Warren Magazine Reading Club! 6 6

[Axe Elf]

YES!!!

Another member makes their debut!

Welcome to the Club!

Too bad Reed Crandall didn't get the Rat story--I have always loved his rats!

[OtherEric]

Welcome to the club, @Surfing Alien!

[Axe Elf]

EERIE's Monster Gallery:  I had never heard the thing about feeding salt to a zombie to break the spell (though granted, it's not the kind of issue I often face).  Learn something new every day...

Letters:  First letter asks about the "writers" who dream up all the fantastic stories...  Heh, it's basically just ONE writer with lots of artists (though yes, Archie hasn't written them ALL--but close).  Second letter starts out, "I subscribe to CREEPY and BLAZING COMBAT, but believe me, EERIE is tops, although it's not as good as CREEPY."  What?  It's better than CREEPY and BLAZING COMBAT, except CREEPY.    And no less than three people recognizing Steve Ditko from "other magazines."

And then we have the stories themselves.  With a couple of exceptions, I was generally disappointed by the scripts--most of them challenged my ability to suspend disbelief.

For instance, in "The Shrieking Man," nobody noticed that the crazed shrieker was actually the asylum's previous director?  C'mon...

In "Gnawing Fear," I was expecting our protagonist to find a colony of giant rats at the heart of the tunnels--why else would the tunnels be so huge?  And why would a bunch of small rats bother to carry away the body?  Seemed much more likely that he was carted off by a giant rat, no?  But no, all these questions go unanswered, and our hero is doomed not by the inexorable force of giant mutant rats, but by being immobilized in a collapsed tunnel while regular rats eat his face.

And yes, I like Crandall rats better than these Mastroserio rats:

In "Undying Love," why would a love spell make someone come back from the dead?  If she hadn't become a vampire, would she still have returned from the grave when she died a normal death in her 80s, because once done, the love spell could not be undone?  Seems like a love spell would always end upon the person's death--even if that person is a vampire.

But we did get some gratuitous Donald Norman rats, so there's that.

"Hatchet Man" was a reasonable tale of psychological horror.  One has to wonder why he didn't START with his wife, instead of making her a later victim, but it's not a completely unreasonable scenario.

The issue opener, "House of Evil," wasn't a bad story, but it wasn't a great story, either.  It would have been fine as a lead-off, though, if most of the rest of the issue hadn't gone downhill from there.  The drawing of the house was awesome, though--I bet they don't have to worry about mowing their lawn much.

"Island at World's End" was probably the best story of them all, but even it wasn't really an all-time classic or anything, just an engaging tale of fantasy that mixed aspects of Moby Dick, The Time Machine, and Conan's Hyborian paganism.  It at least left me feeling like the issue wasn't completely meh--and it made the cover make sense, too!  It's kind of cool that the same artist (Gray Morrow) did both the cover and the story that goes with the cover, instead of having the story interpreted visually by another artist for the cover (even if that artist is usually Frazetta).

So, well, another one down at least; I guess they can't all be gems.

[Axe Elf]

BLAZING COMBAT #4 - July 1966

According to the Warren Magazine Index...

4. cover: Frank Frazetta (July 1966)

1) Combat Quiz [Archie Goodwin/Dan Adkins] 1p   [frontis]

2) Conflict! [Archie Goodwin/Gene Colan] 7p

3) How It Began! [Archie Goodwin/Gene Evans] 2p

4) The Edge! [Archie Goodwin/Alex Toth] 6p

5) Give And Take [Archie Goodwin/Russ Heath] 6p

6) ME-262! [Archie Goodwin/Ralph Reese, Wally Wood & Dan Adkins] 7p    [art credited to Wood]

7) The Trench! [Archie Goodwin/John Severin] 6p

8) Thermopylae! [Reed Crandall & Archie Goodwin/Reed Crandall] 8p

9) Night Drop! [Archie Goodwin/Angelo Torres] 7p

10) Easy Way To A Tuff Surfboard! [Archie Goodwin/Frank Frazetta] ½p   reprinted from Eerie #3 (May 1966)

Notes: Blazing Combat’s final issue showed no compromise with commercial demands.  ‘Conflict’, ‘Give And Take’ and ‘Night Drop’ were all powerful, hard-hitting tales.  Someone may have noted the dynamic art quality of DC Comics’ wash tone “paintings’ on their war titles, as five of the stories within are done in total or in part with wash tones.  Particularly effective was Torres’ work on ‘Night Drop’.  However, the best art job was Russ Heath’s striking ‘Give And Take’.  The American soldiers in that story all look alike because Heath posed for the pictures himself.  It may be odd to see so many look alikes in one squad but in the context of the story it worked quite well.  Goodwin’s story seemed based on or inspired by a Bill Mauldin WWII cartoon that appeared in his book ‘Up Front’.  The cartoon concerned a rare bottle of wine that a US soldier is willing to protect at any cost.  On the letters’ page, fan Ed Lahmann (who would contribute to the Creepy Fan Club page) warns Warren about the dangers lurking for publishers who depict war too close to real life and reminded him about the controversy that EC endured for publishing similar hard-hitting stories.  He was right on the mark but it was too little, too late as this was the end.

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I am going into a fantasy football draft here in a few minutes, so the Blazing Combat #4 week is opening early!  Hopefully I don't step on the toes of anyone rushing to get their EERIE #4 review in ahead of the deadline... 

Hard to believe we are already wrapping up one of the ten Warren titles included in the Reading Club!  Like we just started!  But here we are!  The final Blazing Combat!

Sounds like another stellar issue to close out the series--especially if you like wash tone art!  The Russ Heath work sounds interesting too!

I'm almost out of exclamation marks!

Edited August 21, 2022 by Axe Elf

[OtherEric]

Blazing Combat #4 thoughts:

Like I said with the first issue, the series blazed brightly through its short life.

Cover:  This is a bit subdued, compared to the other covers of the series.  Still a wonderful piece by Frazetta, and it is only in comparison to the other covers for the series that it's anything less that incredibly dynamic.  I wonder if he was told to take it down a notch in response to the controversy the book was drawing?

Combat quiz:  I got 4 on this one.  Not as standout as some of the others, but still nice art by Adkins.

Letters:  If you're interested in a little more (not much) info on Ed Lahmann, see this thread:

Conflict!:  Definitely leaning into the EC style of showing just how pointless racism is.  The title can be taken multiple ways.  Great art & story by Colan and Goodwin.

How it Began!:  A true fact piece, letting Evans draw his beloved WWI planes.  Not too much to say about it, but wonderful for what it is.

The Edge!:  Incredibly stylized storytelling by Toth on this one, almost more a series of diagrams for large chunks of the story than anything else.  Not something that I think I would want to see too often, but super effective as a change of pace.

Give and Take:  We welcome another EC alumnus to Warren with Russ Heath.  This is his only story for them in the 60's, although he does quite a few in the latter part of the 70's.  This is a spectacular piece, it's a shame it took him so long to do more for Warren.

ME-262:  Another strong story by Goodwin, this time looking at it from the German side of WWII.  The art by Wood and his studio is excellent as always, but not as standout as it is sometimes.  I can think of lots of books where this would easily be the high point, here it's probably on the bottom half of the issue.

The Trench:  An effective story by Severin & Goodwin, showing the madness of trench warfare from WWI.

Thermopylae:  Crandall & Goodwin do 300 decades before Miller, in a lot few pages.  I'm not sure if the WWII frame story helps the piece much, though; although it doesn't hurt it either.

Night Drop: Torres and Goodwin end Blazing Combat with an incredibly dark story, both in tone and art.

Easy Way to a Tuff Surfboard count: 4

And so Blazing Combat ends, I'm not sure how much longer it could have gone if the distribution issues hadn't killed it.  But what we have is one of the all-time classic short runs of comics, featuring a large number of comic masters doing extraordinary work.  We're lucky to have it.

 

[Axe Elf]

So outside of the amazing smorgasbord of art this issue offers, I think the thing I found the most interesting about Blazing Combat #4 was the interplay between the discomfort invoked by the realism of the title--those who wanted more gore and those who thought less gore would lead to greater longevity, as reflected by at least two different readers on the Letters page--and the unapologetic stance that Warren took, not backing down from the discomfort.

I don't know if it was just a matter of being attuned to it because of the letters, or if this issue did seem to dwell a little more than usual on the death and gore, but it sort of made me wonder about the potential longevity of any title when virtually every story has the same message--war is horrible--and the same twist--the enemy is a person too.

I must confess, I was growing a little tired of it myself--but then war stories aren't really in my wheelhouse to start with.  But I liked how Warren handled Blazing Combat--the anti-smoking ads included--as a concept, and I've enjoyed reading them overall.  I just think I'm a little burned out on the narrative by now.

Maybe that's how Blazing Combat as a limited 4-issue title should be seen--much like the protagonists in its stories--as being both as small and insignificant in the world of comics as a single soldier against the backdrop of the war theaters of the world, and yet as important in the history of comics as those single soldiers are to their wives and children.  Insignificant and indispensible at the same time.

So I guess I'm trying to say that I didn't really enjoy this issue as much as the other three, but I think it's just because I'm over it.  This issue felt like a lot of those little insignificant "Day in the Life" stories, that just so happened to also be stories of life and death.

I only got 3 of the 6 right on the Combat Quiz this time, and the only one I really KNEW was the one about General Montgomery.  I just guessed right on the "Liberator" and "Major MR. Bong" was too fun NOT to guess, so I got that one right as well.  ("Kamikaze" means "Divine Wind"??)

I don't have a lot to say about each individual story this time, but I was a little interested in the backstory of "Thermopylae," just because I'm wondering if it is based on the same legendary battle as the movie "300"?  Anyone know?

"Conflict" made me think of "Tropic Thunder"--"What do YOU mean, 'you people'?"

Was "The Edge" based on a real person too--Major Lowell Tucker?  I've never heard of him, but I'm not a huge war buff, either.

I thought some of Blazing Combat's best stories were the ones that were based in historical fact, like the one about Benedict Arnold's heroism, or their take on how Hitler bungled the "ME-262" program in this issue.

"Give and Take," "The Trench," and "Night Drop" were further examples of the formulaic personalization of the impersonal life and death situations that are the daily occurrences of war.  As I said, I applaud the approach, and I enjoyed Blazing Combat a whole lot more than I thought I could ever enjoy a war comic, but I'm ready to settle in for a few months of alternating CREEPYs and EERIEs before we get around to VAMPIRELLA #1 in July 2023!

[Axe Elf]

CREEPY #10 - August 1966

According to the Warren Magazine Index...

10. cover: Frank Frazetta (Aug. 1966)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Witchcraft! [Archie Goodwin/John Severin] 1p   [frontis]

2) Brain Trust [Archie Goodwin/Angelo Torres] 6p

3) Into The Tomb! [Archie Goodwin/Joe Orlando] 8p

4) The Creepy Fan Club: Reed Crandall Profile/Fate’s Verdict/Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Old Scratch! [Archie Goodwin, Arnold Bojorquez & Ed Lahmann/Frank Brunner, Ed Lahmann & Brant Withers] 2p   [text article/story w/photo]

5) Monster! [Archie Goodwin/Rocco Mastroserio] 8p

6) Midnight Sail [Johnny Craig] 6p   [art & story credited to Jay Taycee]

7) Backfire! [Archie Goodwin/Gray Morrow] 6p

8) Thing Of Darkness! [Archie Goodwin/Gene Colan] 8p

9) Collector’s Edition! [Archie Goodwin/Steve Ditko] 8p

Notes: What a difference an issue makes!  From Frazetta’s classic Frankenstein’s Monster cover (with a version of the monster specially designed by Frazetta) to the incredible art job by Ditko that closes out this issue there’s just one triumph after another.  ‘Brain Trust’ would have been a feather in anyone’s cap & easily have been the best story in the issue except that Goodwin outdoes himself with ‘Collector’s Edition’.  Joe Orlando’s art on ‘Into The Tomb’ reminds anyone who didn’t like the art or the concept of Adam Link (like me, for instance) that he was as good as anybody in the business.  Frank Brunner made his comic debut on the fan page with a nice skeleton bursting from a grave scene.  The headstone therein is entitled ‘Tales From The Tomb’.  Fan Ed Lahmann wrote & illustrated a Creepy’s Loathsome Lore page for the fan page, which was pretty good too!  Gray Morrow contributed a tasty art job too but the undeniable classic here was the Goodwin/Ditko story ‘Collector’s Edition’!  From the slanted splash page to the slowly closing eyes running along the bottom of each page to the character design (check out the old fat guy with one blind eye and the other obscured behind a coke-bottle lens!), this may well be Ditko’s finest hour!  It’s as impressive in its own way as Krigstein’s ‘Master Race’ or Eisner’s ‘Sand Saref’.  (And yes, I have seen all the Spiderman & Dr. Strange stories, thank you very much!)  This is the kind of art that makes and sustains a reputation and any praise you can hand him, Ditko richly deserves.  Goodwin’s story was classic Goodwin and matched Ditko every step of the way.  Strong, concise and memorable.

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And just as we leave Blazing Combat behind, we enter double digits in the CREEPY series.  CREEPY #10 was the penultimate CREEPY I added to fill the last few gaps in my run (#29 being the final piece of the puzzle).  It's not one of my higher-quality issues, but I was still largely being more frugal than discriminating at that point.

If our Index writer is any indication, this issue should be a treat--both artistically and narratively!  Looks like a who's who of my favorite artists from top to bottom--and look!  Some Frazetta rats on the cover!

[OtherEric]

Creepy #10 thoughts:

Cover:  I respect the cover more than I personally like it, for some reason.  The color choices are impressive, the layout is magnificent, and the monster design is original and effective.  Yet for some reason, it doesn't sing to me the way I think it should given the components.  But I certainly won't argue with anybody who thinks this one is a highlight, even if I don't feel that way myself.

Loathsome Lore:  Severin really goes to town on this one, each panel is a different little masterpiece.

Brain Trust:  A nice variation on one of EC's favorite go-to plots, the conjoined twins.  Torres and Goodwin come up with an effective new twist on an old favorite.

Into the Tomb:  Much better use of Orlando than on the Adam Link pieces.

Fan Club:  Brunner isn't as big a name as Wrightson, but it's still impressive that we get two major creators making their debut in two successive issues.

Monster:  Mastroserio is really growing on me as I see more of his stuff, and Goodwin provides a first-rate mood piece for him to work on.

Midnight Sail:  Johnny Craig puts in a first-rate story that gets lost among the above first rate stories everybody else seems to be working on this issue.  It could be a highlight in a different issue easily.

Backfire:  Morrow's art & Goodwin's -script elevate what could have been a very routine story into another excellent piece.

Thing of Darkness:  Unusual & effective use of the panel borders gives the story an unique feel, and another spectacular piece of work results.

Collector's Edition:  What is there to say?  One of the most famous stories ever published by Warren, maybe even the most famous.  And deservedly so.

This issue is an all-time classic, and a very strong candidate if you're looking for one single Warren issue to hand somebody to show them what they could be at their best.

[Jayman]

On 8/28/2022 at 1:29 AM, OtherEric said:

Cover:  I respect the cover more than I personally like it, for some reason.  The color choices are impressive, the layout is magnificent, and the monster design is original and effective.  Yet for some reason, it doesn't sing to me the way I think it should given the components.  But I certainly won't argue with anybody who thinks this one is a highlight, even if I don't feel that way myself.

 

See now, I think you are spot on with your analysis here. While I too agree this is a fabulous cover, I think the traditional depiction of Frankenstein has been too deeply rooted in me. Either that or Frazetta’s depiction looks more like a gill-man than a Frankenstein.

[The Lions Den]

On 8/28/2022 at 1:29 AM, OtherEric said:

Creepy #10 thoughts:

Cover:  I respect the cover more than I personally like it, for some reason.  The color choices are impressive, the layout is magnificent, and the monster design is original and effective.  Yet for some reason, it doesn't sing to me the way I think it should given the components.  But I certainly won't argue with anybody who thinks this one is a highlight, even if I don't feel that way myself.

Loathsome Lore:  Severin really goes to town on this one, each panel is a different little masterpiece.

Brain Trust:  A nice variation on one of EC's favorite go-to plots, the conjoined twins.  Torres and Goodwin come up with an effective new twist on an old favorite.

Into the Tomb:  Much better use of Orlando than on the Adam Link pieces.

Fan Club:  Brunner isn't as big a name as Wrightson, but it's still impressive that we get two major creators making their debut in two successive issues.

Monster:  Mastroserio is really growing on me as I see more of his stuff, and Goodwin provides a first-rate mood piece for him to work on.

Midnight Sail:  Johnny Craig puts in a first-rate story that gets lost among the above first rate stories everybody else seems to be working on this issue.  It could be a highlight in a different issue easily.

Backfire:  Morrow's art & Goodwin's --script elevate what could have been a very routine story into another excellent piece.

Thing of Darkness:  Unusual & effective use of the panel borders gives the story an unique feel, and another spectacular piece of work results.

Collector's Edition:  What is there to say?  One of the most famous stories ever published by Warren, maybe even the most famous.  And deservedly so.

This issue is an all-time classic, and a very strong candidate if you're looking for one single Warren issue to hand somebody to show them what they could be at their best.

If only they hadn't mixed up the pages in the "Monster" story...   

[Axe Elf]

On 8/28/2022 at 10:37 AM, Jayman said:

Either that or Frazetta’s depiction looks more like a gill-man than a Frankenstein.

I hadn't recognized it as a "Frankenstein" per se, either, until I read the description in the Index.  I just thought it was some random monster.

[Axe Elf]

With all the build-up over "Collector's Edition," I decided to break out the actual magazine to read this accolade magnet in all its original glory.  My CREEPY #10 isn't so pristine that it can't be read, and I wanted to experience it the way it was originally presented, rather than in digital form on my TV screen.

There wasn't much of a musty smell to this one, and the pages were smooth and supple, nearly perfect.

But...  I was left a little cold by the story.  I think it's because it is so much like some other sci-fi/fantasy story I read as a kid, where someone comes into possession of a book that starts describing their life, and then on an airline flight, they get to the part where they died in an airplane crash, and in their panic to get the pilots to land, he causes the crash that ends his life.  So I don't know which came first, or if either were the originators of the concept, but it was kind of a letdown that it was such a familiar tale.  On the bright side, it was kind of cool that the whole story was told in the instant that the axe (where'd she get an axe?) cleaved his skull.

Even Ditko's artistic renderings of evil seemed to be kind of recycled from "The Spirit of the Thing" in CREEPY #9 and "Room With a View" in EERIE #3.

So I'm thinking, "Great, I'm going to be the only one who doesn't like CREEPY #10."

Fortunately, the rest of the book redeemed itself, at least in overall story/art quality, if not in editorial excellence.

Starting with "Brain Trust," which I enjoyed quite a bit, even after reading it, mentally going back and connecting the dots of how the dead body was controlled by the brain throughout the story.  Interesting that @OtherEric mentioned the conjoined twin theme; it was also the theme of a story from one of the much later magazines that I still remember from my youth--but I don't remember the name of it right now, or what issue it was in.

Basically one twin was paralyzed in a wheelchair, but he could cause the other twin pain, so he could make him do things--like kill the family cat when they were kids--but he also felt the exertion and exhaustion in the other twin's body.  So when the able-bodied twin became a track star, he ran himself nearly to death in order to kill his evil twin's body.

But that's a review for another issue.

"Into the Tomb" was a quality mummy story with a nice gimmick, but it suffered from poor editing in places, such as where the writer couldn't decide between this or That...

And speaking of terrible editing, WTF is going on with "Monster"???  Didn't anyone else notice that the pages are out of order?  (I see now that @The Lions Den mentioned it above.)   Page 29 should come after page 26, then page 28, then page 27 is the ending of the story.  How did that happen?  Why didn't they mention anything about this in the Warren Magazine Index?  It's that way in both my hard copy and digital copy.

"Midnight Sail" was ok, but it started out with an old man telling some tourists a story of another ship, the Kilgore, and then, somehow, the tourists are ON the Kilgore, and it's going over a waterfall in the story that's being told?   What did I miss?  And why is Felton so obsessed with manning the helm?  It's a weird tale, for sure--but the art of the ship going over the waterfall was pretty cool.

I maybe liked "Backfire" most of all.  The Gray Morrow art was top notch, and the story had a twist on top of the twist that led Uncle Creepy to encourage us to read the story 10 more times.    But really, it's sort of hypocritical of the jury to convict a man who was only guilty of being faster than they were--it's not like they weren't involved in the same gunfighting "crime" that our hero was--they just weren't as good at it.

"Thing of Darkness" seemed like there could be more to it, but it was a cute little story fragment.  A full-blown treatment might include some kind of origin story--why is this thing in the subway tunnels to begin with?  And a reason why it would stalk people to their homes.  And how it can be killed!  As @OtherEric mentioned, the dark margins on some pages helped set the mood.

And then the other features:

• Enjoyed the Severin art for "CREEPY's Loathsome Lore" on Witchcraft
• Amused at the letter writer who said Frazetta is still no Gray Morrow
• Surprised to see what Reed Crandall looked like in the Fan Club; I didn't realize he had been around that long
• Treasured the Frank Brunner preview illustration in the Fan Club also
• And finally, I still enjoy seeing ads in the back of these books for contemporary Warren mags, like Screen Thrills Illustrated--and they're still advertising Blazing Combat at this point, too!

[The Lions Den]

On 9/1/2022 at 8:47 PM, Axe Elf said:

And speaking of terrible editing, WTF is going on with "Monster"???  Didn't anyone else notice that the pages are out of order?  (I see now that @The Lions Den mentioned it above.)   Page 29 should come after page 26, then page 28, then page 27 is the ending of the story.  How did that happen?  Why didn't they mention anything about this in the Warren Magazine Index?  It's that way in both my hard copy and digital copy.

If it's any consolation, it appears to be in the correct order in the Dark Horse Creepy Archives.  

And every issue of Creepy #10 I've ever seen has this exact same problem. I believe that's why it isn't called a manufacturing error by CGC...even though it really is.  

[OtherEric]

On 9/1/2022 at 5:47 PM, Axe Elf said:

With all the build-up over "Collector's Edition," I decided to break out the actual magazine to read this accolade magnet in all its original glory.  My CREEPY #10 isn't so pristine that it can't be read, and I wanted to experience it the way it was originally presented, rather than in digital form on my TV screen.

There wasn't much of a musty smell to this one, and the pages were smooth and supple, nearly perfect.

But...  I was left a little cold by the story.  I think it's because it is so much like some other sci-fi/fantasy story I read as a kid, where someone comes into possession of a book that starts describing their life, and then on an airline flight, they get to the part where they died in an airplane crash, and in their panic to get the pilots to land, he causes the crash that ends his life.  So I don't know which came first, or if either were the originators of the concept, but it was kind of a letdown that it was such a familiar tale.  On the bright side, it was kind of cool that the whole story was told in the instant that the axe (where'd she get an axe?) cleaved his skull.

Even Ditko's artistic renderings of evil seemed to be kind of recycled from "The Spirit of the Thing" in CREEPY #9 and "Room With a View" in EERIE #3.

So I'm thinking, "Great, I'm going to be the only one who doesn't like CREEPY #10."

Fortunately, the rest of the book redeemed itself, at least in overall story/art quality, if not in editorial excellence.

If Collector's Edition didn't work for you, I'm not going to try to explain it further at this point.

I will, however, post Fred Hembeck explaining the story's appeal:

[Axe Elf]

On 9/1/2022 at 11:39 PM, OtherEric said:

If Collector's Edition didn't work for you, I'm not going to try to explain it further at this point.

I will, however, post Fred Hembeck explaining the story's appeal:

OMG!  Thank you SO much for posting that here and now!  I literally laughed out loud several times reading it.

Do you suppose the misspelling of "unleash" ("unlease" in the second panel, bottom row) was an intentional nod to the bad editing in CREEPY #10--or was it just... bad editing?

He also misspelled Gavin "MacLeod" so I guess they will have to go with...

[OtherEric]

On 9/1/2022 at 10:11 PM, Axe Elf said:

OMG!  Thank you SO much for posting that here and now!  I literally laughed out loud several times reading it.

The plan has been to drop that in the thread at some point this week ever since I realized the story was coming up.  You just gave me the perfect excuse to do so.

[Axe Elf]

EERIE #5 - September 1966

According to the Warren Magazine Index...

5. cover: Frank Frazetta (Sept. 1966)

1) Eerie’s Monster Gallery No. 4: The Mummy! [Archie Goodwin/Wally Wood & Dan Adkins] 1p   [frontis]

2) The Mummy Stalks! [Roy G. Krenkel & Archie Goodwin/Reed Crandall] 8p

3) The Jungle [Archie Goodwin/Al Williamson] 6p

4) Black Magic [Archie Goodwin/Steve Ditko] 8p

5) A Matter Of Routine! [Archie Goodwin/Gene Colan] 8p

6) Dr. Griswold’s File! [Carl Wessler/Rocco Mastroserio] 7p

7) The Swamp God! [Archie Goodwin/Angelo Torres] 6p

8) Vampire Slayer! [Archie Goodwin/Jerry Grandenetti & Joe Orlando] 8p

Notes: Frazetta’s dinosaur cover was a nice companion piece to Torres’ interior story.  Torres’ art was not as sharp as usual but was still pretty good.  Goodwin & Krenkel’s mummy story evoked the style and flavor of the early Universal & Hammer films.  Crandall’s art was just right.  There was also good work from Ditko (a return to his ‘Dr. Strange’ style of mystic art) and Mastroserio.  Another solid issue.

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Not much from the Index to go on, but I'm really excited for this issue.  I did crack the seal on CREEPY #10 last week, but only to read the purported all-time classic "Collector's Edition" as it was first printed.  But I only read that story in the physical mag; when I saw how nice the pages were, I didn't want to risk bending them.  Then I went back to the digital version.

But this is the first issue for which I actually have an undercopy (thanks to the nice guy who sold me the CREEPY run also throwing in 4 EERIE upgrades for me for free)!  So I plan to experience this issue--and any others of which I have an expendable copy--in the flesh, so to speak, my CREEPY Clubbies!  (And now I've become Cousin Eerie.)

My undercopy is pretty bent and warped so the way the Frazetta cover illustrates the misty swamp, it looks like the whole issue got wet and water warped or something.  I was glad to get the better copy that made it clear that the "curtain" pattern was an intentional part of the painting.

Edited September 4, 2022 by Axe Elf

[OtherEric]

I'll be a day or two late posting my thoughts on this issue, but I'll get to them as soon as I can.

[Axe Elf]

On 9/4/2022 at 12:18 AM, OtherEric said:

I'll be a day or two late posting my thoughts on this issue, but I'll get to them as soon as I can.

Ya got a whole week before you're late; take your time...  

[OtherEric]

Eerie #5 thoughts:

Cover:  An amazing piece, brought slightly down by the "curtain" effect.  I'm sure this looked more impressive when new, now it looks like water damage or ripples until you look closely... at which point it looks like a mediocre Photoshop filter.  It's a great cover once you figure out how to look at it, but at least initially it's distracting, in ways I'm not sure that were an issue originally. 

Eerie's Monster Gallery:  A nice enough piece, although more Adkins than Wood to my eye.  See the cover of Eerie #12 for the next panel.

The Mummy Stalks:  Great art by Crandall, but the twist to the story just felt weird to me, and not in a good weird horror sort of way.

The Jungle:  Goodwin's story is just a framework for amazing Williamson artwork.  That's not a dig at the story, Goodwin was good at doing fairly minor stories that allowed for art showcases like this.  But it's still an art showcase.

Black Magic:  Ditko magicians.  Another good example of Goodwin getting out of the way of the artwork.

A Matter of Routine:  This almost feels like something that could have been written as a Ditko artwork showcase, but of course it's Colan doing the art instead.  It makes for another very solid story.

Dr. Griswold's File:  Carl Wessler joins the Warren crew as writer with this one.  He worked for Atlas and EC in the 50's, giving us an EC writer to join the EC artists that have been driving the early Warren era.  He is never a terribly prolific writer for Warren, doing around 20 stories as nearly as I can tell at a quick look, but he's with the company on and off for a long time.  For his debut with Warren he provides an extremely good -script for Mastroserio to draw.

The Swamp God:  Torres tries some interesting things with shading that don't always quite work, but it's still a very nicely drawn story with probably Goodwin's best -script of the issue.

Vampire Slayer:  A solid double twist at the end from Goodwin, although I'm not overly enamored of the art on this one.  It looks like Orlando either tried doing more pencils or was heavier with the inks than he usually was on the Grandetti ghosted stories, and I don't feel the art holds together as a whole on this one.

Overall, a quite decent issue, but it does feel like they put the better stuff in Creepy #10 this time and the lesser material here.  But it's still a strong issue from the peak of the "Warren as an EC revival in spirit" era.