Axe Elf Posted February 17, 2023 Author Share Posted February 17, 2023 Made a two-week update to the CREEPY #20 Experiment. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And on to EERIE #16... Yeah, the frontispiece works even less well upon seeing it executed than it did in theory. MAYBE they could have gotten away with doing a "Loathsome Lore" about the number 13 in a CREEPY or something, but the fact that it's a "MONSTER GALLERY" makes it all the more ridiculous--especially when you see that the art features a giant "bust" of the number 13 in a big block font like the scary monster we're pretending it to be. On the other hand, I credit the artist for interweaving the various "scenes" around the 13 into one integrated piece--so I liked that. Maybe even if they had managed to get it into EERIE #13 as originally planned, so that it didn't leave that issue's cover hanging (no pun intended), but it's still kind of a weak entry into the "Gallery." It's kind of nice that Cousin Eerie got his own little icon for his replies on the "Dear Cousin Eerie" page, like Uncle Creepy is now sporting as well. I don't know if the fans are just becoming more forgiving of the reprint issues, or if the editor just got tired of giving fair press to all the complaints, but with one exception (to which Cousin Eerie promises to only run "one or two" reprints per issue from now on), this batch of letters largely seems to treat the reprint issues as new material, and one writer goes to especially great lengths praising what an awesome issue the fully-reprint EERIE #14 was. You're gonna love the Yearbook then! The best part about "Dracula's Guest" was the comical effect of pasting Cousin Eerie's head onto Christopher Lee's body in the opening panel. But overall this just seemed like another subpar adaptation, and the source material for the adaptation--the first chapter of a book edited out for being extraneous anyway, here made to stand alone as a story unto itself--probably wasn't all that strong anyway. I don't understand why Dracula would have been so concerned for the visitor's safety, when it was apparently Dracula that put him in danger in the first place (and then maybe saved him as a wolf keeping him warm?). We still don't know what "WALPURGIS NACHT" (something NIGHT?) means. Being grabbed by the hand of a giant? I thought he was being metaphorical, until the artist actually drew a giant hand...! At best, it FEELS like the first chapter of a story, it leaves a lot of loose ends, and it's just doesn't work well by itself. (Just as well, since it wasn't originally a Warren story anyway.) I'm not quite sure how I feel about "Big Time Operator." When I first read it, I didn't care for it much, as it was patently ridiculous. But a day later and in reflecting on the art for the story again now, which is also pretty ridiculous in style, I'm feeling a little more sympathetic and open to appreciating the piece on its own terms, as a silly little fable. That makes it perhaps less suited to a general horror magazine, but I do appreciate the tongue-in-cheek humor I remember from later Warrens that I read in my teens, so in that sense, I guess it's not as much of a stinker as I first thought it to be. I'm not a big fan of "Sara's Forest," either. I have liked the "Tony Williamsune" art pretty well until this piece, which I don't really care for. The story is dumb; a guy bent on a lifetime of travel with his wife gets tired of her after a week with Sara? And then gets tired of Sara and decides to go back to the city after all? Talk about your rapid-fire lifestyle changes! And Sara was only going to plant him as a tree all along anyway, just like she did with all the previous visitors? Then why was she so virtuous about not betraying his wife--if she's just going to kill them all anyway? Dumb. Yeah, so I didn't really like the first half of the book. But then the "lost" Goodwin/Craig story, "Evil Spirits," was like a shot in the arm--a fresh story from old friends. The art and the storytelling for this issue took a giant leap forward with this piece inserted. I also loved how he handled her dream sequences, in much whiter shades than the dreary old castle! And the way the story leaves you wondering what he told his mistress in order for her to see the wife as the threat! And then wondering again how the two spirits will exact their revenge on the ex and his new flame! It's a really delicious piece of writing, especially compared to some of the post-Goodwin drek, but even compared to Goodwin's own body of work, I think it fares well. It's kind of sad and yet somehow appropriate that the first EERIE Fan Fare would feature an obituary--that of Rocco Mastroserio. I don't really know him from anywhere else, but I have enjoyed his work over the course of the Reading Club, and I thought that it was nice for the obituary to be written respectfully, without all the silliness and "abominable alliterations" that the artist profiles in CREEPY's Fan Club often featured. And the fact that Corben and Jones debut their art in the same freaking edition? The first installment of the fan club makes this issue worth owning all by itself. Both of the reprint stories were kind of B-list stories for me in the first place, but the way this issue started out, they help end the issue if not with a bang, at least with an uptick in relative quality over the opening three pieces. Hard to go wrong with Toth and Orlando at the pen. So it's a pretty indispensable issue in terms of monumental arrivals and departures via the Fan Club debut, though most of the stories are "just ok"--but the Goodwin/Craig flashback was the highlight of the issue for me. I see as I'm about to post this that @OtherEric liked the new stories in this issue better than I did--and I don't mind the difference of opinion. I'd like to have even more of them, because that's what distinguishes a great discussion group from an echo chamber! Artifiction, OtherEric and Jayman 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayman Posted February 17, 2023 Share Posted February 17, 2023 (edited) On 2/16/2023 at 7:17 PM, Axe Elf said: It's kind of sad and yet somehow appropriate that the first EERIE Fan Fare would feature an obituary--that of Rocco Mastroserio. I don't really know him from anywhere else, Rocco AKA Rocke Mastroserio did a bunch of stuff for Charlton comics including my favorite cover for Ghostly Haunts featuring Mr. Dedd! Edited February 17, 2023 by Jayman The Lions Den, Axe Elf, Artifiction and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OtherEric Posted February 17, 2023 Share Posted February 17, 2023 Speaking of Toth... I just got in this issue of Zorro he did the cover for. It shows off his design sense marvelously in my opinion: Axe Elf, Artifiction, The Lions Den and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayman Posted February 17, 2023 Share Posted February 17, 2023 On 2/16/2023 at 9:17 PM, OtherEric said: Speaking of Toth... Always loved this splash! OtherEric, Axe Elf and Artifiction 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axe Elf Posted February 17, 2023 Author Share Posted February 17, 2023 On 2/16/2023 at 8:23 PM, Jayman said: Always loved this splash! Heh, that's so much like the panel I posted from Toth's "Monument" story in this week's issue. Jayman 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axe Elf Posted February 17, 2023 Author Share Posted February 17, 2023 On 2/16/2023 at 8:28 PM, Axe Elf said: Heh, that's so much like the panel I posted from Toth's "Monument" story in this week's issue. Oh, wow, I guess I didn't post it after all. I was going to close my review with it, but I decided not to when I tacked on the little addendum about @OtherEric's review. This is what it was going to be... OtherEric 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayman Posted February 17, 2023 Share Posted February 17, 2023 On 2/16/2023 at 9:32 PM, Axe Elf said: Oh, wow, I guess I didn't post it after all. I just went back a page or two thinking I missed it! Axe Elf 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axe Elf Posted February 19, 2023 Author Share Posted February 19, 2023 CREEPY #22 - August 1968 According to the Warren Magazine Index... 22. cover: Tom Sutton (Aug. 1968) 1) Home Is Where… [Ron Parker/Pat Boyette] 8p 2) Monster Rally! [Archie Goodwin/Angelo Torres] 8p reprinted from Creepy #4 (Aug. 1965) 3) “No Fair!” [Bill Parente/Tom Sutton] 6p 4) Strange Expedition [Bill Parente/Ernie Colon] 7p 5) The Creepy Fan Page: Ernie Colon Profile/Unseen Tenants [Bill Parente & Gary Carson/Richard Morgan] 1p [text article/story] 6) The Judge’s House! [Archie Goodwin/Reed Crandall] 8p from the story by Bram Stoker, reprinted from Creepy #5 (Oct. 1965) 7) Perfect Match [Ron Parker/Sal Trapani] 8p Notes: Very nice cover by Sutton. Sutton did beautiful painted covers for Charlton between 1972 and 1976 but only a handful for Warren during the Dark Age. Pity, as those covers he did do were all pretty darn good. The only three regular artists who contributed during the Dark Age are present here: Boyette, Sutton & Colon. I’ve already discussed Sutton in an Eerie commentary section. Boyette had only broken into comics a couple of years before over at Charlton. His best work seemed to be with medieval stories, a genre where he really shone. Colon was the artist for Caspar, The Friendly Ghost & Richie Rich over at Harvey. Doing Warren’s gruesome monsters must have been a welcome change of pace! And, just so people don't have to go digging through the back issues to find the previous discussion on Tom Sutton from EERIE #11: A note here on Sutton. It’s my belief that Tom Sutton is probably the most underrated of all the Silver Age artists. He worked for all of the major publishers--Marvel, DC, Charlton, Warren and Skywald and regularly appeared in fanzines, but never really had a long run on a superhero title, partly because he didn’t particularly like superheroes. What he did like was horror and science fiction. He was able to employ a remarkable variety of art styles and was best when left alone to illustrate (and on occasion, write) the scripts in his own unique way. He was certainly capable of hackwork—his Star Trek work is mind-numbingly average, largely because that’s what the client and the publisher wanted. He technically retired from regular comic work in 1994, although he continued to occasionally work in the field and his final days were spent drawing grotesque porn comics for Fantagraphic’s Eros line. Yet he was also capable of absolutely breathtaking artwork, as for instance, on Marvel’s Future History Chronicles in the Planet Of The Apes magazine, the many splendid short horror & war tales he did for Charlton, First Comics eye-opening ‘Squalor’ series, the oddball Frankenstein series he did for Skywald and the Warren work recorded in this checklist. He came in at the tail end of the Goodwin Era and I suspect if he’d shown up sooner he’d be a good deal better appreciated. His influence shines on every time Bruce Timm draws the monster of Frankenstein or Steve Bissette or John Totleben apply pencil and pen to paper. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- @OtherEric said that he felt like last week's EERIE #16 represented the turning of the corner out of the Dark Ages, or at least the passing of the torch to some new contributors and toward the future of the Warren magazines. As I wasn't too happy with any of the new contributors' pieces in that issue, I didn't feel that way then--but I have a strong feeling that I'm going to feel a lot more like the corner has been turned this week. The names of Sutton and Colon feel familiar to me, though I'm not sure why, but if they and Boyette are heavy contributors during Warren's next phase, I'm hoping that this issue will help me make that transition more smoothly than last week's book did. I mean, this one even FEELS like a reboot, what with the reprint of Uncle Creepy's origin story ("Monster Rally") virtually kicking off the issue, and even a revisitation of the original Crandall rats ("The Judge's House") as the other reprint! And as I mentioned last week, it was the first time that two issues of EERIE had been published in consecutive months--well, this is the first time that two issues of CREEPY have been published in consecutive months--so that has to be a good sign too! This was one of the couple dozen books I had to track down separately from the otherwise full run of CREEPYs that I acquired last year, and I've always liked the cover--so I'm glad I found myself a pretty nice copy with still-vivid colors to help complete the run. I'm looking forward to reading it now and hopefully having it become one of my favorite issues for its potential as the Gatekeeper of Warren's future, even if the Keymaster came last week. Artifiction and OtherEric 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OtherEric Posted February 19, 2023 Share Posted February 19, 2023 Creepy 22 thoughts: Cover: I'm not a huge fan of this cover, the color choices are amazing but something about the faces just doesn't work for me. But it's one of those "It's me, not the cover" cases. Home is Where... It looks like Boyette is trying to channel Ditko, and he's no Ditko. And the twist, while not necessarily bad in concept, gets botched in execution. Monster Rally: Really doesn't help that they pick a reprint that has the same twist as the first story. No Fair: Much better, although the final twist feels a bit tacked on. Strange Expedition: Good but not spectacular, solidly in the trying to be EC tradition. I think this is Colon's Warren debut, and he's another underrated artist. The Judge's House: No new comment from me on this one. Perfect Match: The issue closes on a story that's completely solid while you read it but is completely forgettable the minute you finish, until you pick up the issue again to re-read it. Not a bad issue, but also not a terribly memorable one. As my fairly short comments on it indicate, I just couldn't figure out that much to say. Axe Elf and Jayman 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayman Posted February 19, 2023 Share Posted February 19, 2023 On 2/19/2023 at 12:17 PM, OtherEric said: Cover: I'm not a huge fan of this cover, the color choices are amazing but something about the faces just doesn't work for me. But it's one of those "It's me, not the cover" cases. Totally agree with this until I saw @Stevemmg’s original art for the cover, wow! OtherEric, Makmorn and Stevemmg 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Makmorn Posted February 20, 2023 Share Posted February 20, 2023 I think it's one of Sutton's best covers, or at least one of my favorites of his. The Lions Den, OtherEric and Axe Elf 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axe Elf Posted February 24, 2023 Author Share Posted February 24, 2023 I actually have quite a bit to say, because I did end up enjoying this issue as I suspected I might--although I did have to quit counting the number of editing oversights (misspelled or omitted words, grammatical errors, etc.). I overlooked quite a few under Goodwin's watch too, but I was hoping the new editor Parente might clean things up a bit. Looks like not, but oh well; moving on... I appreciate the cover all the more for having read the associated story now. I had thought the cover made the kids look like the bad guys--but the story gave them a more charming "Goonies" quality--right up until the end, when they turned out to be exactly the fiends that the cover made them out to be! So it's really a tremendous teaser for the story without actually giving away too much of the story itself--and it helps that the artist is the same for both the cover and the story. I thought Sutton did an excellent job on both. I knew I was in for a treat when the first splash page for "No Fair!" turned out to be the very same mausoleum from the cover in its pre-catastrophic state, all shrouded in mist and moonlight! Before I get too deep in the stories, though, I have to spend some time on the "Dear Uncle Creepy" letters. Remember back when the Warren Magazine Index described the cover of CREEPY #20 as "a tree-frog, with an arm growing out of one eye"? A couple of us were seeing it more as a one-eyed creature with two arms facing left, and then @Jayman demonstrated to everyone's satisfaction that it appeared to be a rendering of the Martian from War of the Worlds. Well, now I can see where the Index got the idea of a tree frog--it's from these letters! There are two letters from fans commenting on the cover, one calling it "too slimy looking," and the other calling it "your frog faced friend." Ok, so some fans saw it as a frog too--understandable--but what's astounding to me is Uncle Creepy's reply. Apparently Parente himself (or whoever was writing as Uncle Creepy) did not recognize the cover of Famous Monsters of Filmland #4 and CREEPY #20 as the Martian from War of the Worlds! He replied, "Methinks your mind's a bit FROGGY about my croaking cover. Could be a fright sight like that was just too much of a 'toad' for you to carry?" Inconceivable! One of the letters said that EERIE was catching up to CREEPY in quality, and that EERIE #14 was better than some CREEPY issues. Cue the irony, as all six stories in EERIE #14 were reprinted from the first six issues of CREEPY! And another little tidbit--Uncle Creepy suggests that Forry Ackerman created the term "SCI-FI"--that's a great little historical nugget, if true! But then Uncle Creepy thinks the War of the Worlds was fought with toads that had arms growing out of their eye sockets, so... Back to the stories... I kind of see what @OtherEric was saying about the first two stories both being their own versions of a "monster who's who" review, although I probably wouldn't have made that connection without him pointing it out--I see "Monster Rally" as being more for the purpose of Uncle Creepy's origin story, while "Home is Where..." was more of an allegorical descent into madness via increasingly terrible discoveries. I don't really get the title, though; they weren't robbing a residence, but a curio shop. I loved the twist of "Strange Expedition," with werewolves making their appearance on the night of the "full Earth" (lol)--but I hated the tortured device of finding a plant that "somehow" and "mysteriously" survived on the surface of the moon, which turned out to actually be wolfbane, which ultimately infected the soon-to-be lycanthrope. It would have been better if one of the astronauts had been a werewolf all along, but maybe he thought it wouldn't be a problem since he wouldn't be able to see the full moon from the surface of the moon--and then the "full Earth" twist takes everyone by surprise. On the other hand, it's really cool to put this story into historical perspective for me. This issue was released about a year before the first moon landing, and yet it depicts the lunar landing module pretty much as it turned out to be! Was the design public knowledge a year before the actual launch--or is this just an incredibly educated but lucky guess by Colon? And maybe the mysterious surviving plant made more sense before we really knew what was up there and there was still some room for speculation. Anyway, I also enjoyed scrutinizing Colon's art for parallels to his work at Harvey, as I read a few Casper's and Richie Rich's as a kid. And if this wasn't a glorious enough introduction to Colon, he's also featured in the "Creepy Fan Club" column immediately following his debut story! Well done. I was delighted to see that the Index page featured essentially the same pic I posted of my first Crandall rat, way back in my original review of "The Judge's House" back in CREEPY #5: But it didn't stop there. This turned out to be a nearly all-rat issue, with not only Crandall's voluminous contributions, but also rats from Boyette and Sutton: And even Uncle Creepy appears to be ready to carve the roast rat for his guests: (Maybe that's where the title came from--"Home Is Where... You Serve the Rat"?) The issue closes with another story which has some interest to me in its historical context, as 1968 is when the first computers began to be available to the general public, rather than restricted to specialized uses in academic setting. So for a business like the one in "Perfect Match" to feature a computer for ANYTHING, let along making love matches, was a pretty revolutionary idea. So props to this issue for featuring not one but two stories which, like old science fiction, ended up being fairly prescient regarding coming events and technologies. I enjoyed the issue for that aspect, for the aspect of meeting three new contributors that are apparently about to become stalwarts--all of whom seem to be solid artists--and in general, for the stories themselves. I would call this one of the better issues in some time, and definitely one of the more interesting issues so far, both for it's significance in the Warren timeline and its historical perspective. Artifiction, Jayman and OtherEric 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OtherEric Posted February 24, 2023 Share Posted February 24, 2023 As far as I know Forry is often credited with creating the term Sci-Fi... Although it's often said by the sort of fan who hates the term, and prefers SF instead. That sort of fan is often not a fan of Forry's style of fandom. Axe Elf 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axe Elf Posted February 24, 2023 Author Share Posted February 24, 2023 (edited) On 2/23/2023 at 7:12 PM, OtherEric said: As far as I know Forry is often credited with creating the term Sci-Fi... Although it's often said by the sort of fan who hates the term, and prefers SF instead. That sort of fan is often not a fan of Forry's style of fandom. I had never heard that. I guess I just assumed it had long been a category in the bookstore, like "Pets" or "Gardening." So there was no "science fiction" before like 1960 huh. That's really interesting and bizarre to me. EDIT: I guess there was, but Forry was just the first to use the abbreviation? Edited February 24, 2023 by Axe Elf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayman Posted February 24, 2023 Share Posted February 24, 2023 The pulp Amazing Stories came out in the 1920’s and started using the mash up “Scientifiction” on some of its covers like this one (not mine). OtherEric and Axe Elf 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axe Elf Posted February 24, 2023 Author Share Posted February 24, 2023 On 2/23/2023 at 7:44 PM, Jayman said: The pulp Amazing Stories came out in the 1920’s and started using the mash up “Scientifiction” on some of its covers like this one (not mine). Interesting and awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OtherEric Posted February 24, 2023 Share Posted February 24, 2023 On 2/23/2023 at 4:32 PM, Axe Elf said: Back to the stories... I kind of see what @OtherEric was saying about the first two stories both being their own versions of a "monster who's who" review, although I probably wouldn't have made that connection without him pointing it out--I see "Monster Rally" as being more for the purpose of Uncle Creepy's origin story, while "Home is Where..." was more of an allegorical descent into madness via increasingly terrible discoveries. I don't really get the title, though; they weren't robbing a residence, but a curio shop. Actually, my point was the conclusion of both stories was "Look, It's Uncle Creepy!" I didn't see any allegory at all, I saw a weird curio store that Uncle Creepy made his home at the back of, through the last door. Which of course explains the title, and I think to some degree you need to have that "aha" about what the title means to make the ending make sense. Sorry for the delayed response, I wanted to re-read the story to make sure I didn't horribly misread it. I don't think I did, but it's not a spectacular layout on the last page to sell the twist... Creepy's comment on the last panel is obviously said a bit later, but they saw almost that exact tableau when they opened the last door. Axe Elf 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axe Elf Posted February 24, 2023 Author Share Posted February 24, 2023 On 2/24/2023 at 2:06 AM, OtherEric said: Actually, my point was the conclusion of both stories was "Look, It's Uncle Creepy!" I didn't see any allegory at all, I saw a weird curio store that Uncle Creepy made his home at the back of, through the last door. Which of course explains the title, and I think to some degree you need to have that "aha" about what the title means to make the ending make sense. Sorry for the delayed response, I wanted to re-read the story to make sure I didn't horribly misread it. I don't think I did, but it's not a spectacular layout on the last page to sell the twist... Creepy's comment on the last panel is obviously said a bit later, but they saw almost that exact tableau when they opened the last door. Interesting take. I just thought of the last panel as a typical Uncle Creepy outro, and didn't think of it as him speaking from his home in the bowels of the curio shop. I just thought you were speaking of both stories featuring a parade of monsters. If it really is supposed to be Uncle Creepy's current abode, then it would have made more sense to have them in reverse order--the origin story first and then the "where is Uncle Creepy now?" piece--but I totally see what you're saying about them being essentially the same story, if indeed the point is that the robbers are breaking into Uncle Creepy's actual home. OtherEric 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Lions Den Posted February 24, 2023 Share Posted February 24, 2023 On 2/23/2023 at 7:32 PM, Axe Elf said: I was delighted to see that the Index page featured essentially the same pic I posted of my first Crandall rat, way back in my original review of "The Judge's House" back in CREEPY #5: But it didn't stop there. This turned out to be a nearly all-rat issue, with not only Crandall's voluminous contributions, but also rats from Boyette and Sutton: I think Warren missed a huge opportunity here...I would've really enjoyed an "All-Rat issue!" Axe Elf and OtherEric 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayman Posted February 24, 2023 Share Posted February 24, 2023 On 2/24/2023 at 9:45 AM, The Lions Den said: I think Warren missed a huge opportunity here...I would've really enjoyed an "All-Rat issue!" Axe Elf, OtherEric and The Lions Den 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
