Warren Magazine Reading Club! 7 7

[The Lions Den]

On 7/15/2024 at 12:56 PM, OtherEric said:

Overall, an excellent issue.  No all-time classics in this issue- even the Corben story is really a step forward rather than where he ends up- but the baseline here is extremely high.

I agree completely. Another strong issue with a wide variety of talent on display...  

[Jayman]

Creepy #46 thoughts:

I did not correlate the contents of this issue with its cover till I opened it up. Having said that, I may be a bit biased with my review as it brought back some fond memories. I know I had a double of this issue and when I went to get it I encountered more than one choice.

Like most collectors would, I chose the worst copy to pull out to read. It happened to be my original that my grandmother bought for me when I was only 8 years old. A superb cover by Sanjulian with that oddly square headed hairy hag highlighted in the red doorway along with that menacing fiend rising from the tomb. Just perfect!

Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: The Undertaker’s Model:

An interesting true account of one of the first modern method embalmings. A truly worthy Loathsome Lore entry.

1 Cross Of Blood:

A very nice introspective approach to a vampire story a la Lestat. The writing elevated this one way above your basic one dimensional vampire tale.

Maroto’s art gave a nice gothic feel to this story. I particularly liked this splash.

2 Behold The Cybernite!:

This one made me smile. I remember reading this as an 8 year old with my friend. Sutton’s combination of high tech gadgetry and organic brains work so well together.

This story was so memorable to me and my friend that we would quote the word balloon from this panel and laugh, even years later when we were out playing and one of us fell down or hit our head hard. “BRAIN-BUBBLE CRACKED...LIQUID NUTRIENTS DRIPPING OUT...”

3 On The Ninth Day Of Satan:

On The Ninth Day Of Satan my true love gave to me…a story that wasn’t so great! The artwork was nice enough but as @OtherEric said, it got muddled on the timeline and I got confused as how the warlocks were caring for the children. Wouldn’t the children have run away at some point?

4 I, Invisible:

Another I remember well since originally read. This I can now say was my first introduction to Bea’s art. Did he deserve what happened to him at the end? Perhaps it was meant as a cautionary tale not to meddle with nature.

I really like to believe Bea had fun drawing all these changing aspects of invisibility on the human body. My guess is that he had a copy of Gray’s Anatomy close at hand.

5 Spellbound:

A story that 8 year old me refused to read because I deemed it too boring. Having read it now, it seemed like an abridged version of a much more epic tale. Nice art but had a dreary and somewhat unfulfilling ending. (I also spilled my bowl of Co-co Puffs on this splash when I read it originally). You can still see the stain!

6 Night Watch:

A nice moody tale of two lonely watchmen trying to keep themselves occupied over the long boring nights. My question was; what place were they watching over? At certain points it looked like a castle!

7 Friedhelm the Magnificent:

Another classic tale embedded in my mind is this one by Richard Corben. This may also have been my first introduction to Corben’s fantastic art. I particularly liked the protagonist’s facial expressions throughout, as only Corben could do. There are also some grand scale scenes that are drawn nicely such as the hot air balloon and the final falling perspective that leads to a very satisfying end!

Another Loathsome Lore, Monsters of the Id:

Nice art that looks familiar. I wonder if it gets used again somewhere. Interesting but seemed like nothing more than a page filler to me.

Holding my bias back, I can say this was a very good issue. Great cover with Cross of Blood, Behold The Cybernite!, I, Invisible and Friedhelm the Magnificent being the best for me! Either way, rereading this issue was a great trip down memory lane!

Edited July 17 by Jayman

[Jayman]

Eerie #41

From the Warren Magazine Index:

Cover: Manuel Sanjulian (Aug. 1972)

1) Eerie’s Monster Gallery: The Ghouls Of Scotland [Fred Ott/Ken Barr] 1p   [frontis]

2) Inside 41/The Story Behind The Story: ‘Head Shop’ [J. R. Cochran & Don Glut] 1/3p   [text articles on letters’ page]

3) Warped [Kevin Pagan/Jerry Grandenetti] 8p

4) West Coast Turnaround [John Wooley/Tom Sutton] 8p

5) Heir Pollution! [John Wooley/Jose Bea] 9p

6) The Caterpillars [Fred Ott/Luis Garcia] 8p

7) Derelict [John Thraxis/Paul Neary] 7p

8) The Safest Way! [Steve Skeates/Jose Gual] 7p

9) Eerie Fanfare: Tom Sutton Profile/The Pet Shop/What’s For Supper?/To Save A Witch/Tales From The Crypt Review/Cat Fancy [Tom Sutton, Mark Curtis, Jay Richter, Mary Eveland, Jr. R. Cochran, Dave Parker/Tom Sutton & Esteban Maroto] 2p   [text articles/stories w/photo]

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

Notes: One of Sanjulian’s best covers graced this issue.  New writer John Wooley wrote several social horrors stories with the best being the LSD story ‘West Coast Turnaround’ which also featured good art by Tom Sutton.  Englishman Paul Neary made his American debut.

——————————————————

Well, while I would personally call this a classic cover, I’m not yet acquainted with any of this issued contents to pass judgment. Still have a good looking lineup of artist/writers to look forward too so I’m not too worried.

[OtherEric]

Eerie #41 thoughts:

Cover: I think this is generally regarded as one of the all-time classic Warren covers, and who am I to argue?  Although it's so directly based on a panel from the Dax story I would personally give Maroto co-credit for it with Sanjulian.  Beautiful work in any case.

Monster Gallery:  Gorgeous work by Barr here, mostly true to the actual lore surrounding Sawney Bean, with one or two details (such as the time frame) being taken from stories that get conflated with the story.  If I had been running the show I would have used this as the back cover lore page in the Creepy last week, and the Id page as the gallery page here, but it's a bit of a better fit as a gallery page than some.  And, as I've repeatedly observed, we as fans care vastly more about the distinction than Warren ever actually did.

Warped:  An interesting and weird concept by Pagan, undermined by what I think is actually an inferior art job by Grandenetti, rather than one I just don't personally like.

West Coast Turnaround:  Nice Sutton art.  The story itself has aged slightly better than most anti-drug stories of the era, but that's miles from having actually aged well.

Heir Pollution:  The story reminds me of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing, honestly.  Which suggests to me the story was actually pretty good when it came out, even if it suffers in the comparison.

The Caterpillars: A bit too absurd for my tastes, and as the third story in a row dealing with a social issue to greater or lesser degree (biological warfare in this case), it feels like this issue is pushing a bit too far in the relevance direction.  Not saying I object to relevance in comics... Green Lantern/ Green Arrow remains one of my all-time favorites... but I feel like Warren should probably stick to one story an issue, or the book starts feeling like it's sold it's heritage for a pot of message.

Derelict:  John Thraxis has two stories at Warren and no other credits I can find.  Paul Neary does around 40 stories for Warren, which is a lot more than I would have guessed going in.  He has something around 3500 credits at the GCD.  This actually appears to be Neary's comic debut, full stop, rather than just his American debut.  (He seems to have had a comic story in The Monster Times at very close to the same time this issue hit the newsstand, although that isn't primarily a comic magazine.)  With all that said, the story isn't very good, honestly... it's essentially a haunted house in space story, and Neary is drawing it far more Science Fiction than Horror style, which doesn't fit the tone.  Never mind that his art at this point is probably best described as "amateur with potential" rather than the pro he rapidly became.

The Safest Way:  Nice art by Gual, but we've got another social issue story by Skeates here.  It may just be me, but in addition to the obvious context of the story it looks like General Simmons is being drawn to resemble Spiro Agnew.  That aside, it's a pretty solid story on its own terms, the problem is I'm sick of message stories in this issue at this point, even if this one is the one that does the best job of being a story as well as a message.

Dax: Chess:  We get a little background on Dax, finally, as well as an interesting story where Dax is forced out of his comfort zone.  The story, while still stand-alone like the other Dax stories, is reaching the point where we know the character and can appreciate the variations.  Plus gorgeous art by Maroto, making this a very strong note for the issue to go out on.

Back issue ad:  This appears to be the point where they ran out of copies of #17, which means it's where that issue started getting its reputation for scarcity.

This is another issue where the total was less than the sum of its parts.  I think all the social issue stories were pretty good for the genre other than "The Caterpillars", and even there the problem wasn't its handling of its issue as such.  I would even say all of them have aged somewhat better than usual as these things go.  But a series of stories going "This is a bad thing and I want you to know I know it's a bad thing" gets very annoying very quickly, even if any one of them works well enough.  So the issue starts on a high note with the cover and gallery, and ends on a high note with Dax, but the middle is a bit one note, and the two stories that weren't both suffer from the artists (Grandenetti and Neary) doing work far below their best.  (Admittedly, that's somewhat unfair to Neary at this point in his career, but hindsight gets in the way.)

 

[The Lions Den]

On 7/21/2024 at 12:49 AM, OtherEric said:

Eerie #41 thoughts:

Cover: I think this is generally regarded as one of the all-time classic Warren covers, and who am I to argue?  Although it's so directly based on a panel from the Dax story I would personally give Maroto co-credit for it with Sanjulian.  Beautiful work in any case.

Monster Gallery:  Gorgeous work by Barr here, mostly true to the actual lore surrounding Sawney Bean, with one or two details (such as the time frame) being taken from stories that get conflated with the story.  If I had been running the show I would have used this as the back cover lore page in the Creepy last week, and the Id page as the gallery page here, but it's a bit of a better fit as a gallery page than some.  And, as I've repeatedly observed, we as fans care vastly more about the distinction than Warren ever actually did.

Warped:  An interesting and weird concept by Pagan, undermined by what I think is actually an inferior art job by Grandenetti, rather than one I just don't personally like.

West Coast Turnaround:  Nice Sutton art.  The story itself has aged slightly better than most anti-drug stories of the era, but that's miles from having actually aged well.

Heir Pollution:  The story reminds me of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing, honestly.  Which suggests to me the story was actually pretty good when it came out, even if it suffers in the comparison.

The Caterpillars: A bit too absurd for my tastes, and as the third story in a row dealing with a social issue to greater or lesser degree (biological warfare in this case), it feels like this issue is pushing a bit too far in the relevance direction.  Not saying I object to relevance in comics... Green Lantern/ Green Arrow remains one of my all-time favorites... but I feel like Warren should probably stick to one story an issue, or the book starts feeling like it's sold it's heritage for a pot of message.

Derelict:  John Thraxis has two stories at Warren and no other credits I can find.  Paul Neary does around 40 stories for Warren, which is a lot more than I would have guessed going in.  He has something around 3500 credits at the GCD.  This actually appears to be Neary's comic debut, full stop, rather than just his American debut.  (He seems to have had a comic story in The Monster Times at very close to the same time this issue hit the newsstand, although that isn't primarily a comic magazine.)  With all that said, the story isn't very good, honestly... it's essentially a haunted house in space story, and Neary is drawing it far more Science Fiction than Horror style, which doesn't fit the tone.  Never mind that his art at this point is probably best described as "amateur with potential" rather than the pro he rapidly became.

The Safest Way:  Nice art by Gual, but we've got another social issue story by Skeates here.  It may just be me, but in addition to the obvious context of the story it looks like General Simmons is being drawn to resemble Spiro Agnew.  That aside, it's a pretty solid story on its own terms, the problem is I'm sick of message stories in this issue at this point, even if this one is the one that does the best job of being a story as well as a message.

Dax: Chess:  We get a little background on Dax, finally, as well as an interesting story where Dax is forced out of his comfort zone.  The story, while still stand-alone like the other Dax stories, is reaching the point where we know the character and can appreciate the variations.  Plus gorgeous art by Maroto, making this a very strong note for the issue to go out on.

Back issue ad:  This appears to be the point where they ran out of copies of #17, which means it's where that issue started getting its reputation for scarcity.

This is another issue where the total was less than the sum of its parts.  I think all the social issue stories were pretty good for the genre other than "The Caterpillars", and even there the problem wasn't its handling of its issue as such.  I would even say all of them have aged somewhat better than usual as these things go.  But a series of stories going "This is a bad thing and I want you to know I know it's a bad thing" gets very annoying very quickly, even if any one of them works well enough.  So the issue starts on a high note with the cover and gallery, and ends on a high note with Dax, but the middle is a bit one note, and the two stories that weren't both suffer from the artists (Grandenetti and Neary) doing work far below their best.  (Admittedly, that's somewhat unfair to Neary at this point in his career, but hindsight gets in the way.)

 

For me, the front cover is the best part of this issue...    

[Jayman]

Eerie #41 thoughts:

We have another cover that turns out to be based on Esteban Maroto’s work. The other one being by Enrich for the cover of Vampirella #17. This cover however, by Sanjulian, with all those shades of deep blue and green create a very ominous effect and rise above surrounding covers in the run. Again we see the use of the hollow logo as not to obscure any more of the art than necessary.

 Eerie’s Monster Gallery: The Ghouls Of Scotland:

Nice artwork by Barr and the use of duotone here works well. I confess I was not aware of the story of Sawney Bean or his clan. After reading this and doing a little research, this has to be the most horrific tale in this issue! And it’s based on factual history!

Apparently there was a movie made in 2012 about it. I may have to check that out.

1 Warped:

The premise of this story had potential, but the punishment and the reason for it was pretty absurd. How can you be immortal but still age as this man did? What happens when you crumble to dust, are you immortal dust? Although I differ with @OtherEric’s opinion regarding the art. I think Grandenetti’s style works perfect for this script, as his art already has that “warped” look to it.

2 West Coast Turnaround:

Sutton’s art on the first couple of pages seemed sort of uninspired and plain to me. As the story progresses, his style becomes more apparent till we are at full Sutton creepiness at the last panel! Maybe this was on purpose to show the effects of using the drug? Either way, it worked for me.

Side note: Cousin Eerie head shots:

It’s obvious at this point that Warren paid Corben to produce various Uncle Creepy and Cousin Eerie head shots to be used wherever needed. For advertising, letter columns and maybe an intro where the artist forgot to draw him in is ok. But to paste a Corben Eerie over other artists rendition of him is a bit much! (End rant).

3 Heir Pollution!:

So we get a prologue simply to explain the “heir” part of the title. I agree with @OtherEric on his assessment here. This is a poor man’s Swamp Thing origin. There are some gruesome scenes that work well but I’m noticing more that Bea favors using those under lit up-shots of people’s faces a lot. Something that I wouldn’t have picked up on if not for the reading club.

4 The Caterpillars:

I actually liked this one. The concept of the story may have seemed overdone, but in 1972 it was probably a fairly fresh idea. Any story that has creatures growing in human brains, eating and controlling them, then bursting out, fits nicely in a horror mag. The artwork by Garcia is exceptional here, especially the panels with the cobwebs. The ending was predictable by today’s standards but was still enjoyable.

5 Derelict:

This story immediately reminded me of the movie “Event Horizon”. If you liked that movie, you will probably like this story. I kind of liked the change of settings to outer space for this one. I’m also a fan of stories that don’t give you all the answers for every single detail of what happens. It leads to more ways to interpret what you are reading.

6 The Safest Way:

Really liked the artwork on this one but did not work as a horror, fantasy or sci-fi story for me. The story was a moral one that seemed to fit the time frame when this issue was current, so I kind of get it.

7 Dax: Chess:

As has been said, we get a tiny glimpse of Dax’s past relationship with his father and references to past friends in this episode. We learn that the original and cover art are actually mystical chess pieces. The whole reason of the story seemed to just show Dax he needs to use intellect as well as physical skill and strength to win his battles. The purpose for this has yet to be revealed. This episode ends with a brutal reminder to Dax for losing the game!

Overall, a weaker issue than the previous ones with West Coast Turnaround, Caterpillars and Dax being my favorites. I did like this ad for the ‘72 Comic Art Convention on the inside back cover too!

Edited July 22 by Jayman

[Stevemmg]

On 7/15/2024 at 5:10 PM, Jayman said:

I’d expect @Stevemmg to have a comment on this with a pic of the OA! 
Anything to add Steve?

I apologize for not answering the bell when called for duty. Here is the requested picture of the original art from last week. Painted with the logo area in mind I think. 
 

[OtherEric]

On 7/24/2024 at 7:29 PM, Stevemmg said:

I apologize for not answering the bell when called for duty. Here is the requested picture of the original art from last week. Painted with the logo area in mind I think. 
 

I guess I was wrong about it being cropped on the edges, then.  Thank you for sharing this!

[Stevemmg]

VAMPIRELLA #18

From the Warren Magazine Index:

18. cover: Enrich Torres (Aug. 1972) 

                1) Vampi’s Feary Tales: Nymphs [Kevin Pagan/Luis Garcia] 1p   [frontis]

                2) Inside 18/The Story Behind The Story: ‘Girl On The Red Asteroid’ [J. R. Cochran & Don Glut] 

½p   [text articles on letters’ page]

                3) Vampirella: Dracula Still Lives! [T. Casey Brennan/Jose Gonzalez] 20p  

                4) Tomb Of The Gods: Kali [Esteban Maroto] 8p 

                5) Song Of A Sad-Eyed Sorceress [Don McGregor/Luis Garcia] 12p 

                6) Won’t Get Fooled Again [Doug Moench/Rafael Auraleon] 9p 

                7) Vampi’s Flames: Kevin Pagan Profile/Eye Of The Skull/Vampire/Hidden Danger/The 

Assassin/Drink, My Love [Kevin Pagan, Thomas Pallanta, Lloyd M. Auerbach, Eric W. Flesch, Bill Cantey & George Siessel/? Garcia, William Barry, Mike Ploog, Felix Mas, FrankVillano, Jr., Seaward Tuthill] 2p   [text article/stories]

                8) The Dorian Gray Syndrome [Don Glut/Felix Mas] 6p 

 

Notes: One of Enrich’s best Vampirella covers graced this issue.  Gonzalez’s artwork finally begins to justify his reputation as the Vampriella artist.  The crappy Dracula was back though.  The McGregor/Garcia effort ‘Song Of A Sad-Eyed Sorceress’ was the best story in an issue of generally pretty good stories.  A Levi pants ad appears on the fan page, largely because the hippy/stripper chick in the ad wears levi’s, along with a top resembling Vampi’s skimpy costume. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________

I thought I might lend a hand, as I know it’s been a lot for both Other Eric and Jay Man to take this on..

Appropriately for me, this is also Enric’s first actual Vampirella cover, after his two stellar efforts on Eerie 35 and Vampirella 17. You get both Vampi and Warren’s somewhat traditional looking take on Dracula, who will continue to play an important role in the Vampirella stories here and forthcoming. As mentioned previously, I generally love this era, and look forward to the commentary. 

[Randall Dowling]

On 7/27/2024 at 8:04 PM, Stevemmg said:

VAMPIRELLA #18

From the Warren Magazine Index:

 

18. cover: Enrich Torres (Aug. 1972) 

                1) Vampi’s Feary Tales: Nymphs [Kevin Pagan/Luis Garcia] 1p   [frontis]

                2) Inside 18/The Story Behind The Story: ‘Girl On The Red Asteroid’ [J. R. Cochran & Don Glut] 

½p   [text articles on letters’ page]

                3) Vampirella: Dracula Still Lives! [T. Casey Brennan/Jose Gonzalez] 20p  

                4) Tomb Of The Gods: Kali [Esteban Maroto] 8p 

                5) Song Of A Sad-Eyed Sorceress [Don McGregor/Luis Garcia] 12p 

                6) Won’t Get Fooled Again [Doug Moench/Rafael Auraleon] 9p 

                7) Vampi’s Flames: Kevin Pagan Profile/Eye Of The Skull/Vampire/Hidden Danger/The 

Assassin/Drink, My Love [Kevin Pagan, Thomas Pallanta, Lloyd M. Auerbach, Eric W. Flesch, Bill Cantey & George Siessel/? Garcia, William Barry, Mike Ploog, Felix Mas, FrankVillano, Jr., Seaward Tuthill] 2p   [text article/stories]

                8) The Dorian Gray Syndrome [Don Glut/Felix Mas] 6p 

 

Notes: One of Enrich’s best Vampirella covers graced this issue.  Gonzalez’s artwork finally begins to justify his reputation as the Vampriella artist.  The crappy Dracula was back though.  The McGregor/Garcia effort ‘Song Of A Sad-Eyed Sorceress’ was the best story in an issue of generally pretty good stories.  A Levi pants ad appears on the fan page, largely because the hippy/stripper chick in the ad wears levi’s, along with a top resembling Vampi’s skimpy costume. 

_____________________________________________________________________________________

I thought I might lend a hand, as I know it’s been a lot for both Other Eric and Jay Man to take this on..

Appropriately for me, this is also Enric’s first actual Vampirella cover, after his two stellar efforts on Eerie 35 and Vampirella 17. You get both Vampi and Warren’s somewhat traditional looking take on Dracula, who will continue to play an important role in the Vampirella stories here and forthcoming. As mentioned previously, I generally love this era, and look forward to the commentary. 

I love Frazetta, but this might be my favorite Vampirella cover (outside of #1, none of the other Frazetta covers are of Vampirella).  It's just spectacular in every way- content, composition, color. 

[OtherEric]

First off, a huge thanks to @Stevemmg for taking a turn posting the reading club info!

My thoughts on Vampirella #18:

Cover:  Steve mentions this as a classic Vampirella cover, and who am I to argue?  It's a classic that they go back to many times in various ways, be it a paperback cover, or using it as the starting point for the #100 anniversary issue.  And it's brilliant... it shows Dracula cowering when faced with Vampirella, positioning her as an extraordinarily puissant figure.  I would go so far as to argue that this is fundamentally how we should see Vampi, rather than as the victim as most of her earlier covers other than #1 showed her.  Not saying that a mix isn't good, or even necessary on a long running title.  I'm just saying that this is the more effective mode, generally.

Feary Tales:  More of a lore page than a feary tale, and it uses an unusually broad definition of nymph.  I also get what Pagan was going for on Vampi's introduction, but it starts out feeling rather off and it doesn't really recover that well... you can see what was meant but the effect falls very flat, at least for me.  I'll give the team points for effort and the use of red on the page is quite effective, and really makes some extraordinary use of two-color printing its design.  And now I've spent far more time on the page than it's really worth.

Vampirella: Dracula Still Lives:  A decent story as far as it goes, but it feels far more like a Dracula story featuring Vampirella than a Vampirella story.  Which is fine in a long running series, but it feels a little bit off to me nonetheless.  And not exactly what the series needed after the last issue already felt like a bit of a fill-in.  Very nice art by Gonzales, at least.

Tomb of the Gods: Kali:  OK, it does appear that the Tomb of the Gods series is more thematically connected stories, rather than a single continuity.  Excellent work by Maroto.

Song of a Sad-Eyed Sorceress:  Great art and excellent scripting, nodding toward contemporary issues but not having them take over the story like so many in the Eerie issue we just covered then.  I want to particularly point out how McGregor manages to balance a very formal story structure, alternating present with flashback pages, to serve the story rather than the story just being a frame to stylistically show off. 

Won't Get Fooled Again:  A solid story by Moench & Auraleon.  Although it's actually brought down by having two direct lines from The Who, one in the title and one in dialogue.  One is fine, several could become a game (although one probably ill-suited for the story in this case), but two is just distracting, at least to me.

The Dorian Grey Syndrome:  Another good story, with a nice use of a double twist- the first is rather obvious, but it does set up the second, more clever, twist nicely. 

This was an excellent issue overall, honestly.  A good balance of varied stories.

[The Lions Den]

Since I couldn't remember this issue very well, I decided to read it again today. And for once, I'm afraid I'm not as enthusiastic about it as some of my fellow reading club members are. I didn't hate it, but I can only describe this one as average.

For starters, while I don't hate the cover, the composition seems a little off to me, as if Enrich was experimenting a bit. For me, it almost has a "thrown-together" feel to it. Not my favorite, but to each his own... 

The Feary Tales section also seemed a bit rushed with regard to the artwork and layout; I'm used to seeing better work from Garcia. 

Moving on, I noticed Bill DuBay listed as art director on the contents page, a significant development. I also appreciated the "Inside 18" column on the letters page.  

The Vampirella story was another matter entirely. To be honest, it was so boring and far-fetched I could barely get through it, and the ludicrous plot twists continuously strained the boundaries of credibility. Brennan is usually a very good writer, but this story reminded me of a really bad episode of "Dark Shadows". Thankfully the Gonzalez art saved it from being a complete waste of time, but after reading this drivel, Jim Warren should have immediately sent Archie Goodwin a big bouquet of flowers and other assorted goodies to lure him back into the fold. 

The "Tomb of the Gods" story was much better, but what was the deal with the not-so-obvious Frazetta homage/swipe in the last panel? 

"Song of a Sad-Eyed Sorceress" was the high point of this issue for me, with excellent art by Garcia and a pretty interesting story. Possibly a couple of pages too long, but still enjoyable. 

"Won't Get Fooled Again" was OK, but it seemed as if Moench was trying too hard to come up with a twist ending. And while the title was certainly obvious as a Who reference, the second reference was disguised fairly well within the text. But yeah, I agree it did wear a little thin. I'm just glad Moench didn't write "meet the new ghost, same as the old ghost" or something to that effect.   

"The Dorian Gray Syndrome" was just OK for me. Mas did a decent art job, but I couldn't help thinking that Tom Sutton may have been a better choice for this one. Ah well...he was probably overworked and underpaid.

So all-in-all not a bad issue, but I can't say I thoroughly enjoyed it...

Edited July 28 by The Lions Den

[Jayman]

On 7/28/2024 at 2:18 PM, The Lions Den said:

I'm just glad Moench didn't write "meet the new ghost, same as the old ghost" or something to that effect.  

[Jayman]

Vampirella #18 thoughts:

A beautiful and classic cover by Enrich. They even chose for Merlin’s Mirror to cover part of the Vampirella logo as not to obscure the overall painting. My only nitpick (and it’s a small one) is that I’m not totally pleased with Dracula’s facial expression. After all, he is a classic and powerful figure in his own right. No reason to appear so terrified. Perhaps an evil smile would have sufficed.

I also noticed this is the first cover appearance of Vampi’s new costume style. The transition from the more practical (and realistic) shoulder straps to just her collar clasped to her front straps. Although the latter is much more sexy!

Vampi’s Feary Tales: Nymphs:

Nice art and tidbits of malevolent female beings. Agree that the duotone works well here.

1 Vampirella: Dracula Still Lives!:

I’m enjoying the multiple storylines going on. The building romance between Vampi and Adam,  Van Helsing’s hell-bent desire to kill her and the Mad God Chaos trying to control her. This time around it did seem like a Dracula story guest staring Vampirella. Dracula’s last minute choice to abandon redemption seemed a bit odd to me but I did like the introduction of the Conjuress. Does she become a recurring character?

2 Tomb Of The Gods: Kali:

Maroto is still going strong with this series. This time he taps into Hinduism with an entertaining story about the creation of Kali. Lovely artwork throughout and I especially liked his rendition of Kali with the many arms.

3 Song Of A Sad-Eyed Sorceress:

I have to agree this was a good one. Garcia yet again gives us more of his incredible artwork, but McGregor delivers a script that ends with a very clever double cross.

4 Won’t Get Fooled Again:

Queue the show Csi: Miami; YEEAAAHHH! Ok, Moench likes the Who. I like the Who. Maybe it was deemed clever to interject these references back then, who knows? The story however, had too many plot holes for me. How could his wife have an ongoing affair with a ghost and not know it? The husband will go to jail for killing a ghost? No body or proof. This one just didn’t seem thought out well to me. Oh, and here’s the second Who reference, just for posterity.

5  The Dorian Gray Syndrome:

Nice art surrounding a silly premise for one to disguise himself of being a vampire. One would think keeping a low profile could work, but no, doctoring up a self portrait to keep aging it as you stay youthful, making people believe you are in league with the devil works much better! I did however like inclusion of Voodoo to tie up the ending.

Lastly, we have this anti-Vietnam ad on the back cover paid for by Warren. I believe this is the first time we see it but I may be wrong. 

To sum up: The Vampi story sagged a bit in script quality, Won’t Get Fooled Again and Dorian Gray syndrome were the low points. Tomb of the Gods was good and Song Of A Sad-Eyed Sorceress was good enough to make up for the other two less than effective stories. That, and along with a nice cover was enough to even out this issue for me. I’ll give it a 50/50.

PS: A gracious thank you to @Stevemmg for contributing to the reading club this week!

[Stevemmg]

Very well written and assessed. I have to say, I have an odd relationship with short story mags in general. I kind of expect not everything is going to be great, but when you get such spectacular artistic offerings like Song Of A Sad-Eyed Sorceress, and a memorable cover from Enric, anything else contained inside is just gravy on my turkey. Even when the story isn’t quite as polished in the Vampirella series ( they have a lot of ups and downs), some of the Gonzalez beauty panels are enough to make it still special for me. It’s all just such a spectacular upgrade from what was on the comic stands for the most part during this period.  So often it seems there is another artist just around the corner waiting to pounce with glorious talent, and I’d never even heard of them before picking up the mag. 
 

I really enjoy reading these impressions and breakdowns. You guys are great. Thanks for the positive contributions to my hectic weeks. 
 

[OtherEric]

So, we now have an updated rotation of who posts which title, I've got Creepy, @Jayman has Eerie, and @Stevemmg is taking over Vampirella.  And we have one day less than a year to figure out what we do when we start getting other titles in the rotation.  I think Axe Elf would have been very happy to see the club continue... and amused that it's taking three of us to handle the the job he did solo posting the introductions each week.

With that said, here's today's book:

Creepy #47- September 1972

  47. cover: Ron Cobb (Sept. 1972)   reprinted from Famous Monsters #43 (Mar. 1967)   [miscredited to Manuel Sanjulian]

                1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Not Sherlock by A Long Shot [Doug Moench/Jose Bea] 1p  [frontis]

                2) Inside 47/The Story Behind The Story: The Picture Of Death [J. R. Cochran & Jose Bea] ½p  [text articles on the letters’ page]

                3) The Land Of Bone [Buddy Saunders/Esteban Maroto] 8p

                4) Mark Of The Phoenix [T. Casey Brennan/Reed Crandall] 8p

                5) The Law And Disorder [Dennis Junot/Luis Garcia] 6p

                6) The Eternity Curse [John Thraxis/Martin Salvador] 6p

                7) Creepy’s Fan Club: Reed Crandall Profile/The Scarlet Knife/The Shrinking Man/A Moment!/ Grin At The Grim Reaper [J. R. Cochran, Jody Gilmore, Terry W. Cloud, Horace Heard  & Steve Clement/Reed Crandall, Marc Bilgrey & Pat Boyette] 2p   [text articles/stories]

                8) Point Of View [Steve Skeates/Luis Dominguez] 6p

                9) This Burden—This Responsibility! [Steve Skeates/Jerry Grandenetti] 10p

  10) Futurization Computation! [Bill DuBay] 3p

  11) Creepy Book Reviews: Dick Tracy/Horror Comics Of The 1950s/The Comix [Tom Sutton,  Bill DuBay & Greg Potter] 1p   [text articles]

  12) The Beginning! [Steve Skeates/Tom Sutton] 6p

Notes: Manuel Sanjulian’s cover came in too late for this issue, resulting in it not appearing until Eerie #123, nine years later.  Cobb’s reprinted cover was a last minute substitute.  Reed Crandall returned after almost three years, but his art had sadly deteriorated a great deal since his last appearance.  ‘The Land Of Bone’ by Saunders & Maroto had the best story & art.  The Skeates/Sutton work was also good. 

____________________________________________

I haven't really had a chance to give this issue a look yet, so not a lot of thoughts on the matter yet. 

 

[Jayman]

Creepy #47 thoughts:

As soon as I saw this cover, I said to myself, this looks like a FM cover. Turns out it was and they never updated the cover credits. A pretty shoddy cut and paste job and that’s about all I’ve got to say.

Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Not Sherlock by A Long Shot:

Yet another figure I had to look up. Quite an interesting fellow but his lore is muddied with embellishments and falsehoods, ie. people still alive after he claimed to have murdered them.

1 The Land Of Bone:

 Beautiful art by Maroto adds eye candy to every page of this sword and sorcery tale with a nice little twist at the end.

2 Mark Of The Phoenix:

I didn’t find Crandall’s art too bad, as was noted in the index. It seemed a bit cartoonish here and there but the line work was superior. The premise of him running away from his wish seemed strange, but then again, I don’t know how it feels to be burned alive so who am I to say?

3 The Law And Disorder:

This one gave me “Kent State” vibes. With the board of trustees willing to use a weapon against the protesting students. Garcia’s artwork was nice as usual but the story was a bit confusing to me. Why was the Prof’s head bandaged up like that for? How did Cohen die at the end, an exploding cigar in his hand?

4 The Eternity Curse:

A fairly entertaining story with nice bits of horror injected into it. It also had a satisfying ominous ending. My only nitpick is why did he wait 5,000 years to exact revenge? 

5 Point Of View:

Nice to see some Luis Dominguez ink wash art. The story makes you think of those unseen entities that could possibly cause grief and strife in the world. Not too much explanation happens here but the main theme shifts to the man and woman coming back together. A rare happy ending in a way, only they did not print “The End” or have Uncle Creepy close out the story. I turned the page expecting more and found the next story!

6 This Burden—This Responsibility!:

A kind of quirky futuristic tale of the automated, computerized business world. It’s funny in hindsight that they envisioned everything plugged in and push button ready but still needed to print out everything on paper.

This one ended with an Uncle Creepy quip but either they forgot to paste him in or he fell off right before press time!

7 Futurization Computation!:

Disappointing that they chose two similar themed stories in the same issue, let alone following each other. This one was not too imaginative as you could see the twist coming a mile away. I did however see some “shout outs” I believe in the opening splash. In the checkered computer dots it reads “Holy Moley” at the very top of the page and on the middle reads “Hi Mac!!” I wonder who that was for?

8 The Beginning!:

Skeates and Sutton give us an enjoyable mutant tale on this one. Not sure I understood the inclusion of the baby pictures throughout. Perhaps to show his leaning sympathy with the hungry mutants? Either way Sutton delivers on his grotesque visions at the end to wrap up this issue nicely!

We also have a second anti-Vietnam ad. You can tell this was a major subject Warren was very passionate about. This particular version asks the reader to clip the coupon and send it in to your congressman.

Another 50/50 issue for me.
A disappointing cover housing only 4 out of the 8 that I liked. Those being (in order): The land of Bone, The Eternity Curse, The Beginning! and Point of View.

[Jayman]

And I just couldn't resist imagining what Sanjulian's cover may have looked like. If he made his deadline, our collections may have had something like this!

[Stevemmg]

Thanks for that. I was actually thinking about it the other day wondering if they would have continued with the art box theme or switched back over to standard full cover. This was the last issue that had it. Ironic that they chose the Dracula cover to pull over from FM given that there isn’t a single vampire story this issue. 

[Ken Aldred]

Tom Sutton did some really nice artwork. Underrated.

Someone I never appreciated back then.