Warren Magazine Reading Club! 6 6

[Axe Elf]

I'll start my Blazing Combat #2 review riding on the coattails of something @OtherEric said in his review about the first issue being "too relentlessly grim to continue for more than a single issue or two."  After reading the second issue, I'm not sure that this isn't still true in general.  It's great to have war stories presented as tragedies of fear and confusion rather than adventures of glory and honor, but after story after story where we get to know the characters' backstory only to have them killed, maimed, or psychologically crippled at the end of every scenario does get a little tedious and depressing.  Maybe a title like this, done this way and done this well, was always destined to be a short run.  If there hadn't been forces actively opposing the title, I think people might have just turned away from all the unpleasantness after a short while anyway.  I don't know.  I mean we're not dealing with fantasy horror here; this is horror that faces people daily, in real life, especially during times of war (like when this was originally published).

And while commenting on Eric's review, I see what he's saying about the frontispiece being a little confusing.  I see it as being more cautionary than encouraging--I think it's just the soldiers and the pilots with the big grins on their faces that makes it look "exciting"--but it's people with grins on their faces doing horrible things, so there's definitely a certain celebration of the incongruity.

I was probably expecting more from "one of the top 5 comic stories of all time" after the way the Index pimped "Landscape."  It was a GOOD story of collateral damage, but maybe not one of the top 5 stories of all time, at least in my opinion.  On the other hand, it has maybe lingered with me the most after reading the issue a couple of days ago, so there's that.  It was definitely good storytelling, bringing the background to the foreground, if nothing else.

They misspelled "Sartoga" on the Index page; and that kind of thing really pets my peeve.  C'mon, editors!  The story itself had several impressively sprawling battle scenes, though--and it was an interesting story, presumably a true one?--otherwise the twist wouldn't be so effective.  Funny how history selectively attends to some things and ignores others.

That same feeling of selective memories came with "Lone Hawk," the "remarkably true" story of Billy Bishop.  Thanks to OtherEric for posting that Wikipedia article on him (love that kind of background info in the Reading Club!), but it sounds like he was a bit of an exaggerator (if not outright liar) in real life, so having read the Wiki article first kind of cast some doubt over the purportedly "true" events portrayed (such as his single-handed attack on the airdrome).  I also found it really hard to read the lettering of the narration for this story--is that Toth's fault?  Does the artist do the lettering too?

And yeah, kind of refreshing for the main character to live for once.

Both "MIG Alley" and "Holding Action" were more about the psychological damage that is done to soldiers, rather than the physical damage--although the psychological damage ultimately cost the pilot his life as well in the former tale.  John Severin's art was recognizable to me again in the latter (and I thought it was fun that one of the fan letters in this issue expressed the same surprise that I had upon discovering Severin's art in Blazing Combat #1--"I thought Severin just did funny art"!  ).  I really loved the artwork on the greenhorn's eyes as his psychological defenses kicked in--you could see the progression from fright to desperation to aggression:

Overall, the story made me think of the movie "Birdy" from the 80s (recommended).

"Kasserine Pass" was an enjoyable story--although it might have been more enjoyable without knowing the outcome from the beginning, so that we could follow the tank team's efforts to survive with some sense of hope--but maybe that's kind of the overall point--the hopelessness of it all, the futility... even if you survive today, you'll probably die tomorrow anyway.  Everyone is significant in microcosm, but insignificant in the scope of war.

And finally, that leaves "Face to Face," the story that the Warren Magazine Index blames for the demise of the title due to its graphic details such as "using four panels to show a US soldier beating a Spanish soldier to death with a rock, sound effects showing exactly how the head changes from solid to pulp under severe battering."  I was actually kind of expecting a better transition, myself; maybe something more like "WHOK, THOK, KRAK, SPLAT!" than just "WHOK, WHOK, WHOK, SPLAT!" but oh well.  Again, this story ends with some psychological implications, as the battle became more personal than impersonal.

I scored 4 out of 6 on the "Combat Quiz."  When I saw the sergeant stripes emblem, I was like, "Oh, that's easy, it's a sergeant," and then the answers were three different types of sergeants.    I didn't know there was more than one kind.  Also didn't know the Gettysburg one.

Interesting to see ads for the Famous Monsters paperbacks; I'd never seen those books before.  Also enjoyed the ads for radios and cameras that "fit in the palm of your hand!"  Imagine if a TV could fit in the palm of your hand too!

Oh wait...

[OtherEric]

On 6/30/2022 at 5:59 PM, Axe Elf said:

I also found it really hard to read the lettering of the narration for this story--is that Toth's fault?  Does the artist do the lettering too?
 

Thank you for your review, Axe!  In most cases, there's a separate person doing the lettering.  But from at least the 60's on, Toth normally did his own lettering, and he has a very distinct style.  I actually mentioned it in my look at "The Stalkers" in Creepy #6, because in places it looked a bit atypical for him, possibly as a deliberate effect.

[Axe Elf]

On 6/30/2022 at 8:44 PM, OtherEric said:

But from at least the 60's on, Toth normally did his own lettering, and he has a very distinct style.  I actually mentioned it in my look at "The Stalkers" in Creepy #6, because in places it looked a bit atypical for him, possibly as a deliberate effect.

I didn't think much of it in "The Stalkers" because I just assumed the weird lettering for "WE WANT YOU ALEX COLBY!" was done intentionally to make it seem more "otherworldly."

I hadn't considered that those letters may be closer to his "usual" style, and he intentionally made the rest of the text more normal than his usual style!

[Axe Elf]

CREEPY #7 - February 1966

According to the Warren Magazine Index...

7. cover: Frank Frazetta (Feb. 1966)

1) The Duel Of The Monsters! [Archie Goodwin/Angelo Torres] 8p

2) Image Of Bluebeard! [Bill Pearson/Joe Orlando] 7p

3) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Werebeasts! [Archie Goodwin/Frank Frazetta] 1p

4) Rude Awakening! [Archie Goodwin/Alex Toth] 6p

5) Drink Deep! [Otto Binder/John Severin] 7p

6) The Creepy Fan Club: Frank Frazetta Profile [Archie Goodwin/Roberto Oqueli] 1p   [text article w/photo]

7) The Body-Snatcher! [Archie Goodwin/Reed Crandall] 8p   from the story by Robert Louis Stevenson

8) Blood Of Krylon! [Archie Goodwin/Gray Morrow] 6p

9) Hot Spell! [Archie Goodwin/Reed Crandall] 7p

Notes: The second classic Frazetta cover featured Dracula & the Werewolf in a battle royal!  The layout was by Roy G. Krenkel.  Best art job was Reed Crandall’s ‘Hot Spell’ with a stunning detailed splash page.  Special note should be made here of Angelo Torres’ exceptional high quality of art during the Goodwin Years.  He had a story (& sometimes two) in every issue of the early Creepys’ & Eeries’ and also appeared in Blazing Combat.  Each story was strongly paced and beautifully drawn.  The fellow who only appeared on the fringes during EC’s run had, by the mid 1960s, developed into a damn fine artist in his own right.  I don’t mean to slight the other folks here.  Frazetta, Toth, Severin, Morrow & a second fine job by Crandall make this a dynamite issue for art freaks.  Stories aren’t bad either.  The Creepy Fan Club page debuted.  This was Goodwin’s attempt (and it worked) to foster a fan base for the magazine, similar to the one that he, and Warren writers like Ron Parker, John Benson, Bill Parente, Bhob Stewart and others had done for EC’s horror comics in the 1950s.  Many future pros would make their comic debuts on the fan page.

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We've seen "Image of Bluebeard" before, in EERIE #1.  I haven't looked, but I bet that the "Werebeasts" edition of Creepy's Loathsome Lore draws heavily from the "Werewolves" edition back in CREEPY #2, but we'll see.  So there are some retreads here, but I AM looking forward to the Robert Louis Stevenson adaptation and the new story written by the guy who wrote the Adam Link stories and inked by my man, John Severin!

I wonder if Krylon was a brand of spray paint back then too...

[Axe Elf]

On 7/3/2022 at 3:54 PM, OtherMan said:

Not an EC fan, huh?

I'm pretty ignorant of all things comic other than the Warren mags--and six months ago about the only thing I knew about Warren Publishing was that they put out CREEPY, EERIE and VAMPIRELLA.  I probably couldn't have named a single contributing artist, other than Frank Frazetta, and that was mainly because I recognized his work from rock album covers.

I recognize John Severin's work from my passing interest in CRACKED magazine as a teen (liked it more than MAD), and I thought it was interesting that a fan at that time had the same reaction I did--I thought he just did funny art!  In fact, I probably thought that he only worked for CRACKED.  I didn't realize a lot of the same artists worked for various publications at the time.

Kinda cool connecting all the dots 40 years later...

[OtherEric]

Creepy #7 thoughts:

Cover:  A Frazetta masterpiece, although I always slightly question the color choices on the werewolf's fur.

Frontispiece:  A nice Torres ad for Eerie.

The Duel of the Monsters:  A nice piece by Goodwin & Torres, with a very strong twist.

Image of Bluebeard:  No real change in my impression of the story from the Eerie Ashcan.

Contrary to Axe Elf's guess, the Werebeasts page is completely different than the Werewolves page.  The character in the upper left corner looks a bit like a first draft of Vampirella.  I think this is the very last comic formatted page Frazetta ever did, although there are still a lot of covers, spot illustrations, and even story illustrations to come.  (If anybody else has ever seen Frazetta's piece in Witzend #8, I would be curious to hear how you would describe it.  Illustrated text story would be mine.  It's the only later piece I'm aware of that might be called a comic story.)

Rude Awakening!:  The Toth stories continue to be an absolute highlight of the Warren magazines, and Goodwin provides a story tailor-made to work with Toth's style.  I don't see this story working nearly as well with another artist, and I don't think some of the other stories would work nearly as well with Toth's art.

Drink Deep!: A story very much in the classic EC tradition, by a couple of the classic EC creators.  I enjoyed this much more than Binder's adaptations of his Adam Link stories.

The Body-Snatcher!:  I fear this is a story I can't really correctly assess, mostly due to accidents of name.  Body-Snatchers, I tend to think of "Invasion of the...", and the first line introducing a major character as "Toddy MacFarlane" is just horribly distracting to a current comic fan reading it.  Nice art by Crandall, though.

Blood of Krylon: Not a super-strong story, I fear, but I think the biggest revelation so far in this reading group has been just how good Gray Morrow was, and how much his style was developing and evolving during the run.  This looks magnificent, and the story is at least strong enough to give a framework for the art.

Hot Spell:  A decent conclusion to the issue, I particularly like the wash tones on the first page flashback prologue.

 

[Axe Elf]

Bah, here it is late Tuesday night and I still haven't even read the issue--long holiday weekend and all!

10 books in to the Club and I'm already falling behind...  I'll try to at least read the book tomorrow for a review on Thursday...

[OtherEric]

On 7/5/2022 at 9:25 PM, Axe Elf said:

Bah, here it is late Tuesday night and I still haven't even read the issue--long holiday weekend and all!

10 books in to the Club and I'm already falling behind...  I'll try to at least read the book tomorrow for a review on Thursday...

I was late too.  The holiday weekend messed lots of people up a bit, I suspect.

[Axe Elf]

I usually like to read the book and then let it percolate for a day or two before recording my thoughts, but since I'm a little rushed this week, I'm going to try recording my thoughts as I'm reading the issue for the first time.

Cover:  Never really noticed the werewolf being green before @OtherEric mentioned it.  Surely it's supposed to be like a lighting effect (in the shadow of the purple moon?), and not really a literally green werewolf--I would hope.

Letters:  Kind of ironic that as my enjoyment of the Adam Link saga waned, at least two letter-writers indicated that the Adam Link stories were among the best published; one suggesting that he should have his own cover story.  I guess we'll never know how Adam would have looked in a Frazetta cover.

I think I am most curious to hear if any of you who are more familiar with the horror mags of the day know what publication this distraught reader is talking about:

The Duel of the Monsters:  Wow, I was really drawn into this story and art--one of the best stories of all the issues so far, I thought!  I had Ruiz pegged as the werewolf the second time he was late to relieve Vega, but Alphonso as the ghoul masterminding the "duel"--I didn't see that coming.  However, when Alphonso announced he was really a "ghoul," all I could think about was today's gender identity issues.  I bet nobody took it that way back in 1966. 

Image of Bluebeard:  See EERIE #1 review.

CREEPY's Loathsome Lore:  Yay!  It IS all-new Frazetta work!  A little sparse on information this time, perhaps, but who cares?  It's all-new Frazetta work!  "Fox women" though?  I don't know about foxes in China and Japan, but I feel like I could pretty much kick a Kansas fox's butt, so I'm not sure the lycanthropic variety would concern me much.  I think I'd be more scared of the actual women.  ::: shrug :::

Rude Awakening:  I immediately noticed that trademark Toth lettering that we have been discussing from previous issues--but then it was most noticeable right off the bat in Uncle Creepy's introduction.  The lettering was more normal the rest of the way, but some of the peccadillos of his style were still recognizable, especially when in all caps.

The story itself?  Meh, I don't really get it.  Was the surgery just a dream too?  If not, I guess the twist is that he wouldn't have needed the surgery that his dreams reflected without the dreams themselves driving him to jump out the window.  A paradox that created itself--or just unrecognized precognition?

Drink Deep:  I thought the Adam Link author was "Otto" Binder--now it's "Eando"?

The old "wronged dead return to take their revenge" theme takes a disturbing turn here, as the wronged dead waited a couple of centuries to take their revenge--not on the one who sent them to their deaths, but on the most recent progeny of his line.  Fortunately, the most recent progeny was ALSO a selfish arrogant --but what if he had just been a mild-mannered accountant?  I'm not sure I'm in favor of the wronged dead taking their revenge on just anyone whatsoever.  Still loved seeing the Severin art, though.  It's almost like it brings a lighthearted air to a dark tale, just because I'm used to his "funny art."

The CREEPY Fan Club:  What a great feature debut!  I suppose a lot of you who have been at this for some time already know everything there is to know about Frazetta, but as a more casual fan (at least until recently), it was really nice to have this short bio--and pic--he was a pretty handsome man!  It's interesting to learn that the standard for horror art might have been set by someone else if Frank had taken the baseball offer from the Giants!  I'd never heard of his work on the "THUNDA" title, either.

A CGC 6.5 just sold on da'Bay for $3,100 on June 22; I wonder what this bad boy is worth...

The Body Snatcher:  Yeah, "Toddy MacFarlane"...    I wouldn't have thought that they would have to play around with the story as much as they did with the endings of the Poe adaptations in earlier issues--since the original ending to this story was pretty much a Warrenesque ending already--but they still changed the story inasmuch as Fettes worked for MacFarlane in this version, and in the original version they were classmates in medical school.  Does Warren not have to pay royalties for the originals if they change them in some way?  I hope it's not as profit-based as that, because I'd really rather see them just illustrate the original classic stories (like, you know, Classics Illustrated) but in the trademark Warren style rather than rewriting parts of them--especially the endings--to make them their own or something.

Blood of Krylon:  OtherEric wasn't kidding about Morrow's evolving style.  This whole piece looks distinctly different from the rest of the stories, based on the artwork.

OtherEric mentioned the resemblance of Frazetta's Asian "fox women" (in Loathsome Lore) to the later incarnation of Vampirella; I thought this whole story kind of foreshadows Vampirella--vampires in space?  Drakulon/Krylon?  The idea was definitely percolating...

Hot Spell:  OtherEric also mentioned the wash tones Crandall used for the flashback prologue--a striking departure from his usual line-based art--which is probably the best feature of this closer.  So nothing happened from the Rapher Grundy death-curse for 300 years, and then four people burned to death inside of a month and everyone blamed the curse?  C'mon...

Ads:  The Famous Monsters Make-Up Contest looks fun.  Costs $4.95 to enter, though (because you had to buy their make-up kit to enter), which was kind of a pretty penny compared to a CREEPY year subscription being like $2--or a lifetime fan club membership at $1!  Nice marketing.

And isn't this dude from the Monster Movies ads the same dude from EERIE #137?

So that's 10 issues down, 480 to go (plus the 2 Harris issues).  If we do what we've already done 48 more times, we'll be finished!

[OtherEric]

Eando Binder was a joint pseudonym for Earl and Otto (E-and-O) Binder on stories they worked on together.  Otto continued to use the name even after they stopped working on stories together.  The Adam Link stories originally appeared under that name, although I’m not sure if Earl was involved in any of the writing of them.

[Axe Elf]

On 7/7/2022 at 8:01 PM, OtherEric said:

Eando Binder was a joint pseudonym for Earl and Otto (E-and-O) Binder on stories they worked on together.

Clever!  And thanks for the clarification.

[Axe Elf]

EERIE #2 - March 1966

According to the Warren Magazine Index...

2. cover: Frank Frazetta (Mar. 1966)

1) Welcome To Eerie [Archie Goodwin/Jack Davis] 1p   [frontis]

2) Footsteps Of Frankenstein [Archie Goodwin/Reed Crandall] 8p

3) One For De-Money [E. Nelson Bridwell/Angelo Torres] 7p

4) Flame Fiend [Archie Goodwin/Johnny Craig] 6p   [art credited to Jay Taycee]

5) Eerie’s Monster Gallery No. 1: Werewolf [Archie Goodwin/John Severin] 1p

6) To Pay The Piper [Larry Ivie/Gene Colan] 6p

7) Vision Of Evil [Archie Goodwin/Alex Toth] 6p

8) Ahead Of The Game [Archie Goodwin/Jerry Grandenetti & Bill Draut] 8p  [art credited to Joe Orlando]

Notes: Publisher: James Warren.  Editor: Archie Goodwin.  35 cents.  The first actual magazine issue, this was intended to be the actual #1.  See the notes for the ashcan issue for total details.  Artist Jack Davis did several head illos of Cousin Eerie for story introductions.  During this time artist Jerry Grandenetti ghosted pencils for several Orlando stories, all of which were credited solely to Orlando.  When Grandenetti started receiving his own credits those ghost pencils stopped.  There’s nothing in this issue to make one sit up and take special notice, but it was competent, solid work, well-written & drawn.  The Frazetta cover painting of a wizard and a demon was particularly good.

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Well, here we go with the real first issue of EERIE, and so it finally feels like we are actually in the midst of all three of these first series at once.  We'll rotate through CREEPY, EERIE and BLAZING COMBAT for the next couple of months until BC flames out, and then it will just be alternating CREEPYs and EERIEs until the week before NEXT Fourth of July, when VAMPIRELLA premieres next June 25!

Edited July 10, 2022 by Axe Elf

[OtherEric]

Eerie #2 thoughts:

My first thought is that I'm still grateful to @wombat , who gave me the book back in 2018.  We have some spectacularly generous people on these forums!

Cover:  I think the color on this one is a little dark around the edges, or at least it reproduced that way.  But it's the sort of complaint that only exists because we've got around 50 Frazetta covers to work through at Warren including reprints, and it feels like it would be overkill to call every one a flawless masterpiece.

Frontispiece:  A nice enough introduction to Cousin Eerie by Jack Davis, much better than the image from the ashcan.  But it's also clearly reproduced larger than originally drawn, which can be interesting but also looks a little rough for a first impression.

Footsteps of Frankenstein:  A perfectly decent story by Goodwin & Crandall, but not one that I think stands out as a classic.

One for De-Money: One of the very few stories E. Nelson Bridwell did for Warren, with great art by Torres.  The nonsense words of the spell gives the story a very distinct feel, I can't say it's better or worse than the typical Goodwin piece... but it feels DIFFERENT, and that's a definite strength among all the Goodwin pieces.

Eye of the Beholder:  And another EC alumnus joins the Warren crew.  For those not familiar with the origin of the pseudonym, Jay Taycee = J. T. C.= Johnny T. Craig.  This is, I believe, the only story Goodwin wrote for Craig at Warren, most of them Craig both wrote and drew.  I think even more than usual Goodwin was trying to channel the EC feel, and it's a very effective introduction of one of the EC greats to Warren.

Flame Fiend!:  It seems like Otto Binder just went to town creating a -script for Morrow to play with flame visuals.  A great example of creators working together well to create a nice showcase of craft.

Eerie's Monster Gallery:  An excuse to let good artists create cool splash pages, Severin is up first.  At a page an issue it's a lot of fun.

To Pay the Piper:  And a second EC alumnus joins Warren for the first time this issue.  Unlike Craig, Colan only did two stories for EC... and one of those was as a ghost.  Ivie provides one of his better Warren stories to welcome Colan to the crew.

Vision of Evil:  Not quite as strong as the last couple Toth stories in Creepy, but still a highlight of the issue.  Then again, I'm a huge fan of Toth's work, as if you couldn't tell from my comments, so my opinion on this one might not be worth as much.

Ahead of the Game:  I've never been particularly fond of Grandetti's work... I respect it a lot, and recognize the craft, and am glad to see something that stands out among other artists.  I just don't personally enjoy it that much most of the time.  And the story title crosses the line between "guess what it's referring to" and "blatantly telegraphing the ending". 

Back cover:  I think that's a Jack Davis Cousin Eerie illustration on the back, and I like it more than the frontispiece.

All in all, a very solid start to Warren's second horror title, even if there's no standout masterpieces it's an extremely strong book overall.

[The Lions Den]

On 7/7/2022 at 8:44 PM, Axe Elf said:

I think I am most curious to hear if any of you who are more familiar with the horror mags of the day know what publication this distraught reader is talking about:

The only thing I can think of is that it may have been the first issue of WEIRD magazine from Eerie Publications, dated January 1966 and listed as #10. 

[Axe Elf]

On 7/10/2022 at 4:20 AM, The Lions Den said:

The only thing I can think of is that it may have been the first issue of WEIRD magazine from Eerie Publications, dated January 1966 and listed as #10. 

I KNEW someone around here would have an idea!  Community Power!

So why in the world would they date the first issue #10???  Maybe trying to get back at Warren for pre-empting the EERIE copyright by making it look like WEIRD was older than CREEPY?

[The Lions Den]

On 7/10/2022 at 2:04 PM, Axe Elf said:

I KNEW someone around here would have an idea!  Community Power!

So why in the world would they date the first issue #10???  Maybe trying to get back at Warren for pre-empting the EERIE copyright by making it look like WEIRD was older than CREEPY?

The numbering system for Eerie Publications magazines was pretty crazy, and I can only speculate as to why they did what they did. But it certainly was a bit of a cut-throat business... 

And I have to agree with the letter writer---it's a pretty lame looking first issue, especially if you compare it to the Warren mags being published at that time.  

Edited July 10, 2022 by The Lions Den

[Jayman]

On 7/10/2022 at 3:32 PM, The Lions Den said:

The numbering system for Eerie Publications magazines was pretty crazy, and I can only speculate as to why they did what they did. But it certainly was a bit of a cut-throat business... 

I agree! The whole Volume #, Number # system of the Eerie Pubs has made me write this in pen on the back of my backing boards so I can quickly identify an issue. These are the only mags I had to do this for…

[The Lions Den]

On 7/10/2022 at 8:13 PM, Jayman said:

I agree! The whole Volume #, Number # system of the Eerie Pubs has made me write this in pen on the back of my backing boards so I can quickly identify an issue. These are the only mags I had to do this for…

And IIRC, there are even a couple of completely different mags with the exact same issue and volume numbers...wild stuff.  

[Axe Elf]

For EERIE #2, Cousin Eerie gets an upgrade from his fright mask image in EERIE #1, and there's Uncle Creepy and Cousin Eerie already battling it out in-house on the frontispiece!  "EERIE is even MORE bloodcurdling!"  "When better spines are tingled, Uncle Creepy will do it!  Lol

"Footsteps of Frankenstein" is actually a pretty good tale to essentially launch Warren's second horror comic title.  The twist may be a little weak (those two little electrodes wouldn't attract much lightning, especially in those thick-soled shoes), but it's an interesting extension of the "Frankenstein" theme.

I knew what was coming in "One for De-Money" as soon as the nephew dragged his uncle's body out of the pentagram--across the chalk line.  I think I've seen that device before--but if I did, they may have been copying from this 1966 EERIE story.  That full-page panel where the demon first appears is almost as spectacular as the Frazetta cover itself!

I couldn't help thinking that when the old mystic was trying to resurrect our hero's wife in "Eye of the Beholder" that the dead must not need much identification when bringing them back to life.  He didn't even have to use her last name--just "Eve, Eve, return from the dead!" is apparently enough for the dead to know who to send back.  I halfway expected him to find Adam's wife when he returned home, if the afterlife worked on a  first Eve dead, first Eve resurrected principle.

I didn't recognize the artist for this story either--Johnny Craig credited as "Jay Taycee," as @OtherEric explained the pseudonym--but it's nice to know he had already been around the EC camp before this appearance.  I thought a lot of the art kind of looked like it had been originally colored and then scanned in grayscale--but whether in color or black-and-white, he sure knows how to draw an attractive corpse...

Speaking of pseudonyms, there's that "Eando" Binder again as the author of "Flame Fiend."  I didn't particularly care for this twist on the wronged dead returning for revenge, especially since "burning up" with a fever is really only a few degrees above normal body temperature--paper doesn't even burn below 450 degrees Fahrenheit, let alone a body with a temperature of 104 or whatever.  I also question the speed with which a campfire out of control would spread through some snow-covered woods, but whatever, at least the Flame Fiend itself looked cool:

I don't know if John Severin was the best choice to draw the first "EERIE's Monster Gallery"; because of his "funny art," his werewolf looks a little goofy to me.  I wonder if anyone actually cut these out and framed the series...?

It almost seems like the Monster Gallery's main purpose was to inform us all that being scratched by the wolfbane plant will turn you into a werewolf, setting the stage for the twist at the end of the next story, "To Pay the Piper."  I didn't recognize the artist (Eugene Colan) on this one, either, but it's an interesting horror take on the Pied Piper legend.  It's also the second time in this issue that the fictional stories have referred to the real-world fictional stories on which they were based, as the villagers discuss the legend of the Pied Piper the way that the professor's assistant referred to Mary Shelley in the first offering.

This self-referential slant continued in "Vision of Evil," in which this horror comic depicts a horror artist whose art comes to life--purportedly, although I was a little disappointed that we were never really treated to seeing what evil the visions actually spawned.  I guess they are counting on the unknown being scarier than the known--but c'mon, it's a horror comic after all!  I loved how the "scary" paintings in the story were all cartoonishly goofy--a form of self-deprecation, I suppose.

And finally, the triple entendre of "Ahead of the Game."  It usually refers to being well-versed in a situation, but I expected the twist to be the meaning in which the hunter stayed "ahead of the game" that was obviously hunting him.  I didn't see the third meaning--a HEAD of the game--until the end!  The wronged dead return theme makes a visit to the animal kingdom this time...

I wonder if our hero the hunter started out by responding to this ad:

Now that I notice it, there are a couple other items for sale that go along with stories from this issue:

And with this decent effort, EERIE is officially underway, marking the start of horror comic magazines' binary star of Warren Publications for the next couple of decades!

Let's GO!

Edited July 14, 2022 by Axe Elf

[OtherEric]

On 7/13/2022 at 6:11 PM, Axe Elf said:

Let’s GO!

I’ve got my comments on the next issue ready to post when I get home, just waiting on you to post the intro for the issue.