Warren Magazine Reading Club! 7 7

[Jayman]

On 9/8/2024 at 6:35 PM, OtherEric said:

My apologies, everyone.  I had a screaming headache last night and crashed early, then forgot to post the book this morning.  I’ll do it when I get home tonight.  Again, sorry about the delay.

No worries. If you need me to do it just DM me. Feel better! 

[OtherEric]

Creepy #49- November 1972

  49. cover: Manuel Sanjulian (Nov. 1972)

                1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: No (Horse) Laughing Matter [Doug Moench/Rafael Auraleon] 1p [frontis & on inside back cover]

                2) Inside 49/The Story Behind The Story: ‘Behold—The Cybernite!’ [Bill DuBay & Rich Margopoulos] ½p   [text articles on letters’ page]

                3) Buried Pleasure [Doug Moench/Esteban Maroto] 10p

                4) The Severed Hand [Fred Ott/Rafael Auraleon] 12p

                5) The Third Night Of Mourning [James Stenstrum/Jaime Brocal] 12p

                6) The Accursed Flower [Jose Bea] 10p

                7) Creepy’s Book Reviews: The Pulps/Superman/Batman/Mandrake [Doug Moench, Greg Potter & Tom Sutton] 1p   [text articles]

                8) Creepy’s Fan Club: James Stenstrum Profile/Hour For Rest/Mr. Grave’s Giant Step/End Of The Corridor/Murder Is Not A Fun Game!/Who Can Say? [Jim Stenstrum, George Acevedo, George Hennessey, Calvin L. Cox, Allen Sliwinski, Jack Hennigar/Jim Stenstrum, Victor Kally & Esteban Maroto] 2p   [text article/stories w/photos]

9) Wedding Knells [Doug Moench/Jose Gual] 8p

Notes: Editor: Bill DuBay.  The DuBay era started with a great issue!  Sanjulian’s cover was top notch and the cover story it illustrated, ‘The Third Night Of Mourning’, was even more impressive—especially considering that this was author Jim Stenstrum’s professional debut (but second story--#50’s ‘Forgive Us Our Debts’ was his first sale).  Brocal’s artwork was exactly right for the story’s French Revolution setting, as well.  Jose Bea’s bizarre ‘The Accursed Flower’ was almost as good as the Stenstrum/Brocal entry and the remaining tales were more than satisfactory.  The Spanish invasion of artists and their artistic takeover of Warren’s magazines was now complete, with most of the American artists, with rare exceptations, gone to greener pastures. 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Not a lot to say about this issue before giving it a look, although it's obviously a major milestone in the the history of the title, given the influence DuBay has on the rest of the history of the company.  And again, one last apology for the delay in posting this.

 

 

[The Lions Den]

On 9/9/2024 at 12:04 AM, OtherEric said:

 

 

Creepy #49- November 1972

  49. cover: Manuel Sanjulian (Nov. 1972)

                1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: No (Horse) Laughing Matter [Doug Moench/Rafael Auraleon] 1p [frontis & on inside back cover]

                2) Inside 49/The Story Behind The Story: ‘Behold—The Cybernite!’ [Bill DuBay & Rich Margopoulos] ½p   [text articles on letters’ page]

                3) Buried Pleasure [Doug Moench/Esteban Maroto] 10p

                4) The Severed Hand [Fred Ott/Rafael Auraleon] 12p

                5) The Third Night Of Mourning [James Stenstrum/Jaime Brocal] 12p

                6) The Accursed Flower [Jose Bea] 10p

                7) Creepy’s Book Reviews: The Pulps/Superman/Batman/Mandrake [Doug Moench, Greg Potter & Tom Sutton] 1p   [text articles]

                8) Creepy’s Fan Club: James Stenstrum Profile/Hour For Rest/Mr. Grave’s Giant Step/End Of The Corridor/Murder Is Not A Fun Game!/Who Can Say? [Jim Stenstrum, George Acevedo, George Hennessey, Calvin L. Cox, Allen Sliwinski, Jack Hennigar/Jim Stenstrum, Victor Kally & Esteban Maroto] 2p   [text article/stories w/photos]

9) Wedding Knells [Doug Moench/Jose Gual] 8p

Notes: Editor: Bill DuBay.  The DuBay era started with a great issue!  Sanjulian’s cover was top notch and the cover story it illustrated, ‘The Third Night Of Mourning’, was even more impressive—especially considering that this was author Jim Stenstrum’s professional debut (but second story--#50’s ‘Forgive Us Our Debts’ was his first sale).  Brocal’s artwork was exactly right for the story’s French Revolution setting, as well.  Jose Bea’s bizarre ‘The Accursed Flower’ was almost as good as the Stenstrum/Brocal entry and the remaining tales were more than satisfactory.  The Spanish invasion of artists and their artistic takeover of Warren’s magazines was now complete, with most of the American artists, with rare exceptations, gone to greener pastures. 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Not a lot to say about this issue before giving it a look, although it's obviously a major milestone in the the history of the title, given the influence DuBay has on the rest of the history of the company.  And again, one last apology for the delay in posting this.

 

 

Cool cover!    

[Jayman]

On 9/9/2024 at 12:04 AM, OtherEric said:

Creepy #49- November 1972

See, now this is one of the best parts of the Warren Reading Club for me. This is an issue that contains one of my favorite stories from the Warren mags. I remembered the story read as a kid, but forgot the title and the issue. When I saw the title in the preview, it rekindled a memory. I just jumped ahead and read the story, and it’s the long lost one I fondly remember. Cheers to the Reading Club! 

[OtherEric]

On 9/9/2024 at 3:49 AM, The Lions Den said:

Cool cover!    

The cover actually reminds me of Bill Sienkiewicz in some ways... it has some of the angularity and unusual color choices that I associate with Sienkiewicz.  Not a particularly close match when you look at the details, but it still struck me as a first impression.

[Jayman]

Creepy #49 thoughts:

Cover: Sanjulian delivers a very creepy and atmospheric scene with muted colors against a grayish background. The blue Creepy logo seems to blend in nicely with the artwork on this cover while the colors become more vibrant around the head, which helps draw your eye to it.

(Not my book, I never scanned my copy and forgot to snap a pic before I buried it back again in the vault! )

Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: No (Horse) Laughing Matter (inside front and back):

Bizarre account of a man living as a horse. I could find no definitive proof of this on the internet, but it not the strangest thing out there either. 

1 Buried Pleasure:

Pirates and Vampires! What’s not to like? Though the Captain and crew put all their eggs in one basket gambling on the size of Curtain’s “treasure”. A good start to the issue with nice Maroto art.

2 The Severed Hand:

Another good story set in Germany pitting two rival surgeons against each other. Throw in a cursed demonic hand and things get interesting with a nice twist ending.

3 The Third Night Of Mourning:

Despite the cover misleading you, calling this “The Headless Horror”, this was another enjoyable tale of revenge from beyond the grave. 

As the index states, this was a perfect story for the artist and writer. Brocal delivers some really emotional panels, such as this one.

4 The Accursed Flower:

This was the tale I read from this very issue back in 1972 that stuck with me all these years! I just love the whole “be careful what you wish for” concept. Also how the lore of the creatures was interwoven. Bea’s art was a great match for this story too. Given his nationality, it makes perfect sense that this tale takes place in Spain. For some reason though, I misremembered the setting for China instead and thinking the creatures were Gremlins. Most likely because of the movie Gremlins, I have no doubt.

These three panels always creeped me out! Better think of a task for them quick!!!

5 Wedding Knells:

Who’s the werewolf? Yet another good read even though you pretty much guess the ending.

I did notice that Moench slipped in two Creepy billboards that the protagonist drives past going in and out of town. Pretty cool!

This was a very good issue IMO, not a bad story in the bunch. If I had to pick the weakest link, it would go to Wedding Knells just for the predictability.

[OtherEric]

I've already discussed the cover, so:

No (Horse) Laughing Matter:  Not sure how true the story is, George Asher is too common a name for me to really track down.  Not sure how I feel about the story... it was interesting and entertaining as a quick two page piece, but it felt more like something I would expect from Ripley's Believe It or Not than from a magazine called Creepy.

Buried Pleasure:  An excellent start to the issue, with a well done pair of twists that I didn't see coming.  Maybe not an all-time classic, but short of that's it's first-rate story and art.

The Severed Hand:  Decent art by Auraleon, but maybe six pages of cliche-filled story in a twelve-page package.  Not impressed.

The Third Night of Mourning:  Jim Stenstrum has close to a hundred credits at Warren and maybe a dozen elsewhere in comics, we'll be seeing him up until close to the end of reading group.  He makes his debut with a story that doesn't quite perfectly capture the plot logic but more than makes up for it with the mood it evokes.  A very solid introduction.

The Accursed Flower:  Nice art, and it has a lot of the flavor of a folk tale.  But I was slightly underwhelmed by the fact that we're told the tale on page two, and the rest of the story is really just playing out the story we've already been told.  But that's a structure than I could easily see working for other people or in other circumstances, it just fell flat for me this time.

Book Reviews:  My Uncle Arnold had the Superman from the 30's to the 70's book when I was a kid, I remember reading it over and over when my family went to visit, never getting tired of it.  It was really the first "best of Superman" collection they ever did, and some of the selections of stories come across as rather eclectic now.  But for me, it was endlessly fascinating, getting to see the old covers and stories and an introduction to the wonders of the Golden and Silver Ages for a kid born around the start of the Bronze Age.  My Uncle passed away a couple decades ago, and my Aunt Pat about a decade ago.  But in the last few years before she passed, she made a point of giving away many things to our family, always as Christmas or Birthday gifts, and making sure that everybody got items they particularly treasured.  So the book is now on my bookshelf, a direct line to glorious memories of both the sheer wonder of my first discovering the history of the comics I love, and even more importantly dearly missed family members I love even more.  Sorry for the digression.

Wedding Knells:  A clever title, a predictable story.  Nice art, though.

Overall, I didn't care for this issue quite as much as @Jayman did, although it's certainly wasn't a bad one at all.

[Jayman]

@OtherEric, even though we liked this issue to different degrees, it seemed we both liked it more for the memories it rekindled. You for your uncle’s Superman book and I for the Accursed Flower story. As I stated a few posts back, this is one of the side benefits of the reading club I love the most! I’m glad this issue made you think of a dear family member. 

[Jayman]

Eerie #43

From the Warren Magazine Index:

Cover: Luis Dominguez (Nov. 1972) 

1) Eerie’s Monster Gallery: Quetzalcoatl, Monster God! [Doug Moench/Luis Garcia] 1p   [frontis]

2) Inside 43 [Bill DuBay] 1/3p   [text article on letters’ page]

3) Someday [Rich Margopoulos/Jerry Grandenetti] 12p

4) Musical Chairs [Steve Skeates/Tom Sutton] 8p 

5) Bright Eyes! [Doug Moench/Richard Corben] 7p 

6) Eerie Book Reviews: Green Lantern/The Ghouls/Hauntings And Horrors/Tales From The Crypt [Chuck McNaughton] 1p   [text articles]

7) The Hunt [Rich Margopoulos/Paul Neary] 8p

8) Showdown [Steve Skeates/Jesus Suso Rego] 6p

9) Eerie Fanfare: Rich Margopoulos Profile/Life’s Dream/Encounter With An Artist/Cold Shoulder!/Hate/Black Death [Rich Margopoulos, Richard D. Chase, Jeff Baenen, Bob Hurns, Robert M. Lester & Tim McDonald/Paul Neary, Hidy & Scot Goode] 2p   [text article/stories w/photo]

10) Dax The Warrior: Let The Evil One Sleep [Esteban Maroto & ?/Esteban Marato] 8p [story credited solely to Maroto]

11) Eerie Monster Gallery: The Mortsafes [Tom Sutton] 1p   [on inside back cover]

Notes: Editor: Bill DuBay.  Back to 75 cents & 72 pages.  Best art was Rich Corben’s ‘Bright Eyes’ although Jesus Suso Rego gives him a run for his money.  Suso, whose art seemed perfect for Warren, did only a couple of stories for them but did many more over at Skywald. He also did some work at Seaboard/Atlas.——————————————————

The index states “The DuBay Era” at the top of this listing. I’m assuming this means he takes over as editor and has a good run on this title. We shall see…

Edited September 15 by Jayman

[The Lions Den]

On 9/14/2024 at 1:43 AM, OtherEric said:

Book Reviews:  My Uncle Arnold had the Superman from the 30's to the 70's book when I was a kid, I remember reading it over and over when my family went to visit, never getting tired of it.  It was really the first "best of Superman" collection they ever did, and some of the selections of stories come across as rather eclectic now.  But for me, it was endlessly fascinating, getting to see the old covers and stories and an introduction to the wonders of the Golden and Silver Ages for a kid born around the start of the Bronze Age.  My Uncle passed away a couple decades ago, and my Aunt Pat about a decade ago.  But in the last few years before she passed, she made a point of giving away many things to our family, always as Christmas or Birthday gifts, and making sure that everybody got items they particularly treasured.  So the book is now on my bookshelf, a direct line to glorious memories of both the sheer wonder of my first discovering the history of the comics I love, and even more importantly dearly missed family members I love even more.  Sorry for the digression.

Nothing to be sorry about. Your story was very endearing, and I thank you for sharing it. These books certainly have a way of bringing back some very fond memories. It's one of the reasons I still enjoy them...  

[The Lions Den]

On 9/11/2024 at 11:03 PM, Jayman said:

Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: No (Horse) Laughing Matter (inside front and back):

Bizarre account of a man living as a horse. I could find no definitive proof of this on the internet, but it not the strangest thing out there either. 

After reading more about Rafael Aura Leon, it's no surprise that he enjoyed drawing bizarre stories like this one. I had no idea that he suffered from severe depression and ended his own life after leaving the comics industry. A tragic loss...    

[Jayman]

Eerie #43 thoughts:

And I have a bunch. This was yet another issue that had a surprise story from my childhood. I had often told myself I must find the story again because of the imagery, and here it was this issue, but we’ll get to that later.

Cover: Luis Dominguez does a terrific rendering of zombies crashing through a window on an unsuspecting victim. The cast shadows on the walls and floor add to the drama while the axe silhouetted in the moon is brilliant.

Eerie’s Monster Gallery: Quetzalcoatl, Monster God!:

They took great liberties with this Aztec god, making it look like a run of the mill dragon that guards treasure. A little truth would have made it more interesting IMO. “Among the Aztecs, he was related to wind, Venus, Sun, merchants, arts, crafts, knowledge, and learning.” -Wikipedia.

1 Someday:

We start out with a sci-fi tale that reaches for that epic story level but just doesn’t quite make it. A good try but I wasn’t too impressed.

I see influences of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Beneath the Planet of The Apes in this one. Just as Taylor detonated the A bomb and destroys everything, so does our spaceman in this story.

2 Musical Chairs:

Tom Sutton turns in some nice work here, especially on this opening splash. The background stars and the talking eyeballs are very Twilight Zone. Most of us have seen this type of story before though and could see the ending coming.

3 Bright Eyes!:

Despite this bland opening page, Corben’s art gets much better as it progresses. This would be the cover story about two feuding southern plantation owners. Only one knows how to use Voodoo, and uses it to resurrect African Americans to pick his cotton. What actually shocked me was the use of the “N word” in this story. I realize this mag is from 1972, but wow! That word should have been edited out.

And of course Corben comes through with his delicious trademark gore towards the end!

4 The Hunt:

Back to sci-fi with this tale with an unnecessary 2 page prologue. It was only after the prologue that I recognized this as the long lost story I read as a kid. The story itself is ok, I do think Margopoulos borrowed a bit from Planet of the Apes again with the “hunting humans in the field” scene. Just changing apes to foxes.

Here is the splash I remembered from this story all those years ago. Pretty much spot on as I remembered it except I thought it was the guy on horseback that said “pretty foxy, aren’t we?”

5 Showdown:

Suso delivers some really nice art on this story of a gunslinger whom we could have used a bit more backstory on before we get to his final outcome. The story leads you to believe he deserved his fate but showed no steadfast reasons for it other than he killed a man in a fair gunfight.

Eerie Fanfare: Rich Margopoulos Profile:

This caught me by surprise. Reading his profile, Rich Margopoulos was local to me, as I took classes at Ocean County College myself and he actually lived in my home town!

6 Dax The Warrior: Let The Evil One Sleep:

Guess what? Dax encounters yet another beautiful woman to fool around with then has a deadly situation to overcome that ends with him losing the woman. Great Maroto art as always but I’m getting the feeling these Dax tales are not leading us to any larger story arc.

Eerie Monster Gallery: The Mortsafes:

These are real. I saw them myself in Scotland. Nice Sutton art.

Overall, just an ok issue here despite the nice trip down memory lane for me. I do like the mix of sci-fi with the horror. It’s nice to see that they were moving away from the old tired Vampire and Werewolf stories and giving the readers more expanded ideas. Even though a quick read through the letters pages can find people clamoring for yet more vampires and werewolves in the stories! 

Edited September 17 by Jayman

[OtherEric]

Hopping in late with the Eerie #43 thoughts before we really start on the Vampi #21.

Eerie #43:

Cover:  It works better before you read the story it goes to.  As generic monsters/ zombies, it's fine.  As zombies that are also African-American caricatures?  Not so fine.

Monster Gallery: @Jayman covered this one better than I could have.

Someday:  It feels like this is trying to tell 3 or 4 different stories all mashed together.  It does make very good use of Grandenetti's talents, though... I still don't like his art but this is some spectacular work by him, jumping though the various styles and situations the story needs with aplomb.

Musical Chairs:  It's a reworking of "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge", but very well done, with a hilarious pun in the title that only became clear at the very end.

Bright Eyes:  A solid story concept, with the best art we've seen from Corben yet... his earlier stories, we're partly enjoying seeing how his massive talent developed, but here it's all visible.  To follow up on @Jayman's observation, the word shows up surprisingly often in 70's media, not just comics, and it's never easy to come across to a modern reader.  But it does raise the point that DuBay, to put it as gently as I can given that I've only personally read a fairly small portion of his work as writer and editor, is at best notorious for being tone-deaf to racial concerns as a creator.  We'll come across more examples as we go along, but for a preview read the index's entries on 1984/1994. 

The Hunt:  I'm not sure the prologue is unnecessary, it really does matter that the planet is our future and post-apocalyptic to make the punchline work.  But I'll grant that it's clumsy and overly long.  Otherwise a fun riff on Planet of the Apes.

Showdown:  The story doesn't seem to hang together that well, but definitely some nice artwork by Suso, at least.

Dax: Let the Evil One Sleep:  I think we do get quite a bit of insight into Dax's character here, but otherwise I agree I don't see the series leading anywhere in particular at this point.

Mortsafes:  This is lore, not a monster.  But a solid enough lore page, at least.

Overall, this was a quite decent issue, but other than the Corben artwork not a lot that pushes this issue past average.  But the books have been maintaining a decently high average recently.  We'll see how things go once DuBay settles in as editor a bit more.

[Jayman]

On 9/21/2024 at 6:03 PM, OtherEric said:

Hopping in late with the Eerie #43 thoughts before we really start on the Vampi #21.

I believe that I’m on double duty this week with another issue of Eerie before we get to Vampi #21.

On 9/21/2024 at 6:03 PM, OtherEric said:

Someday:  It feels like this is trying to tell 3 or 4 different stories all mashed together. 

Perfectly stated!

On 9/21/2024 at 6:03 PM, OtherEric said:

The Hunt:  I'm not sure the prologue is unnecessary, it really does matter that the planet is our future and post-apocalyptic to make the punchline work.

I just meant that two whole pages for a prologue was unnecessary. It could have been condensed into one page IMO. 

[OtherEric]

On 9/21/2024 at 5:32 PM, Jayman said:

I believe that I’m on double duty this week with another issue of Eerie before we get to Vampi #21.

 

Correct, although Steve already posted the Vampi #21.  I'm good with either way, swapping the two since the Vampi is already up, or you just posting the Eerie and going forward.

[Jayman]

On 9/21/2024 at 9:40 PM, OtherEric said:

Correct, although Steve already posted the Vampi #21.  I'm good with either way, swapping the two since the Vampi is already up, or you just posting the Eerie and going forward.

I’m not seeing the Vampi posted, has it been removed? Sorry if I missed it. 

[OtherEric]

On 9/21/2024 at 6:44 PM, Jayman said:

I’m not seeing the Vampi posted, has it been removed? Sorry if I missed it. 

I saw it earlier, looks like it's been removed.  So Eerie it is!

 

[Jayman]

Eerie #44

From the Warren Magazine Index:

 Cover: Luis Dominguez (Dec. 1972)

1) Eerie’s Monster Gallery: Werewolf—Fact Or Fantasy? [Fred Ott/Jerry Grandenetti] 1p [frontis]

2) Inside 44 [Bill DuBay] 1/3p   [text article w/photo on letters’ page]

3) Crazy Mazie [J. R. Cochran/Tom Sutton] 10p

4) Everlasting Mortality [Doug Moench/Jerry Grandenetti] 5p

5) Eerie’s Book Reviews: The Time Machine/The Invisible Man/The First Men In The Moon/In The Days Of The Comet [Chuck McNaughton] 1p   [text articles]

6) The Thrill Of The Hunt [Doug Moench/Martin Salvador] 10p

7) Hand Of The Discarnate [Doug Moench/Bill DuBay] 6p

8) Mervin’s Dead Ringer! [Greg Potter/Luis Dominguez] 4p

9) Tiller Of The Soul [Greg Potter/Rubio] 7p

10) Eerie’s Short-Short Shocker: The Parade! [Doug Moench/Bill DuBay] 2p   [text story]

11) Eerie Fanfare: Luis Dominguez Profile/A Little Farther/Deep Sleep/The Feast/The Fatal Dream/A Touch Of Fate/Search For The Sun [Bill DuBay. Harry E. Mongold, Victor Olchowka, Tom Morganti, Mike Weiler, Roberto Tabaldo & Bill Hightower/Luis Dominguez (art from when he was 14!) & Bill MacDonald] 2p   [text article/stories w/photo]

12) Dax The Warrior: Lake Of Gold! [Esteban Maroto & ?/Esteban Maroto] 8p    [story credited solely to Maroto]

Notes: Don McGregor & Jose Gual’s ‘Malocchi’ was advertised for the next issue but didn’t actually appear until Creepy #72 in 1975!  ‘Crazy Mazie’ was the best story & art here.  A solid and entertaining story, as was the entire issue.  Bill DuBay began to experiment with prose stories, although that didn’t last long. 

——————————————————

This is an issue I don’t currently own so I will be reading online. Dominguez is really pumping out the covers here. Can’t wait to read this one.

[The Lions Den]

On 9/21/2024 at 6:03 PM, OtherEric said:

Bright Eyes:  A solid story concept, with the best art we've seen from Corben yet... his earlier stories, we're partly enjoying seeing how his massive talent developed, but here it's all visible.  To follow up on @Jayman's observation, the word shows up surprisingly often in 70's media, not just comics, and it's never easy to come across to a modern reader.  But it does raise the point that DuBay, to put it as gently as I can given that I've only personally read a fairly small portion of his work as writer and editor, is at best notorious for being tone-deaf to racial concerns as a creator.  We'll come across more examples as we go along, but for a preview read the index's entries on 1984/1994. 

It's interesting to note that Dubay's tone-deaf stance is one of the things that ultimately contributed to the demise of the Warren empire...

[The Lions Den]

On 9/16/2024 at 9:56 PM, Jayman said:

3 Bright Eyes!:

Despite this bland opening page, Corben’s art gets much better as it progresses. This would be the cover story about two feuding southern plantation owners. Only one knows how to use Voodoo, and uses it to resurrect African Americans to pick his cotton. What actually shocked me was the use of the “N word” in this story. I realize this mag is from 1972, but wow! That word should have been edited out.

And even though this was published during the "Archie Bunker" era, the same issues are still relevant over 50 years later... 

Edited yesterday at 11:56 AM by The Lions Den