The Lions Den

On 5/8/2024 at 5:37 PM, Cnight said:

@The Lions Den exactly!  I’m bewildered by this one.

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth? 

Yet it still got a 9.6...  

On 4/29/2024 at 12:13 AM, OtherEric said:

Vampirella #14 thoughts:

Cover: A very nice piece by Sanjulian, I think the big border also works better than usual here, giving a claustrophobic feeling to the art, as well as some depth.

Feary Tales:  A nice couple of short pieces by Sutton; and I really like the Vampi-as-host panel as well.

Isle of the Huntress:  This is what I'm talking about.  The various subplots start to merge and the story is long enough to breathe, with gorgeous art by Gonzales and a genuinely clever and touching denouncement.  Great stuff.

The Wedding Gift:  Nice art by Ploog but I'm not sure I understand the ending of the story.

The Sword of Light:  Sam Glanzman is best known for his autobiographical stories dealing with WW II, he would have been a natural for Blazing Combat.  Instead his only Warren work is the excellent fantasy story he turns in here.

Deadman's Treasure:  Lynn Marron is not a name I'm familiar with.  They have a handful of credits for Warren and a couple dozen across comics in general, including a few with Warrant.  It's a good debut with excellent art from Sutton.

Wolf Hunt:  So, we get to see Wehrle's one script for Warren, having seen his one art job a few issues back.  And the script doesn't impress me any more than his art did, it's an ugly and nasty rape plot.  Some beautiful art by Maroto doesn't put this one into the win category but definitely brings up the score for the story.

This was a strong issue overall, with excellent art throughout, even if a couple of the scripts didn't quite live up to the illustrations.

On 5/7/2024 at 8:51 AM, Jayman said:

Btw, forgot to address the cool nod to Henry Hull as the werewolf in this story.

Great job, Jayman!  

On 5/6/2024 at 10:36 AM, Jayman said:

Still, what was the clincher supposed to be? And any idea as to the sharpening and breaking of the pencil points? I’m sure it’s a metaphor for something I’m overlooking. 

I just looked up the McGregor interview and apparently "the clincher" meant getting a strong emotional response from the girl to convince the detective how worried she was about her boyfriend.

I guess that backfired a little...  

On 5/5/2024 at 10:06 PM, Jayman said:

The index explains  “the first inter-racial kiss in comic history, which only came about because the artist misunderstood McGregor’s instructions for that panel” I wonder what was misunderstood?

I seem to remember an interview with McGregor where he said he'd written a comment for the artist along the lines of "...and this is the clincher!" (Meaning it would be an important plot point or something to that effect). Of course, when he saw the finished story he was completely shocked, since apparently Garcia thought a "clincher" meant an ardent kiss...   

Thank God for Sundays! The one day of the week where I can relax a bit and enjoy the simple things in life... 

In my opinion this is another solid issue, and it really does reflect how the old and the new were coming together for Warren at the time. The art and stories are decent throughout, even if there are a couple of stories that fail to be very memorable (your mileage may vary).   

For me, the real standout here is "The Men Who Called Him Monster" with its unflinching nod to Sidney Poitier and great art by Luis Garcia (not to mention that totally unexpected interracial kiss).

I also appreciate even one page of Richard Corben artwork (as well as his profile on the fan page and a bit of his art on the letters page, too). Add to that a striking Ken Kelly cover and the awards from the 1971 Warren Comic Art Convention and you have a pretty enjoyable issue.  

On 5/2/2024 at 4:25 PM, the blob said:

This genre really has me wondering how many future serial killers got pushed over the line by reading them?

I'd like to think that this is just harmless fun for young adults...  

On 5/2/2024 at 5:16 AM, Gaard said:

I think what fascinates me most about these mags is the numbering system. Did you know there are some books with the exact same title and issue number, but they're completely different books? It's almost as if the folks at Eerie Publications couldn't keep track either...   

That's some messed up stuff right there... 

On 4/30/2024 at 5:23 PM, Koopakidd11 said:

I got careless removing an old-slabbed SS#4 from its inner well and accidentally trimmed off a 1" section of paper in the process.  My question is this now considered trimmed, or would it just be a slice defect?  You can see it to the right of Surfer's board.   Any insight would be appreciated. 🙏

I figure the odds be 50/50...  

On 4/26/2024 at 11:56 AM, OtherEric said:

So, how do we want to continue from here?  For at least a few weeks, I can take over the Sunday initial post for the week if people want me to do that.

Absolutely...   

On 4/27/2024 at 7:15 PM, zzutak said:

Alternate explanation:  CGC incorrectly describes a "leaf" as a "page" (so, when the label says "page", you should think "leaf").  For example, if the label says "Page 16 missing", then what is actually missing is interior leaf 16 (aka interior pages 31 and 32).  

Lord knows I tried...but you're absolutely right!    

On 4/27/2024 at 6:49 PM, bighairjer said:

How does CGC count the page given they are leafs?  Wouldn’t it be two pages that are trimmed?  Do I just count to the 10th page from front?

CGC does their page count as if each individual page (the front and the back) is counted as one page. So, if it's the 10th page, they would say "10th page missing" or "10th page trimmed". They wouldn't say "10th and 11th page missing" or "10th and 11th page trimmed." 

You just have to think of the first page being page 1, the second page being page 2 and so forth. Simple, yes?

There are times when misprints will get a Qualified (Green) label, but that usually won't affect the overall grade, just the label designation. This often happens when there's a manufacturing defect such as the pages are printed out of order and it's a random problem.

But there are also times when a misprint like this one will be classified as a "Recalled Edition" and still get a blue label, since the entire first print run has this defect. 

So, no purple label, and the book could end up being more desirable to people who enjoy this sort of thing...

This copy appears to be in the Very Good range... 

On 4/24/2024 at 4:44 PM, jimjum12 said:

There was a time when the associated scanned image, front and back, was an additional $5. Not sure about current policy. GOD BLESS ...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

From what I understand, for several months CGC has been providing high resolution scans of graded books beneath the grading notes...  

On 4/23/2024 at 7:38 PM, Jayman said:

Alternative version...

I was hoping you'd create this version...

On 4/23/2024 at 6:06 PM, Hibou said:

Was there any response on that?

There was, but sometimes these things fall through the cracks. 

On 4/23/2024 at 8:50 AM, Jayman said:

More info from his page. Very interesting, I did not know about this.

This was the final version of the painting that appeared on Eerie # 36 by Enrich but the preliminary painting was used on the cover instead. I wrote James Warren a letter and asked him about this and received a reply on February 24, 2014. This is a portion of his reply: Dear Mike- After studying both renditions and trying to remember what happened here some 43 years ago, this is my thinking: 1) My guess ( and it is an educated guess ) is that when I was first shown the original painting ( The one you own ) , I rejected it because I didn't think the deformed hand was realistic enough. ( It was more like a claw from an animal or zombie, or whatever.) I wanted more of a human hand at the time. 2) I then asked Enrich to give me another version. 3) Enrich then submitted a comprehensive color rough of a new hand. 4) I liked the comprehensive color rough, and accepted it as the final art that would appear on the cover. - OR- 5) I was forced to accept it, and use it, BECAUSE OF A DEADLINE that had to be made. It's possible that we had already gone ahead with the inside painting of the issue, and this inside contained the story (" The Hand of Kane Kinkaid"),which meant that we had to use a ' Hand" painting for this particular issue;- And there was NO TIME to wait for ENRICH to do another big painting. This was entirely possible but as I said, it was 43 years ago, and my mind is not clear on this. If I had it to do all over again, I WOULD HAVE INDEED USED THE " CLAW " ORIGINAL VERSION THAT YOU HAVE - INSTEAD OF THE COLOR ROUGH. THE ORIGINAL IS FAR SUPERIOR TO THE COLOR ROUGH ARTISTICALLY, AND FROM THE POINT OF VIEW AS A " BETTER COVER". 

Very cool, and it actually makes this issue more interesting to me now. 

On 4/22/2024 at 9:29 PM, Stevemmg said:

This is the first time Warren ends up using an Enric preliminary painting for a cover when the finished painting wasn’t in house on time. The finished painting was up for sale at one point. Even finished, not what we expect from Enric. It happens again with Vampirella 32. 

While the Maroto debut is tied to a fairly mediocre script, it’s still exciting to see knowing what is to come. He was pretty well established in Europe at this point in 1971, having done quite a lot of spectacular work with Dracula and Five for Infinity being the most relevant to our crowd. 
 

I am always excited when there is a Bruce Jones art story,as it gets much rarer later as he transitions to writing primarily. I agree, Warren has repeatedly been able to reproduce pencil work brilliantly while few others were able to do it. 

Good information that I wasn't previously aware of...  

On 4/22/2024 at 9:34 PM, Stevemmg said:

Correction.  Finished version is still available for purchase from Michael Gidwitz. 
 

Very cool...thanks so much for sharing!  

On 4/11/2024 at 6:29 PM, Hibou said:

My only true disappointment though is that there was no notation on the issue #113 (Nov.1, 1936) of Detective Comics #27. 

That would have been the ultimate icing on the cake!

I did mention this to the powers that be...pretty noteworthy stuff...  

On 4/22/2024 at 1:22 PM, tthomasjr13 said:

I currently have a TOS 39 in now with some tape around the edges. I can post the results here. Today it says I am in the QUALIFIED category. Its for my PC so not really a deal breaker either way, but was always curious how it would grade out. Bought it for $40 back in the 1990s in this condition. 

Is this book missing anything from the interior?