OtherEric

I need to chime in on the EC's as well.  Frontline Combat is just extraordinarily good through its entire run.  Two Fisted Tales is a little shakier at the very beginning before it settles into the war format, and the last issues change format again, but the middle of the run is excellent as well.

Roger Corman was a genuinely great filmmaker.

It's just that, in his case, that doesn't always mean he was a maker of great films.

Eerie 37 thoughts:

Cover:  A nicely creepy scene by Enrich.  Oddly enough, this is one I think is somewhat enhanced if you have a lower grade copy:  The blinding white border on high end copies washes out the actual image a bit in my opinion.

Monster Gallery:  Gremlins meet Sea Serpents meet Dragons.  Interesting, no idea if it's legit lore or just making stuff up, though.

The Other Side of Atlantis:  Nice art by Brocal, but the pacing on this one is way, way off.  It's not that doing a story that's all set up is impossible, as well as leaving the monster to the imagination at the end, but it's too long, too much detail, and too repetitive in elements (did we really need the "I'll be crushed" panel twice?) to work.  

Horror at Hamilton House:  Again, nice art, but the story doesn't impress.  In this case, it's a villain who we see far too many of his thoughts telling us just how much of a bad guy he is... when it's obvious.

The Ones Who Stole it from You: I feel like a broken record here, but:  Nice art, underwhelming story.  Not a concept that required 14 pages to tell.

A Rush of Wings:  A killer Were-Butterfly.  Such a crazy concept I can't help but love the story, even if I think the actual story is a bit by-the-numbers.

Eerie Fanfare:  I don't normally discuss the fan page, but it's worth noting the Michael T. Gilbert illustration, his only Warren appearance.  He's got over 1000 GCD credits and I don't mind admitting I would dearly love to see a Mr. Monster-Vampirella crossover one of these years.

Dethslaker:  Nice art, messy story.  Although to be fair, I think in this case it's more that Colon wound up sacrificing storytelling in his art rather than Moench having written it poorly.

Overall, this issue looked pretty but the writing was quite underwhelming.  It feels almost like a 90's book in that regard.
 

Fantucchio copy:

Eerie #37- January 1972

From the Warren Magazine Index:

  37. cover: Enrich Torres (Jan. 1972)

                1) Eerie’s Monster Gallery: Air Serpent [Bill DuBay] 1p   [frontis]

                2) The Other Side Of Atlantis [Steve Skeates/Jaime Brocal] 10p

                3) Horror At Hamilton House [Lynn Marron/Ken Barr] 7p

                4) The Ones Who Stole It From You [Don McGregor/Rafael Auraleon] 14p

                5) A Rush Of Wings [Larry Herndon/Jaime Brocal] 8p

                6) Eerie Fanfare: The Message!/Theory/My, Oh, My!/Final Conqueror/Interchange! [Ted Dasen, Phill Jones, Vernon Shelton, Michael E. Tierney & Steven Taggart/Michael Gilbert, Anthony DeSensi, Solano Lopez & James Kanhard] 2p [text stories]

                7) Dethslaker [Doug Moench/Ernie Colon] 11p

Notes: Nice cover from Enrich.  The best story and art was the ghoul story ‘The Ones Who Stole It From You’ by Don McGregor and Rafael Auraleon.  McGregor was asked by J. R. Cochran to add the first two pages to the story as a prologue. Ernie Colon’s lettering for his story’s title was so ornate that it is impossible to read!  Still, it was one of his best {and sexiest} art jobs for Warren.  Brocal’s two art jobs clearly show the difference between an artist fully engaged in the story he’s illustrating {Atlantis} and one he’s just doing for the buck {Wings}.  Michael Gilbert made his comics debut on the fan page, with a sample from a college comic strip he was drawing.  Solano Lopez’s sample pages again landed up on the fan page.

_________________________

I've got nothing to add, other than I've got my comments ready to go tomorrow already.  But let's see if anybody else has a thought or two to add first.

On 5/11/2024 at 3:03 PM, Q.N.S. said:

early Mad is undervalued. there, I said it. now, nobody talk about it. 

I think many of us here agree... but we're not the ones who need to be convinced!

On 5/11/2024 at 12:11 PM, Darwination said:

Nice, but why isn't it on the couch?

On 5/11/2024 at 11:59 AM, ADAMANTIUM said:

question?

Three Dimensional Alien Worlds 1 in Comic Books & Memorabilia | eBay

Is the Three Dimensional Dave Stevens?

I had heard rumored that no it isn't, apps list him as either inker or penciler, but I haven't found CGC note and it isn't in the registry under Dave Stevens....

Figuring there is a reason for that as prolific the artist is, age of the Dave Stevens sets, and the thoroughness of passionate collectors.

But could it be that "inker or penciler" doesn't qualify as a "cover of Daves" but he is associated with it nonetheless? @F For Fake or anyone else  

The cover is by Chiodo

Stevens inks the first story, three pages.

Checking in late, it's been a hectic week for me.  Nothing bad, just hectic.

Creepy 43 thoughts:

Cover:  Maybe it's just me, but Ken Kelly's art is really stiff on this cover. 

Loathsome Lore:  Nice Corben art, but not much to say about this one.

Three Way Split:  Neither Junot nor Galvez seem to have many credits, although this isn't their only Warren work for either of them.  A decent but not spectacular story, with art that looks like they were trying to look like Neal Adams, but not always successfully.

The Mark of Satan's Claw:  Fred Ott does a decent number of stories for Warren, but the GCD is confusing him with Fred Ottenheimer.  Which is only possible if they had a career running from 1947 to 2018 with less than a hundred total credits.  It's a clever twist with nice art.

The Men Who Called him Monster:  Luis Garcia does around two dozen stories for Warren.  I can't find other credits at the GCD because searching for his name pulls up thousands of credits for Jose Luis Garcia Lopez.  Some very nice artwork, even if it does seem a bit heavily referenced at points.  Not sure the story really needed the extra length, though.

Quest of the Bigfoot:  My usual dislike of Grandenetti is strong on this one, although I've got to give props for using a Bigfoot design that wasn't ripping off the Patterson- Gimlin film.  (And my comment earlier this week, while meant to be amusing, was not actually a joke:  Bob Gimlin is actually my not-too-distant cousin, although I only met him once or twice when I was a little kid at family funerals.)

Mirage:  Felix Mas is another artist making their debut for Warren.  They have a few hundred credits at the GCD, although most of their work in the US was for Warren.  His artwork here is very well suited to the mix of desert and illusion, although I'm underwhelmed by Conway's twist at the end.

I can't say this is an outstanding issue, but this is an excellent example of the series maintaining a high baseline of quality.  It doesn't have anything that stands out to me as a classic, but there's nothing that drops below "very good", either.  It's issues like this that keep the whole project ticking along successfully.

On 5/10/2024 at 8:37 PM, Artifiction said:

I miss you, Axe. Where are you? 

I wish any of us knew... I don't mind admitting I fear the worst at this point.

On 5/10/2024 at 8:54 PM, fifties said:

Well not to break up the happy little gathering above, LOL, but I finally got the last of the trio in today.  Request admission into The Crypt Of Terror run group.

I can't judge the application because I'm not a member myself, but is this one also required?

On 5/10/2024 at 7:07 PM, Point Five said:

An awesome pick-up and a classic cover!

But also, I'm amazed that we've reached a point where Famous Fantastic Mysteries is a book that warrants the happy dance emoji.  For so long it was a mostly worthless title, and now there are several issues that are genuinely red hot.

On 5/10/2024 at 6:45 PM, Surfing Alien said:

He did a lot of small work in the 1940's that would probably be tough to put all together but you might as well get as many as you can if you find them for the right price

I've got the Hey Look reprint collection, and a few odd issues here and there.  I don't consider his pre-EC work nearly as essential as his 1950-1950 output.  Not that I'll pass it up if I see it, but it's not as vital as his work once he hits EC.

His 1950-1965 output, I can unironically argue for Kurtzman being one of the most important forces in the development of popular culture that lasts to this day.

On 5/10/2024 at 6:28 PM, Surfing Alien said:

Don't think I posted this awesomeness in this thread but I did sell my undercopy in one of the sales threads. A classic  Kurtzman piece 

I'm getting close on my Kurtzman collection.  Complete runs of Two Fisted Tales, Frontline Combat, every MAD he worked on, both issues of Trump, I still need a couple Humbug issues, complete run of Help!, Jungle Book, and a complete run of Little Annie Fanny.

On 5/10/2024 at 4:29 PM, Hap Hazard said:

Been wanting to try this for a while, took a pic of my complete run of Planet Stories 71 issues. Not easy to do took this in garage on a small ladder a bit blurry and some of the plastic bags reflected the light. You can see most of them, Maybe I'll try it again with a taller ladder! Many grades on these books goods to fines finished this run at least a decade ago.

That is an amazing image! I could nearly duplicate the bottom 2/3 but the top 1/3 is mostly absent from my collection so far.

And thanks for the reminder, I just ordered one of the two issues I'm still missing in the bottom 2/3

On 5/9/2024 at 9:22 AM, Hepcat said:

First Huey, Dewey and Louie?

First Uncle Scrooge, but he's not on the cover.

And today I've got a box from @Surfing Alien's latest sale, and as usual the mail delivered some stunners from Lowell.  Let's start with the Aces: