Warren Magazine Reading Club! 7 7

[Jayman]

On 9/23/2024 at 7:55 AM, The Lions Den said:

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

I’m just glad he said this, instead of something else! 

[Jayman]

On 9/23/2024 at 7:37 AM, The Lions Den said:

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...

Interesting. Is this something that will become apparent as we get further into other issues, or is there a particular instance you are referring to? 

[The Lions Den]

On 9/23/2024 at 9:03 AM, Jayman said:

Interesting. Is this something that will become apparent as we get further into other issues, or is there a particular instance you are referring to? 

There are a number of times where Dubay allegedly exceeds the boundaries of good taste and ruins his relationship with several of the artists and writers due to his heavy-handed editing. I believe this really comes to a head in the later years---at this point, everything appears to be going smoothly...  

[Jayman]

Eerie #44 thoughts:

 Luis Dominguez gives us a nice enough cover that would have benefited greatly by being enlarged for the whole cover. I really can’t understand the reason for this thick border.

Eerie’s Monster Gallery: Werewolf—Fact Or Fantasy?

Somewhat interesting lore but I get the feeling this was added to appease all those letter writers wanting even more werewolf stories.

1 Crazy Mazie:

The index claimed this was the best story but I felt it sort of lost its way on what it was trying to achieve. I was really expecting the horse (Mazie) to come back to life, but the story just kind of fizzled out at the end with no satisfactory reason for anything.

2 Everlasting Mortality:

A man seeking escape from his unfulfilling marriage accepts being killed and turned into a vampire as the way out. An interesting premise that could have been a decent story except for the ending. AFAIK, that is not a way a vampire can die.

3 The Thrill Of The Hunt:

A posse hunts a man that evades them in clever ways, but he is not clever enough to figure out that HE is the bad guy and that THEY are the good guys!

4 Hand Of The Discarnate:

Two brothers about to celebrate their good fortunes decide to actually get their fortunes told by a carnival fortune teller.  Which of course, does not end favorably for them.

One of the brothers name dropped this person in the story who I looked up and found I was familiar with the face and not the name. She was the Gypsy woman in The Wolf Man and starred in other movies as well.

5 Mervin’s Dead Ringer!:

A fairly ridiculous story. Dominguez’s art was wasted on this one. That’s about all I have to say.

6 Tiller Of The Soul:

A farmer finds a buried dead body on his land that begins to converse with him from beyond the grave. After the previous story by Greg Potter, this one seemed just as ridiculous at first but became more entertaining and introspective as it went along. Potter redeemed himself with this one. I liked it.

7 Eerie’s Short-Short Shocker: The Parade!:

A two page text story with some spot illustrations. According to the index this was an experiment they were testing out. I don’t mind a text story once in a while but this story was very predictable from the start.

8 Dax The Warrior: Lake Of Gold!:

Esteban Maroto’s art is as stunning as ever but I’m wondering if these Dax stories are in any kind of order. Last issue left Dax dying of thirst in the middle of a desert. Now he is the lord of an enchanted island surrounded by numerous beautiful women! Even in this story, there is no connection to any other Dax tale we’ve seen so far. These stories are becoming just beautiful eye candy.

Overall not too impressed with this issue. The cover, while nice, could have been handled better. Only 3 of the 8 stories caught my interest. Those being Tiller of the Soul, Everlasting Mortality and the Dax story.

[OtherEric]

I give up, my post was eaten twice and I can't bring myself to try typing it out a third time.  It's my fault for trying to do it right in the forum editor.  So no detailed review from me on this issue this week, sorry.

My overall review:  Not a great issue, but some bits I did enjoy quite a bit, and I liked the experimental nature of the first two stories even if I feel they weren't completely successful in what they were trying to do.  It's the sort of issue that I feel speaks well to the overall health and direction of the series while not really being terribly impressive on its own.

 

[OtherEric]

Oh, if somebody wants my specific thoughts on any particular story or bit from the issue for some reason I'll try to recreate them, even if I can't face recreating the whole entry.

[Jayman]

On 9/28/2024 at 1:57 AM, OtherEric said:

I give up, my post was eaten twice and I can't bring myself to try typing it out a third time.  It's my fault for trying to do it right in the forum editor.

I feel your pain! My first couple of reviews I did this way (I use my iPhone) and some would be lost due to a glitch. Sometimes the content of what I typed would reload, sometimes not. I now type up my reviews in the “Notes” app, then copy and paste here. Then upload any pics and insert them into my review. Much smoother process. 

[OtherEric]

On 9/28/2024 at 7:47 AM, Jayman said:

I feel your pain! My first couple of reviews I did this way (I use my iPhone) and some would be lost due to a glitch. Sometimes the content of what I typed would reload, sometimes not. I now type up my reviews in the “Notes” app, then copy and paste here. Then upload any pics and insert them into my review. Much smoother process. 

That's how I normally do it, but sometimes when I'm running late I try it the other way, and this time it bit me.  At least it wasn't an issue I had super strong feelings about, either way.

[Stevemmg]

From the Warren magazine checklist by Richard J. Arndt:
 

  21. cover: Enrich Torres (Dec. 1972) 

                1) Vampi’s Feary Tales: Mind-Benders! [Bill DuBay] 2p   [frontis & on inside back cover]

                2) Inside 21/The Story Behind The Story: ‘Song Of A Sad-Eyed Sorceress!’ [Bill DuBay & Don 

                                McGregor] ½p   [text articles on letters’ page] 

                3) Vampirella: Slithers Of The Sand! [Steve Englehart/Jose Gonzalez] 23p   [story credited to 

Chad Archer]

                4) The Critic’s Crypt: Dracula/Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde/The War Of The Worlds: Audio

                                Rarities/Themes From Horror Movies [Chuck McNaughton] 1p   [text articles]

                5) Tomb Of The Gods: A Legend [Esteban Maroto] 8p 

                6) Paranoia [Steve Skeates/Luis Garcia] 6p

                7) Vampirella’s Short-Short Shocker: Puppy Love! [Chuck McNaughton/Rich Buckler] 2p   [text

                                story]

                8) Vampi’s Flames: Enrich Torres Profile/A Bedtime Story/The Eternal Thirst/And May He Rest 

In Peace!/Idol Of Ualirrma [Bill DuBay, Charles E. Fritch, Wendy Crabtree, Shirley D. 

Sipe & Michael Benitez/Enrich Torres, Tom Soderberg, Tim Groh & Robert Randall] 2p

[text article/stories] 

                9) The Vampiress Stalks The Castle This Night [Don McGregor/Felix Mas] 12p

 

Notes: Enrich provided a pretty cool cover depicting Vampirella sweating in the desert beneath a Death’s Head sun.  Gonzalez’s art on Vampirella continued to improve.  Englehart (who used a penname because he was employed by Marvel) also provided an upswing in the quality of the stories, although it proved to be short-lived.  Still, only the MacGregor/Mas story was anything to really call home about.  The rest were just middlin’ fare.  Maroto’s Tomb Of The Gods serial always suffered since both story and art were several years old and the new art he was doing for Creepy {and even the Dax serial reprinted in Eerie} were of much higher quality.
 

 

[OtherEric]

Vampirella #21 thoughts:

Cover:  We've had some covers before that I thought would probably work better on the stand to get people's attention than they do as discrete pieces of artwork decades later.  This is the reverse... I suspect the yellow skull was a bit too subtle at a quick glance, and if the books were shelved so only the top part of the cover was visible Vampi would disappear.  But when you look at the whole thing it's magnificent, conveying the desert heat perfectly, with a Vampirella image showing that she's suffering in the conditions but that her spirit is unbroken.

Mind-Benders:  A quick google search makes me suspect this was made up whole cloth rather than being historical, but the name is common enough that I can't be positive.  Quite well done from a craft perspective, but it's almost painfully early 70's, melding "drugs are bad" and the common anti-Women's Lib trope into something that really annoys me.

Vampirella:  Slitherers of the Sand:  Nice art, but if I had to guess how the story was written it would be Brennan turned in his four pages, and Engelhart was told to finish the story.  I feel like Engelhart was trying to force the story in a different direction than what Brennan was planning, possibly also based on editorial demands.  I also feel like the defeat of the monster is just incompatible with the general tone of the story... Vampi literally makes the creature eat s#** and die, which might be clever on her part on one level but hits a comedy note that doesn't fit overall.  We'll see how things go once Engelhart gets to do a story on his own.

Tomb of the Gods:  A Legend:  Nice Maroto art, and some decently moody ideas in the storytelling undercut by what were translation errors, bad editing, or both.  I can't even figure out what "He forest me from your warmth, Farla" might have been intended to be, and the last page has a word bubble going to the wrong speaker that throws off the impact of the ending as you stop to figure out what happened.

Paranoia:  A nice combination of moody art & storytelling, but at six pages it feels very slight, and the end feels cut short to me.  Not that it doesn't work as a conclusion, but the rhythm of the storytelling would normally demand more than two nightmares to set up the cycle, in my opinion.

Puppy Love:  I suspect I have more affection for text stories in comics than the average comic reader, having actually tracked down a couple series just for the text stories.  But they still underwhelm in most cases, and this is no exception.

The Vampiress Stalks the Castle this Night:  Nice art, but overwritten and much longer than the story needed.

It seems like I said almost every story had nice art but underwhelming scripting.  Which makes this an enjoyable enough issue while reading it, but it's one I'm going to forget almost instantly once I close the cover.

[The Lions Den]

On 9/29/2024 at 12:28 PM, OtherEric said:

It seems like I said almost every story had nice art but underwhelming scripting.  Which makes this an enjoyable enough issue while reading it, but it's one I'm going to forget almost instantly once I close the cover.

This is the problem I had when I was collecting these magazines back then. While the art was still great, I started to lose interest in the stories, and I began to pursue other interests...  

[Jayman]

Vampirella #21 thoughts:

 Cover: I have to say I think this one could be considered a Vampi classic. It is one of my favorites. I also think this bright golden cover would have popped on the newsstand or variety store rack. Enrich paints a hauntingly beautiful depiction of Vampi here. Of note, I think the cover could have drawn in new readers wondering how a vampire could exist in the noon day sun.

Mind-Benders! (Inside front and back covers):

As @OtherEric noted, no such person was found with a basic search. It does have the obligatory 70’s Woman’s Lib and drug references though. Nice art too!

1 Vampirella: Slithers Of The Sand!:

I really like the format to these stories where we are treated to two introductory splash pages of exceptional Gonzalez art. One for the “Vampirella prologue” and one for the story title. As far as the story, I pretty much agree with @OtherEric’s assessment on the writing. I also picked up on the “eat sh@t and die!” death of the slug.

 

2 Tomb Of The Gods: A Legend:

Certainly a more cohesive story than the average Dax tale. A blending of Norse mythology with pride and vanity mixed in. Maroto at his usual fine art with me liking this page in particular.

Here is that panel that @OtherEric referenced. I believe he was meant to say “He forcest me…”.

3 Paranoia:

Inter dimensional demons have their way with a hapless human. Some nice work by Garcia with just a “too bad this is happening to you!” kind of story with no real meat to it.

4 Vampirella’s Short-Short Shocker: Puppy Love!:

Another text story. This one about a boy becoming a wizard that met his match. These text stories seem only slightly better than the fan based ones to me. I’m not really a fan so far.

Vampi back issue ad:

Thought it was nice to see a reuse of #19’s cover for this.

These Maroto posters I see every once on a while for sale. I believe these are part of one of his portfolios.

5 The Vampiress Stalks The Castle This Night:

I actually liked this story of a young teen couple running away from home because of a pregnancy. Their car breaks down in a storm and they wind up spending the night at a vampires castle. I thought the story had some high points comparing the parallels of surviving the burden of becoming teen parents and surviving the vampires attacks. Not perfect, but an attempt. I really liked this one page with no word balloons.

Yeah, this was just an ok issue with the Vampi story and the Vampiress Stalks The Castle This Night being my personal favorites. The Tomb of the Gods tale was ok too.

[OtherEric]

Sorry this is slightly late...

Creepy #50- January 1973

cover: Manuel Sanjulian

                1) Odd Worm! [Al Hewetson/Rafael Auraleon] 1p   [frontis]

                2) Inside 50/The Story Behind The Story: ‘Futurization Computation’ [Bill DuBay] ½p   [text articles on letters’ page]

                3) Forgive Us Our Debts [Jim Stenstrum/Esteban Maroto] 18p  

                4) Frog God! [Ed Fedory/Adolfo Abellan] 7p

                5) The Critic’s Crypt: Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon: Water World/Flash Gordon: Ice Kingdom/ Terry & The Pirates [Bill DuBay & Al Milgrom] 1p   [text articles]

                6) Side-Show [Fred Ott/Jose Bea] 8p

                7) Sum Of Its Parts [Doug Moench/Reed Crandall] 10p

                8) Creepy’s Fan Club: Esteban Maroto Profile/One Of Our Policemen Is Missing/Good Morning/The Quarry/Guilty, Guilty, Guilty… [Bill DuBay, Sandra Chaney, Douglas W. Justice, Don Robers & Nathan Garmon/Bill DuBay, Esteban Maroto, Leslie Fish & Michael Arman] 2p   [text article/stories]

                9) The Climbers Of The Tower [T. Casey Brennan/Felix Mas] 7p

Notes: After the high quality of the previous issue, this one was a big let-down, especially for a special 50th  anniversary issue.  The Sanjulian cover showed Uncle Creepy, Cousin Eerie, Vampirella, the moronic Warren version of Dracula {currently appearing in Vampirella} and Frankenstein’s monster along with other various creepy characters sitting around a 50th birthday cake with skull frosting.  It was a nice idea that just didn’t work.  After Stenstrum’s powerhouse debut the previous issue, this issue’s ‘Forgive Us Our Debts’ came off as long and unfocused, although the Maroto art was nice.  With one exception, the remainder of the stories were rather lame, with Brennan’s philosophical story in particular showing he had run into a creative corner.  The exception mentioned was Moench’s ‘Sum Of Its Parts’, a good story which, sadly, suffered from Crandall’s art.  It wasn’t so much that the art was bad as that it was so far below the quality of the art Crandall had routinely delivered in the 1960s that it made the story look slightly foolish.  Fans noticed the drop in quality for the entire issue and heavily critized this issue, pointing out Crandall’s art and Brennan and Stenstrum’s stories in particular.  The series’ title ‘Creepy’s Loathsome Lore’ is dropped from the frontis story. 

____________________________________________________________________________________

Not a lot to say before I post my comments on the issue itself, but Creepy #50 is certainly a major milestone for the magazine and the reading club!

 

[OtherEric]

Admittedly, it's not going to take me long to get around to posting said comments on the issue, since I prepared them a few days ago:

Creepy #50 thoughts:

Cover: Cute idea, extremely lackluster execution.

Odd Worm:  A decent two-pager, if a bit heavy-handed.  But it would be hard to not be a bit heavy-handed doing this sort of story so briefly.

Forgive Us Our Debts:  The index nailed this one, nice art but long and unfocused.

Frog God:  Fedory's last story for Warren and Abellan's debut.  Abellan does about a dozen stories for Warren, which looks to be the bulk of his work in the US.  It looks like he's more often credited as Adolfo Usero.  The art is decent but the story is a mess... you can figure out what's happening but you have to work pretty hard to do so, all for a very underwhelming punchline.

Side-Show:  At the heart it's a pretty decent EC-style horror story, but told badly so the beats all fall flat.

Sum of its Parts:  I must disagree with the indexer, a fairly humdrum story saved by Crandall's art.  It may not be his best work, but lower quality Crandall is still far above the average comic art.

The Climbers of the Tower:  Brennan and Mas deliver a riff on Borges.  Not quite sure I would call it a forgotten masterpiece, but it's miles and away the best story in the issue.  To be fair, I get why I love it but others wouldn't.

I agree, this is underwhelming for the 50th Anniversary Special Issue, particularly with the slow start, but it ends on a couple of high notes, putting the issue narrowly into the win column for me.

[Jayman]

Creepy #50 thoughts:

 Cover: Actually not a bad cover in general, but as a 50th issue cover, it’s rather sad. I mean, I get the impression that old Unc Creepy invited a ton of monsters but only the fam showed up with a couple of hangers on. This may be the only cover that has all 3 hosts together though…

Odd Worm: 

The circle of life in a horror mag.
Hakuna Matada!

 

1 Forgive Us Our Debts:

Not sure if it was the Maroto art that carried me through this one or not but I didn’t find this as bad as the index suggested. I thought the characters acted fairly believable given their circumstances. And I really liked that the girl just up and abandoned the guy at the end.

2 Frog God:

Pretty much agree with @OtherEric’s opinion on this one. Since when are frogs scary anyway?

3 Side-Show: 

I’m a fan of Bea’s art, but it didn’t shine through like it usually does, at least for this story. An over jealous cruel husband seeks misguided revenge on his wife. Blatant twist ending served to hurt this one more than help it.

4 Sum of its Parts:

Finally, a halfway decent horror story! Crandall delivers some pretty brutal dismemberment scenes in this one. The over explanation sort of killed the momentum for me but I did think the blank stare from the reattached detective’s head was rather creepy!

5 The Climbers of the Tower:

The philosophical aspect of this one did not go unnoticed. I also thought the ending was quite fitting after thinking how it would actually end as I was still reading it.

So, for a 50th Anniversary Special, not too bad. At least there were no reprints and I liked 3 of the 5 stories. Frog God and Side-Show were what dragged this one down.

Edited October 12 by Jayman

[Jayman]

On 10/6/2024 at 12:35 PM, OtherEric said:

The Sanjulian cover showed Uncle Creepy, Cousin Eerie, Vampirella, the moronic Warren version of Dracula {currently appearing in Vampirella} and Frankenstein’s monster along with other various creepy characters sitting around a 50th birthday cake with skull frosting.

(The above from the index) Too funny that the indexer still carries a grudge against this character!

[Jayman]

Eerie #45

From the Warren Magazine Index:

Cover: Luis Dominguez (Feb. 1973) 

1) Eerie’s Monster Gallery: Vlad The Impaler [Fred Ott/Rafael Auraleon] 2p   [frontis & on inside back cover]

2) The Mound [Tom Sutton] 10p

3) Ri, Master Of Men [Hal G. Turner/Martin Salvador] 8p

4) When Wakes The Dreamer [Don McGregor/Jesus Suso Rego] 8p

5) A Blade For The Teacher [Bill Warren/Luis Dominguez] 7p

6) Maneater [Steve Skeates/Rubio] 7p

7) The Critic’s Crypt: King Kong {Radio}/Flash Gordon {Radio}/The Pan Book Of Horror Stories #4/The Pan Book Of Horror Stories #5 [Chuck McNaughton] 1p [text articles]

8) Eerie’s Short-Short Shocker: Ecology Of Death! [Doug Moench/Bill DuBay] 2p   [text story]

9) Doug Moench’s Confessions: Story Of A Ghost Writer!/The Mask Behind The Face! [Doug Moench/Russ Heath] 1p [text article with 1p strip] reprinted from the Chicago Sun-Times’ Sunday supplement

10) Eerie Fanfare: Don McGregor Profile/Afterlife/Do Not Step Outside!/Whgat, Me Worry?/Tooth Be Or Not Tooth Be [Don McGregor, Frank Christensen, Richard Noel, Steve Clement & Michael Carlisle/Felix Mas, Jose Gual, Moe Romulus & Marshal Rogers] 2p   [text article/stories]

11) Dax The Warrior: The Witch [Esteban Maroto & ?/Esteban Maroto] 8p   [story credited solely to Maroto]

 

Notes: Marv Wolfman, who worked as a story editor for Warren for four months, received his only Warren credit here.  A solid issue for story and art.  Future writer Steve Clement appeared on the fan page, as did future artist Marshall Rogers.  Moench’s ‘Confessions’ was an article and 1 page story {combined on one page} he did for the Chicago Sun-Times’ Sunday Supplement about his work as a horror comic writer.  Heath’s reprinted work was his first appearance in a Warren magazine since 1966.  Spectacular art in the Dax story by Maroto.

——————————————————

Not to rush the reading club on any comments from the previous issue, but it’s been a busy week for me working overtime and with only weekends to get anything done around the house, especially before Halloween. I wanted to get this up while I had the chance. Another issue I remember reading as a kid. Funny, as I only recall the Sutton story “The Mound”. Most likely for the irony of the twist at the end. My collection gets spotty after this point. I must have either lost interest or started focusing on DC Bronze horror more. Anyway, at least we get some Heath!

[OtherEric]

On 10/11/2024 at 7:25 PM, Jayman said:

Since when are frogs scary anyway?

1973.  Not in this particular story, mind you, but it's the right year.  Comixscene 3 was April 1973 and Plop 1 was October 1973. (Images found online, I have the Plop issue but not the Comixscene.)

 

Edited Saturday at 08:39 PM by OtherEric

[Jayman]

 

On 10/12/2024 at 4:35 PM, OtherEric said:

On 10/11/2024 at 10:25 PM, Jayman said:

Since when are frogs scary anyway?

1973.  Not in this particular story, mind you, but it's the right year.  Comixscene 3 was April 1973 and Plop 1 was October 1973. (Images found online, I have the Plop issue but not the Comixscene.)

Oh I get it, I remember this movie too.

I just grew up catching frogs and toads, keeping them as pets for a while then releasing them. Such cool animals, I just can’t think of them as scary. There was also another 70’s movie; Night of the Lepus. About large rabbits terrorizing a town. There were scenes of the bear sized bunnies roaring like lions. Laughable! Never made me scared of rabbits.

[Jayman]

 Eerie #45 thoughts:

 Cover: A nice Luis Dominguez cover that works well enough, although my 9 year old self used to think there were three guys on the right with ghosts swirling around them until I finally read the story!

Eerie’s Monster Gallery: Vlad The Impaler:

Nice lore, but didn’t we already get a two page Dracula segment recently? I liked the use of a stake for the “I” in Impaler!

 

1 The Mound:

I haven’t read this particular story in about 45 years but I remember almost every panel. This story and another; “The Hag of the Blood Basket” from over in the Skywald mags were my first memorable introductions to Tom Sutton. Just a nice well paced sci-fi story with a pretty good ironic twist that borders on being a bit comical if not for the foreboding dire consequences.  The last page is still as good as I remembered it!

2 Ri, Master Of Men:

Another sci-fi tale concerning machines taking over humanity. Interesting to see this take pre internet. This one might have been good for its time, but most of us have seen this take done so much better over the years.

3 When Wakes The Dreamer:

Interesting concept with some nice artwork by Jesus Suso Rego. I kind of got vibes of “The Never Ending Story” and the Nothingness.

4 A Blade For The Teacher:

An egotistical swordsman feels he needs to beat his mentor in order to prove he is the best. Dominguez does some nice work on this one but the story sort of abruptly jumps to the conclusion.

5 Maneater:

An over ambitious artist kills a woman who was going to blackmail him, drives away in his car only to end up in a surreal painted landscape. A pretty simple tale that gets right to the point and winds up being rather creepy.

6 Eerie’s Short-Short Shocker: Ecology Of Death!:

Either I was getting tired reading this or I just didn’t get what the writer was going for. An entity that killed people then became them or took their likeness? Probably just me not getting this one.

7 Dax The Warrior: The Witch:

This installment actually had a bit of an interesting story to it. Though we still have Dax jumping from one situation to another. This time he is inexplicably the leader of a hunting party that gets ambushed by a witch’s demon. The old hag of a witch used to be beautiful and needs the hearts of the men in the hunting party to make an elixir. Dax tries to stop this and gets turned into the ape by the witch’s magic. He only gets turned back to himself after the witch becomes young and beautiful again and wants to “test” her body. Only by then, Dax has already taken his revenge.

Overall this one was pretty good and also brought back some fond memories. This was my original copy bought 51 years ago! I was surprised to find two coupons cut out from the ad sections. I’m sure it was me who cut them out but I can’t remember what I got, if anything. The coupons were from the 8mm movies section. Either I never received anything or my parents didn’t allow me to mail away money for the movies. In this issue, Sutton’s The Mound was the highlight for me.