Last updated 8 February 06. The latest version of this document can always be found at www.enjolrasworld.com. See last page for legal & © information.

Additions? Corrections? Contact Richard J. Arndt: rarndt39@hotmail.com.

Marvel’s Black & White Horror Magazines

Checklist

This checklist is intended to provide information on Marvel Comics black & white horror magazines from 1971-1980 only. Thus, The Savage Sword Of Conan, Doc Savage, The Deadly Hands Of Kung Fu, etc. are not included here. One-off issues of a regular series, such as Savage Tales #1 or issues of Marvel Preview/Bizarre Adventures, which were primarily horror will be. As with my other pages, you might like to check out the interviews located at the end of this checklist. Enjoy!

Savage Tales

1. cover: John Buscema (May 1971)

1) Conan The Barbarian: The Frost Giant’s Daughter [Roy Thomas/Barry Smith] 11p from the

story by Robert E. Howard

2) The Fury Of The Femizons [Stan Lee/John Romita] 10p

3) The Story Behind The Scenes [Roy Thomas] 1p [text article]

4) Man-Thing! [Gerry Conway & Roy Thomas/Gray Morrow] 11p

5) Black Brother! [Denny O’Neil/Gene Colan & Tom Palmer] 11p [O’Neil’s story credited to

Sergius O’Shaughnessy]

6) Next Issue Ad [John Romita] 1p [Ka-Zar, Conan & Kull are featured.]

7) Ka-Zar: The Night Of The Looter! [Stan Lee/John Buscema] 15p

8) Next Issue Ad [John Romita] 1p [Conan & Lyra of the Femizons are featured.]

Notes: $.50 for 64 pages. Publisher & editor: Stan Lee. Roy Thomas listed as Associate Editor. Two science fantasy stories, one sword & sorcery and two horror tales make up this issue. The Conan story is one of Thomas/Smith team’s best efforts. This version features nudity, which was censored when the story was reprinted in the regular Conan comic. That version also acquired a new splash page, bringing the page count up to 12, which has remained constant for all reprinting. With one exception, the censored version is the version usually reprinted. The exception occurred in 1974 when a 12 page version of the original art plus the added splash page appeared in The Savage Sword Of Conan #1 (Aug. 1974). The long-running Marvel swamp monster, Man-Thing, also debuted this issue. ‘The Femizons’ and the Conan adaptation had the best art while Conan also had the best story. This was Marvel’s second B&W magazine attempt, following a one issue Spiderman book in 1968. Although a second issue was clearly planned, it didn’t actually appear until Nov. 1973, with totally different contents than the original version of #2! The original contents were parceled out in Marvel color books with the second Man-Thing story {with beautiful artwork by Neal Adams} appearing in Astonishing Tales, bookended by a Ka-Zar tale! The Conan story appeared {again, with the nudity censored} in Conan The Barbarian #16. A Kull story was also promised but I’m not sure if it ever appeared. A science fiction story, ‘Dark Tomorrow’, actually did appear 2½ years later in the revived Savage Tales #2. It would be two more years before Marvel attempted another black & white magazine venture.

Dracula Lives!

1. cover: Boris Vallejo (June 1973)

1) Dracula, 1973: A Poison Of The Blood [Gerry Conway/Gene Colan & Tom Palmer] 13p

2) Dracula, 1691: Suffer Not A Witch! [Roy Thomas/Alan Weiss & Dick Giordano] 12p

3) Dracula Is Alive And Living On Madison Avenue [Roy Thomas] 1½p [text article]

4) Monsters Unleashed Ad [Pablo Marcos] ½p

5) Zombie! [?/Tony DiPreta] 6p reprinted from Journey Into Mystery #5 (Feb. 1953)

6) Ghost Of A Chance! [?/?] 2p reprinted from Adventures Into Terror #8 (Feb. 1952)

[originally entitled ‘The Miracle’]

7) What Can You Say About A Five-Hundred Year Old Vampire Who Refuses To Die? [Marv

Wolfman] 6p [text article w/photos]

8) Fright! [Stan Lee?/Russ Heath] 7p reprinted from Journey Into Mystery #5 (Feb. 1953)

9) Dracula, 1890s: To Walk Again In Daylight! [Steve Gerber/Rich Buckler & Pablo Marcos] 10p

10) Next Issue Ad [Neal Adams] 1p art reprinted from The Tomb Of Dracula #1’s cover (Apr.

1972)

Notes: Publisher: Stan Lee. Editor: Roy Thomas. Sol Brodsky, who was the first editor for the Skywald line of B&W horror magazines, is the production manager for the Marvel line. $.75 for 72 pages. The magazine’s only date is 1973 but this issue was actually June 1973. This time Marvel launched a full scale assault on the B&W magazine market, essentially flooding the market with four horror magazines, a humor magazine, a revived Savage Tales and a movie gag photo magazine in 1973 alone. Dracula Lives! was the first and it features one of Boris Vallejo’s best covers for the B&W market {not to mention it being his Marvel debut}. Nowadays, Vallejo’s work seems overrated, with his heavy reliance on posed models producing artwork that often looks stiff and lifeless but between 1971 and 1977 he produced some of the most striking covers in the field for Warren, Skywald and Marvel. This one is a symbolic painting featuring a vampire bat with Dracula’s head floating above a cobra, a female vampire, a caveman, a skull and assorted demons. It’s quite dynamic. To avoid problems with the continuing storylines from The Tomb Of Dracula, this magazine’s stories tended to take place during different time periods ranging from 1459 though 1973, etc. One thing one should note about the Marvel books is that you paid a lot more for less actual comic pages. This issue has only 35 new pages of story and art. The rest of the magazine consists of pre-code 1950s era reprints and text articles. One of the reasons for this was that Marvel paid its writers & artists more than either Warren or Skywald, their main rivals in the B&W horror market. The other was that it probably was very expensive to launch a full line of magazines (especially with only three magazines’ worth of material) and cost cutting was absolutely required. That said, if you didn’t like Famous Monsters Of Filmland or articles of that sort {I can see my teen-aged self wildly waving his hand here} than the articles were not only clearly padding but a snooze as well. The pre-code reprints were often awful, with corny stories and lame artwork. This wasn’t always true however, and this issue’s ‘Fright!’ is a stand out story, reprint or not, with great Heath artwork highlighting a nasty little tale concerning a brutal overseer of an insane asylum. The best of the new material is the Thomas/Weiss/Giordano tale of Dracula influencing the Salem Witch Trials. The other two stories are decent enough also. For some reason five of the pages have panel borders or details in the panels colored in red. Each of the stories had a one page introduction with photos from old movies used as artwork. The next issue ad reprints Neal Adams’ art from the cover of The Tomb Of Dracula #1, with the art reversed or flipped. A fair first issue.

2. cover: Jordi Penalva (Aug. 1973)

1) Dracula, 1459: That Dracula May Live Again! [Marv Wolfman/Neal Adams] 13p

2) An Editorial [Roy Thomas] ½p [text article]

3) Tales Of The Zombie Ad [John Romita over Bill Everett?] ½p

4) Vampires Drink Deep! [?/Joe Sinnott] 6p reprinted from Strange Tales #9 (Aug. 1952)

[originally titled Drink Deep, Vampire!]

5) Who Is Bram Stoker And Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me! [Chris

Claremont] 5p [text story w/photos]

6) Dracula, 1944: The Terror That Stalked Castle Dracula! [Steve Gerber & Tony Isabella/Jim

Starlin & Syd Shores] 11p

7) Vampire Tales Ad [Gil Kane] 1p [Moebius, The Living Vampire is featured.]

8) One Corpse…One Vote! [Stan Lee/Fred Kida] 6p reprinted from ?

9) Dracula, 1973: The Voodoo Queen Of New Orleans [Roy Thomas/Gene Colan & Dick

Giordano] 14p [Simon Garth, The Zombie cameos]

10) Next Issue Ad [Tom Palmer] 1p

Notes: Penalva’s cover starts a gothic cover tradition that lasts through #12. On each cover, a beautiful blonde girl, usually clad in a white nightgown {although for this cover she’s dressed in only bra & panties} is menaced by Dracula, who’s dressed in what looks like an opera costume {basically, his standard color comic costume}. Marv Wolfman, Gerry Conway, Don McGregor and Tony Isabella are listed as Editorial staff. Marvel’s version of Dracula gets a terrific origin tale, courtesy of Wolfman & Adams. Jim Starlin does only the layouts for the 1944 Dracula tale. Simon Garth, the Zombie {from the B&W magazine Tales Of The Zombie} has a one panel cameo in ‘The Voodoo Queen Of New Orleans’. As in the first issue, occasional pages have the color red in certain panel’s backgrounds, often for less than obvious reasons. 39 pages of original art & story.

3. cover: Neal Adams/titlepage: Pablo Marcos (Oct. 1973)

1) Dracula, 1459: Lord Of Death…Lord Of Hell! [Marv Wolfman/John Buscema & Syd Shores]

12p

2) The Haunt Of Horror/Savage Tales Ad [Kelly Freas & Barry Smith] 1p

3) The Vampire-Man [?/?] 5p

4) Doc Savage/Tales Of The Zombie Ad [Rich Bucker & Pablo Marcos] 1p

5) Bela Lugosi: Dracula Of Stage, Screen & Coffin [Doug Moench] 6p [text article w/photos]

6) Solomon Kane & Dracula, 1553: Castle Of The Undead [Roy Thomas/Alan Weiss & The

Crusty Bunkers] 12p

7) Vampire Tales Ad [John Romita] 1p [Satana is featured]

8) I Was Once A Gentle Man… [Chris Claremont] 6p [text story w/photos]

9) Strange Tales/Marvel Spotlight Ad [John Romita & Herb Trimpe] 1p [Brother Voodoo & the

Son Of Satan are featured.]

10) Fire Burn And Cauldron Bubble [?/C. A. Winter] 5p

11) Crazy Ad [Marie Severin] ½p

12) Dracula, 1973: Shadow In The City Of Light! [Gerry Conway/Alphonso Font] 11p

13) Dracula Lives! Feature Page: Stan Lee Profile/Dracula Returns book review [Roy Thomas? &

Don Thompson] 1p [text article w/photos]

13) Next Issue Ad [Pablo Marcos] 1p

Notes: Adams’ terrific painting of Dracula standing on a rain swept cathedral in Paris {holding the blonde in the nightgown} is the best cover to appear on an issue of Dracula Lives! Marv Wolfman is listed as the associate editor and is probably the de facto editor at this point. “Lord Of Death…Lord Of Hell’ is a sequel and continuation of Dracula’s origin tale. The last page in the reprint story ‘The Vampire-Man’ has an obvious Jack Davis swipe on page 5, panel 2. Solomon Kane was a Puritan adventurer created by Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan & Kull, among many others. This story details the clash {a Roy Thomas original} between Stoker’s Dracula & Howard’s Kane. It’s a terrific tale with beautiful art by Weiss & the Bunkers. The Crusty Bunkers were a loose, constantly shifting collection of artists headed by Neal Adams. Adams clearly inked a lot of this story. Other Bunkers included Russ Heath, Dick Giordano, Vicente Alcazar, Terry Austin, Joe Rubenstein, Pat Broderick, Dan Green, Weiss himself and many more. Several of those mentioned could have worked on this story as well. The Vampire Tales ad features Romita’s original costume design for Satana, although she never actually wore this costume in a B&W magazine. She may have done so in the color comics. The Haunt Of Horror ad was for the digest prose magazine, not the later B&W comic magazine. It showed the lineup and cover for the never published 3^rd issue, with the {unpublished} cover by Freas and stories including ‘The Running Of The Demonhound’ by John Jakes, ‘Goldfish’ by R. A. Lafferty, ‘The New Witchcraft’ by Lin Carter, and ‘The Night People’ by Alan Brennart. The ‘Demonhound’ story appeared in an issue of Savage Tales but the rest of the stories’ first appearances are a mystery. I don’t believe ‘The Night People’ was ever printed. The ‘Fire Burn And Cauldron Bubble’ reprint is a comic retelling of the death of Macbeth and has nothing to do with vampires. It’s rather nicely done though. The letters’ page debuts with an illo of Dracula by Pablo Marcos. 36 pages of new story & art.

4. cover: Earl Norem/titlepage: Rich Buckler & Pablo Marcos (Jan. 1974)

1) Marvel Magazines Ad [various] 1p [frontis]

2) Dracula, 1973: Fear Stalker [Marv Wolfman/Mike Ploog & Ernie Chan] 14p [Chan’s art

credited to Ernie Chua]

3) Tales Of The Zombie Ad [Boris Vallejo] 1p [B&W repo of #3’s cover]

4) In Search Of Dracula: A True History Of Dracula and Vampire Legends [Chris Claremont] 6p

[text article w/photos]

5) Transylvania: Vacation Spot Of Europe? [Dwight R. Decker/Pablo Marcos] 1p [text article]

6) When Calls The Vampire! [?/Joe Maneely] 6p reprinted from Adventure Into Terror #10 (June

1952)

7) Dracula, 1606: This Blood Is Mine! [Gardner Fox/Dick Ayers] 12p

8) Dracula Lives! Feature Page: Yes, Marv Wolfman Is His Real Name! [Marv Wolfman] 1p

[text article w/photos]

9) Film Review: The Horror Of Dracula [Gerry Boudreau] 6p [text article w/photos]

10) Of Royal Blood [?/Tony Mortellaro] 4p reprinted from Journey Into Unknown Worlds #29

(July 1954)

11) Marvel Magazines Ad [Pablo Marcos, Esteban Maroto, John Buscema? & Mike Ploog] 2p

[Morbius, the Living Vampire, Satana, Gulliver Jones Of Mars & Frankenstein’s Monster

are featured.]

12) Dracula, 1459: Look Homeward, Vampire [Gerry Conway/Vicente Alcazar] 11p

13) Next Issue Ad [Pablo Marcos] 1p

Notes: Our cover blonde is wearing a pink dress & heels. Ploog’s pencil art is sadly buried beneath Chan’s inks. Dick Ayers did a lot of work for the schlocky Eerie & Stanley Publications and, unfortunately, his work on ‘This Blood Is Mine!’ looks more like work for those companies than for Marvel. The story concerns Dracula’s fictional encounter with the real life Baroness Bathory, who really did drain the blood of virgins into her bathtub, since she believed that bathing in virgin blood would help preserve her youth. The vampire in the reprint story ‘Of Royal Blood’ appears to have had his head redrawn to look more like Marvel’s version of Dracula. The story ‘Look Homeward, Vampire!’ is the third part of Dracula’s origin tale and is easily the best written & illustrated story here. 37 pages of story & art.

5. cover: Luis Dominguez/frontis & inside back cover: Gene Colan (Mar. 1974)

1) Dracula [Roy Thomas/Dick Giordano] 12p from the novel by Bram Stoker

2) Transylvania On A Budget [Doug Moench] 2p [text article w/photo]

3) Movie Review: Dracula, Prince Of Darkness [Doug Moench] 5p [text article w/photos]

4) Crazy Ad [Marie Severin] 1p

5) Dracula, 1785: A Duel Of Demons [Gerry Conway/Frank Springer] 10p

6) Dracula: Demons In Darkness [Gerry Conway/Pablo Marcos] 6p [text story, additional art

from The Tomb Of Dracula color comic]

7) Coffin Chronicles [Carla Joseph/?] 2p [text article]

8) When A Vampire Dies… [Stan Lee/?] 5p reprinted from Marvel Tales #128 (Nov. 1954)

9) Book Review: The Dracula Archives [Chris Claremont] 3p [text article w/photos]

10) Dracula, 1974: Night Flight To Terror! [Marv Wolfman & Tony Isabella/Gene Colan & Pablo

Marcos] 10p

11) The Deadly Hands Of Kung Fu Ad [John Romita] 1p

12) The Boyhood Of Dracula [Tony Isabella/Val Mayerik] 1p

13) Next Issue Ad [Pablo Marcos] 1p [on back cover]

Notes: Size reduced to 64 pages. The beginning of Roy Thomas & Dick Giordano’s superb adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, an adaptation that would not be concluded until 2005, with a gap between episodes of 29 years! Regardless, this is extremely impressive, with a faithful script by Thomas and what is probably Giordano’s finest artwork. A rare example of Gene Colan inking his own 1970s work {at least at Marvel} appears with his two page pin-up. Pablo Marcos is all over this issue with ad work, inking, text story illos and what not—makes one wonder why he wasn’t given an opportunity to helm a solo story. He would have done a great job! Only 33 pages of original art & story this issue, if you don’t count {and I don’t and won’t} the text story.

6. cover: Luis Dominguez (May 1974)

1) Dracula, 1974: A Death In The Chapel [Steve Gerber/Gene Colan & Ernie Chan] 10p [Chan’s

art credited to Ernie Chua]

2) Yes, Virginia, There Is A Real Dracula (Undead And Well In Wallachia) [Doug Moench] 8p

[text article w/photos]

3) The Mark of A Vampire! [?/Mac Pakula) 4p reprinted from Spellbound #22 (May 1954) [one

page has been dropped from the story]

4) Dracula: Blood Moon [Thompson O’Rourke/Ernie Chan] 6p [text story, Chan’s art credited to

Ernie Chua]

5) Dracula, 1789: Shadow Over Versailles [Tony Isabella/John Buscema & Pablo Marcos] 11p

6) Dracula Has Risen From The Grave [Tony Isabella] 5p [text article w/photos]

7) The Haunt Of Horror Ad [Ralph Reese] 1p

8) Dracula, part 2: Into The Spider’s Web [Roy Thomas/Dick Giordano] 12p from the novel by

Bram Stoker

9) Next Issue Ad [Pablo Marcos] 1p [on inside back cover]

Notes: Two good original stories and the great Stoker adaptation made this one of the better Dracula Lives! For some reason, Chan’s inking on Gene Colan’s pencils was much better than his earlier inking on Mike Ploog’s. ‘Shadow Over Versailles’ is an excellent story with a great ending. The second adapted chapter of Dracula has a two-page rehash of the previous chapter with reformatted art from that chapter. Something that Thomas & Giordano would do thoughout the 1974-1975 appearances of this adaptation series. The actual adaptation is only 10 pages long. Only 31 pages of new art & story here.

7. cover: Luis Dominguez (July 1974)

1) Dracula, 1974: Here Comes The Death Man [Gerry Conway/Vicente Alcazar] 10p

2) Crazy Ad [Kelly Freas] 1p

3) Dracula: Blood Moon, part 2 [Thompson O’Rourke/Ernie Chan] 7p [text story, Chan’s art

credited to Ernie Chua]

4) The Deadly Hands Of Kung Fu Ad [Paul Gulacy] 1p

5) Dracula, 1690: Assault Of The She-Pirate! [Mike Friedrich/George Evans] 12p

6) Marvel Magazines Ad [John Buscema & Ernie Chan] 1p

7) Movie Review: Taste The Blood Of Dracula [Tony Isabella] 6p [text article w/photos]

8) Dracula, part 3: The Female Of The Species [Roy Thomas/Dick Giordano] 12p from the novel

by Bram Stoker [First two pages of a rehash of pervious episodes]

9) Giant-Size Master Of Kung Fu Ad [Ernie Chan] ½p

10) Coffin Chronicles [Carla Joseph] 3p [text article w/photos]

Notes: Although the story’s only so-so, Alcazar’s art on ‘Here Comes The Death Man’ is the best in the issue, with Evans & Giordano also delivering fine art jobs. Best story is the Stoker adaptation by Thomas with Friedrich’s pirate tale also being quite good. From this point on the 1950s era reprints are dropped from the magazine. 32 pages of new story & art.

8. cover: Luis Dominguez/frontis & titlepage: Pablo Marcos (Sept. 1974)

1) Dracula, 1974: Last Walk On The Night Side [Doug Moench/Tony DeZuniga] 11p

2) Dracula, 1926: Black Hand…Black Death! [Len Wein/Gene Colan & Ernie Chan] 10p

[Chan’s art credited to Ernie Chua]

3) Crazy Ad [Fumetti photo art] 1p [Stan Lee is featured.]

4) Dracula: Child Of The Sun [Chris Claremont/Pablo Marcos] 11p [text story]

5) Marvel Magazines Ad [Alfredo Alcala] 1p [Frankenstein’s Monster, Werewolf By Night,

Conan, Simon Garth the Zombie, Dracula, Gulliver Jones & Satana are featured in a l’il

kids style illo.]

6) Coffin Chronicles [Carla Joseph] 2p [text article w/photos]

7) Dracula, part 4: “And In That Sleep…!” [Roy Thomas/Dick Giordano] 14p from the novel by

Bram Stoker [The first two pages are a rehash of earlier episodes.]

8) The Deadly Hands Of Kung Fu [Neal Adams] ½p [B&W repo of #3’s cover]

Notes: A striking splash page on the Stoker adaptation as Giordano continues to impress. Thomas’ script is darn good too. Tony DeZuniga also delivers a superior art job on the first half of Moench’s serial. Too bad he couldn’t do both parts. Marv Wolfman is now listed as editor (a job he’d been doing since at least #3) with Thomas as editor-in-chief and Tony Isabella as consulting editor. 33 new pages of art & story.

9. cover: Luis Dominguez (Nov. 1974)

1) How To Ward Off Vampires [Tony Isabella/Ernie Chan] 1p [frontis, Chan’s art credited to

Ernie Chua]

2) Dracula, 1974: The Lady Who Collected Dracula [Doug Moench/Frank Robbins & Frank

Springer] 10p [part 2 of ‘Last Night On The Wild Side’ from the previous issue]

3) Dracula, 1600s: Scarlet In Glory! [Doug Moench/Paul Gulacy & Mike Esposito] 10p

4) Crazy Ad [Marie Severin] 1p

5) Movie Review: The Scars Of Dracula [Gerry Boudreau] 6p [text article w/photos]

6) Dracula, 1934: A Night In The Unlife! [Gerry Conway/Alfredo Alcala] 10p

7) Dracula, 1903: Twice Dies The Vampire! [Gerry Conway/Sonny Trinidad] 10p

8) Planet Of The Apes Ad [Bob Larkin] 1p [B&W repo of #2’s cover]

9) Next Issue Ad [Dave Cockrum] 1p [Lilith, Daughter Of Dracula is featured.]

Notes: The cover blonde has switched to a green nightie. More ads in this issue but also an increase of comic pages. 40 pages of new art & story. The Robbins/Springer art on the second half of ‘Last Night On The Wild Side’ is so unlike DeZuniga’s from the previous issue that it looks bad by comparison. Robbins would have been great doing a 1930s-1940s era Dracula story, so it’s really a bit of a shame. Sonny Trinidad provides the best artwork here while Doug Moench’s ‘Scarlet In Glory!’ is the best story.

10. cover: Luis Dominguez/frontis: Don Maitz & Duffy Vohland (Jan. 1975)

1) The Marvel Bullpen Page Goes Black And White And Read All Over [Marv Wolfman] 1p

[text article]

2) Dracula, 1809: The Pit Of Death [Doug Moench/Tony DeZuniga] 10p

3) Crazy Ad [photo] 1p [Stan Lee in an Uncle Sam suit is featured.]

4) Movie Review: Dracula A.D. 1972 [Gary Gerani] 6p [text article w/photos]

5) Dracula, part 5: Ship Of Death [Roy Thomas/Dick Giordano] 10p from the novel by Bram

Stoker

6) Lilith, Daughter Of Dracula: The Blood Book [Steve Gerber/Bob Brown & The Crusty

Bunkers] 16p

7) A Vampire Stalks Melrose Abbey [Doug Moench/Winslow Mortimer] 2p

8) Savage Tales Ad [John Romita] 1p [Ka-Zar & Shanna are featured]

Notes: The first half of the Moench/DeZuniga’s serial ‘The Pit Of Death’ is quite good and features the best story & art for the issue. Lilith’s story is continued from her appearance in Vampire Tales #6. As mentioned above, the Crusty Bunkers were a loose group of various inkers operating out of Neal Adams’ studio. Adams almost always had a hand in the inking and certainly does here. The Moench/Mortimer two-pagers were originally intended as frontis/inside back cover pieces, although it was rare that they were actually used for that. 38 pages of original art & story. Don McGregor & Len Wein are now listed as assistant or associate editors.

11. cover: Steve Fabian/frontis: Bob Hall (Mar. 1975)

1) Dracula, 1809: Pit Of Death, part 2: Agent Of Hell [Doug Moench/Tony DeZuniga] 11p

2) The Vampire Of Mednegna [Doug Moench/Winslow Mortimer] 2p

3) Dracula, part 6: If Madness Be Thy Master…! [Roy Thomas/Dick Giordano] 12p from the

novel by Bram Stoker

4) Lilith, Daughter Of Dracula: Nobody Anybody Knows [Steve Gerber/Bob Brown, Frank

Chiramonte & Pablo Marcos] 21p

5) Next Issue Ad [Ken Bald] 1p [B&W repo on next issue’s cover]

6) Tales Of The Zombie Ad [Earl Norem] 1p [B&W repo of #10’s cover]

Notes: SF & fantasy great Steve Fabian contributes a cover, putting the blonde girl in a purple nightie. Future Eclipse publisher Dean Mullaney sends in a letter, revealing that he was a pretty intense Marvel fanboy in the day. Moench’s ‘Pit Of Death’ serial concludes in fine fashion. The new chapter of Bram Stoker’s Dracula was pretty good too. With an almost equal number of pages as Dracula, Lilith almost took over the magazine. 46 pages of new story & art, which was about equal to a Warren 64 pager.

12. cover: Ken Bald/frontis: photo of Christopher Lee reading Dracula Lives! #4 (May 1975)

1) Fearsome Features, Far-Out Fabrications, And Fictional Configurations! [?] 1p [text listing of

Mavel magazines]

2) Dracula, 1597: Parchments Of The Damned! [Doug Moench/Sonny Trinidad] 10p

3) Dracula, 1597: Parchments Of The Damned, part 2: The Stealer Of Dracula’s Soul [Doug

Moench/Yong Montano] 10p

4) Dracula, 1597: Parchments Of The Damned, part 3: Paper Blood [Doug Moench/Steve Gan]

11p

5) Christopher Lee: Hammer’s Hero Of Horror [Doug Moench] 8p [text article w/photos]

6) Dracula, 1465: The Sins Of The Fathers [Gerry Conway/Tom Sutton] 10p

Notes: All three parts of a serial run with the most effective art appearing in the chapter by Sonny Trinidad and Steve Gan. The best art & story, however, go to the Conway/Sutton effort, ‘The Sins Of The Fathers’. Sutton drew versions of Dracula for both Warren and Marvel and both versions are great. It’s worth buying this issue just for his work alone.

13. cover: Earl Norem/frontis: Vicente Alcazar (July 1975)

1) Factful Features And Fantastic Frivolity Formed And Fermented From Frugal-Minded

Armadilloes! [?] 1p [listing of Marvel comics currently on sale]

2) Dracula, 1885: Bounty For A Vampire [Tony Isabella/Tony DeZuniga] 12p

3) Kull & The Barbarians/Unknown Worlds Of Science Fiction Ad [Michael Whelan & Frank

Brunner] 1p [B&W repos of #2 & #4 repectively]

4) Dracula, 1974: Bloody Mary [Rich Margopoulos/George Tuska & Virgilio Redondo] 10p

5) Doc Savage Ad [movie poster art] 1p

6) Unknown Worlds Of Science Fiction Ad [Robert L. Kline] 1p

7) The Toad [Tom Sutton] 7p

8) A Dracula Portfolio [Russ Heath] 3p

9) Dracula, 1471: Blood Of My Blood! [Gerry Conway/Steve Gan] 11p

10) Marvel Preview Ad [Tony DeZuniga] 1p [The Punisher is featured]

11) Marvel Movie Preview Ad [Earl Norem] 1p [B&W repo of #1’s cover]

12) Marvel Magazines Ad [various] 2p

Notes: Final issue. The blonde babe has vanished from the cover. Archie Goodwin is listed as a consulting editor. Dean Mullaney & future Marvel writer Ralph Macchio send in letters. ‘Blood Of My Blood’ is the best Dracula story although ‘Bounty For A Vampire’ is also good. Best art honors go to Russ Heath’s gory portfolio pieces. So good that one wishes that Heath could have done a Lilith or Dracula story for Marvel. Sutton’s excellent ‘The Toad’ was the only non-Dracula or Lilith original story ever published in Dracula Lives! It had a beautiful job on both story and art. A rare non-Warren appearance for writer Rich Margopoulos. A Dracula Lives! Annual would appear in place of a 14^th issue.

The Haunt Of Horror (digest version)

1. cover: Gray Morrow (June 1973)

1) The Unspoken Invitation [Gerry Conway] 2p [text article]

2) Conjure Wife [Fritz Leiber/John Romita & Gene Colan] 69p reprinted from Unknown Worlds

(Apr. 1943)

3) Dr. Warm: The First Step [George Alec Effinger/Frank Brunner] 20p [story credited to John

K. Diomede]

4) Neon [Harlan Ellison/Walt Simonson] 10p

5) Loup Garou [A. A. Attansio/Mike Ploog] 11p

6) In The Wind [Gerry Conway] 1p [text article]

7) Seeing Stingy Ed [David R. Bunch] 3p

8) The Lurker In The Family Room [Denny O’Neil] 5p [text article]

9) A Nice Home [Beverly Goldberg/?] 3p

10) Ghost In The Corn Crib [R. A. Lafferty/Dan Green] 6p

11) Nightbeat [Ramsey Campbell/Frank Brunner] 5p

12) Boo Kreview: The Book Of Skulls/Dying Inside/The Dreaming City/The Sleeping Sorceress

[Baird Searles] 4p [text article]

13) Author’s Page [Gerry Conway] 2p

14) Usurp The Night [Robert E. Howard/?] 17p reprinted from ? (? 1970)

Notes: Publisher: Stan Lee. Editor: Gerry Conway. Associate editor: George Alec Effinger. $.75 for 160 pages. This is not a comic magazine but an actual prose digest, like the Magazine Of Fantasy & Science Fiction, etc. It’s included here strictly because Marvel later used the title for a B&W comic magazine and I didn’t want people to get confused. All stories are prose unless otherwise indicated. That said, this is a really good little magazine. Leiber’s novel is a genuine classic {you can find it today in an edition published by Tor entitled Dark Ladies} and many of the other stories are quite good reading, especially the Lafferty and Howard. Ellison had the last two pages of his story switched in editing and the story was printed out of sequence. That mistake was corrected in the next issue. The title of the book review section is accurate—that’s how it’s spelled in both issues. The artwork is quite nice with special mention for Ploog’s & Brunner’s contributions.

2. cover: Kelly Freas (Aug. 1973)

1) Conditional Terror [Gerry Conway/Walt Simonson] 2p [text article]

2) Devil Night [Denny O’Neil/John Buscema] 13p

3) Pelican’s Claws [Arthur Byron Cover/Dan Green] 6p

4) Dr. Warm: The Jewel In The Ash [George Alec Effinger/Walt Simonson] 20p [story credited

to John K. Diomede]

5) Conjure Wife, part 2 [Fritz Leiber/Walt Simonson] 69p

6) Kilbride [Ron Goulart/Frank Brunner] 10p

7) In The Wind [Gerry Conway] 1p [text article]

8) Finders Keepers [Anne McCafferty/Billy Graham] 10p

9) Digging Up Atlantis [Lin Carter/?] 6p [text article]

10) Special Feature [Gerry Conway] 1p [text article]

11) Neon [Harlan Ellison/Kelly Freas] 8p reprinted from The Haunt Of Horror #1 (June 1973)

12) Author’s Page [Gerry Conway] 1½p [text article]

13) Mono No Aware [Howard Waldrop/?] 5½p

Notes: Final issue. Ellison’s story was reprinted with the ending pages corrected. Each story had the same ending illustration provided by Walt Simonson. The next issue section, ‘In The Wind’ listed a number of stories intended for the third issue, including John Jakes’ ‘The Running Of Ladyhound’, George Zebrowski’s ‘Fire Of Spring’, R. A. Lafferty’s ‘Goldfish’, Alan Brennert’s ‘The Night People’, Ramsey Campbell’s ‘Writer’s Curse’, a new Dr. Warm story by George Alec Effinger {aka John K. Diomede} and non-fiction articles by Lin Carter & Denny O’Neil. The intended cover, by Kelly Freas, could be seen in ads in the various B&W magazines. That cover, and several of the stories mentioned, never saw print.

Monsters Unleashed!

1. cover: Gray Morrow (July 1973)

1) The Man Who Cried Werewolf! [Gerry Conway/Pablo Marcos] 10p from the story ‘The Man

Who Cried Wolf!’ by Robert Bloch

2) Ghosties And Ghoulies And Things That Go Bump In The Brain… [Roy Thomas] 1p [text

article w/photo]

3) The Thing In The Freezer [Marv Wolfman/Syd Shores] 5p

4) Vampire Tale [Stan Lee/Doug Wildey] 5p reprinted from Journey Into Mystery #16 (June

1954)

5) The Haunt Of Horror Ad [Kelly Freas] 1p

6) Solomon Kane: Skulls In The Stars [Roy Thomas/Ralph Reese] 10p from the story by Robert

E. Howard

7) Portrait Of The Werewolf As A Young Man: The Odyssey Of Larry Talbot [Tony Isabella] 4p

[text article w/photos]

8) One Foot In The Grave [Stan Lee/Tony DiPreta] 4p reprinted from Journey Into Mystery #1

(June 1952)

9) The Fake! [Stan Lee/?] 5p reprinted from ?

10) World Of Warlocks! [Gardner Fox & Roy Thomas/Gene Colan] 10p

11) Next Issue Ad [Mike Ploog] 1p

Notes: Publisher: Stan Lee. Editor: Roy Thomas. $.75 for 72 pages. Like their other horror B&Ws, photo from old movies are used to provide introductions to each story. Monsters Unleashed not only had an awkward title but was also the most unfocused and downright poor B&W that Marvel published. It never seemed to be sure what it was really about. Dracula Lives! featured Dracula. Vampire Tales featured, well, vampires. Tales Of The Zombie was headlined by the zombie, Simon Garth, and was also accompanied by various voodoo stories. Even the latter version of The Haunt Of Horror seemed more focused, even as it did 180 degree spins in intent and content. Thomas promises in the editorial that the focus would be on monsters of all stripes. Ok, so based on this issue you’d think that this book was intended as a home for the literary horror adaptations that the color books Journey Into Mystery and Chamber Of Chills had been delivering. Not a bad idea at all but that approach never continued past #2. Two of the stories herein were actually sword & sorcery tales that would have fit right in at Savage Tales. Not really straight monster stories at all, although the Solomon Kane adaptation certainly straddles both genres. With the second issue, Marvel would take a different direction, attempting to do B&W versions of some of their color comic monsters but those efforts were beset with deadline problems, hampered by stories that made no sense unless you read the color books and cursed with embarrassingly poor serials. The magazine often seemed padded, even more so than Marvel’s other B&Ws. That’s not to say that good material didn’t appear here. This first issue is not bad at all. The Bloch adaptation is quite acceptable and the Kane adaptation is great. ‘World Of Warlocks!’ seems stodgy but Colan’s pencils & inks are fun to see. 32 pages of new art & story.

2. cover: Boris Vallejo (Sept. 1973)

1) Frankenstein 1973 [Gary Friedrich/John Buscema & Syd Shores] 13p

2) Vampire Tales Ad [Gil Kane] 1p

3) Monster Rally [Roy Thomas] 1p [text article w/photo]

4) Book Review: Karloff: The Man, The Monster, The Movies [Tony Isabella] 6p [text article

w/photos]

5) Lifeboat! [Gerry Conway/Jesus Blasco] 8p

6) Tales Of The Zombie Ad [Pablo Marcos] ½p

7) The Madman [Stan Lee/Bill Everett] 7p reprinted from Menace #4 ( 1954)

8) Monster Madness/Dracula Lives! Ad [photo/Neal Adams] 1p [Adams’ art from Dracula’s

origin tale]

9) The World’s Most Wanted Monster: The Saga Of The Karloff Frankenstein [Martin Pasko] 6p

[text article w/photos]

10) Strange Tales/Marvel Spotlight/Savage Tales Ads [John Romita, Herb Trimpe, Barry Smith]

2p [Brother Voodoo, the Son of Satan & Conan are featured.]

11) Sword Of Dragonus [Frank Brunner & Chuck Robinson/Frank Brunner] 8p reprinted from

Phase #1 (Sept. 1971)

12) Crazy Ad [Marie Severin] ½p

13) The Roaches! [Gerry Conway/Ralph Reese] 10p from the story by Thomas M. Disch

Notes: Great cover by Vallejo featuring Frankenstein’s monster. Thomas announces a new direction in the second issue. This time concentrating on serials, with the first being the monster of Frankenstein. The best horror work Marvel ever produced was the first six issues of The Monster Of Frankenstein, a color comic that adapted Mary Shelley’s novel, coupled with a new wraparound story. Gary Friedrich’s adaptation and expansion of the novel was top notch and it was beautifully complemented by Mike Ploog’s artwork {you can find those stories in stunning B&W in The Essential Frankenstein—in fact, those six issues are the only reason to buy that book}. However the storyline was set in the 1890s or thereabouts and Marvel wanted a more contemporary series. So Friedrich, with artists Buscema & Shores, bumped the monster up to 1973, leaving how he got there a bit of a mystery. It’s a good start for this series, with a strong script and excellent artwork. John Buscema does such a good job, in fact, that one wonders why his artwork for the color book {he would take over with #7} was so dreadful. Maybe this issue’s art is so good simply due to Shores’ strong inking. ‘Sword Of Dragonus’ is a reprint from a fanzine and is very good, with the best art of the issue. A sequel to this story would appear in the 3^rd issue of Mike Friedrich’s independent magazine Star*Reach. Best script goes to Gerry Conway’s excellent adaptation of ‘The Roaches!’ 31 pages of new story & art.

3. cover: Neal Adams (Nov. 1973)

1) Marvel Magazines Ad [John Buscema, JAD, Kelly Freas, Pablo Marcos, Rich Buckler & Herb

Trimpe] 1p [frontis—Savage Tales/Vampire Tales/Crazy/Tales Of The Zombie/Dracula

Lives! & the never published digest version of The Haunt Of Horror #3 are featured.]

2) Man-Thing! [Roy Thomas & Gerry Conway/Gray Morrow] 11p reprinted from Savage Tales

#1 (May 1971)

3) Monsters Unleashed! Ad [Neal Adams] 1p

4) The Cyclops [Stan Lee/Jack Davis] 4p reprinted from Journey Into Unknown Worlds #50

(1950?)

5) Frankenstein A.K. (After Karloff) [Martin Pasko] 4p [text article w/photos]

6) The Death-Dealing Mannikin [Kit Pearson & Tony Isabella/Winslow Mortimer] 8p

7) Crazy Ad [Kelly Freas] 1p

8) Contact! [Tom Sutton] 2p reprinted from Tower Of Shadows #6 (July 1970)

9) Swamp Girl [?/?] 5p reprinted from Mystic #19 (

10) Preview: The Son Of Satan [Carla Joseph/Herb Trimpe] 4p [art from various Son Of Satan

stories]

11) The Cold Of The Uncaring Moon [Steve Skeates/George Tuska & Klaus Janson] 7p

12) Birthright! [Roy Thomas/Gil Kane & the Crusty Bunkers] 13p

13) Monsters Unleashed! Feature Page: Playboy’s Gahan Wilson/The Story Behind The Swamp

[Don Thompson & Roy Thomas/Gahan Wilson & Neal Adams] 1p [text articles]

14) Next Issue Ad [Pablo Marcos] 1p [Gullivar Jones Of Mars is featured.]

Notes: Man-Thing is cover featured. Marv Wolfman is now listed as associate editor, although he actually functions as the editor. The second offering of Frankenstein 1973 was delayed when Syd Shores suddenly died in the midst of inking the story. The Man-Thing reprint was undoubtably rushed in as a replacement. ‘Birthright!’ was completed by Neal Adams’ Crusty Bunkers when the original inker {who appears to be Ralph Reese on pages 1-3} got caught short for time. Al Williamson was listed in fanzine records as an artist for SF/fantasy story that was to appear in Monsters Unleashed! His contribution never appeared and I suspect that ‘Birthright’ was that story. Best story and art goes to ‘The Cold Of The Uncaring Moon’, a decent little werewolf tale. 28 pages of new art & story. The letters’ page debuts.

4. cover: Frank Brunner (Feb. 1974)

1) They Might Be Monsters [Tony Isabella/Pablo Marcos] 1p [frontis]

2) Frankenstein 1973: The Classic Monster! [Gary Friedrich/John Buscema, Syd Shores &

Winslow Mortimer] 10p

3) Crazy Ad [Marie Severin] 1p

4) The Hands! [Stan Lee/Gene Colan] 5p reprinted from Adventure Into Terror #14 (

5) Our Martian Heritage: An Excursion Into Fantasy [Chris Claremont] 4p [text article w/photos]

6) Gullivar Jones, Warrior Of Mars: Web Of Hate [Tony Isabella/Dave Cockrum] 11p

7) Gullivar Jones: First Man On Mars [The Bullpen/Jim Steranko] 1p [text article, details the

history of Gullivar Jones]

8) A Monster Reborn [Steve Gerber/Pablo Marcos] 5p

9) Dracula Lives! Ad [Pablo Marcos] 1p

10) Book Review: The Monster Maker—A Review Of Ray Harryhausen’s Film Fantasy

Scrapbook [Tony Isabella] 7p [text article w/photos]

11) Vampire Tales/Werewolf By Night Ads [Esteban Maroto/Mike Ploog] 1p

12) The Killers [?/Bernie Krigstein] 5p reprinted from Adventure Into Weird Worlds #10 (

13) To Love, Honor, Cherish…’Til Death [Chris Claremont/Don Perlin] 8p

14) In Memoriam: Lon Chaney, Jr. [Martin Pasko] 1p [text article w/photo]

Notes: A four month gap separates #3 & #4. Brunner’s cover was originally intended for the cancelled Haunt Of Horror digest. Syd Shores had inked the first seven pages of the Frankenstein 1973 episode when he died unexpectedly and Win Mortimer finished the inking, also re-inking the head of the monster throughout. Gullivar Jones was a science fantasy strip, based on a novel by Edwin L. Arnold that predated Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter Of Mars novels. It had previously appeared in the color comic, Creatures On The Loose #16-21. Bernie Krigstein has a large and justly earned reputation as an artist but his reprint appearance here is just standard 1950s art. Nothing special. For all the ballyhoo of the return of Frankenstein’s monster {after six months who really remembered the first episode?} and the B&W debut of Gullivar Jones, the best story here {and it’s a little gem!} is Steve Gerber and Pablo Marcos’ oddly tender tale of a lonely rabbi’s restoration of faith by way of a golem. One of Marvel’s best stand-alone stories. 35 pages of new art & story.

5. cover: Bob Larkin/frontis & inside back cover: Frank Brunner (Apr. 1974) Brunner’s art is a reprint

from Man-Thing #1’s cover

1) Man-Thing: All The Faces Of Fear! [Tony Isabella/Vicente Alcazar] 11p

2) Movie Review: The Golden Voyage Of Sindbad Or What To Do Till The Genie Comes [Gerry

Conway] 6p [text article w/photos]

3) Peter Snubb: Werewolf [Tony Isabella/Ron Wilson] 1p

4) Crazy Ad [Marie Severin] 1p

5) The Dark Passage [Stan Lee/Ogden Whitney] 5p reprinted from Adventure Into Terror #10 (