would be the foreshadowing of a new contributor, Larry Dickison, bringing a story to a future issue? Overall a fair to good issue with perhaps a little more philosophical subject matter than usual--and of course Corben's debut.

What's the year on that? An adaptation of "Dracula's Guest" appeared in Christopher Lee's Treasure of Terror in 1966; I don't know if that was a "magazine" or not, but it was reprinted in EERIE #16 in July 1968, which was definitely a magazine.

Good grief; I'm glad I never decided to collect MADs. Between all the various annuals and special editions, plus trying to track down copies with inserts intact, etc... I thought the Warrens were a rabbit hole, but these would drive you... well... MAD! Kudos to you strong souls who have taken on the challenge.

CREEPY #36 - November 1970 According to the Warren Magazine Index... 36. cover: Kenneth Smith (Nov. 1970) 1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: The Body Snatchers Who Stole A Giant! [Tom Sutton] 1p [frontis] 2) One Way To Break The Boredom [James Haggenmiller/Jack Sparling] 9p 3) Weird World [Nicola Cuti/Tom Sutton] 7p 4) The Creepy Fan Page: Creepy Poems/Tunnel Of Terror/Doomsday Monsters [Harry Balmforth, Paul E. King & Rodney E. Hammack/Larry Dickison] 2p [poem & text stories] 5) Frankenstein Is A Clown [Bill Warren/Carlos Garzon] 8p 6) On The Wings Of A Bird [T. Casey Brennan/Jerry Grandenetti] 7p 7) Forbidden Journey! [Greg Theakston/Rich Buckler] 7p 8) If A Body Meet A Body [R. Michael Rosen/Jack Sparling] 7p 9) Frozen Beauty [Richard Corben] 6p Notes: Price decrease to 50 cents. Rich Buckler made his professional art debut while major underground artist Richard Corben delivered a very good story for his mainstream debut. Best art was by Corben and Jerry Grandenetti. Best story honors go to Corben, Bill Warren & T. Casey Brennan. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wow! Lots going on here! Kenneth Smith is back on the cover, with a more restrained usage of his typical green-centric palette. Richard Corben makes his "mainstream" debut, which is kind of ironic since this cover always reminded me of some of the later Corben covers--although there's something kind of wack about the angles of this triceratops' horns. And a price decrease? You don't see that very often. Kudos to Warren for giving back. After Cuti's weird witch stories in last week's VAMPIRELLA #7, I can't wait to see how weird his "Weird World" will be, and we have the return of the "Lore" to the frontis after a round of Warren's anti-war editorials. Just an administrative note here; I will be traveling and spending a week with my mom in rural Kansas over the Thanksgiving weekend. My goal is to get this week's review posted by Tuesday, but failing that, I will at least make a "placeholder" post later in the week into which I will edit this week's review when I can. Likewise, I hope to be able to post next week's EERIE #30 kickoff at approximately the usual time in approximately the usual way, but if I'm not right on the dot of midnight, don't fret. I will at least try to make a "placeholder" post into which I can later edit the kickoff post, allowing you all to post your reviews and comments as usual. If by the occurrence of the worst case scenario I am completely unable to post next week's kickoff while I am away, just hold on and I will post it at the latest when I return home a week from Tuesday evening. I hope that makes sense.

That's probably the case for any of the old monster movies that made it into a Warren magazine at some point. I just don't find the time to watch many movies any more.

That makes a little more sense. The way it was done in this week's issue was silly.

Not exactly the same, in that it took a "seer" to see the pentagram (and it was a hollow pentagram with a circle in the clip, not a solid pentagon that anyone could see), but I had never heard of this aspect of the wolfman legend before. As I said, it seems like it would make hunting werewolves an easy task--just find the person with the pentagram and guard them night and day with silver bullet-loaded weapons. The werewolf either never takes another victim, or they get slaughtered when they try. It's probably a good thing that little glitch didn't become a longstanding feature of werewolf legends.

I already talked about how the rock was my favorite part of the cover, so I'll launch straightaway into "Vampi's Scarlet Letters." The two most interesting letters were both somewhat critical; one in a softer, more nostalgic vein for the old EC horror comics, but the other was pretty much an in-depth full frontal criticism. I give credit to the Warren brass for not sweeping the criticisms under the rug, but it seemed like a lot of space devoted to criticism this month! There were some short notes of praise too, but the two long critical letters are the ones that stuck with me the most. If you don't like it, don't buy it; why take the time to write and tell them how much it sucks? The best part of "Vampi's Flames" was of course the bio of Dan Adkins. I didn't realize his work on EERIE and Blazing Combat was among his first-ever paid art! It seemed so mature even back then! As for the fan contributions... well, as usual, the art was better than the fiction--so back to the paid writers... I was at first enchanted by the opening of "The White Witch," especially the depiction of her as a singer, and her albums, which all spoke of "whiteness" in some way, while still foreshadowing the "child of darkness" theme... ...but as the story developed, it kind of devolved into silliness. The origin story of a bunch of moths flying from the mother's grave to a tower where a giant caterpillar spun a cocoon from which Zenia emerged, with an extreme sensitivity to sunlight for some reason, was silly enough. Then she is somehow able to protect herself from the sunlight enough by covering herself in mud--even though it didn't look like there was mud in her hair, and if she saw the sun, then the sunlight must have hit her eyes--but the first rays of light when he opens the curtains in the castle are enough to instantly fry her to a crisp! I also thought that after the Witch Trilogy intro stated that Tom Sutton preferred doing sci-fi stories, they should have given him "The Mind Witch" instead of "The White Witch," because it was more "spacey." But again, the plot is just too tortured--the Mind Witch was actually the physical embodiment of a star system come to earth to get souls to populate its planets, until its parent galaxy embodied itself and came to earth to get back the star system and punish it by taking away all the life it had secured through human souls? This Cuti guy can sure write some bizarre scripts. "The Black Witch" was the highlight of the trilogy. The art went along with the title, making extensive use of blackness and contrast--and I'm really starting to enjoy Billy Graham's style in general. The plot was a lot more cohesive than the first two as well, with the witch's ultimate demise being plausibly tied to her shapeshifting magic. Overall, I liked the concept of the witch trilogy better than the individual stories themselves, as it kind of foreshadows some of the longer epics in Warren mags to come, as opposed to the typical 6-8 page stories that have gone before--while still being a collection of 6-8 page stories. So it has some importance here as a milestone, even if I thought two of the three stories didn't really work that well. I thought "Plague of the Wolf" kind of cheated. The twist WOULD have been obvious, as @OtherEric pointed out, but when I thought I saw it coming, I discarded the idea because I went back and noticed that the "wolfperson" was wearing decidedly MEN's clothing and shoes, and the hair was different too, in its first appearances. So it kind of deliberately hid the twist from even discriminating readers, which I think is cheating. And then that whole business about the sign of the pentagram appearing on the palm of the next victim--where did THAT come from?? I've never heard that as a part of any wolfman legend--it was just a device invented for this story to give the decoy guy a reason to be apprehensive about the full moon. Seems like it would be easy to hunt werewolves if a pentagram always appeared on the hands of their next victims. I was at first unimpressed by the twist/ending to "Terror Test"; if he passed the "stress" test with flying colors, why would he fly into a murderous rage upon learning that it had all been a test? Upon some reflection, I guess that's kind of why it works as psychological horror--finding that "point of no return" at the edge of sanity, but it still left me a little cold. Mainly I was thinking how much better the panels of interdimensional art would have been if they could have had Ditko do them--he always had a flair for that sort of thing. I don't have any doubts that the art was Williamsune's though ( @OtherEric ); the faces they draw have a particular look to them, and I think I would recognize them anywhere. "The Survivor" would have been a pretty nice piece, if not for its own major plot hole. In the ending, the survivor is doomed to non-existence because the body it was inhabiting was going to be eaten by rats and there would be no body available that was sufficient to contain it. But in the prologue, we are introduced to an entity that apparently existed indefinitely as "a creature without substance, less than a spectre," before its first encounter with "the erect apes that would one day become humanoid." So how did it survive before it had bodies to inhabit in the first place? Ernie Colon did whip up some pretty trippy art for this one himself, though. And then finally, we have Jerry Grandenetti's art in a story about art, "The Collection of Creation." The story itself isn't bad, although I'm not sure what "creation" has to do with anything, and trying to portray the heroine as Isis may have been a little unnecessary. Still I actually really liked Grandenetti's artwork on this one, especially where the stark contrasts of his faces in the foreground create a sense of depth against their softer backgrounds: Overall, this is a better issue for its art than for its stories, although the scripts were engaging enough if you didn't question them too much. For having half the book tied up with witches, there was still enough variety to keep this issue from feeling too redundant.

Sweet "origin story"!

There's nothing like having some quality Times together.

All 15 of those Warrens for under $100 total? That's a steal of a haul!

VAMPIRELLA #7 - September 1970 Even among my unexpectedly nice copies of the early Vampirellas, #7 stands out as nearly perfect, with only the tiniest of flaws. I believe it could be a 9.6 in my humble amateur opinion. According to the Warren Magazine Index... 7. cover: Frank Frazetti (Sept. 1970) 1) An Editorial To The President Of The United States And All The Members Of Congress [James Warren] 1p [text article, frontis] 2) Why A Witch Trilogy? [Archie Goodwin?/Frank Frazetta & Billy Graham] 1p [text article] 3) Prologue: Three Witches [Nicola Cuti/Tom Sutton] 1p 4) The White Witch! [Nicola Cuti/Tom Sutton] 7p 5) The Mind Witch [Nicola Cuti/Ernie Colon] 7p 6) The Black Witch! [Nicola Cuti/Billy Grahma] 7p 7) Epilogue: Three Witches [Nicola Cuti/Tom Sutton] 1p 8) Plague Of The Wolfe [Doug Moench/Frank Bolle] 7p 9) Terror Test! [R. Michael Rosen/Bill Fraccio & Tony Tallarico] 7p 10) Vampi’s Flames: Dan Adkins Profile/The Morning Sun/Then Wednesday Afternoon Club [Dan Adkins/Brian Carrick & Ted Dasen/Toby Caputo] 2p [text article/stories] 11) The Survivor [Buddy Saunders/Ernie Colon] 6p 12) The Collection Creation [R. Michael Rosen/Jerry Grandenetti] 6p [miscredited to Tony Williamsune] Notes: An excellent issue! Archie Goodwin became an Associate Editor. Frank Frazetta’s corker of a cover showed a witch/shaman with her sabre-tooth cat. The Three Witches stories by Cuti were all quite good and very well drawn. Grandenetti’s work on ‘The Collection Creation’ was worthy of note as well. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Frank Frazetti! LOL! I think my favorite thing about this cover is the least interesting thing on it--the rock they're standing on. The exposed face of the rock has kind of a shiny, oily appearance like the way mica looks when it flakes away (thanks to my 4H Geology experience)--or maybe some other igneous formation that was hewn apart by a cleaving weapon of untold size and power at some point... or something. I also love how so much of the beast ISN'T drawn, but only imagined in full blackness. So a witch trilogy, eh? Sounds like fun, especially given that they were all written by Nick Cuti but illustrated by 3 different but experienced artists. And speaking of artists, we get a Dan Adkins profile on the Flames pages; those are always my favorite fan features. Grandenetti, on the other hand, can be hit or miss at times, but the Index seems to like his work here, so we'll see...

Actually the copy that I posted to kick off the week is my upgrade; I found it for $20, and I would grade it around a 6.5. The undercopy with the panel cut out already had a big (2") tear in the bottom of the cover, a small piece out near the top of the spine, and a lot more general wear.