Last updated 22 September 2008. 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.

The Warren Magazines

The Warren magazines were the big cheese in the black & white horror magazine boom for the 1960s-1970s, if only because they were there first and they lasted the longest. James Warren, the publisher of several different movie magazines, most notably ‘Famous Monsters Of Filmland’, was a long time lover of comics, particularly the EC comics of the early 1950s. He made a few tentative stabs at comics in 1964, producing a trio of stories adapting movies from the 1930s for ‘Monster World’, a sister magazine of ‘Famous Monsters Of Filmland’. In late 1964 he decided to take the plunge, producing a full-length comic anthology. It should be noted that the magazines he published were not comic books but magazines. They had to be.

The Comics Code Authority, established in 1955 to ‘clean up’ comics, had demolished the EC empire of quality horror comics as well as most of the lesser publishers of horror comics and forced those publishers who survived to water down the content to near pablum. You couldn’t use vampires, zombies, skeletons, ghouls, etc as characters in a comic book. You couldn’t show blood or horrific details. Nor could you use such words as horror, crime or terror in titles. As the comic industry existed in 1964, a revival of EC-type comics wouldn’t have been possible.

Besides, Warren published magazines, designed to sit on stands alongside Look, Life, Sports Illustrated or Playboy. Well, maybe a few shelves over from those magazines but still in the general vicinity. Nowhere near those tawdry comic spinner racks.

Plus, the Comics Code Authority had no authority over magazines, since nobody had ever published a comic book in magazine form. EC had, in its dying days, published what they called Picto-Fiction. Prose stories dealing with crime and horror with a heavy amount of art in comic book style. However, this experiment was a failure. They also changed their humor comic, Mad, into a magazine. They promptly stopped calling it a comic, however. It was now a humor magazine.

So Warren decided to publish his comic stories in a format he was comfortable with, for a distribution system he understood and in a style that allowed him a great deal of freedom. Then he aimed those stories at the exact same audience that the regular four-color comics had targeted—12-14 year old boys. It was a smart and, as it turned out, profitable end run around the Comics Code.

The Warren run can be split up into five distinct eras. The first was The Goodwin Era, which ran from 1965-1967. Obviously this era was marked by the work of Archie Goodwin, who edited the line and wrote most of the stories for this period. It’s hard to overemphasize how important Goodwin’s work here is. He not only provided a foundation for Warren Publications to grow and succeed, but he also provided a template for other comic writers and for many future writers of horror prose.

The success of Warren, a major portion of which can be laid at Goodwin’s door, gave Marvel, DC & Charlton the desire to reenter the horror field, which helped spark the changing of the comics code and directly lead to the horror boom that comics went through from 1971-1975. Warren artist Joe Orlando became an editor at DC and, for at least the years 1968-1973, provided a truly good horror line. Charlton revitalized its own horror line and provided a home base for Steve Ditko, Pat Boyette, Rocco Mastroserio and other Warren artists. Marvel blantantly copied Warren when it began its color horror line in 1969. Its horror hosts for both Tower Of Shadows & Chamber Of Darkness looked and sounded a great deal like Uncle Creepy and the style of story was modeled much more after the Warren stories than EC’s sardonic brand of horror. Later, Warren artists such as Mike Ploog, Gray Morrow and Tom Sutton became major forces in creating and refining Marvel characters such as Frankenstein’s Monster, Werewolf By Night, Man-Thing, Morbius, and Ghost Rider.

Recently, while reading a collection of Al Sarrantonio’s stories (a strong writer and probably the major editor in the horror field today), I was pleasantly shocked to recognize that his major influence appeared to be the Archie Goodwin Warren stories. In fact, there wasn’t a story in that collection that would not have fit handsomely in a Warren magazine circa 1965-1967. I suspect that Stephen King read Warren comics during this period. I know he read the Skywald books in the early 1970s.

But even beyond the solid foundation and literary influence that Goodwin built were his rock solid stories month after month. This, along with the respect, care and extra effort that every artist seemed to strive for when working on them, coupled with the obvious joy Goodwin took in tailoring stories for their particular skills, created an extremely high quality of magazine. Re-reading this three-year stretch of stories was just a joy.

By the end of 1967 however, Goodwin and almost all of the artists he had worked with left, victims of a money crunch that forced Warren Publishing to drastically cut page rates and launching Warren into its dark age. For the next two and a half years 50% or more of every issue would be reprints. Most of the new stories were so-so at best and were greatly hampered by inferior art, with only Tom Sutton (the only Goodwin era artist to regularly contribute during this time) and Ernie Colon providing any steady quality work.

The end of the dark age was highlighted by the launch of Vampirella, a new comic magazine with a sexy vampiress hosting it. From 1969-1973, Warren rebuilt its position as the leading black & white horror publisher. In doing so, Warren launched an astonishing number of artists & writers’ careers into mainstream comics, including (although not limited to) Dave Cockrum, Mike Ploog, Doug Moench, Nicola Cuti, Rich Buckler, Don McGregor, Al Hewetson, Ed Fedory, Bill Black, Rich Corben, Boris Vallejo, Ken Kelly, Paul Neary, Budd Lewis and many more.

In 1973, two events occurred that completely changed the look of a Warren comic. First, was the ‘invasion’ of Spanish artists from the S.I. Studio. Many of these artists came from the European romance field and their ability to draw startling beautiful women as well as a different brand of horror than American readers were used to was certainly a major draw. The second was a complete graphic re-design of the magazines themself by new editor Bill DuBay. During his first stint as editor (he would hold the title three different times) from 1973-1976, he was very much a hands on boss and the quality of the magazines’ stories and art greatly improved. Warren introduced color sections with coloring that was better than any of the comic companies except possibly Playboy’s “Little Annie Fannie”. They reintroduced Will Eisner’s The Spirit to readers who probably weren’t ever born when the original run ended. In addition, DuBay’s reign also seem to feature a uniform approach to the style and mood of the horror in the magazines. An approach that was as strong as, but completely different from, the approach that Goodwin used. It was certainly something that had not been reflected in the scatter-shot years from 1968-1972.

Beginning in 1976, Louise Jones, former wife of artist Jeff Jones and future wife of artist Walt Simonson, headed the editorial staff, maintaining much of the best of the innovations that DuBay introduced while pulling back into the Warren fold some of the artists that had vanished from the pages of the Warren magazines back in 1967.

After Jones left in 1980, the magazines entered a slow decline under a series of different editors. Bill DuBay came back twice, once using the non-de-plume of Will Richardson, but the quality of the magazines took a sharp nosedive both times. The Spanish artists largely left and were replaced by artists from the Phillipines. Mind you, these were not bad artists, but, with the notable excepations of Alex Nino, Alfredo Alcala and Vic Catan, stylistically they tended to be rather dull. By 1983, when the line collapsed, Creepy seemed to be just plodding along, while Eerie had abandoned horror completely and was a tottering shell of the fine magazine it had used to be. Only Vampirella was showing signs of life. Under the editorship of Timothy Moriarty, it was staging a comeback when the axe fell.

What caused the collapse? There were a number of different reasons. A major one being that publisher James Warren had fallen ill some years earlier and had little to do with the day to day operations of the company any longer. The independent comic shop boom had just begun with new comic companies seemingly springing up overnight. The fresh books and the look of those books left Warren’s magazines looking somewhat obsolete. Many of Warren’s best writers and artists were gone, either working for the big two comic companies or for the new independents. The remaining writers, many of whom had delivered fine work over the years, seemed burnt out. The editorial revolving door insured that no strong hand was at the helm. The horror boom of the early 1970s was over. Distribution was changing with the old markets of newsstands, drug stores and supermarkets dropping comic books and magazines from their inventories. The new comic shops which replaced those markets were none too interested in the Warren books, which appeared old fashioned and tired (and didn’t fit into spinner racks!). After 18 years the line ended, not with a whimper or bang, but largely with a yawn.

For much of the 20 years since, there seemed to be few who cared. Harris Publications bought up the assets of Warren and relaunched Vampirella with some success in the 1990s. Still Vampi was never that strong of a character to begin with and the Harris version doesn’t seem to have improved her. However, in recent years there’s been a rebirth of interest in the original Warren line, with probably the most important example being The Warren Companion, complied by David A. Roach & Jon B. Cooke, which is an excellent book length expansion of the 4^th issue of the comic history magazine, Comic Book Artist. Another decent source is Stephen Sennitt’s Ghastly Terror, although there are some irritating technical art/text screwups {covers & art pages mentioned don’t appear on the appropriate page of text} and, at times, Sennitt’s opinions and bias are not supported by his own observations. Nonetheless, there’s a great deal of useful information in the book. In 2003, Spooky, a fine fanzine dedicated to the history of Warren Publications, debuted. At this writing it has published six issues and has improved its content with every new outing.

It’s my hope that this checklist is also a worthy addition to those fans and readers interested in that history. For your added pleasure, there are a number of interviews with Warrren writers, artists & editors located at the Warren Interviews page. Have fun!

The Goodwin Era

Creepy

1. cover: Jack Davis (Jan. 1965)

1) Uncle Creepy’s Welcome [Russ Jones?/Jack Davis] 1p [frontis]

2) Voodoo! [Bill Pearson/Joe Orlando] 6p [story credited to Russ Jones & Bill Pearson]

3) H2O World! [Larry Ivie/Al Williamson & Roy G. Krenkel] 6p

4) Vampires Fly At Dusk! [Archie Goodwin/Reed Crandall] 6p

5) Werewolf! [Larry Ivie/Frank Frazetta] 6p

6) Bewitched! [Larry Ivie/Gray Morrow] 6p

7) The Success Story [Archie Goodwin/Al Williamson] 6p

8) Pursuit Of The Vampire! [Archie Goodwin/Angelo Torres] 6p

9) Creepy Ad [illustrated: Frank Frazetta] 1p

Notes: Publisher: James Warren. Editor: Russ Jones. 35 cents for 48 pages. No cover date but in keeping with the dates on the 3^rd issue, this would probably have been dated Jan. or Winter 1965. Jack Davis provides several head shots of Uncle Creepy for story introductions. Bill Pearson has stated in print his displeasure over Russ Jones’ claiming of writing credit for the lead off story. Pearson insists it’s all his work. Apparently this first issue was originally intended to be an ‘all EC artists’ effort with the story ‘Bewitched’ intended to be Wally Wood’s contribution. Somehow the story was sent to artist Gray Morrow instead, making him the only non-EC artist included. The Frazetta story was his last comic art, except for two Creepy’s Loathsome Lore pages, which may have been done prior to the art for this story. The best story in this issue, Goodwin’s ‘The Success Story’, was based on an actual comic strip artist who conned his ghost penciler, inker & writer, who were unaware of each other, into doing the entire strip while the original artist claimed credit for it. Characters in the story are based on Goodwin, Williamson, Angelo Torres & Al McWilliams. All in all, a very good first issue.

2. cover: Frank Frazetta (Apr. 1965)

1) Uncle Creepy’s Introduction [Archie Goodwin?/Angelo Torres] 1p [frontis]

2) Fun And Games! [Archie Goodwin/Joe Orlando] 6p

3) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Vampires! [Archie Goodwin/Bob Lubbers] 1p

4) Spawn Of The Cat People [Archie Goodwin/Reed Crandall] 6p

5) Wardrobe Of Monsters! [Otto Binder/Gray Morrow & Angelo Torres] 8p

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

7) Welcome Stranger [Archie Goodwin/Al Williamson] 7p

8) I, Robot [Otto Binder/Joe Orlando] 7p from the story by Otto Binder

9) Ogre’s Castle [Archie Goodwin/Angelo Torres] 6p

10) Creepy Ad [illustrated: Jack Davis] 1p

Notes: Goodwin was now listed as story editor. Again, no cover date but this would have been the Apr. or Spring 1965 issue. It also turned out to be the first bi-monthly issue. The ‘I, Robot’ adaptation by Otto Binder was his third attempt to present this series in comic form. The first was for EC comics in the 1950s {Orlando did the artwork for that attempt too} and a second attempt appeared in the 1964 in a fanzine with art by D. Bruce Berry. This version would run irregularly over the next two years. Davis appeared with more illos of Uncle Creepy for story introductions. The art from the Creepy ad by Davis would turn up again as the cover to the Eerie #1 ashcan edition. The Loathsome Lore pages listed here did not have official titles for the first 25 or so issues. Titles noted are actually coined by me, based on lore content. The first letters’ page featured letters from Rip Kirby artist John Prentice & Onstage artist Leonard Starr. ‘Ogre’s Castle’ is an especially good story although the art for ‘Spawn Of The Cat People’ is quite nice as well. ‘Wardrobe Of Monsters’ has Gray Morrow doing the first seven pages while Angelo Torres did the 8^th and last. The first Frazetta cover effort featured a man threatened by growling black panthers. Good, but a long ways from what he was soon to show readers. Frazetta’s Creepy paintings are sometimes listed as his first horror paintings but he was doing Ballantine’s paperback EC collections at the same time. The first EC collection appeared at roughly the same time as Creepy #1. All four of these paperbacks had knockout horror covers. Another solid issue.

3. cover: Frank Frazetta (June 1965)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Ghouls! [Archie Goodwin/Jack Davis] 1p [frontis]

2) Swamped! [written: Archie Goodwin/Angelo Torres] 8p

3) Tell-Tale Heart! [Archie Goodwin/Reed Crandall] 8p from the story by Edgar Allan Poe

4) Howling Success! [Archie Goodwin/Angelo Torres] 7p

5) Haunted! [Archie Goodwin/Gray Morrow] 6p

6) Incident In The Beyond! [Archie Goodwin/Gray Morrow] 6p

7) Return Trip! [Arthur Porges/Joe Orlando] 8p

8) Uncle Creepy Ad [Jack Davis] 1p [on inside back cover]

Notes: Frazetta’s cover depicted a ghoul entering a castle. Again no cover date but this would be the June issue. A very good issue with ‘Swamped!’ and the ‘Tell-Tale Heart’ adaptation holding the honors for best stories. The art is at a high level throughout with a special tip of the hat to Crandall’s Poe adaptation. Morrow employed very different art approaches for his two stories. Orlando’s art appears to be channeling Johnny Craig’s at certain points. The Loathsome Lore segment featured Jack Davis’ only comic art for Warren. The letters’ page featured a reprint of a three panel ‘Bullwinkle’ comic strip featuring Uncle Creepy, illustrated by Al Kilgore.

4. cover: Frank Frazetta (Aug. 1965)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Corpses! [Archie Goodwin/Al Williamson] 1p [frontis]

2) Monster Rally! [Archie Goodwin/Angelo Torres] 8p

3) Blood And Orchids! [Archie Goodwin/Al McWilliams] 7p

4) The Damned Thing! [Archie Goodwin/Gray Morrow] 6p from the story by Ambrose Bierce

5) Moon City! [Larry Englehart/Al McWilliams] 6p

6) Curse Of The Full Moon! [Archie Goodwin/Reed Crandall] 8p

7) The Trial Of Adam Link! [Otto Binder/Joe Orlando] 7p from the story by Binder

8) Creepy Ad [Angelo Torres] 1p [on inside back cover]

Notes: Goodwin was now listed as editor. The magazine increased to 56 pages but most of that is given over to Captain Company ads. No cover date but this is the Aug. 1965 issue. Frazetta’s cover was his best yet--a man is confronted by a werewolf while traveling over the moors. Just beautiful and the first true classic Warren cover. ‘Monster Rally’ revealed the origin of Uncle Creepy. Art honors go to Al McWilliams for two very good jobs—making one wish he had done more for Warren. The best is ‘Blood And Orchids’. Crandall’s art job is also quite nice and illustrated the best story for this issue.

5. cover: Frank Frazetta (Oct. 1965)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Zombies! [Archie Goodwin/Angelo Torres] 1p [frontis]

2) Family Reunion! [Archie Goodwin/Joe Orlando] 8p

3) Blazing Combat Ad [John Severin] 1p

4) Untimely Tomb! [Archie Goodwin/Angelo Torres] 7p [title is credited to Anne T. Murphy]

5) Creepy Fan Club Ad [Frank Frazetta & Angelo Torres] 1p [Torres art is a reprint, Frazetta’s

art is a B&W repo of the Uncle Creepy portrait which was one of the fan club’s

offerings.]

6) Sand Doom [Archie Goodwin/Al Williamson] 6p

7) The Judge’s House! [Archie Goodwin/Reed Crandall] 8p from the story by Bram Stoker

8) Grave Undertaking [Archie Goodwin/Alex Toth] 6p

9) Revenge Of The Beast! [Archie Goodwin/Gray Morrow] 7p

Notes: Frazetta’s vampire cover was ok, but not his best work. The interior, however, was an absolute blast! Williamson’s best art job for the early Warren issues, Toth’s debut and solid efforts from Orlando, Torres, Crandall & Morrow make this an art fan’s delight. Shoot, even the ads had great art! Severin’s Blazing Combat ad had the same art as Blazing Combat’s #1’s frontis. All of the stories were by Goodwin and there wasn’t a clinker in the lot, with high points probably going to his Stoker adaptation. Anne T. Murphy was Goodwin’s wife.

6. cover: Frank Frazetta (Dec. 1965)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Mummy’s Curse! [Archie Goodwin/Roy G. Krenkel] 1p [frontis]

2) The Thing In The Pit! [Larry Ivie/Gray Morrow] 8p

3) Thumbs Down! [Anne T. Murphy/Al Williamson] 6p

4) Adam Link In Business! [Otto Binder/Joe Orlando] 7p from the story by Binder

5) The Cask Of Amontillado! [Archie Goodwin/Reed Crandall] 8p from the story by Edgar Allan

Poe

6) Eerie Ad [Angleo Torres] 1p [Uncle Creepy is featured.]

7) The Stalkers [Archie Goodwin/Alex Toth] 6p

8) Abominable Snowman! [Bill Pearson/John Severin] 6p

9) Gargoyle [Archie Goodwin & Roy G. Krenkel/Angelo Torres] 8p

Notes: Size increase to 64 pages. Frazetta’s gargoyle cover was laid out by Roy G. Krenkel. Krenkel did this for several other Frazetta covers. In fact, he did quite a lot of work in the background for Warren but rarely appeared front & center for a solo art job. Much of his cover layouts were printed for the first time in the EC fanzine Squa Tront #7 in 1974. It’s a shame that many of them never progressed to full painting as they’re all very striking. Anne T. Murphy contributed her only story for Warren and it was quite good, with snazzy Williamson art. The Poe adaptation is the high point for this issue, both storywise & artwise. Future comic pro Frank Brunner had a letter published. A rubber Uncle Creepy mask was used in an ad on the back cover.

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.

8. cover: Gray Morrow (Apr. 1966)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Vampire Traps! [Archie Goodwin/Angelo Torres] 1p [frontis]

2) The Coffin Of Dracula [Archie Goodwin/Reed Crandall] 10p

3) Death Plane [Larry Ivie/George Evans] 6p

4) The Mountain [Johnny Craig] 6p [story & art credited to Jay Taycee]

5) The Invitation [Larry Englehart, Russ Jones & Maurice Whitman/Manny Stallman] 7p

6) The Creepy Fan Club: Gray Morrow Profile [Archie Goodwin/Kirk Henderson] 1p [text

article w/photo]

7) Adam Link’s Mate! [Otto Binder/Joe Orlando] 8p from the story by Binder

8) Vested Interest [Ron Parker/George Tuska] 6p

9) Fitting Punishment [Archie Goodwin/Gene Colan] 8p

Notes: With two horror magazines coming out, Frazetta was now too busy to do every cover so Gray Morrow stepped in with a fine cover, highlighting Warren’s new serial, ‘The Coffin Of Dracula’, which takes place directly after the events in Stoker’s novel. The art highpoint is Johnny Craig’s beautifully shaded pencil art for his own story. The story highpoints are the Dracula serial & Craig’s work, although none of the stories are bad. Wish I could say the same about the art. Stallman’s work is fair, at best, and Tuska’s (generally a pretty good artist) effort is pretty limp. EC great George Evans does his only horror work for Warren. It ain’t bad but that’s about the best you could say about it.

9. cover: Frank Frazetta (June 1966)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Giant Man-Apes! [Archie Goodwin/Roy G. Krenkel] 1p [frontis]

2) Dark Kingdom! [Archie Goodwin/Gray Morrow] 8p

3) The Castle On The Moor! [Johnny Craig] 6p [story & art credited to Jay Taycee]

4) Adam Link’s Vengeance! [Otto Binder/Joe Orlando] 8p from the story by Binder

5) Overworked! [Archie Goodwin/Wally Wood & Dan Adkins] 6p

6) The Creepy Fan Club: Alex Toth Profile [Archie Goodwin/Berni Wrightson] 1p [text article

w/photo]

7) The Coffin Of Dracula, part 2 [Archie Goodwin/Reed Crandall] 8p

8) Out Of Time [Archie Goodwin/Alex Toth] 6p

9) The Spirit Of The Thing! [Archie Goodwin/Steve Ditko] 8p

10) Easy Way To A Tuff Surfboard! [Archie Goodwin/Frank Frazetta] ½p [anti-smoking ad]

Notes: Frazetta’s cover of a swordsman attacked by flying vampires was only fair although the vampires were cool. Morrow’s lead character in his story appears to be the same character he later used in his ‘Edge Of Chaos’ comic for Pacific Comics in the early 1980s. The Wood/Adkins art was not very impressive but then neither was the story. Berni Wrightson made his comics debut with a pin-up showing a man being dragged into a grave by three ghouls. The tombstone in the foreground reads “Berni Wrightson, Dec. 15, 1965.” All in all, this is not a very impressive issue with even the great artists appearing to have an off day and Goodwin’s stories feeling rushed and uninspired. Best efforts are the conclusion to ‘Coffin Of Dracula’ & the Morrow story.

10. cover: Frank Frazetta (Aug. 1966)

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

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

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

4) The Creepy Fan Club: Reed Crandall Profile/Fate’s Verdict/Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Old

Scratch! [Archie Goodwin, Arnold Bojorquez & Ed Lahmann/Frank Brunner, Ed

Lahmann & Brant Withers] 2p [text article/story w/photo]

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

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

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

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

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

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

11. Frank Frazetta (Oct. 1966)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Rochester Rappings! [Ron Parker/John Severin] 1p [frontis]

2) Hop-Frog [Archie Goodwin/Reed Crandall] 8p from the story by Edgar Allan Poe

3) Sore Spot [Archie Goodwin/Joe Orlando] 7p

4) The Doorway! [Archie Goodwin/Dan Adkins] 6p

5) The Black Death! [Ron Parker/Manny Stallman] 8p

6) Beast Man! [Archie Goodwin/Steve Ditko] 8p

7) The Devil To Pay! [Archie Goodwin/Donald Norman] 6p

8) Skeleton Crew! [Archie Goodwin/Angelo Torres] 7p

Notes: Nice giant ape cover by Frazetta. The issue’s highpoint was the moody and effective ‘Hop-Frog’. Probably the best Poe adaptation Goodwin & Crandall did. Solid art and stories throughout the issue.

12. cover: Dan Adkins (Dec. 1966)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Sea Monsters! [Archie Goodwin/Dan Adkins] 1p [frontis]

2) Dark House Of Dreams [Archie Goodwin/Angelo Torres] 6p

3) Turncoat! [Archie Goodwin/Bob Jenney] 6p

4) Maximum Effort! [Ron Parker/Rocco Mastroserio] 7p

5) Voodoo Doll! [Archie Goodwin/Jerry Grandenetti] 6p

6) Blood Of The Werewolf! [Archie Goodwin/Steve Ditko] 8p

7) The Creepy Fan Club: Joe Orlando Profile/Tropical Twilight [Archie Goodwin & Ty Bizony/

Dick Mosso, Bill DuBay, Donna L. Austin & Jim Pinkoski] 2p [text article/story

w/photo] 2p

8) Idol Hands! [Archie Goodwin/Manny Stallman] 6p

9) Adam Link, Robot Detective [Otto Binder/Joe Orlando] 8p from the story by Binder

Notes: A rather ho-hum issue, with Adkins’ cover being no match for the covers that Frazetta and Morrow had been delivering. Grandenetti & Ditko’s art jobs were good and most of the stories were fair. Bill DuBay made his comics debut on the fan page with a science fiction pin-up that was heavily influenced by Wally Wood.

13. cover: Gray Morrow (Feb. 1967)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Becoming A Werewolf! [Archie Goodwin/Gray Morrow] 1p

[frontis]

2) The Squaw! [Archie Goodwin/Reed Crandall] 8p from the story by Bram Stoker

3) Early Warning! [Archie Goodwin/Jerry Grandenetti] 6p

4) Scream Test! [John Benson & Bhob Stewart/Angelo Torres] 7p

5) Madness In The Method! [Carl Wessler/Rocco Mastroserio] 7p

6) The Creepy Fan Club: Angelo Torres Profile/Pipeline [Archie Goodwin & Geoffrey R.

Lucier/Danny Chadbourne, Barry Hoffman & Doyle Sharp] 2p [text article/story
w/photo]

8) Fear In Stone [Archie Goodwin/Gene Colan] 8p

9) Adam Link, Gangbuster! [Otto Binder/Joe Orlando] 8p from the story by Binder

10) Second Chance! [Archie Goodwin/Steve Ditko] 6p

Notes: Morrow’s cover was just fine although that’s got to be the ugliest & skinniest werewolf I’ve ever seen! ‘The Squaw’ was the best story here while Crandall & Ditko shared best art honors. Future artist Leslie Cabarga delivered a letter.

14. cover: Gray Morrow (Apr. 1967)

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

2) Where Sorcery Lives! [Archie Goodwin/Steve Ditko] 8p

3) Art Of Horror [Archie Goodwin/Jerry Grandenetti] 6p

4) Snakes Alive! [Clark Dimond & John Benson/Hector Castellon] 7p

5) The Creepy Fan Club: Archie Goodwin Profile/Train To The Beyond [Archie Goodwin &

Glenn Jones/Randall Larson, Frank Brunner & Joseph J. Dukett] 2p [text article/text

story w/photo]

6) The Beckoning Beyond! [Archie Goodwin/Dan Adkins] 8p

7) Piece By Piece [Archie Goodwin/Joe Orlando] 8p

8) Castle Carrion! [Archie Goodwin/Reed Crandall] 8p

9) Curse Of The Vampire! [Archie Goodwin/Neal Adams] 8p

Notes: Morrow’s sword & sorcery cover was probably his best Warren cover. Good stories and generally good artwork throughout, although Castellon’s art doesn’t do much for me. The voodoo king in that Dimond-Benson/Castellon tale was supposed to be a black man. Frank Brunner’s second appearance on the fan page depicted an ancient & vampiric Batman! Neal Adams made his comics debut here {although he’d been doing the Ben Casey comic strip for at least 3 years}, and it was a quite nice job too! Joe Orlando also had a strong art job.

15. cover: Frank Frazetta (June 1967)

1) Thane: City Of Doom! [Archie Goodwin/Steve Ditko] 8p

2) Adam Link, Champion Athlete! [Otto Binder/Joe Orlando] 7p from the story by Binder

3) The Adventure Of The German Student! [Archie Goodwin/Jerry Grandenetti] 8p from the

story by Washington Irving

4) The River! [Johnny Craig] 6p

5) The Creepy Fan Club: Sink And Fade Swiftly [Archie Goodwin & Mike DeLong/Richard

Morgan, Roger Hill, John Hall & Ron Lukas] 2p [text article/story]

6) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Monsters Of Mythology! [Archie Goodwin/Gil Kane] 1p

7) The Terror Beyond Time! [Archie Goodwin/Neal Adams] 16p

Notes: Frazetta returned with one of his best covers, painted on plywood {actually, it looks like particle board} in six hours! The price went up to 40 cents per issue. Thane was a very irregular series about a Conan-like swordsman. The character appeared only four times between 1967-1979 and was unique in that he never had the same artist twice, although Archie Goodwin was generally the writer. Thane’s physical appearance was also quite different from story to story. The Adams/Goodwin story was the longest tale that Warren had published to date. The best art & story, however, is the Goodwin/Grandenetti adaptation. Some of Grandenetti’s best work. Adam Link appeared for the last time, his series apparently a victim of the upcoming money crunch that would deal a near fatal blow to the Warren comics line.

16. cover: Frank Frazetta (Aug. 1967)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Spirits! [Archie Goodwin/Gil Kane] 1p [frontis]

2) A Curse Of Claws! [Archie Goodwin/Neal Adams] 6p

3) Frozen Fear! [Archie Goodwin/Reed Crandall] 6p

4) Thane: Angel Of Doom! [Archie Goodwin/Jeff Jones] 6p

5) The Frankenstein Tradition! [Archie Goodwin/Rocco Mastroserio] 8p

6) There Was An Old Lady [Daniel Bubacz & Archie Goodwin/Sal Trapani] 6p

7) The Creepy Fan Club: Rocco Mastroserio Profile/A Stroke Of Genius [Archie Goodwin & Tim

Stackline/Dan Gosch, Louie Estrada & Philip Marcino] 2p [text article/story w/photo]

8) Haunted Castle! [Archie Goodwin/Donald Norman] 6p

9) The Sands That Change! [Clark Dimond & Terry Bisson/Steve Ditko] 8p

Notes: Frazetta’s classic cover featured a largely naked blonde with glowing eyes surrounded by a pride of leopards and a single black panther. Jeff Jones made his comics (and possibly professional) debut here. Adams’ & Crandall’s art jobs were noticeably lackluster. Clark Dimond mentions that Steve Ditko didn’t really like ‘The Sands That Change!’ but turned out a professional job nonetheless. Mastroserio takes the art honors here.

17. cover: Frank Frazetta (Oct. 1967)

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

reprinted from Creepy #2 (Apr. 1965)

2) Zombie! [Archie Goodwin/Rocco Mastroserio] 6p

3) Thundering Terror! [Clark Dimond & Terry Bisson/John Severin] 6p

4) Mummy’s Hand [Russ Jones/Joe Orlando] 7p [story is credited to Orlando alone] from the

1940 Universal movie, reprinted from Monster World #2 (Jan. 1965)

5) Heritage Of Horror [Archie Goodwin/Donald Norman] 6p

6) The Creepy Fan Club: Goodwin’s Departure/”Miaow” Said The Pussycat [Archie Goodwin,

James Warren & Richard Mills/R. David Duvall, Robert Sankner & Craig Thorton] 2p

[text article/story]

7) Image In Wax! [Archie Goodwin/Tom Sutton] 6p

8) A Night’s Lodging! [Rhea Dunne/Maurice Whitman] 7p [Lodging is misspelled in the title]

9) The Haunted Sky! [Archie Goodwin/Roger Brand] 6p

Notes: Frazetta’s classic cover depicts an executioner holding a bloody axe. This would be his last cover for two years. The money crunch that nearly crippled Warren started to show its effects as Goodwin’s departure is announced. (Although he’s not listed as the editor of Eerie #12, he clearly had a hand in it & I’ve decided that issue was the final Goodwin Era title.) Other effects from the money crunch included the massive use of reprints, {which began in this issue}, the near-devastating loss of Goodwin’s stories, and the mass exodus of artists due to page rate cuts. In fact, all of the original artists introduced during Goodwin’s run would leave, with the noticeable exceptions of Rocco Mastroserio {who died in 1968} & Tom Sutton. It’s interesting to note that Russ Jones, Creepy’s first editor and the adaptor of the reprinted ‘Mummy’s Hand’, routinely had his credits dropped or erased by James Warren after he and Warren had the falling out that led to Jones’ departure from Warren Publications. ‘Thundering Terror!’ was originally entitled ‘Buffaloed’ {a title actually used for another Severin story in 1974} and was retitled by Archie Goodwin.

Warren’s Dark Age

18. cover: Vic Prezo (Jan. 1968)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Giant Man-Apes! [Archie Goodwin/Roy G. Krenkel] 1p [frontis]

reprinted from Creepy #9 (June 1966)

2) Mountain Of The Monster Gods! [Ron White/Roger Brand] 8p

3) The Rescue Of The Morning Maid! [Raymond Marais/Pat Boyette & Rocco Mastroserio] 10p

[art is credited solely to Mastroserio.]

4) Act, Three! [Johnny Craig] 8p

5) Footsteps Of Frankenstein! [Archie Goodwin/Reed Crandall] 8p reprinted from Eerie #2 (Mar.

1966)

6) Out Of Her Head! [Clark Dimond & Terry Bisson/Jack Sparling] 8p

Notes: Editor: James Warren, although Clark Dimond states that both this and Eerie were ghost edited during this time by an editor friend of Jim Warren’s at Gold Key. This came out a month late but, actually, isn’t too bad of an issue. The amount of content vs. ads was clearly down but the new material here was quite good. Raymond Marais’ story was easily the best story so it’s too bad he only wrote one other script for Warren. He did do quite a number of stories for DC’s mystery books. The Boyette/Mastroserio art team was a good combo as well. Most of the stories were leftovers from the Goodwin Era since Warren had initiated a freeze on buying new stories or art until his finances became less shaky. However, the Dimond/Bisson was purchased by the nameless Gold Key editor before the freeze took place. The headless woman named Rachel in that story was based on Dimond’s fiancé! Terry Bisson would edit the Warren rival Web Of Horror in 1969-1970 and later would become a major award-winning science fiction writer. Cover artist Vic Prezio had done a number of covers for Famous Monsters Of Filmland and would be the main cover artist during the Dark Age. Future comic writer Tony Isabella sent in a letter stating he “was less than wildly enthusiastic about Tom Sutton’s art while still noting that he was a talented newcomer”.

19. cover: Vic Prezo (Mar. 1968)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Mummy’s Curse! [Archie Goodwin/Roy G. Krenkel] 1p [frontis]

reprinted from Creepy #6 (Dec. 1965)

2) The Mark Of The Beast! [Craig Tennis/Johnny Craig] 9p from the story by Rudyard Kipling,

reprinted from Christopher Lee’s Treasury Of Terror (Sept. 1966)

3) Carmilla [John Benson/Bob Jenney] 20p from the story by Sheridan Le Fanu

4) Monsterwork! [Archie Goodwin/Rocco Mastroserio] 6p reprinted from Eerie #3 (May 1966)

5) Eye Of The Beholder! [Archie Goodwin/Johnny Craig] 6p reprinted from Eerie #2 (Mar.

1966)

Notes: Prezo’s cover for the Kipling story was one of his best. Magazine size reduced to 48 pages. This was largely a reprint issue. ‘Carmilla’ was the longest stand alone story that Warren would publish for many years and was originally intended for the never published second paperback collection of Christopher Lee’s Treasury Of Terror, packaged by Warren’s persona non grata former editor, Russ Jones. All the stories that appeared in the first, published volume were reformatted for the larger magazine size and ended up appearing in either Creepy or Eerie.

20. cover: Albert Nuetzell (May 1968) reprinted from Famous Monsters Of Filmland #4 (Aug. 1959)

1) Thumbs Down! [Anne T. Murphy/Al Williamson] 6p reprinted from Creepy #6 (Dec. 1965)

2) Inheritors Of Earth [Hector Castellon] 8p

3) Beauty Or The Beast! [Len Brown/Dick Giordano & Sal Trapani] 8p [art credited solely to

Trapani]

4) The Cask Of Amontillado! [Archie Goodwin/Reed Crandall] 8p from the story by Edgar Allan

Poe, reprinted from Creepy #6 (Dec. 1965)

5) The Damned Thing! [Archie Goodwin/Gray Morrow] 8p from the story by Ambrose Bierce,

reprinted from Creepy #4 (Aug. 1965)

6) A Vested Interest [Ron Parker/George Tuska] 6p reprinted from Creepy #8 (Apr. 1966)

Notes: The first new stories since the freeze appeared but neither were particularly good. The Castellon story was originally written by by Clark Dimond & Terry Bisson but Castellon didn’t understand the script and changed the story so drastically that Bisson & Dimond’s names were dropped. The Ms. Corey mentioned in the story was based on Terry Bisson’s fiancé. As the money crunch continued, it became clear that Warren had two horror magazines to publish but only enough of a budget for one, so each issue between here and early 1970 had reprinted stories for half or more of its content. The Nuetzell cover appears to be a tree-frog, with an arm growing out of one eye. Pretty dreadful image (and not in a good way).

21. cover: Gutenberg Monteiro (July 1968)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Trees! [Bill Parente/Bob Jenney] 1p [frontis]

2) The Rats In The Walls [Bill Parente?/Bob Jenney] 10p from the story by H. P. Lovecraft

3) Room With A View! [Archie Goodwin/Steve Ditko] 6p reprinted from Eerie #3 (May 1966)

4) The Immortals! [Ron Parker/Sal Trapani] 8p

5) The Creepy Fan Club: Bill Parente Profile/The Choice [Bill Parente & Bill Eddy/Nicola Cuti,

Steve Smith, Doyle Sharp & Louie Estrada] 2p [text article/story w/photo]

6) A Reasonable Doubt [Ron Parker/Bill Fraccio & Tony Tallarico] 6p [all of the

Fraccio/Tallarico art done for Warren was credited to Tony Williamsune]

7) Swamped! [Archie Goodwin/Angelo Torres] 8p reprinted from Creepy #3 (June 1965)

8) Timepiece To Terror! [Bill Parente/Gutenberg Mondiero] 7p

Notes: Editor: Bill Parente. Parente was an EC fan (as were Goodwin, Jones, Ivie, Dimond, Benson, Parker & many other of the early writers) and his appearance as editor was a sign of growing stability for the company after several very shaky months. Like Goodwin, he would write many of the stories during his time as editor but there was only one Archie Goodwin and Parente’s stories did not display the quality of the Goodwin Era. The cover for this issue was probably the worse single cover Warren ever published on their comic magazines. Absolutely awful. ‘The Rats In The Walls’ was not from the Christopher Lee paperback series of adaptations so I’m assuming Bill Parente did the adaptation. New editions of Creepy’s Loathsome Lore & The Creepy Fan Club appear for the first time since Goodwin’s departure. Future writer & artist Nicola Cuti appeared on the Fan Club pages. Fan Louie Estrada’s art was quite nice, both here and in future editions, and one wonders why he wasn’t offered an art assignment. The Fraccio {pencils} & Tallarico {inks} art debut as Tony Williamsune {a combo of their first names} would begin a long run of stories for Warren and although their artwork was often sneered at by fans, on occasion they were quite good. Of course, you had to accept that all of their monsters and aliens tended to look like melted wax candle figures.

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!

23. cover: Tom Sutton (Oct. 1968)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: The Changeling! [Bill Parente/Tony Tallarico] 1p [frontis]

2) Way Out! [James Haggenmiller/Donald Norman] 10p

3) Gargoyle [Archie Goodwin & Roy G. Krenkel/Angelo Torres] 8p reprinted from Creepy #6

(Dec. 1965)

4) Jack Knifed! [Bill Parente/Barry Rockwell] 8p

5) Quick Change! [Bill Parente/Tom Sutton] 7p

6) Rude Awakening! [Archie Goodwin/Alex Toth] 6p reprinted from Creepy #7 (Feb. 1966)

7) The Creepy Fan Club: Rendered Helpless [Larry Goldin/Ed Quimby, Frank Brunner & Scott

Grenig] 1p [text story]

8) Cat Nipped [Bill Parente/Bill Fraccio & Tony Tallarico] 6p

9) Uncle Creepy And Cousin Eerie’s Cauldron Contest [Bill Parente/Ernie Colon] 1p [writer’s

contest, on back cover]

Notes: Tom Sutton’s best Warren cover was a beauty. A huge moon hangs over a house on a cliff so undercut that it threatens to dump the entire dwelling into an abyss. Meanwhile a werewolf howls in the foggy valley below. New artist Barry Rockwell & Sutton share the best art honors for this issue. Frank Brunner’s third appearance on the fan page depicted the head of Universal’s Frankenstein’s Monster. The Cauldron Contest offered new writers a chance to have their story illustrated and published.

24. cover: Gutenberg Monteiro (Dec. 1968)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Becoming A Werewolf! [Archie Goodwin/Gray Morrow] 1p

[frontis] reprinted from Creepy #13 (Feb. 1967)

2) Black Magic [Archie Goodwin/Steve Ditko] 8p reprinted from Eerie #5 (Sept. 1966)

3) You Do Something To Me [Bill Parente/Tom Sutton] 6p

4) The Day After Doomsday! [Archie Goodwin/Dan Adkins] 8p reprinted from Eerie #8 (Mar.

1967)

5) Room For A Guest [Bill Parente/Reed Crandall] 6p

6) The Creepy Fan Club: Who Are We? [Robbie Edwards/Brian Clifton] 1p [text story]

7) Typecast! [Archie Goodwin/Jerry Grandenetti] 7p reprinted from Eerie #8 (Mar. 1967)

8) A Silver Dread Among The Gold [George Hagenauer & Bill Parente/Bill Fraccio & Tony

Tallarico] 6p

9) Uncle Creepy And Cousin Eerie’s Cauldron Contest [Bill Parente/Ernie Colon] 1p [on back

cover]

Notes: Reed Crandall was the first Goodwin Era artist to return, indicating once again the easing of Warren’s money problems.

25. cover: Richard Conway (Feb. 1969)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Exorcists! [Bill Parente/Ernie Colon] 1p [frontis]

2) Keep Your Spirits Up [Bill Parente/Reed Crandall] 7p

3) Witches’ Tide [Archie Goodwin/Gene Colon] 8p reprinted from Eerie #7 (Jan. 1967)

4) Their Journey’s End [Bill Parente/Ernie Colon] 7p

5) It That Lurks! [Archie Goodwin/Dan Adkins] 6p reprinted from Eerie #7 (Jan. 1967)

6) The Creepy Fan Club: Black Books!/Park Bench [Bill Parente & Joseph Alaskey/D. Cabrera]

1p [text article/story]

7) Deep Ruby! [Archie Goodwin/Steve Ditko] 6p reprinted from Eerie #6 (Nov. 1966)

8) An Unlikely Visitor [Bill Parente/Bill Fraccio & Tony Tallarico] 7p

Notes: Conway’s (Parente’s asst. editor) cover was interesting. He photographed a model wearing the Creepy rubber mask, dressed in a shabby Santa coat & hat—then set 12 identical poses in the form of Christmas seals. Other than that, this was a fairly average issue for the time, with the Crandall story being the best of the new stuff.

26. cover: Basil Gogos (Apr. 1969) reprinted from Famous Monsters Of Filmland #20 (Nov. 1962)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Sasquatches! [Bill Parente/Bill Fraccio & Tony Tallarico] 1p

[frontis]

2) Stranger In Town [Bill Parente/Tom Sutton] 7p

3) Second Chance! [Archie Goodwin/Steve Ditko] 6p reprinted from Creepy #13 (Feb. 1967)

4) The Creepy Fan Club: Demons!/The Beginning Of The End [Bill Parente, Sam Lambroza &

David Jablin/Jose Velez] 1p [text article/story]

5) Completely Cured [Bill Parente/Bill Fraccio & Tony Tallarico] 7p

6) Untimely Meeting [Bill Parente/Ernie Colon] 8p

7) Backfire! [Archie Goodwin/Gray Morrow] 6p reprinted from Creepy #10 (Aug. 1966)

8) Voodoo Doll! [Archie Goodwin/Jerry Grandenetti] 6p reprinted from Creepy #12 (Dec. 1966)

Notes: Gogos’ reprint cover depicts Lon Chaney in his 1925 role as the vampire from the film London After Midnight. The Parente/Colon story ‘Untimely Meeting’ was quite good as was the Parente/Sutton’s tale ‘Stranger In Town’.

27. cover: Frank Frazetta (June 1969)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Boris Karloff [Forrest J. Ackerman/Bill Fraccio & Tony Tallarico]

1p [frontis]

2) Collector’s Edition [Archie Goodwin/Steve Ditko] 8p reprinted from Creepy #10 (Aug. 1966)

3) Make Up Your Mind [Bill Parente/Bill Fraccio & Tony Tallarico] 6p

4) The Coffin Of Dracula, part 2 [Archie Goodwin/Reed Crandall] 8p reprinted from Creepy #9

(June 1966)

5) Thane: Barbarian Of Fear [Bill Parente/Tom Sutton] 9p

6) The Creepy Fan Club: Embalming [Bill Parente/Ken Kelly] 1p [text article]

7) Brain Trust! [Archie Goodwin/Angelo Torres] 6p reprinted from Creepy #10 (Aug. 1966)

8) Surprise Package [Bill Parente/Ernie Colon] 7p

Notes: Frazetta’s first cover in two years was a revised version of his ‘Mongul’ painting. For some reason, the second half of ‘The Coffin Of Dracula’ was reprinted without including the first half! Future Warren cover artist (and Frank Frazetta’s son-in-law) Ken Kelly made his comics debut on the fan page. The barbarian Thane made his first appearance in two years. He wouldn’t appear again for another nine! Uncle Creepy & Cousin Eerie cameo in the story ‘Surprise Package’. The back cover features an ad for a 3’ tall monster poster that would border and display a photograph, supposedly depicting a monster, that the readers would send in of themselves, with the surrounding art illustrated by Bill Fraccio & Tony Tallarico.

28. cover: Vic Prezo (Aug. 1969)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Fakirs! [Bill Parente/Bill Fraccio & Tony Tallarico] 1p [frontis]

2) Madness In The Method! [Carl Wessler/Rocco Mastroserio] 7p reprinted from Creepy #13

(Feb. 1967)

3) The Creepy Fan Club: Ghoul/Reuben Reid Profile [Bill Parente & Reuben Reid/David Fletcher]

2p [text articles w/photo]

4) In The Subway [Reuben Reid/Bill Fraccio & Tony Tallarico] 7p

5) The Worm Is Turning [Kim Ball/Ernie Colon] 8p

6) Grub! [Nicola Cuti/Tom Sutton] 6p

7) Valley Of The Vampires [Ron Haycock/Bhob Stewart & Steve Stiles] 6p [Haycock’s story

credited to Arnold Hayes.]

8) The Doorway! [Archie Goodwin/Dan Adkins] 6p reprinted from Creepy #11 (Oct. 1966)

9) The Adventure Of The German Student! [Archie Goodwin/Jerry Grandenetti] 8p from the

story by Washington Irving, reprinted from Creepy #15 (June 1967)

10) Vampirella Is Coming! Ad [Bill Parente/Tony Tallarico] 1p

Notes: Cost of magazine rose to 50 cents. Reuben Reid was the Cauldron Contest winner for Creepy. Best story & art was ‘The Worm Is Turning’. Nicola Cuti made his professional debut with ‘Grub!’. The ad at the end shows Uncle Creepy & Cousin Eerie reacting in fear to the coming of an unseen Vampirella.

Warren’s Rebuilding!

29. cover: Vic Prezo (Sept. 1969)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Ghouls! [Archie Goodwin/Jack Davis] 1p [frontis] reprinted from

Creepy #3 (June 1965)

2) The Summer House [Barbara Gelman/Ernie Colon] 8p

3) Thane: Angel Of Doom! [Archie Goodwin/Jeff Jones] 6p reprinted from Creepy #16 (Aug.

1967)

4) Spellbound [Ron Haycock/Bhob Stewart, Will Brown & Mike Royer] 7p [Haycock’s story

credited to Arnold Hayes]

5) Bloody Mary [Buddy Saunders/Bill Fraccio & Tony Tallarico] 7p

6) The Devil Of The Marsh [Don Glut/Jerry Grandenetti] 6p

7) The Creepy Fan Club: So Speaks The Book [C. A. Howard/Anthony Kowalik] 1p [text story]

8) The Frankenstein Tradition! [Archie Goodwin/Rocco Mastroserio] 8p reprinted from Creepy

#16 (Aug. 1967)

9) The Last Laugh [Archie Goodwin/Ernie Colon] 4p

10) Vampirella Is Here! [Bill Parente/Bill Fraccio, Tony Tallarico & Frank Frazetta] 1p

Notes: The beginning of a long period of regrowth & rebuilding begins here, even though reprints would continue for several more issues. Prezo contributed a good cover. Artist Jerry Grandenetti was the second Goodwin Era artist to return while Goodwin himself showed up with his only non-Vamprella original story for Warren between 1967 and 1974. Pretty darn good little story too! The other story highlight was ‘The Summer House’, which, like the Goodwin story, was illustrated by Ernie Colon. The Vampirella ad features Bill Fraccio & Tony Tallarico’s art on Uncle Creepy & Cousin Eerie while Vampirella herself is rendered by Frazetta. The Frazetta art is the same drawing that appears as Vampirella #1’s frontis. Mike Royer made his {uncredited} Warren debut by drawing the female heads in the story ‘Spellbound’.

30. cover: Bill Hughes (Nov. 1969)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Exorcism! [Tom Sutton] 1p [frontis]

2) The Mind Of The Monster! [R. Michael Rosen/Ernie Colon] 6p

3) Drop In! [Don Glut/Tom Sutton] 6p

4) The Haunted Sky! [Archie Goodwin/Roger Brand] 6p reprinted from Creepy #17 (Oct. 1967)

5) The River! [Johnny Craig] 6p reprinted from Creepy #15 (June 1967)

6) To Be Or Not To Be A Witch [Bill Parente/Carlos Prunes] 7p

7) The Creepy Fan Club: The Man In The Monkey Suit [Sam Bellotto, Jr./Brant Withers & Bill

Black] 2p [text story, Black’s art is credited to Bill Schwartz, his real name?]

8) Piece By Piece [Archie Goodwin/Joe Orlando] 8p reprinted from Creepy #14 (Apr. 1967)

9) Dr. Jekyll’s Jest [R. Michael Rosen/Mike Royer] 6p

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

#3 (May 1966) [on inside back cover]

Notes: Bill Hughes’ cover featureed one of the stupidest looking Frankenstein’s monsters I’ve ever seen! The Loathsome Lore section was always at its best when Sutton wrote & illoed it, and this example is no exceptation. The letters’ page featured an explanation by Jim Warren about the recent price hike. The future Spanish invasion of artists is previewed here by S.I. artist Carlos Prunes’ appearance. Future comic artist & publisher Bill Black {aka Bill Schwartz} made his comics debut on the fan page. Mike Royer, best known in comics as the inker for Jack Kirby’s 1970s & 1980s artwork, delivered a great art job for his official Warren debut {see #29 for his unofficial debut}. While his figures were occasionally somewhat stiff, his women were among the most beautiful to ever appear in the Warren magazines.

31. cover: Vaughn Bode & Larry Todd (Feb. 1970)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Torture! [Bill Parente/Bill Fraccio & Tony Tallarico] 1p [frontis]

2) In The Face Of Death [Al Hewetson/Bill Fraccio & Tony Tallarico] 4p

3) Telephoto Troll! [R. Michael Rosen/Roger Brand] 6p

4) A Night’s Lodging! [Rhea Dunne/Maurice Whitman] 7p reprinted from Creepy #17 (Oct.

1967)

5) Snowmen! [Tom Sutton] 8p

6) The Creepy Fan Page: The Master [Marc Rendleman] 1p [text story]

7) A Wooden Stake For Your Heart! [Don Glut/Bill Black] 6p

8) Death Of A Stranger [T. Casey Brennan/Ernie Colon] 6p

9) Laughing Liquid [Kevin Pagan/William Barry] 8p

Notes: Underground artists Vaughn Bode & Larry Todd would do a number of covers for Warren over the next couple of years. This one depicts an odd chicken-like alien, who’s apparently just ripped in half a very human looking robot. The original version of this cover was too bloody, with too many entails {making one suspect the gentleman torn in half was originally intended to be an actual human}, so before publication the original painting was amended by the Warren production department. Reprints begin to be eased out, probably in response to the advent of Web Of Horror, a rival B&W magazine from Major Publications which featured all original stories. Major Publications were also the publishers of the humor magazine Cracked at the time. Both Eerie Publications and Stanley Publications had copied Warren’s lead in publishing B&W magazines in the mid 1960s but Warren, quite rightly, never considered them a threat as those magazines were mostly composed of pretty lousy retouched 1950s horror reprints. Web Of Horror wouldn’t last long {only three issues} but clearly their use of former Warren writers (Otto Binder & Clark Dimond) and artists {Bill Fraccio & Tony Tallarico {with a new penname}, Jeff Jones, Donald Norman, Roger Brand and more}, along with the brightest young turks from the fanzines {Berni Wrightson, Michael Kaluta, Bruce Jones, Ralph Reese, Frank Brunner, etc.} had an effect on Warren. In fact, a letter by one-time Warren editor J. R. Cocharan, that appeared in Canar #21-22 (May-June 1974), stated clearly that Warren’s infamous “war letter” to writers & artists which basically declared that one could either work for the B&W competition or one could work for Warren but you couldn’t work for both, was a direct result of the existence of Web Of Horror. Along with a story in the Jan. issue of Vampirella, this was future Skywald editor Al Hewetson’s professional writing debut. ‘Snowmen!’ by Tom Sutton was quite good and would win the first Warren award for best story. After several appearances on the fan pages, Bill Black made his professional art debut on ‘A Wooden Stake For Your Heart!’ Kevin Pagan also made his professional writing debut.

32. cover: Frank Frazetta (Apr. 1970)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Androids! [Tom Sutton] 1p [frontis]

2) The Story Behind The Rock God [Bill Parente?/Frank Frazetta & Neal Adams] 1p [text

article]

3) Rock God [Neal Adams] 13p from the story by Harlan Ellison

4) Death Is A Lonely Place [Bill Warren/Bill Black] 7p

5) I…Executioner [Don Glut/Mike Royer] 6p

6) A Wall Of Privacy [Nicola Cuti/Ernie Colon] 6p [art credited to David Sinclair]

7) The Creepy Fan Page: To Uncle Creepy/Brief Impulse/The Clock/The Horror At Midnight/

News Item [Michael Paumgardhen, Christopher Laube, Paul J. DeBlasio, Steve Casaw,

G. S. Boyde & Bill Parente/Kenneth Smith, George Hrycun & Ken Johnson] 2p [poems

& text stories]

8) V.A.M.P.I.R.E. [Bill Warren/Bill Fraccio & Tony Tallarico] 8p

9) Movie Dissector! [R. Michael Rosen/Bill DuBay] 6p

10) The 3:14 Is Right On Time! [Ken Dixon/Billy Graham] 7p

Notes: The first all-new issue of Creepy since #16 and it was pretty darn good too! Frazetta’s cover, which was supposed to depict Ellison’s gigantic Rock God, actually appears to be a human-size monster or troll, looking down at a European village. I’ve heard various reasons for this—both that Frazetta only had a paragraph of Ellison’s prose story to fashion his cover from (which seems likely) or that this was actually an inventory cover from 1967. I’d normally discount the inventory cover version since it’s hard to imagine Jim Warren leaving a bought and paid for Frazetta cover sitting on the shelf for two years. Except for one thing. Warren actually did that with a 1971 Frazetta cover done for a proposed Warren magazine entitled POW! That cover, depicting ‘Queen Kong’, went unpublished for seven years! It should also be noted that my giving Neal Adams credit for the adaptation of Ellison’s story is taking into account that Ellison wrote his prose story with the full intent that it be adapted (specifically by Adams) for the Warren line. Not the usual state of affairs for adaptations at all. Regardless, it’s a darn fine story. Adams used Jim Warren himself as the model for the villain of the tale. Kenneth Smith, an underground & fanzine artist made his mainstream debut on the fan page. Brant Withers, a fan page artist, suggested on the letters’ page that an artist contest, similar to the previous year’s writer’s contest, take place but it never happened. Bill DuBay made his professional art debut. After ‘Rock God’, the best story & art was ‘The 3:14 Is Right On Time!’ by Dixon & Graham.

33. cover: Pat Boyette (June 1970)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Mermaids! [Tom Sutton] 1p [frontis]

2) One Too Many [Buddy Saunders/William Barry] 6p

3) Royal Guest [Pat Boyette] 6p

4) Blue Mum Day [R. Michael Rosen/Reed Crandall] 6p

5) Dr. Jekyll Was Right [Bill Warren/Bill Fraccio & Tony Tallarico] 7p

6) I’m Only In It For The Money [Al Hewetson/Juan Lopez] 7p

7) The Full Service! [Nicola Cuti/Jack Sparling] 6p

8) The Creepy Fan Page: Pat Boyette Profile/More Poetry/Rockets To Terror/I Love Her/Message

From The Dead [Bill Parente,Joseph Westbrook, L. Alain Portnoff, David Martin, Allan

Feldman & Mark Aubry] 2p [poems & text stories w/photo]

9) Boxed In! [Tom Sutton] 6p

Notes: Boyette’s cover & interior story were quite good, as was the Rosen/Crandall tale. The best story & art, however, came from Tom Sutton’s homage to Will Eisner—the excellent ‘Boxed In!’

34. cover: Ken Barr (Aug. 1970)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: The Makara! [Dan Adkins] 1p [frontis]

2) X-Tra…”X” [R. Michael Rosen/Jack Sparling] 7p

3) Lifeboat! [Bill Parente/Ken Barr] 7p

4) The Creepy Fan Page: The Doomed/The Movie Critic/Lost: A Life/The Search For The

Phasimara Plant [Thomas Isenberg, Steven Hart, Anthony Kowalik & John Scorfani/

Mondini Gianluigi, Gerald Colucci, Brant Withers, Scot Cassman & Carole MacKinnon]

2p [text stories]

5) The Cool Jazz Ghoul [Al Hewetson/Ken Kelly] 7p

6) Minanker’s Demons [Buddy Saunders/John G. Fantuccio] 6p

7) Forgotten Prisoner Of Castlemare [R. Michael Rosen/Bill Fraccio & Tony Tallarico] 6p

8) The Swamp In Hell! [Al Hewetson/Don Vaughn] 6p

9) Ando! [R. Michael Rosen/Syd Shores] 6p

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

#3 (May 1966)

Notes: Editor: James Warren. Ken Barr was a Scottish artist who did quite a lot of work for DC’s war comics as well as for Warren over the next several years. He was a very good cover artist but strangely his best cover work never appeared for Warren. Instead, his Warren work often appeared muted and was overshadowed by just about everybody else doing covers at the time. Future underground & ‘Garbage Pail Kids’ artist John Pound appeared on the letters’ page. Future cover artist Ken Kelly made his professional debut by rendering a rare comic story. It’s pretty good too! The ‘Forgotten Prisoner Of Castlemare’ was based on the Aurora model kit of the same name, regularly advertised in the back of each Warren issue.

35. cover: Kenneth Smith (Sept. 1970)

1) An Editorial To The President Of The United States And All The Members Of Congress

[James Warren] 1p [frontis]

2) Tough Costumers! [R. Michael Rosen/Tom Sutton] 6p

3) Legend In Gold [R. Michael Rosen/Roger Brand] 6p

4) Polly Want A Wizard [Howard Waldrop/Ernie Colon] 6p

5) Army Of The Walking Dead! [R. Michael Rosen/Syd Shores] 7p

6) The Creepy Fan Page: Ken Barr Profile/Rock God/The Littered Trash-Can Of Humanity/The

Fool’s March [Archie Goodwin?, Bradley Burke, Jessica Clerk & Ted Dasen/Winsor

McNemo] 2p [poem/text article & stories]

7) Godslayer [Bill Stillwell] 6p

8) It’s Grim… [Al Hewetson/Syd Shores] 7p

9) The Druid’s Curse [Buddy Saunders/the Bros. Ciochetti] 6p

10) Gunsmoke Charly! [Alan Weiss] 8p

11) Justice! [Pat Boyette] 6p

Notes: Archie Goodwin returned, listed as Associate Editor. Cost of the magazine went up to 60 cents. This issue was a brief experiment with all stories/no ads format, usually suggested as a response to the first issue of Skywald’s rival B&W magazine, Nightmare. But Nightmare’s first issue is cover dated Dec. 1970 so it was more likely that this was also a reaction to Major’s Web Of Horror magazine, which had a no ads format (although the magazine itself had been recently cancelled) rather than the upcoming Nightmare or Skywald. Warren’s anti-war editorial was the first in only two attempts to use his magazine line as a bully pulpit. The fact that he was confident in being blatantly anti-war in the editorial underscores the massive changes the country had undergone socially and politically in the four years since conservative elements had forced Blazing Combat off the stands. Future gonzo SF writer Howard Waldrop made his professional writing debut, while fan artists Bill Stillwell and Alan Weiss also make their mainstream debuts. A good, solid issue.

36. cover: Kenneth Smith (Nov. 1970)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: The Body Snatchers Who Stole A Giant! [Tom Sutton] 1p [frontis]

2) One Way To Break The Boredom [James Haggenmiller/Jack Sparling] 9p

3) Weird World [Nicola Cuti/Tom Sutton] 7p

4) The Creepy Fan Page: Creepy Poems/Tunnel Of Terror/Doomsday Monsters [Harry Balmforth,

Paul E. King & Rodney E. Hammack/Larry Dickison] 2p [poem & text stories]

5) Frankenstein Is A Clown [Bill Warren/Carlos Garzon] 8p

6) On The Wings Of A Bird [T. Casey Brennan/Jerry Grandenetti] 7p

7) Forbidden Journey! [Greg Theakston/Rich Buckler] 7p

8) If A Body Meet A Body [R. Michael Rosen/Jack Sparling] 7p

9) Frozen Beauty [Richard Corben] 6p

Notes: Price decrease to 50 cents. Rich Buckler made his professional art debut while major underground artist Richard Corben delivered a very good story for his mainstream debut. Best art was by Corben and Jerry Grandenetti. Best story honors go to Corben, Bill Warren & T. Casey Brennan.

37. cover: Ken Barr (Jan. 1971)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: I Was Buried Alive! [Tom Sutton] 1p [frontis]

2) The Cadaver [Chris Fellner/Bill Stillwell] 8p

3) King Keller [Nicola Cuti/Syd Shores] 7p

4) I Hate You! I Hate You! [Bill Warren/Mike Royer] 9p

5) Tender Machine 10061 [Ernie Colon] 6p

6) The Creepy Fan Page: To Fill A Bottle Of Blood/The Anniversary/Ghouls Power/The Ape Man

[Paul E. King, Jr., Brad McEwen, Howard Williams & Jim Erskine/Tony Boatwright, Jim

Erskine & Charles Jones] 2p [text stories]

7) Coffin Cure [Doug Moench/Don Brown] 7p

8) The Castle [Pat Boyette] 8p

9) The Cut-Throat Cat Blues [T. Casey Brennan/Ernie Colon] 7p [last page on inside back cover]

Notes: The first use of interior color appeared on the last page of ‘The Cut-Throat Cat Blues’. Chris Fellner made his professional debut. ‘I Hate You! I Hate You!’ is a pretty good story which dealt with an early treatment of child abuse. Pat Boyette’s ‘The Castle’ is also nicely done.

38. cover: Ken Kelly (Mar. 1971)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Killer Plants! [Clif Jackson] 1p [frontis]

2) Wooden Cross! [Steve Skeates/Rich Buckler] 6p

3) The Vengeance Of The Hanged! [Chris Fellner/Syd Shores] 8p

4) Sticks And Stones To Break Their Bones [Stu Schwartzburg/Bill Fraccio & Tony Tallarico] 5p

5) The Way Home! [T. Casey Brennan/Mike Royer] 8p

6) Sleepwalker! [Gerry Conway/Mike Royer] 7p

7) Secret Of The Haunted Room [Bill Warren/Ernie Colon] 9p

8) The Creepy Fan Page: Alpha 3 [Dan Thost/John Cornell, Gary Kaufman, Loper Espi, Jim

Pinkoski & Steve Leialoha] 2p [text story]

9) The Cosmic All [Wally Wood] 8p

Notes: Warren published new artist Gary Kaufman’s submission letter on the letters’ page and previewed his art on the fan page. Future Marvel editor & writer John D. Warner also sent in a letter. A fine art job by Ernie Colon enhanced ‘Secret Of The Haunted House’. Mike Royer & Syd Shores also contributed some nice art. Like Phillipe Druillet, Loper Espi was a professional artist whose submissions, for unknown reasons, were printed on the fan pages next to amateur submissions. Fan artist Jim Pinkoski also appeared on this issue’s fan page, as did future comic artist Steve Leialoha, making his comics debut. The big news, though, was the return of Wally Wood with an excellent little SF number.

39. cover: Basil Gogos (May 1971)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: The Evil Eye! [Richard Grose/Clif Jackson] 1p [frontis]

2) Uncle Creepy: Where Satan Dwells… [Al Hewetson/Sal Trapani] 8p [gueststars Cousin Eerie]

3) C.O.D.—Collects On Death! [Dave Wood/Dave Cockrum] 8p

4) The Water World! [Buddy Saunders/Pablo Marcos] 6p

5) Death Of The Wizard [Pat Boyette] 6p

6) Harvest Of Horror! [Phil Seuling/Frank Brunner] 7p

7) The Dragon-Prow! [Steve Skeates/Richard Bassford] 7p

8) Puzzling Monsters: Who Drew What? [?/Carlos Garzon, Pat Boyette, Tom Sutton, Jack Davis,

Jerry Grandenetti, Bill Fraccio--Tony Tallarico, Syd Shores, Ernie Colon, Billy Graham,

James Warren & William Barry] 2p [match the artist page]

9) The Creepy Fan Club: The Lesson/The Gravekeeper/The Year 2,000/The Voice Of Death/

Little Miss Muffet [Billy Rand, Danuta Kwapisz, Mark Rone, William Buchanan & John

Leho/Harry Glienke, Edgar Maggiani, Daniel Smeddy, Sam Park & Randy Williams] 2p

[text stories & poems]

10) Mad Jack’s Girl [Gary Kaufman] 8p

Notes: When the Uncle Creepy story was first announced, Ernie Colon was listed as the artist. The art there is so much better than Trapani’s usual stuff that it might just be Colon pencils with Trapani inks. Dave Cockrum made his professional debut while Pablo Marcos made his North American one. Richard Bassford, a familiar name from 1960s fanzines, also made his professional debut. Although Dual Dragon’ was supposed to be Kaufman’s professional debut, ‘Mad Jack’s Girl’ actually appeared first. The ‘Who Drew What’ page featured partly new & partly old illos with the readers encouraged to guess ‘who drew what’.

40. cover: Larry Todd & Vaughn Bode (July 1971)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: The Loch Ness Monster [Al Hewetson/Clif Jackson] 1p [frontis]

2) The Fade-Away Walk [Don McGregor/Tom Sutton] 12p

3) The Impersonation! [Steve Skeates/Pablo Marcos] 6p

4) Swamp Demon [Dave Cockrum] 7p

5) Disintegrator [Nicola Cuti/Ken Barr] 7p

6) Lost And Found [Steve Skeates/George Roussos] 5p

7) The Creepy Fan Page: The Last Tomorrow [?/?, Scott Rogers, Kenneth Tutton, Tony DeSensi

& R. Goodwin] 2p [text story, author/artist for the story didn’t sign his name]

8) Annual Warren Awards At The New York Comicon… [Martin Greim/Ernie Colon] 2p [text

article] reprinted from Martin Greim’s Comic Crusader #10 (1970)

9) Dual Dragon [Gary Kaufman] 7p

Notes: Billy Graham became the editor and turned in a pretty solid issue. In an artistic slight-of-hand, the muzzle of the gun on the cover seems to follow you no matter where you are in the room, which is, well—let’s fact it, pretty creepy. Don McGregor made his professional debut with a strong story. Nice art & story work also appeared from Dave Cockrum and Gary Kaufman. The first Warren Awards gave ‘The Ray Bradbury Award’ for best story to Tom Sutton for ‘Snowman’ from Creepy #31, ‘The Frank Frazetta Cup’ for best illustrated story to Neal Adams for ‘Rock God’ from Creepy #32, ‘The Jack Davis Cup’ to Frank Frazetta for best cover from Eerie #23, a special award to Harlan Ellison for ‘Rock God’, best all-around artist to Ernie Colon, best all-around writer to Nicola Cuti and an honorable mention for artwork to Billy Graham. There was a bizarre mention in the Award article where James Warren says he wrote his anti-war editorial of the previous year for business reasons! Seems every time there was a riot or violent anti-war demonstration in an area, sales in surrounding stores plunged, including Warren magazines sales!

41. cover: Kenneth Smith (Sept. 1971)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: The Hangman Of London [Richard Bassford] 1p [frontis]

2) The Thing In Loch Ness [Bruce Jones] 8p

3) Skipper’s Return! [Ernie Colon] 6p

4) The Final Ingredient! [Bill DuBay] 7p

5) Prelude To Armageddon [Nicola Cuti & Wally Wood/Wally Wood] 12p

6) Extra Censory Perception [Steve Skeatess/Gary Kaufman] 5p

7) The Creepy Fan Club: Gary Kaufman Profile/Poem/The Duplicating Machine/Blood River!

[Gary Kaufman, Darrell McKenney, Steven Semiatin & ?/Gary Kaufman, William

Fugate, James Boehmer & Martin Greim] 2p [text article/stories & poem]

8) A Tangible Hatred [Don McGregor/Richard Corben] 10p

Notes: Future Marvel editor & writer John D. Warner sent in a letter. Bruce Jones made his Warren debut. The lead character in Don McGregor’s ‘A Tangible Hatred’, police detective Dave Turner, would appear in two more McGregor scripted stories over the next three years. Fanzine writer Martin Greim & fanzine artist Bill Fugute did illos for the fan page. Pretty impressive issue with good (although not great) art and stories from everyone involved.

42. cover: Manuel Sanjulian (Nov. 1971)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Captain Kidd! [T. Casey Brennan/Ken Kelly] 1p [frontis]

2) The Quaking Horror [Gardner Fox/Rafael Auraleon] 6p

3) A Change Of Identity! [Don Glut/Dave Cockrum] 6p

4) The Amazing Money-Making Wallet [Steve Skeates/Joe Staton] 6p

5) Spacial Delivery [R. Michael Rosen/Larry Todd] 7p

6) A Chronicle! [Steve Skeates/Jorge B. Galvez] 4p

7) Escape From Nowhere World [T. Casey Brennan/Jerry Grandenetti] 8p

8) The Creepy Fan Page: Jerry Grandenetti Profile/The Demon/The Old Lady And The Cats/The

Problem [Jerry Grandenetti, Jim Fadler, Randy Kirk & Robert Nason/Donald

MacDonald] 2p [text article/stories]

9) Ice Wolf [Gary Kaufman] 10p

Notes: Although it wasn’t completely apparent from this issue, the Spanish invasion of artists had begun a couple of months earlier in Eerie, which would eventually result in most of the American artists being driven from the Warren pages. The professional artists and writers’ debuts, which had highlighted the previous two years, also began to dry up. The sorceress in Sanjulian’s first Creepy cover was largely naked and while an effort was made to cover up her breasts with a yellow bra overlay, the technique used clearly didn’t work. ‘Escape From Nowhere World’ was a sequel to the earlier ‘On The Wings Of A Bird’ from #36. Brennan says he wrote the original story but the version here is not that story. His original script was apparently rewritten by various Warren staffers. Ernie Colon had a letter reprinted from the New York Times while future writer/artist Frank Miller also contributed to the letters’ page. ‘Ice Wolf’ was the best story.

43. cover: Ken Kelly (Jan. 1972)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: The Golden Sun Disk Of The Incas [T. Casey Brennan/Richard

Corben] 1p [frontis]

2) Three-Way Split [Dennis P. Junot/Jorge Galvez] 8p

3) The Mark Of Satan’s Claw [Fred Ott/Jaime Brocal] 10p

4) The Men Who Called Him Monster [Don McGregor/Luis Garcia] 14p

5) 1971 Comicon Awards Go To Frazetta And Goodwin… [?/?] 3p [text article w/photos]

6) Quest Of The Bigfoot [R. Michael Rosen/Jerry Grandenetti] 6p

7) Creepy’s Fan Club: Richard Corben Profile/The Last Vampire/Now I Know/Friend Or

Fiend?/The Realm Of The Mind/Wanted: A Husband/Unwelcome Visitor [Richard

Corben, David Yeske, Rich Cook, Joe Letts, Christopher Caliendo, James Olcott, L. T.

Simon & Wayne Carter/Richard Corben, Atherton, Steven Assel, Solano Lopez, Ramiro

Bujeiro & Tim Boxell] 2p [text article/stories]

8) Mirage [Gerry Conway/Felix Mas] 8p

Notes: The highlight of this issue was Don McGregor’s script and Luis Garcia’s {in his Warren debut} artwork for ‘The Men Who Called Him Monster’. The story may also have featured the first inter-racial kiss in comic history, which only came about because the artist misunderstood McGregor’s instructions for that panel. The lead character in that story was physically modeled after actor Sidney Poitier. The 1971 Warren Awards went to Frank Frazetta for best cover from Vampirella #7, best script to T. Casey Brennan for ‘On The Wings Of A Bird’ from Creepy #36, best art to Jose Gonzalez for ‘Death’s Dark Angel’ from Vampirella #12, best all around writer to Archie Goodwin for his work on Vampirella and best all around artist to Wally Wood. Solano Lopez was already a South American professional when his sample work ended up on the fan page. The fan page also undergoes a slight retitling while Tim Boxell, who would do quite a lot of underground and alternative comics, made his comics debut there.

44. cover: Vincente Segrelles (Mar. 1972)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: The Stars [T. Casey Brennan/Richard Corben] 1p [frontis]

2) With Silver Bells, Cockle Shells And… [F. Paul Wilson/Irv Docktor] 6p

3) Something To Remember Me By! [Tom Sutton] 9p

4) A Certain Innocence [Steve Skeates/Nebot] 6p

5) The Last Days Of Hans Bruder [T. Casey Brennan/Frank Bolle] 8p

6) Like A Phone Booth, Long And Narrow [Jan Strnad/Jose Bea] 8p

7) The Ultimate High! [Steve Skeates/Martin Salvador] 6p

8) Creepy’s Fan Club: Jan Strnad Profile/A Bullet For The Wolf/The Mausoleum/Nightmare/

It’s In The Bag! [Jan Strnad, William S. Groginsky, John Ayella, Benjamin Williams &

David Michelinie/Gregory R. Suriano] 1p [text article/stories]

9) Dorian Gray: 2001 [Al Hewetson/William Barry] 8p

10) Sleep [Kevin Pagan/Mike Ploog] 8p

Notes: Size & price increase to 72 pages & 75 cents. New Uncle Creepy intro faces by Richard Corben appear. Steve Skeates explained the reasons behind his story ‘A Chronicle’ to a reader on the letters’ page, leading to a short-lived feature, ‘The Story Behind…’, wherein writers explained the origins of their stories. Future comic writer David Michelinie made his comics debut on the fan page. Kevin Pagen & Mike Ploog contributed the best story with the excellent ‘Sleep’. The Strnad/Bea story was quite good too.

45. cover: Enrich Torres (May 1972)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: The Chiklil Tablets! [Bill DuBay] 1p [frontis]

2) Creepy Comments/The Story Behind ‘The Men Who Called Him Monster!’ [J. R. Cochran &

Don McGregor] 1p [text articles on the letters’ page]

3) What Rough Beast [Jan Strnad/Frank Brunner] 8p

4) Targos [Jack Katz/Jack Katz & Nebot] 10p

5) And Horror Crawls…From Out Of The Sea! [Kevin Pagan/Tom Sutton] 8p

6) For The Sake Of Your Children! [Ed Fedory/Jaime Brocal] 11p

7) Dungeons Of The Soul [T. Casey Brennan/Felix Mas] 8p

8) Creepy’s Fan Club: Jose Bea Profile/Remember Yesterday/The Cold Earth/Hybrid Of Hell/The

Viewer/Out Of The Sea/The Gift/Stare [J. R. Cochran, Tony Boatright, Edgar Dejesus,

Randy Williams, Jerome Herskovits, Kevin Schaffer, Barry Aydelotte & Jerry Bradman/Jose Bea, R. Taylor & Surn Iil Oh] 2p [text article/stories]

9) The Picture Of Death [Jose Bea] 11p

Notes: Editor: J. R. Cochran. A short article entitled ‘Creepy Comments’ appeared on the letters’ page, as did the official beginning of ‘The Story Behind…’ series. A ‘Little Orphan Annie’ strip from Dec. 1971, featuring a Prof. Creepy (who looked nothing like Warren’s Uncle Creepy) is reprinted on the letters’ page. Future artist R. G. Taylor could be the R. Taylor featured on the fan page. A pretty good issue with nice work from Frank Brunner and Tom Sutton, and interesting stories from Jan Strnad, Jack Katz, Ed Fedory & Kevin Pagan. Best story though is Jose Bea’s ‘The Picture Of Death.’

46. cover: Manuel Sanjulian (July 1972)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: The Undertaker’s Model [Jack Butterworth/Luis Garcia] 1p

[frontis]

2) Inside 46/The Story Behind The Story: Like A Phone Booth, Long & Narrow [J. R. Cochran &

Jan Strnad] ½p [text articles on letters’ page

3) Cross Of Blood [Doug Moench/Esteban Maroto] 10p

4) Behold The Cybernite! [Rich Margopoulos/Tom Sutton] 8p

5) On The Ninth Day Of Satan [Kevin Pagan/Felix Mas] 8p

6) I, Invisible [Jose Bea] 6p

7) Spellbound [Lynn Marron/Luis Garcia] 8p

8) Night Watch [Ed Fedory/Jorge Galvez] 7p

9) Creepy Book Reviews: The Panic Broadcast/The Great Radio Heroes/All In Color For A Dime

[Doug Moench] 1p [text articles]

10) Creepy’s Fan Club: Lynn Marron Profile/Instant Replay/After Nightfall/The Spice Of Life/

Perpetual Search/The Story Behind The Story: Something To Remember Me By!/

Creepy’s Catchall [Lynn Marron, John C. Salzano, Chris Monzert, Lee Breakiron,

George B. Evans, Tom Sutton & J. R. Cochran/Tom Sutton, Terry Harrison & Jack

Davis] 2p [text articles/stories w/photos]

11) Friedheim The Magnificent [Greg Potter/Richard Corben] 8p

12) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: Monsters Of The Id! [Clif Jackson] 1p [on inside back cover]

Notes: Behind a second rate cover was a decent issue. Best stories were from Doug Moench, Lynn Marron, Ed Fedory and Greg Potter while best art was from Esteban Maroto, Luis Garcia and Richard Corben. Fedory’s story had originally appeared as a fan page submission. J. R. Cochran liked it enough to encourage Fedory to rework it into a comic script. To my knowledge, this was the only time that a fan page story contribution directly led to a professional writing career. Rich Margopoulos made his professional debut with Tom Sutton (again!) doing the debut art honors.

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

Manuel Sanjulian]

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

[frontis]

2) Inside 47/The Story Behind The Story: The Picture Of Death [J. R. Cochran & Jose Bea] ½p

[text articles on the letters’ page]

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

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

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

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

7) Creepy’s Fan Club: Reed Crandall Profile/The Scarlet Knife/The Shrinking Man/A Moment!/

Grin At The Grim Reaper [J. R. Cochran, Jody Gilmore, Terry W. Cloud, Horace Heard

& Steve Clement/Reed Crandall, Marc Bilgrey & Pat Boyette] 2p [text articles/stories]

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

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

10) Futurization Computation! [Bill DuBay] 3p

11) Creepy Book Reviews: Dick Tracy/Horror Comics Of The 1950s/The Comix [Tom Sutton,

Bill DuBay & Greg Potter] 1p [text articles]

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

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

48. cover: montage/back cover: Jack Davis (Oct. 1972) front cover reprints 12 covers from different eras

of Creepy while the back cover is reprinted from Creepy #1 (Jan. 1965)

1) What Can You Say About An Eight-Year Old Creepy? [J. R. Cochran] 1p [text article, frontis]

2) The Coffin Of Dracula [Archie Goodwin/Reed Crandall] 16p reprinted from Creepy #8 & 9

(Apr. & June 1966) [2 pages edited out from the second part]

3) The Castle On The Moor! [Johnny Craig] 6p reprinted from Creepy #9 (June 1966)

4) Moon City! [Larry Englehart/Al McWilliams] 6p reprinted from Creepy #4 (Aug. 1965)

5) Swamped! [Archie Goodwin/Angelo Torres] 8p reprinted from Creepy #3 (June 1965)

6) Thumbs Down [Anne T. Murphy/Al Williamson] 6p reprinted from Creepy #6 (Dec. 1965)

7) The Cosmic All [Wally Wood] 8p reprinted from Creepy #38 (Mar. 1971)

8) Drink Deep! [Otto Binder/John Severin] 7p reprinted from Creepy #7 (Feb. 1966)

9) The Adventure Of The German Student! [Archie Goodwin/Jerry Grandenetti] 8p reprinted

from Creepy #15 (June 1967)

Notes: The Creepy Annual now becomes part of the regular numbering.

The DuBay Era, Take 1

49. cover: Manuel Sanjulian (Nov. 1972)

1) Creepy’s Loathsome Lore: No (Horse) Laughing Matter [Doug Moench/Rafael Auraleon] 1p

[frontis & on inside back cover]

2) Inside 49/The Story Behind The Story: ‘Behold—The Cybernite!’ [Bill DuBay & Rich

Margopoulos] ½p [text articles on letters’ page]

3) Buried Pleasure [Doug Moench/Esteban Maroto] 10p

4) The Severed Hand [Fred Ott/Rafael Auraleon] 12p

5) The Third Night Of Mourning [James Stenstrum/Jaime Brocal] 12p

6) The Accursed Flower [Jose Bea] 10p

7) Creepy’s Book Reviews: The Pulps/Superman/Batman/Mandrake [Doug Moench, Greg Potter

& Tom Sutton] 1p [text articles]

8) Creepy’s Fan Club: James Stenstrum Profile/Hour For Rest/Mr. Grave’s Giant Step/End Of The

Corridor/Murder Is Not A Fun Game!/Who Can Say? [Jim Stenstrum, George Acevedo,

George Hennessey, Calvin L. Cox, Allen Sliwinski, Jack Hennigar/Jim Stenstrum, Victor

Kally & Esteban Maroto] 2p [text article/stories w/photos]

9) Wedding Knells [Doug Moench/Jose Gual] 8p

Notes: Editor: Bill DuBay. The DuBay era started with a great issue! Sanjulian’s cover was top notch and the cover story it illustrated, ‘The Third Night Of Mourning’, was even more impressive—especially considering that this was author Jim Stenstrum’s professional debut (but second story--#50’s ‘Forgive Us Our Debts’ was his first sale). Brocal’s artwork was exactly right for the story’s French Revolution setting, as well. Jose Bea’s bizarre ‘The Accursed Flower’ was almost as good as the Stenstrum/Brocal entry and the remaining tales were more than satisfactory. The Spanish invasion of artists and their artistic takeover of Warren’s magazines was now complete, with most of the American artists, with rare exceptations, gone to greener pastures.

50. cover: Manuel Sanjulian (Jan. 1973)

1) Odd Worm! [Al Hewetson/Rafael Auraleon] 1p [frontis]

2) Inside 50/The Story Behind The Story: ‘Futurization Computation’ [Bill DuBay] ½p [text

articles on letters’ page]

3) Forgive Us Our Debts [Jim Stenstrum/Esteban Maroto] 18p

4) Frog God! [Ed Fedory/Adolfo Abellan] 7p

5) The Critic’s Crypt: Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon: Water World/Flash Gordon: Ice Kingdom/

Terry & The Pirates [Bill DuBay & Al Milgrom] 1p [text articles]

6) Side-Show [Fred Ott/Jose Bea] 8p

7) Sum Of Its Parts [Doug Moench/Reed Crandall] 10p

8) Creepy’s Fan Club: Esteban Maroto Profile/One Of Our Policemen Is Missing/Good Morning/

The Quarry/Guilty, Guilty, Guilty… [Bill DuBay, Sandra Chaney, Douglas W. Justice,

Don Robers & Nathan Garmon/Bill DuBay, Esteban Maroto, Leslie Fish & Michael

Arman] 2p [text article/stories]

9) The Climbers Of The Tower [T. Casey Brennan/Felix Mas] 7p

Notes: After the high quality of the previous issue, this one was a big let-down, especially for a special 50^th anniversary issue. The Sanjulian cover showed Uncle Creepy, Cousin Eerie, Vampirella, the moronic Warren version of Dracula {currently appearing in Vampirella} and Frankenstein’s monster along with other various creepy characters sitting around a 50^th birthday cake with skull frosting. It was a nice idea that just didn’t work. After Stenstrum’s powerhouse debut the previous issue, this issue’s ‘Forgive Us Our Debts’ came off as long and unfocused, although the Maroto art was nice. With one exception, the remainder of the stories were rather lame, with Brennan’s philosophical story in particular showing he had run into a creative corner. The exception mentioned was Moench’s ‘Sum Of Its Parts’, a good story which, sadly, suffered from Crandall’s art. It wasn’t so much that the art was bad as that it was so far below the quality of the art Crandall had routinely delivered in the 1960s that it made the story look slightly foolish. Fans noticed the drop in quality for the entire issue and heavily critized this issue, pointing out Crandall’s art and Brennan and Stenstrum’s stories in particular. The series’ title ‘Creepy’s Loathsome Lore’ is dropped from the frontis story.

51. cover: Manuel Sanjulian (Mar. 1973)

1) Possessed From Beyond The Grave [Fred Ott/Rafael Auraleon] 2p [frontis & on inside back

cover]

2) Déjà vu [Doug Moench/Esteban Maroto] 9p

3) Star-Slaughter [Rich Margopoulos/Ramon Torrents] 8p

4) Death Wish! [John D. Warner/Adolfo Abellan] 8p

5) Package Deal [Martin Pasko/Jose Bea] 7p

6) Dracula Ad [Esteban Maroto] 1p [color]

7) The Viyi [Esteban Maroto] 6p [color]

8) Dracula Ad [various] 1p [color]

9) His Brother’s Grave [Kevin Pagan/Rafael Auraleon] 10p

10) The Critic’s Crypt: Horror Times Ten/Masters Of Horror/Warlocks And Warriors/Wizards

And Warlocks [Chuck McNaughton?] 1p [text articles]

11) Creepy’s Fan Club: John D. Warner Profile/Monster/Image In A Puzzle/A Very Lovely

Ghost/Him [John D. Warner, J. C. Bartholomew Del Galzo, Paul G. Ellis, Randall Holmberg & L. R. Slater/Chad Draber] 2p [text article/stories w/photo]

12) Bed Of Roses [Doug Moench/Felix Mas] 9p

Notes: Price increased to $1.00 & size increased to 80 pages. A much better issue that the previous one. The first color section appeared, reprinting Maroto’s ‘The Viyi’ story from the Dracula color collection. That Dracula color album was 120 pages of horror stories that had been previously published in the Europeon magazine entitled Dracula. The reprint book was heavily advertised by Warren for several years. This particular color section also appeared in Vampirella, the only time the color sections were repeated. The ads for the Dracula book show only Maroto and Jose Bea artwork. The best story & art in this issue was easily Doug Moench’s and Esteban Maroto’s ‘Déjà Vu’.

52. cover: Manuel Sanjulian (Apr. 1973)

1) The Story Behind The Story: ‘Forgive Us Our Debts’/’Climbers Of The Tower’/’The Accursed

Flower’ [Jim Stenstrum, T. Casey Brennan & Jose Bea] ½p [text articles on the letters’

page]

2) A Most Private Terror [Budd Lewis/Esteban Maroto] 12p [story miscredited to Doug Moench]

3) The Last Hero! [Steve Skeates/Ramon Torrents] 10p

4) Halve Your Cake And Eat It Two [Doug Moench/Adolfo Abellan] 10p

5) Them Thar Flyin’ Things! [Greg Potter/Jose Bea] 7p

6) The Man With The Brain Of Gold [George Henderson/Reed Crandall] 6p from the story by ?

7) The Killer [Steve Skeates/Felix Mas] 8p

8) Creepy’s Catacombs: Steve Skeates Profile/What’s News!/Fanzine Reviews: Comic & Crypt/

Rockets Blast Comicollector/The Creative Adventure [Steve Skeates, Bill DuBay &

Chuck McNaughton?/Steve Skeates] 1p [text articles]

Notes: Back to 75 cents & 72 pages. DuBay continued to revamp the magazines, dropping the fan page, and with it, fan participation, replacing them with a feature page {in this case, titled Creepy’s Catacombs} which focused on reviews, profiles and mini-editorials. Unlike the fan pages, which had been unique to each magazine, the feature page was the same material in Creepy, Eerie or Vampirella. The magazines also upped their frequency to 9 issues per year. Budd Lewis made his professional debut with a great story, easily the best in the issue, only to have it miscredited to Doug Moench! Maroto’s art for Lewis’ icy winter tale is spot on! Crandall delivers a much better art job than in #50, wrapped around an interesting story adaptation, the first one Warren had done in some time.

53. cover: Manuel Sanjulian (May 1973)

1) A Scream In The Forest [Greg Potter/Esteban Maroto] 12p

2) The Stone Of Power! [Steve Skeates/Ramon Torrents] 8p

3) Freedom’s Just Another Word [Bill DuBay/Adolfo Abellan] 13p

4) The Creature Of Loch Ness! [Doug Moench/Jose Bea] 10p

5) The Night The Creatures Attacked [Fred Ott/Rafael Auraleon] 2p

6) It! [Tom Sutton] 9p

7) Creepy’s Catacombs: Gerry Boudreau Profile/What’s News!/Fanzine Reviews: Phase/Comic

Reader/Heritage [Gerry Boudreau, Bill Dubay & Chuck McNaughton?/Reed Crandall] 1p

[text articles]

Notes: A great Sanjulian cover of a corpse rising from the swamp {with an odd teddy bear in the foreground} would have been just as much at home over at Skywald’s Horror-Mood. ‘A Scream In The Forest’ has great artwork by Maroto. Bill DuBay’s ‘Freedom’s Just Another Word’ was a decent story marred by poor artwork and a somewhat troubling use of racial slurs, especially when one considers some of the stories dealing with African-Americans that DuBay would write in the future. ‘It!’ by Tom Sutton was a fine story that would spawn a mediocre series, which would begin in Eerie #56.

54. cover: montage of interior panels (July 1973)

1) A Guest Editorial By Phil Seuling [Phil Seuling] ½p [text article on letters’ page]

2) Creepy’s Catacombs: Jaime Brocal Profile/What’s News/Fanzine Reviews: File

Forty/Remember When/Maxor [Bill DuBay & Chuck McNaughton?/Jaime Brocal] 1p

[text articles]

3) The Slipped Mickey Click Flip [Doug Moench/Richard Corben] 10p

4) This Graveyard Is Not Deserted [Don McGregor/Reed Crandall] 13p

5) Descent Into Hell [Kevin Pagan/Esteban Maroto] 8p [color]

6) Dead Man’s Race [Jack Butterworth/Martin Salvador] 10p

7) Little Nippers! [R. Michael Rosen/Tom Sutton] 8p

Notes: Possibly as a cost cutting measure or perhaps because the increase in frequency had left them short on covers, both Creepy & Vampirella had montage covers composed of interior panels. The response must not have been too good as this was never repeated. ‘The Slipped Mickey Click Flip!’ was a great humorous story. Richard Corben who, up to this point, had done some great work in the undergrounds and respectable work for Warren, now gave fair warning to the eye-opening, legendary artwork that would be coming out in the next few years. Den, Mutant World, Jeremy Brood, A Boy And His Dog, Banner, The House On The Borderlands, etc. were all clearly forecast by the exceptional work he’d be doing for Warren over the next three years.

55. cover: montage of 12 previous covers (Aug. 1973)

1) The Creepy-Crawley-Castle Game! [Bill DuBay] 3p [game; frontis, one interior page & on

inside back cover]

2) Brain Trust! [Archie Goodwin/Angelo Torres] 6p reprinted from Creepy #10 (Aug. 1966)

3) Welcome Stranger [Archie Goodwin/Al Williamson] 7p reprinted from Creepy #2 (Apr. 1965)

4) Act Three! [Johnny Craig] 8p reprinted from Creepy #18 (Jan. 1968)

5) Thundering Terror! [Clark Dimond & Terry Bisson/John Severin] 6p reprinted from Creepy

#17 (Oct. 1967)

6) Incident In The Beyond! [Archie Goodwin/Gray Morrow] 6p reprinted from Creepy #3 (June

1965)

7) Prelude To Armageddon [Nicola Cuti & Wally Wood/Wally Wood] 12p reprinted from

Creepy #41 (Sept. 1971)

8) The Law And Disorder [Dennis P. Junot/Luis Garcia] 6p reprinted from Creepy #47 (Sept.

1972)

Notes: The 1973 annual. $1.00 price and 80 pages.

56. cover: Manuel Sanjulian (Sept. 1973)

1) The Creepy Monster Match [Bill DuBay] 2½p [game; frontis, interior page & on inside back

cover]

2) Creepy’s Catacombs: Paul Neary Profile/What’s New/Fanzine Reviews: The Collector/Graphic

Story World/Menomonee Falls Gazette [Bill DuBay & Chuck McNaughton?/Paul Neary]

1p [text articles]

3) In My Father’s House! [Doug Moench/Rafael Auraleon] 10p

4) Innsmouth Festival [John Jacobson/Adolfo Abellan] 12p

5) Consumed By Ambition [Jack Butterworth/Martin Salvador] 9p

6) Lycanklutz [Richard Corben] 8p [color]

7) The Way Of All Flesh [Doug Moench/Jose Bea] 10p

8) The Bell Of Kuang Sai [George Henderson/Isidro Mones] 8p from the story by ?

Notes: Decent issue with the humorous ‘Lycanklutz’ having the best story & art. The Henderson/Mones’ adaptation was quite good as well. Isidro Mones’ art was credited to Munes for his first dozen or so appearances. Bill DuBay is finally given full editor status {previously his credit had been managing editor}.

57. cover: Manuel Sanjulian (Nov. 1973)

1) Werewolf! The Exciting Game Of Detective Skill! [Bill DuBay] 2p [frontis & on inside back

cover]

2) Creepy’s Catacombs: Bruce Bezaire Profile/The Editor’s Box/Fanzine Reviews: Barney’s

Comix/Rocket’s Blast/Etcetera [Bill DuBay & Chuck McNaughton?/Rich Buckler] 1p

[text articles]

3) The Destructive Image [Don McGregor/Ramon Torrents] 11p

4) The Hope Of The Future [Doug Moench/Jaime Brocal] 8p

5) The Bloodlock Museum [Jack Butterworth/Martin Salvador] 5p

6) The Low Spark Of High Heeled Noise! [Doug Moench/Richard Corben] 8p [color]

7) The Red Badge Of Terror [Doug Moench/Jose Bea] 7p

8) Sense Of Violence [Doug Moench/Isidro Mones] 8p

Notes: Buckler’s artwork on the feature’s page was from the story ‘Snow’which wouldn’t appear until 1975. The sample panel that we see was clearly inked by Buckler as well, although the actual story has inking by Wally Wood. Brocal’s art was reproduced from his pencils and it’s quite classy looking. Moench & Corben went for another humorous horror story but come up a bit short. None of the stories really jump out at you but all were good, solid tales. Future movie director Brad Bird {The Iron Giant & The Incredibles} sent in a letter.

58. cover: Manuel Sanjulian (Dec. 1973)

1) The Old School [Steve Skeates/Vicente Alcazar & Bill DuBay] 2p [frontis & on inside back

cover]

2) Creepy’s Catacombs: Manuel Sanjulian Profile/Preview: 3 New Warren Series/Fanzine

Reviews: Imagination/Fright & Fantasy/Wonderworld [Bill DuBay & Chuck McNaughton?/Manuel Sanjulian] 1p [text articles]

3) Change…Into Something Comfortable [Doug Moench/Richard Corben] 8p

4) An Excuse For Violence [Don McGregor/Adolpho Abellan] 10p

5) Shriek Well Before Dying! [W. Eaton/Jose Bea] 8p

6) Soul And Shadow [Gardner Fox/Reed Crandall] 10p

7) The Waking Nightmare! [Don McGregor/Isidro Mones] 12p

8) Two Vampirella’s Stun 5,500 At 1973 Comic Art Convention [Gerry Boudreau] 1p [text

article w/photos]

Notes: Future comic writer/artist Fred Hembeck & current Warren writer Greg Potter send in letters. Moench & Corben delivered a great Halloween tale! The Fox/Crandall fantasy was quite nice. The Vampirella text page featured stripper Angelique Trouvere, who did quite of lot of costume work for 1970s era conventions, as well as 14 year old (!) Heidi Saha, daughter of fantasy editor Arthur Saha, both in Vampirella costumes! Both ladies looked quite nice although Vampi’s skimpy costume on a very young girl is rather disturbing. The Saha appearance was the beginning of a rather bizarre publishing venture by Warren Publications in which James Warren published a B&W photo fan magazine and a life-size wall poster of the teen-aged Heidi Saha dressed in quite revealing costumes. Saha’s cover & poster shot featured her dressed as Sheena of the Jungle. Saha carries off the costumes quite well but one wonders whether the target audience for such a product might have been the dirty old men brigade.

59. cover: Manuel Sanjulian (Jan. 1974)

1) A Few Words And Pictures About Our Brand New Comic Magazine [Bill DuBay/Will Eisner

& Bill DuBay] 2p [color text article, frontis & on inside back cover]

2) Destiny’s Witch [John Jacobson/Ramon Torrents] 12p

3) A Dark And Violent Place [Don McGregor/Adolfo Abellan] 14p

4) Spare That Tree! [Jack Butterworth/Martin Salvador] 7p

5) Bless Us, Father… [Bill DuBay/Richard Corben] 7p [color]

6) Curiosity Killed The Cat [Doug Moench/Paul Neary] 8p

7) Not A Creature Was Stirring [Don McGregor/Tom Sutton] 13p

8) Creepy’s Catacombs: W. R. Mohalley Profile/Warren Magazines Questionnaire [Bill DuBay]

1p [text articles w/photo]

Notes: Price increase to $1.00. The killer Santa cover began something of a tradition for Warren, which ran several of these as covers for their Christmas specials over the years. I suspect that the controversial batch of killer Santa Claus movies that provoked protest lines in the early 1980s were directly inspired by these Warren covers. The new magazine mentioned on the frontis was Warren’s representation of The Spirit. The same magazine was also advertised on the back cover. W. R. Mohalley was Warren’s head of production and his appearance on the features page marked the first time the background staffers were profiled. The best story & art belonged to Bill DuBay & Richard Corben’s inspired Christmas tale of a lonely police officer and an crazy Santa Claus killer (well, what did you expect?). It was top notch, even though the reproduction caused the color pages to appear quite muddy. Even that worked to the story’s advantage, though, making the grim, dingy city seem even more ugly. The parallel storyline, with half of each page (separated cheerfully by mistletoe & candy canes!) telling the separate tales of the cop & the kook until they combine tragically (?) in the finale, clearly inspired many future comic writers, including Alan Moore. The rest of the issue was pretty good too, with solid stories from everyone and another excellent one from Don McGregor & Tom Sutton. ‘Not A Creature Was Stirring’ is a great story with top notch art. It was also the third and last story to feature police detective Dave Turner.

60. cover: Manuel Sanjulian (Feb. 1974)

1) The Exorcist [Bill DuBay] 1p [frontis]

2) Creepy’s Catacombs: Ramon Torrents Profile/You’re Paying More For Warren Magazines This

Month. We Think You Ought To Know Why/Fanzine Reviews: Dark

Fantasy/Quintessence/CPL [Bill DuBay & Ramon Torrents/Ramon Torrents] 2p [text articles w/photo]

3) Slaughter House [Rich Margopoulos/Adolfo Abellan] 16p

4) A Most Precious Secret [Rich Margopoulos/Jose Gual] 12p

5) The Hero Within [Steve Skeates/Richard Corben] 8p [color]

6) Monsieur Fortran’s Hoax! [John Jacobson/Martin Salvador] 6p

7) The Other Side Of Hell! [Bill DuBay/Gonzalo Mayo] 8p

8) Presenting The 1973 Warren Awards [Bill DuBay] 2p [text article]

Notes: The $1.00 price was made permanent. A rather disappointing issue, with only the Skeates/Corben stories being particularly memorable. Gonzalo Mayo made his Warren debut. His artwork was quite beautiful, although often overwrought and busy. The 1973 Warren Awards go to Manuel Sanjulian for best cover, Esteban Maroto for best art on ‘A Scream In The Forest’, Bill DuBay for best story with ‘Freedom’s Just Another Word’, best writer/artist to Richard Corben for ‘Lycanklutz’, best all around artist to Ramon Torrents, best all around writer to Steve Skeates, and special awards for excellence to Enrich Torres and Richard Corben.

61. cover: Manuel Sanjulian (Apr. 1974)

1) Child Of Hell [Bill DuBay] 1p [frontis]

2) Creepy’s Catacombs: Isidro Mones Profile/The Return Of Archie Goodwin/Fanzine Reviews:

Sword And Fantasy/Funnyworld/European Cartoonist [Bill DuBay, Archie Goodwin &

Chuck McNaughton?] 1p [text articles w/photo]

3) A Stranger In Eternity [T. Casey Brennan/Adolfo Abellan] 9p

4) Advent Of The Scrap-Heap! [Rich Margopoulos/Jose Gual] 10p

5) The Ghouls! [Carl Wessler/Martin Salvador] 6p

6) Terror Tomb [Richard Corben] 8p [color]

7) The Blood-Colored Motorbike [Jose Bea] 8p

8) Twisted Medicine [Steve Skeates/Leo Summers] 7p

9) Encore Ghastly [Tom Sutton] 6p

Notes: Archie Goodwin, fresh from his landmark DC editorial turns on Detective Comics & various war comics, returned as editor for a short-lived stint. ‘A Stranger In Eternity’ was a sequel to ‘A Stranger In Hell’ from Eerie #38. Richard Corben’s latest attempt at a humorous horror story was considerably better than his last. The highlight of the issue was the controversial ‘Twisted Medicine’ from Skeates & Summers (in his Warren debut). Apparently readers disliked the notion of using a maimed Vietnam vet as a cornerstone to a gory fantasy tale, a reaction that prompted an excellent defense of the story by Goodwin in a future letter page. Tom Sutton turned in some of his best work on ‘Encore Ghastly’, a sort of grisly valentine to EC artist Graham ‘Ghastly’ Ingels.

62. cover: Ken Kelly (May 1974)

1) Uncle Creepy’s Introduction [Archie Goodwin/Berni Wrightson] 1p [frontis]

2) Creepy’s Catacombs: Martin Salvador Profile/Alcazar, Corben, Mayo, Mones, Severin,

Summers And Wrightson!/Fanzine Reviews: Le Beaver/Exotic Fantasy/The Comic

Crusader [Archie Goodwin & Chuck McNaughton?] 1p [text articles w/photo]

3) The Black Cat [Berni Wrightson] 12p from the story by Edgar Allan Poe

4) Buffaloed [Larry Herndon/John Severin] 8p

5) Firetrap [Jack Butterworth/Vicente Alcazar] 8p

6) Judas [Rich Margopoulos/Richard Corben] 8p [color]

7) Survivor Or Savior! [Steve Skeates/Gonzalo Mayo] 7p

8) The Maze [Steve Skeates/Leo Summers] 8p

9) The Demon Within! [Steve Skeates/Isidro Mones] 7p

Notes: Behind a gory Ken Kelly cover {depicting the hatcheted head of the gal from ‘The Black Cat’} were clear signs that Archie Goodwin was back in control. Strong stories {with the exception of the rather weak ‘Judas’}, the return of John Severin from the Goodwin era, and the arrival of Berni Wrightson, fresh from his fabled run on DC’s Swamp Thing, made up an excellent issue. Hard to complain about anything, really. Just a fine fine issue. There was a sign of trouble ahead, though—Bill DuBay was listed as senior editor, over Goodwin.

63. cover: Ken Kelly (July 1974)

1) Uncle Creepy’s Introduction [Archie Goodwin/Berni Wrightson] 1p [frontis]

2) Creepy’s Catacombs: Vicente Alcazar Profile/What Do They Have In Common?/1974 New

York Comic Art Convention Ad [Archie Goodwin/Vicente Alcazar & Berni Wrightson]

1p [text articles]

3) Jenifer [Bruce Jones/Berni Wrightson] 10p

4) A Touch Of Terror [Rich Margopoulos/Adolfo Abellan] 12p

5) …A Ghost Of A Chance [T. Casey Brennan/Vicente Alcazar] 6p

6) Demon In The Cockpit [Rich Margopoulos/Richard Corben] 8p [color]

7) Fishbait [Larry Herndon/Leo Summers] 9p

8) The Clones! [Martin Pasko/Jose Gual] 9p

Notes: A study in contrasts! ‘Jenifer’ was one of the undeniable classics of this period, with a great Bruce Jones story and top drawer Wrightson art. Yet it was stuck behind a sub-par Kelly cover, with, at best, fair to downright poor stories surrounding it {please note that the art is generally pretty good in all of these stories}. In fact, ‘The Clones’ ranks as one of the worst stories Warren would ever publish. To be fair, the Alcazar and Corben stories weren’t too bad, although the color on ‘Demon In The Cockpit’ seemed to be all of a rather ghastly yellow hue.

64. cover: Larry Todd & Vaughn Bode (Aug. 1974)

1) Uncle Creepy’s Introduction [Archie Goodwin/Berni Wrightson] 1p [frontis]

2) Creepy’s Catacombs: Fernando Fernandez Profile/The Face That Launched An Issue Of

Creepy!/1974 New York Comic Art Convention Ad [Fernando Fernandez & Archie

Goodwin/Fernando Fernandez] 1p [text articles w/photo]

3) Forgotten Flesh [Doug Moench/Vicente Alcazar] 8p

4) Mates [Doug Moench/Esteban Maroto] 8p [color]

5) High Time [Steve Skeates/Paul Neary] 7p

6) Only Losers Win! [Rich Margopoulos/Howard Chaykin] 8p

7) One Autumn At Arkham [Tom Sutton] 8p

8) To Sleepy Hollow…Returned [Jeff Rovin/Leo Summers] 8p

9) Hard John Apple: An Angel Shy Of Hell! [Jim Stenstrum/Richard Corben] 8p [color]

Notes: The first of Warren’s themed specials—this one centered around the Todd/Bode cover, which had been done two years prior. Each of the stories (with one exception) had a character who ended up looking like the cover painting. The exception was ‘Forgotten Flesh’, which was substituted at the last minute when the Archie Goodwin/Jim Starlin story, ‘Avenger!’, missed its deadline. That story wouldn’t see print until Eerie #128, 8 years later! This was Goodwin’s last issue as editor, as he left for Marvel, after alleged tension between him and Bill DuBay. The best stories were ‘An Angel Shy Of Hell!’ and ‘One Autumn At Arkham’, both in story & art. However, all the stories are good, not a clinker in the bunch. Hard John Apple would return in a series for Eerie, beginning in #83 (May 1977). Goodwin wrote a lengthy, intelligent reply on the letters’ page to Micheal Oliveri’s complaint about Warren’s increasing reliance on gore in general and on the stories ‘Twisted Medicine’ & ‘Bless Us, Father…’ in particular. Price increased to $1.25 and page increased to 80 pages.

65. cover: Ken Kelly/back cover: Albert Michini (Sept. 1974)

1) The Land Of Bone [Buddy Saunders/Esteban Maroto] 8p reprinted from Creepy #47 (Sept.

1972)

2) Star-Slaughter [Rich Margopoulos/Ramon Torrents] 8p reprinted from Creepy #51 (Mar.

1973)

3) The Men Who Called Him Monster [Don McGregor/Luis Garcia] 14p reprinted from Creepy

#43 (Jan. 1972)

4) Tell-Tale Heart [Archie Goodwin/Reed Crandall] 8p [color] reprinted from Creepy #3 (June

1965)

5) The Quaking Horror [Gardner Fox/Rafael Auraleon] 6p reprinted from Creepy #42 (Nov.

1971)

6) Bed Of Roses [Doug Moench/Felix Mas] 9p reprinted from Creepy #51 (Mar. 1973)

7) The Accursed Flower [Jose Bea] 10p reprinted from Creepy #49 (Nov. 1972)

8) A Chronicle! [Steve Skeates/Jorge B. Galvez] 4p reprinted from Creepy #42 (Nov. 1971)

9) The Third Night Of Mourning [Jim Stenstrum/Jaime Brocal] 12p reprinted from Creepy #49

(Nov. 1972)

Notes: Size increased to 96 pages. Editor: Bill DuBay. The 1974 Creepy Annual.

66. cover: Ken Kelly (Nov. 1974)

1) Uncle Creepy’s Introduction [Bill DuBay/Berni Wrightson] 1p [frontis]

2) Creepy’s Catacombs: Gonazlo Mayo Profile/In Defense Of A Name!/The Creative Man—Ken

Kelly: Doodling Cover Artist! [Bill DuBay/Gonzalo Mayo & Ken Kelly] 1p [text

Articles w/photo]

3) Desecration [Doug Moench/Jose Ortiz] 10p

4) Portrait Of Death [Budd Lewis/Vicente Alcazar] 8p

5) Solitude! [Archie Goodwin/Martin Salvador] 10p

6) Pinball Wizard! [Doug Moench/Richard Corben] 7p

7) Relatively Axe-Cidental [Greg Potter/Adolfo Abellan] 12p

8) Nightmare! [Gerry Boudreau & Isidro Mones/Isidro Mones] 8p

Notes: $1.00 cover price, with 72 pages. Kelly’s clumsy cover depicted an executioner chopping off a head {with an axe movement that would have split the guy’s head in half, not chopped off his head}, an image for which Kelly forgot to paint the rest of the victim’s body! The cover art & the interior story from Potter & Abellan closely resembled {even down to the page count} Jim Stenstrum & Jaime Brocal’s much better story ‘The Third Night Of Mourning’ from Creepy #49, which had just been reprinted the previous issue. Due to scheduling problems Archie Goodwin hadn’t had a story of his own appear during his short run as editor. The first of them showed up now and it’s a beaut of a Western werewolf story! One of Martin Salvador’s best art efforts as well. ‘Pinball Wizard’ by Moench & Corben was also quite good. Jose Ortiz made his Warren debut.

67. cover: Ken Kelly (Dec. 1974)

1) Uncle Creepy’s Introduction [Bill DuBay/Berni Wrightson] 1p [frontis]

2) Creepy’s Catacombs: Once Upon A Time At Warren…/Controversy In The Comics/The

Creative Man—Gerry Boudreau: Portrait Artist? [Bill DuBay/Gerry Boudeau] 1p [text

articles]

3) Excerpts From The Year Five! [Budd Lewis/Jose Ortiz] 10p

4) The Haunted Abbey [Budd Lewis/Vicente Alcazar] 10p

5) The Happy Undertaker [Carl Wessler/Martin Salvador] 7p

6) Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven [Richard Corben] 8p [color] from the poem by Edgar Allan

Poe

7) Holy War [Budd Lewis/Adolfo Abellan] 11p

8) Oil Of Dog! [Jack Butterworth/Isidro Mones] 8p from the story by Ambrose Bierce

Notes: More scheduling problems. The Ken Kelly cover was supposed to illustrate the interior color section story ‘Bowser’ by Jan Strnad & Richard Corben. However, that story was erroneously skipped {it eventually appeared in Vampirella} in favor of Corben’s solo adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Raven’. Ironically, the feature page profiled the production staff, including Sherry Berne, future editor Louise Jones (nee Simonson), Michele Brand & Bill Mohalley. For all the mixups however, this is a very good issue. Budd Lewis shows off his writing chops with an excellent ‘Excerpts From The Year Five!’ as well as ‘The Haunted Abbey’. His ‘Holy War’ is an uncredited adaptation of the then popular anti-war song ‘One Tin Soldier’. Corben’s adaptation of ‘The Raven’ was gorgeous, with truly beautiful artwork. However, the best work here was Jack Butterworth & Isidro Mones’ adaptation of Ambrose Bierce’s sly masterpiece ‘Oil Of Dog’. This was my first encounter with that gleefully savage story of abortion, family ties and salesmanship. I looked everywhere to find the original, but it took me years in that pre-internet day. Much to my satisfaction, the original story and the Butterworth/Mones’ adaptation are pure horrific black humor, watered down nary a bit! This adaptation’s never been reprinted and that’s a damn shame!

68. cover: Ken Kelly/back cover: Manuel Sanjulian (Jan. 1975)

1) Uncle Creepy’s Introduction [Bill DuBay/Berni Wrightson] 1p [frontis]

2) Creepy’s Catacombs: Berni Wrightson Profile/Accept No Substitutes! [Bill DuBay] 1p [text

articles w/photo]

3) The Stars My Salvation [Doug Moench/John Severin] 11p

4) Christmas Eve Can Kill You [Gerry Boudreau/Vicente Alcazar] 8p

5) Reflections In A Golden Spike [Gerry Boudreau/Martin Salvador] 8p

6) Anti-Christmas [Gerry Boudreau/Richard Corben] 8p [color]

7) A Gentle Takeover [Budd Lewis/Adolfo Abellan] 8p

8) Christmas Visit [Budd Lewis/Isidro Mones] 8p

9) The Christmas Gnome Of Timothy Brayle! [Budd Lewis/Leopold Sanchez] 8p

Notes: One of Creepy’s nastier covers, with a howling Santa and his elves placing chopped off parts of what looked to be a dismembered child into Christmas stockings. Lots of intestines. The back cover wasn’t much cheerier—a very long nail is stuck through a bloke’s neck—the sharp end covered in blood. This was the first totally Christmas themed special. Price was $1.25 for 80 pages. The Wrightson art on the frontis was reprinted from an earlier ad for the New York Comicon. Perhaps reflecting on the imminent collapse of Skywald, which was caused by Marvel’s flooding of the market with horror B&W magazines, a tactic which was also hurting Warren, this month’s editorial pleads with readers to stay the course and keep buying Warren magazines. The non-holiday Moench/Severin story was a last minute substitution for the DuBay/Ortiz Christmas tale ‘Once Upon A Miracle’, which missed the deadline for this issue. That story eventually appeared in Creepy #77. The trouble with a Christmas themed issue was that the stories tended to cancel each other out. Even if they were good, and most of these were, the repetition of the holiday theme blunted the horror of the situations. Best story & art goes to Boudreau & Corben’s ‘Anti-Christmas’ with ‘Reflections In A Golden Spike’ also being quite a good story. More fine art was provided by Vicente Alcazar and Isidro Mones.

69. cover: Ken Kelly (Feb. 1975)

1) Uncle Creepy’s Introduction [Bill DuBay/Berni Wrightson] 1p [frontis]

2) Everything You Always Wanted To Know…About The Comics!: The Story [Bill Dubay] 1p

[text article]

3) The Pit And The Pendulum [Rich Margopoulos/Jose Ortiz] 10p from the story by Edgar Allan

Poe

4) Premature Burial [Rich Margopoulos/Vicente Alcazar] 8p from the story by Edgar Allan Poe

5) The Fall Of The House Of Usher [Rich Margopoulos/Martin Salvador] 8p from the story by

Edgar Allan Poe

6) The Oval Portrait [Rich Margopoulos/Richard Corben] 8p from the story by Edgar Allan Poe

7) Ms. Found In A Bottle! [Rich Margopoulos/Leo Summers] 10p from the story by Edgar Allan

Poe

8) Facts In The Case Of M. Valdemar [Rich Margopoulos/Isidro Mones] 8p from the story by

Edgar Allan Poe

Notes: Back to a $1.00 price and 72 page length. Strnad wrote in to wonder what happened to his cover featured ‘Bowser’ story for #67. The reply stated that the printer confused the two different color sections—not hard, I suppose, as both were by Corben. This was a special Edgar Allan Poe issue. Since Al Hewetson at Skywald had mentioned several times that Skywald planned to do a EA Poe magazine, perhaps this was Warren’s attempt at heading them off, as they did with Eerie Publications by rush publishing the Eerie ashcan edition in 1965. Whatever, this was a pretty good issue, with interesting adaptations and great art. As noted in the reply to Strnad’s letter, Corben’s story ‘The Raven’, that had mistakedly appeared in #67, was originally intended as a color section for this issue. As it turned out, no color section appeared. Best art was from Richard Corben & Leo Summers, with Corben showing a quite subtle blend of airbrush and pen & ink work that really helped the storyline. All the adaptations were by Margopoulos and he did a fine job. As a whole, this special worked much better than the Christmas special since the original stories had considerable range. The usual feature page was dropped for a series detailing how a Warren magazine is put together.

70. cover: Ken Kelly (Apr. 1975)

1) Uncle Creepy’s Introduction [Bill DuBay/Berni Wrightson] 1p [frontis]

2) Everything You Always Wanted To Know…About The Comics!: Lettering [Bill DuBay] 1p

[text article]

3) The Murders In The Rue Morgue [Rich Margopoulos/Jose Ortiz] 12p from the story by Edgar

Allan Poe

4) Man Of The Crowd [Rich Margopoulos/Luis Bermejo] 8p from the story by Edgar Allan Poe

6) The Cask Of Amontillado! [Rich Margopoulos/Martin Salvador] 8p from the story by Edgar

Allan Poe

7) Shadow [Rich Margopoulos/Richard Corben] 8p from the story by Edgar Allan Poe

8) A Descent Into The Maelstrom! [Rich Margopoulos/Adolfo Abellan] 10p from the story by

Edgar Allan Poe

9) Berenice [Rich Margopoulos/Isidro Mones] 8p from the story by Edgar Allan Poe

Notes: Another remarkably gory cover, with the orangatang from “Murders In The Rue Morgue’ slashing a very deep cut across the largely naked bosom of a young lady. The second and last of the Poe specials although leftover Poe adaptations would appear over the next year. Wrightson delivered some very nice artwork for the frontis. This issue was even more impressive than the previous one. Sterling adaptations by Margopoulos, particularly on the lesser known Poe stories ‘Man Of The Crowd’, ‘Shadow’ and ‘Berenice’ with great art jobs from all concerned. Bemejo’s Warren debut displayed gorgeous and delicate penwork. Just a fine, fine job from all concerned.

71. cover: Ken Kelly (May 1975)

1) Uncle Creepy’s Introduction [Bill DuBay/Berni Wrightson] 1p [frontis]

2) Room For One More [Doug Moench/Luis Bermejo] 11p

3) But When She Was Bad [Gerry Boudreau/Luis Bermejo] 10p

4) His Name Was John! [Budd Lewis/Luis Bermejo] 12p

5) The Song Of Alan Bane [Gerry Boudreau/Luis Bermejo] 12p [poem]

6) The Minotaur [Rich Margopoulos/Luis Bermejo] 10p from the story by Nathaniel Hawthorne

7) Presenting the 1974 Warren Awards [Bill DuBay] 2p [text article]

Notes: Another excellent themed issue! This time the spotlight was on the artist Luis Bermejo and he delivered in all respects. Beautifully rendered artwork enhanced each story. The best was probably ‘The Song Of Alan Bane’ or ‘The Minotaur’ but everything here was good. This year’s Warren Awards went to Manuel Sanjulian for best covers, Jose Gonzalez for best art on ‘Sultana’s Revenge’ {the voters must have been visited by that shrieking Santa from a few issues earlier}, Budd Lewis for best story for ‘Excerpts From The Year Five’, Berni Wrightson for best writer/artist, Jose Ortiz for best all around artist, Budd Lewis for best all around writer & a special award for Ken Kelly.

72. cover: Ken Kelly (July 1975)

1) Uncle Creepy’s Introduction [Bill DuBay/Jose Ortiz] 1p [frontis]

2) Everything You Always Wanted To Know…About The Comics!: The Art [Bill DuBay] 1p

[text article]

3) Vendetta [Rich Margopoulos & Gerry Boudreau/Jose Gual] 12p

4) Malocchi! [Don McGregor/Jose Gual] 11p

5) Like The Sky Red [Doug Moench/Jose Gual] 9p

6) It: The Terror-Stalked Heiress! [Carl Wessler/Jose Gual] 10p

7) The Bite [Jeff Rovin/Jose Gual] 7p

8) Labyrinth [Gerry Boudreau/Jose Gual] 6p

Notes: Another issue centered around an artist—this time, Jose Gual. It didn’t work as well as the previous issue simply because, while Gual was a good artist, he just wasn’t in Bermejo’s league. Best story was the two year old ‘Malocchi!’. The dead guy called It moved back from Eerie for his finale. Great, tender cover of a lost looking robot by Ken Kelly.

73. cover: Ken Kelly (Aug. 1975)

1) Everything You Always Wanted To Know…About The Comics!: Production [Bill DuBay] 1p

[text article]

2) Uncle Creepy’s Introduction [Bill DuBay/Berni Wrightson] 1p

3) Playpen Of A God! [Bill DuBay/Jose Ortiz] 4p [framing story]

4) The Argo Standing By! [Budd Lewis/Paul Neary] 10p

5) A Beast Within! [Budd Lewis/John Severin] 12p

6) Unprovoked Attack On A Hilton Hotel [Jim Stenstrum/Richard Corben] 8p

7) Purge! [Bruce Bezaire/Jose Ortiz] 8p [color]

8) Last Light Of The Universe [Budd Lewis/Esteban Maroto] 17p

Notes: Yet another special issue—this time centered on science fiction. Price increased to $1.25 and size increased to 80 pages. The Lewis/Maroto story was a takeoff on Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Masque Of The Red Death’. Stories are pretty much on the grim side, except for the extremely funny and beautifully done ‘Unprovoked Attack On A Hilton Hotel’. Where Stenstrum had been for the last year, I don’t know, but his return was much appreciated. Corben’s art was also right on target.

74. cover: montage of interior panels (Oct. 1975)

1) Vampires Fly At Dusk! [Archie Goodwin/Reed Crandall] 6p reprinted from Creepy #1 (Jan.

1965)

2) Curse Of The Full Moon! [Archie Goodwin/Reed Crandall] 8p reprinted from Creepy #4

(Aug. 1965)

3) The Cask Of Amontillado! [Archie Goodwin/Reed Crandall] 8p from the story by Edgar Allan

Poe, reprinted from Creepy #6 (Dec. 1965)

4) Hot Spell! [Archie Goodwin/Reed Crandall] 8p reprinted from Creepy #7 (Feb. 1966)

5) The Beast On Bacon Street [Budd Lewis/Reed Crandall] 7p [color] art reprinted from Eerie

#24 (Nov. 1969)

6) Hop-Frog! [Archie Goodwin/Reed Crandall] 8p from the story by Edgar Allan Poe, reprinted

from Creepy #11 (Oct. 1966)

7) The Squaw! [Archie Goodwin/Reed Crandall] 8p from the story by Bram Stoker, reprinted

from Creepy #13 (Feb. 1967)

8) Frozen Fear! [Archie Goodwin/Reed Crandall] 6p reprinted from Creepy #16 (Aug. 1967)

9) Keep Your Spirits Up [Bill Parente/Reed Crandall] 7p reprinted from Creepy #25 (Feb. 1969)

[story miscredited to Archie Goodwin]

Notes: The 1975 Creepy Annual & a Reed Crandall Special. Budd Lewis wrote a new script for ‘The Beast On Bacon Street’, replacing the original Bill Parente script entitled ‘Wrong Tennant’ from Eerie #24. Crandall’s 1960s art here was so strong and vibrant that it’s somewhat heartbreaking to see the decline that occurred in his work throughout the 1970s.

75. cover: Ken Kelly (Nov. 1975)

1) Uncle Creepy’s Introduction [Bill DuBay/Berni Wrightson] 1p [frontis]

2) The Escape Chronicle [Budd Lewis/Jose Ortiz] 18p

3) Phantom Of Pleasure Island [Gerry Boudreau/Alex Toth] 8p

4) Snow [Bruce Bezaire/Rich Buckler & Wally Wood] 7p

5) Death Expression [Jim Stenstrum/John Severin] 10p

6) Thrillkill [Jim Stenstrum/Neal Adams] 8p

Notes: Down to 64 pages for $1.00. This was the first issue since #67 not to be a special of some sort. The letters’ page was cut to one page. The horror magazine wars had concluded with Skywald gone out of business and Marvel canceling all of its horror magazines {although they retained a place on the B&W shelves with The Savage Sword Of Conan and a few non-horror books}. Warren had survived, but the cost was steep. The beneficial competition with Skywald was gone, the threat from Marvel was gone and Warren, the cutting edge of horror comics for so long, began to slowly stagnate. Still, much of that was in the future. Even with cost-cutting measures clearly beginning to show up here, remarkably, this issue was probably the best single issue Warren had published since the heady days of 1967. Alex Toth & Neal Adams returned, along with new work from John Severin & Wally Wood. Rich Buckler & Jose Ortiz provided good work as well. Powerful stories from all concerned. ‘Snow’ had been previewed almost two years earlier on the features page with Buckler than supplying the inks but Wood’s inking was a great addition to the story. ‘The Escape Chronicle’ was apparently quite popular with readers as a sequel was done for it. A special essay could be written about ‘Thillkill’ all on its own. It is as powerful and influencial in its own way as any story ever published in comics. If DuBay’s ‘Bless Us, Father…” was the prototype for parallel storylines in horror comics {although actually, like so many other things, Will Eisner did it first in the pages of the Spirit} than ‘Thrillkill’ was the first fully realized engine. Every writer, every artist who’s used that particular story technique owes this story, as well as Jim Stenstrum & Neal Adams, a debt of graditude. In one storyline, a young man sits on a highrise roof, eating an apple and calmly picking off the people in the streets below with a high-powered rifle while the other storyline shows a neighborhood priest, after the murder spree, attempting to explain to a reporter why the ‘nice young man’ would have done such a thing. And it’s not just the storytelling technique that’s a triumph, the story itself is great. Stenstrum’s script is one of the most powerful narratives in comicdom--violent, grim, disturbing, poignant and oddly tender. It provides no clear answers or solutions but will stay, as any great story should, in your memory for years. Adams provided dynamic and shocking art—some of the best of his career. For years I thought the young killer was physically modeled after writer Harlan Ellison but Adams recently confirmed that the model was artist Paul Kirchner, at the time an assistant of Wally Wood’s. A beautiful story and a great issue.

76. cover: Manuel Sanjulian (Jan. 1976)

1) Uncle Creepy’s Introduction [Bill DuBay/Walt Simonson & Berni Wrightson] 1p [frontis]

2) Goodbye, Mr. Lincoln [Bill DuBay/Jose Ortiz] 12p

3) Ensnared [Rich Margopoulos/Alex Toth] 7p

4) A Flash Of Lightning [Gerry Boudreau/John Severin] 9p

5) My Monster…My Dad [Jan Strnad/Martin Salvador] 8p

6) In Darkness It Shall End! [Doug Moench/Vicente Alcazar] 9p

7) The Imp Of The Perverse! [Rich Margopoulos/Luis Bermejo] 8p from the story by Edgar

Allan Poe

8) 1976 Warren Calendar Ad [Manuel Sanjulian] 1p [on inside back cover]

Notes: Although the issues were smaller, for a time this actually seemed to increase the quality of the stories. Sanjulian delivered a striking cover of a colonial clad skeleton galloping on a stallion while holding a headless female corpse. There were no great stories in this issue but no poor ones either. The best art could be split between Alcazar & Severin while the best stories were probably the Poe adaptation and Boudreau’s ‘A Flash Of Lightning’. Toth did at least three or four different splash pages for ‘Ensnared’ before he settled on the published version. The Poe adaptation was clearly intended for a possible third all-Poe special. There were several more of these adaptations scattered among the various horror books over the next year. The first Warren calendar consisted of reprinted covers.

77. cover: Manuel Sanjulian (Feb. 1976)

1) Santa Claus’ Introduction [Bill DuBay/Berni Wrightson] 1p [frontis]

2) Once Upon A Miracle [Bill DuBay/Jose Ortiz] 10p

3) Tibor Miko [Alex Toth] 6p

4) The Final Christmas Of Friar Steel [Budd Lewis/John Severin] 8p

5) Clarice [Bruce Jones/Berni Wrighton] 5p [poem]

6) The Believer [Budd Lewis/Richard Corben] 8p [color]

7) First Snow, Magic Snow [Budd Lewis/Leopold Sanchez] 6p

8) Final Gift [Bill DuBay/Paul Neary] 8p

9) The Final Christmas [Budd Lewis/Isidro Mones] 8p

10) Uncle Creepy’s Catacombs [Louise Jones?] 1p [questionaire]

Notes: An all Christmas story special. Face it, there’s nothing like seeing Santa shotgunned in half on the roof {in living color!} to build Christmas cheer. $1.25 price and 80 pages in length. Future comic artist Brent Anderson sent in a letter. The story ‘Once Upon A Miracle’ was originally intended for Creepy #68. The title for ‘Tibor Miko’ does not appear on the actual story. It was on the titlepage, however. The Jones/Wrightson poem ‘Clarice’ was the most effective narrative here. It’s quite a gentle, haunting effort.

78. cover: Manuel Sanjulian (Mar. 1976)

1) The Horseman [Bruce Bezaire/Miguel Quesada] 10p

2) Unreal! [Alex Toth] 6p

3) Creeps [Archie Goodwin/John Severin & Wally Wood] 8p

4) Lord Of Lazarus Castle [Gerry Boudreau & Carl Wessler/Jorge Moliterni] 6p [miscredited to

Claude Moliterni]

5) The Nature Of The Beast [Budd Lewis/Martin Salvador] 10p

6) God Of Fear [Jeff Rovin/Vicente Alcazar] 7p

Notes: Back to 64 pages and $1.00. The cover was a little static but all in all, this was a very good issue with one great urban paranoia story by the superb team of Goodwin/Severin/Wood. ‘Creeps’ leaves the reader feeling every bit of the urban rot the story dealt with. ‘The Horseman’, one of Bezaire’s last stories for Warren, was pretty good but the Quesada art doesn’t really do it justice. Martin Salvador turned in one of his best jobs for Budd Lewis’ ‘The Nature Of The Beast’.

The Louise Jones Era

79. cover: Manuel Sanjulian (May 1976)

1) Uncle Creepy’s Introduction [Bill DuBay/Jose Ortiz] 1p [frontis]

2) As Ye Sow… [Bruce Jones/Luis Bermejo] 10p

3) Kui [Alex Toth] 6p

4) The Super-Abnormal Phenomena Survival Kit! [Jim Stenstrum/John Severin] 8p

5) The Shadow Of The Axe! [Dave Sim/Russ Heath] 6p

6) Visitation At Pliny Marsh [Gerry Boudreau/Martin Salvador] 8p

7) The Pit In The Living Room Floor! [Budd Lewis/Joaquin Blasquez] 8p

8) Presenting The 1975 Warren Awards! [Bill DuBay] 2p [text article]

Notes: The Louise Jones’ era began with one of Creepy’s best single issues! With DuBay gone, there is no actual editor listed. Instead James Warren was listed as editor-in-chief while Jones was still listed as associate editor. In fact, Warren was nervous about promoting Jones to the editor’s position and she had challenged him to let her do the job secretly for a time in order to convince him. In reality, she was actually functioning as the editor here. Sanjulian turned in his best cover for Warren Publications, depicting a lovely young blonde standing in front of a gravestone, clutching a bloody, severed hand tightly to her bosom. All the stories are good but two of them are easily ranked among the top twenty Warren stories. ‘The Super-Abnormal Phenomena Survival Kit!’ by Stenstrum & Severin was a very funny spoof of the sort of ads that Warren itself, among many others, ran in the back of their magazines. In fact, this spoof reportedly bothered Jim Warren somewhat for its lampooning of those ads until someone pointed out that readers who enjoyed the spoof might just check out the ads a little more closely. John Severin was the perfect choice to illustrate this story, as he’d done hundreds of comic parodies for the likes of Mad, Cracked and Sick! Stenstrum’s script is spot on and actually rather savage in raking the often silly ads over the coals. It must have been a very popular story for both the writer and readers as from this point on, Stenstrum’s scripts tended to be more humorous than serious. The other great story, and my personal favorite of all Warren stories, was ‘The Shadow Of The Axe!’. Again, the perfect artist was chosen for this grisly tale that centered around a late 19^th century axe-murderer, his wife and their young son. The son slowly becomes aware that something is seriously wrong with daddy, while mom appears to be wasting away with the same unspoken knowledge. In a mere six pages, artist Russ Heath rapidly established the locale, characters and living conditions appropriate for the time period, including accurate depictions of the family, the chores, the daily life of a 19^th century farm and town, then artfully bringing to the fore the son’s slow dawning of awareness regarding the circumstances surrounding a serial killer’s rampage, yet all the while still telling a clear story that left no doubt in the reader’s mind what was happening, when it was happening and why it was happening. Sim, the future Cerebus writer/artist, was then just starting out {his professional debut had been just the year before in a Skywald magazine} but you’d never know it from the witty, clever script. This, along with ‘Gamal And The Cockatrice’ ‘Collector’s Edition’ and ‘Thrillkill’ are probably the best four scripts that Warren ever bought. The last three panels of the story take everything you expected from the story and give them, not so much an O. Henry twist, but rather a subtle tweak. Delicious and thoroughly satisfying. The 1975 Warren Awards went to Ken Kelly for best covers, Berni Wrightson for best art with ‘The Muck Monster’, best writer/artist to Fernando Fernandez for ‘Good-Bye, My Love, Good-Bye!’, best story to Jim Stenstrum for ‘Thrillkill’, best all around artist to John Severin, best all around writer to Bruce Bezaire and special awards for excellance to Manuel Sanjulian and Alex Toth.

80. cover: Ken Kelly (June 1976)

1) Benjamin Jones And The Imagineers [Budd Lewis/Luis Bermejo] 6p

2) Second Genesis [Gerry Boudreau/Esteban Maroto] 8p

3) The Fable Of Bald Sheba And Montebank The Rogue! [Bill DuBay/Jose Bea] 6p

4) Proof Positive [Alex Toth] 8p

5) Ain’t It Just Like The Night [Doug Moench/Martin Salvador] 8p

6) The Axe-Man Cometh [Gerry Boudreau & Carl Wessler/Jorge B. Galvez] 5p

7) The Last Chronicle [Budd Lewis/Jose Ortiz] 8p

Notes: ‘The Last Chronicle’ was a sequel to ‘The Escape Chronicles’ from Creepy #75, but it had none of the impact that story did. The title for Toth’s ‘Proof Positive’ is not located on the story itself but is listed on the titlepage. It also has the best story & art in the issue and was printed sideways. A good cover by Ken Kelly graced this issue but storywise this was somewhat of a disappointment after the previous issue. ‘Second Genesis’ wasted Maroto’s skills and he must have agreed as his art seemed phoned in anyway. Bermejo’s art was nice but the rest of the contents were rather mediocre. ‘Benjamin Jones And The Imagineers’ began a series of unconnected stories from Warren, usually written by DuBay, with rather Victorian sounding titles, although the contents were often not Victorian at all.

81. cover: Ken Kelly (July 1976)

1) Warren Publishing Company Will Pay A $500 Reward… [James Warren/Jack Davis] 1p [text

article/frontis]

2) Brannigan’s Gremlins [Bill DuBay/Luis Bermejo] 10p

3) The Comic Books [Joe Brancatelli] 1p [text article]

4) Wings Of Vengeance [Bill DuBay & Esteban Maroto/Esteban Maroto] 8p

5) The War! [Roger McKenzie/Paul Neary] 8p

6) Close Shave [Roger McKenzie/Martin Salvador] 6p

7) Battle Rot [Bill DuBay/John Severin] 6p

8) Billicar And The Momblywambles Of Glass [Steve Clement/Isidro Mones] 8p

Notes: Louise Jones was listed as Senior Editor with Bill DuBay listed as contributing editor. Joe Brancatelli, a longtime fan writer, began his opinion page on the state of the comic industry. Nice artwork by Severin & Maroto appeared in a rather average issue. The frontis article was Jim Warren’s response regarding the matter of counterfeit copies of the Eerie Ashcan #1 being sold to collectors for big bucks.

82. cover: montage of interior panels (Aug. 1976)

1) Forgive Us Our Debts [Jim Stenstrum/Esteban Maroto] 18p reprinted from Creepy #50 (Jan.

1973)

2) The Comic Books [Joe Brancatelli] 1p [text article]

3) A Most Private Terror [Budd Lewis/Esteban Maroto] 12p reprinted from Creepy #52 (Apr.

1973)

4) Deju Vu [Doug Moench/Esteban Maroto] 8p [color, one page edited out] reprinted from

Creepy #51 (Mar. 1973)

5) Relatives! [Bruce Bezaire/Esteban Maroto] 6p reprinted from Vampirella #35 (Aug. 1974)

6) A Scream In The Forest [Greg Potter/Esteban Maroto] 12p reprinted from Creepy #53 (May

1973)

Notes: The 1976 Creepy Annual. An Esteban Maroto special issue. $1.25 price & 72 page length. Edited for this issue only by Bill DuBay, perhaps because this issue was done before his departure from the editor’s chair.

83. cover: Frank Frazetta (Oct. 1976) reprinted from Creepy #15 (June 1967)

1) Uncle Creepy’s Introduction [Louise Jones/Berni Wrightson] 1p [frontis]

2) The Strange, Incurable Hauntings Of Phineas Boggs [Bill DuBay/John Severin] 9p

3) The Comic Books [Joe Brancatelli] 1p [text article]

4) Process Of Elimination [Bruce Jones/Russ Heath] 10p

5) Country Pie [Bruce Jones/Carmine Infantino & Berni Wrightson] 6p

6) In Deep [Bruce Jones/Richard Corben] 10p [pgs 2-9 in color]

7) Harvey Was A Sharp Cookie [Bill DuBay/Jose Ortiz] 9p

8) Now You See It… [Bruce Jones/Al Williamson] 8p

9) The Last Super Hero [Cary Bates/Carmine Infantino] 7p

Notes: Price increase to #1.50 and size increase to 80 pages. A Richard Corben cover was done to accompany his story ‘In Deep’ but not used, possibly due to deadline problems. It surfaced as the cover to #101 in 1978. The apparent last minute substitution of Frazetta’s cover started a trend of reusing his classic covers over the next several years, presumably to pump up sales at the newsstand. Some fans liked this but a very vocal minority did not. Outside of the old cover, this was a very good issue with strong stories from Bill DuBay & Bruce Jones, along with great art from Severin, Infantino, Heath, Wrightson, Corben, Ortiz & Williamson. Infantino makes his first comics appearances outside the DC books since being fired from his publisher’s position there in January 1976. Best story & art here was probably the Jones/Heath tour de force of ‘Process Of Elimination’ but Jones also scored with the terrifying ‘In Deep’, graced with beautiful Corben art as well as the fun ‘Now You See It…’, which featured Al Williamson’s welcome return to Warren with a story originally intended for Marvel’s cancelled Unknown Worlds Of Science Fiction. DuBay’s funny ‘Phineas Boggs’ was jauntily illustrated by John Severin, and Jose Ortiz’s work on ‘Harvey Was A Sharp Cookie’ was quite good, although his sharply styled artwork was a bit of a contrast to all the American artists. The Infantino/Wrightson artwork on ‘Country Pie’ was a good combination.

84. cover: Ken Kelly (Nov. 1976)

1) Hitter’s Wind! [Roger McKenzie/Carmine Infantino & Walt Simonson] 8p

2) The Comic Books: Tarzan’s Travails [Joe Brancatelli] 1p [text article]

3) The Mummy’s Victory [Roger McKenzie/Richard Corben] 5p

4) Till Hell Freezes Over! [Steve Englehart/Carmine Infantino & Dick Giordano] 11p

5) Home Stretch [Roger McKenzie/Leopold Sanchez] 8p

6) Menace, Anyone…? [David Michelinie/Carmine Infantino & Al Milgrom] 9p

7) Relic [Roger McKenzie/Carmine Infantino & John Severin] 8p

Notes: An all-sports special, apparently inspired by DC’s Strange Sports Stories title. Gene Day sent in a letter rooting for his good buddy Dave Sim’s stories. Infantino penciled four out of six stories in this issue. In fact, there have been suggestions that the Spanish artists’ domination of Warren magazines began to wane as the direct result of Infantino’s speed in completing artwork. Clearly Roger McKenzie was the go to guy for this issue’s stories. This is a good issue, but not great.

85. cover: Ken Kelly (Jan. 1977)

1) 1977 Warren Calendar Ad [Enrich Torres] 1p [frontis]

2) Like Icarus, Quickly Falling [Roger McKenzie/Leopold Sanchez] 8p

3) The Comics Books: One Down… [Joe Brancatelli] 1p [text article]

4) Hide And Go Mad [Budd Lewis/Carmine Infantino & Walt Simonson] 6p

5) The Thing In The Well [Roger McKenzie/Leopoldo Duranona] 8p

6) Orem Ain’t Got No Head Cheese! [Bill DuBay/Jose Ortiz] 9p

7) The Terrible Turnip Of Turpin County [Roger McKenzie/Martin Salvador] 9p

8) A Way In The Woods [Bruce Jones/Luis Bermejo] 10p

Notes: Billed on the cover as a monster special, although from the stories you’d be hardpressed to notice it since about half the monsters were of the human, psycho kind. I remember back in 1976 when my mom picked up this issue, flipped to ‘Orem Ain’t Go No Head Cheese’, started to read it and then asked me with some concern {and a certain amount of fear, I suspect} if I honestly thought reading a story about eating human brains was what I called entertainment. Believe me, there’s just no good way to answer a question like that. The Orem story may be the first in an apparent effort by Warren, headed by Bill DuBay in particular, to write extreme gross-out horror stories. The 1977 calendar, like the 1976 one, were reprints of covers. Only this time, the covers were all of and from Vampirella.

86. cover: Ken Kelly (Feb. 1977)

1) A Noggin At Mile End [Budd Lewis/Leopold Sanchez] 10p

2) The Comic Books: Less Is More [Joe Brancatelli] 1p [text article]

3) Dick Swift And His Electric Power Ring! [Bill DuBay/Carmine Infantino & Berni Wrightson]

9p

4) The Greatest Christmas Of All [Roger McKenzie/Leopoldo Duranona] 8p

5) Mother Knows Best [Bruce Jones/Al Williamson] 8p

6) Bloodstone Christmas [Gerry Boudreau/Carmine Infantino & John Severin] 8p

7) Season’s Grievings [Bruce Jones/Gonzalo Mayo] 8p

8) A Gift For Momma [Roger McKenzie/Luis Bermejo] 8p

Notes: Future writer/artist Fred Hembeck sent in a letter. The third Christmas special was priced at $1.50 & is 80 pages in length. Kelly’s cover was noticeably less grisly than in previous years. Although there was no full color section, both ‘Mother Knows Best’ and ‘Bloodstone Christmas’ were colored in red. Best story here was the delightful ‘Dick Swift And His Electric Power Ring!’ from Bill DuBay while best art was from Al Williamson on ‘Mother Knows Best’. Gonzalo Mayo displayed a slightly different, less elaborate, art style on his story which also seemed to enhance his storytelling abilities. All the stories were decent and the art was quite nice. A superior issue.

87. cover: montage of interior panels [from Berni Wrightson] (Mar. 1977)

1) Four Classic Martians [Berni Wrightson] 1p

2) A Warped Tale [Al Sirois/Gray Morrow] 8p

3) A Martian Saga [Nicola Cuti/Berni Wrightson] 6p [poem]

4) Those ‘Orrible Passions Of ’78 [Bill DuBay/Carmine Infantino & Dick Giordano] 8p

5) The Last [Roger McKenzie/John Severin] 8p

6) They Come Out At Night [Bruce Jones/Martin Salvador] 8p

7) Warmonger Of Mars [Wally Wood/Ralph Reese] 7p

Notes: $1.25 & 72 pages. Nicola Cuti guest edited this Science Fiction special issue. ‘Warmonger Of Mars’ had been done several years previously and was probably intended for an underground comix. That this was an older story can be seen by the re-appearance of Reese’s early detailed rendering style—which by this time had been replaced by a pallid version seemingly styled after Dick Giordano’s or Win Mortimer’s work {as may be obvious, I much prefer his earlier style., which seemed influenced in equal parts by Gil Kane & Wally Wood}. Gray Morrow hadn’t been in a Warren magazine since 1967 yet his return went oddily unheralded. Wrightson’s art was quite beautiful, however the best story & art went to the DuBay/Infantino/Giordano story ‘Those ‘Orrible Passions Of ‘78’, which tied in with the then-recent Viking I & II spacecrafts’ visits to Mars and the strange, human-looking face formed by hills and shadows that was photographed on the Martian surface. This was, perhaps, the first use of that odd formation in a fiction tale.

88. cover: Steve Hickman (May 1977)

1) Castles Made Of Sand [Gerry Boudreau/Jose Ortiz] 8p

2) The Comic Books [Joe Brancatelli] 1p [text article]

3) Eye For Eye, Fang For Fang [Doug Moench/Carmine Infantino & Ernie Chan] 8p

4) Do You Believe In Sinsigs! [Gerry Boudreau/Luis Bermejo] 8p

5) Temple Of Seilos [Bruce Jones/Leopold Sanchez] 10p

6) Iron Man [Bill DuBay/Esteban Maroto] 6p

7) Second Childhood [Bruce Jones/Ramon Torrents] 8p

Notes: Hickman’s only cover for Warren was quite lovely. Cover priced at $1.50. Ken Meyer, Jr. sent in a letter. A fairly average issue for this period. Good but not great.

89. cover: Frank Frazetta (June 1977) reprinted from Blazing Combat #1 (Oct. 1965)

1) Blood Brothers [Bruce Jones/Jose Ortiz] 10p

2) The Comic Books [Joe Brancatelli] 1p [text article]

3) The Windmill [Lou Rossin/Leopoldo Duranona] 5p

4) Angel Of Jaipur [Bill DuBay/John Severin] 6p

5) The Hungry Dragon [Nicola Cuti/Carmine Infantino & Alex Nino] 8p

6) The Door-Gunner [Larry Hama & Cary Bates/Leopold Sanchez] 8p

7) Coggin’s Army [Roger McKenzie/Martin Salvador] 9p

Notes: Warren began its irritating use of reprinted covers on a regular basic. Except on Vampirella, almost all the reprinted covers were of Frazetta’s work. Although fans of the Warren books may dispute it, this policy marked the first real signs of the long decline & fall of the Warren books. This issue was an all-war stories special. Still $1.50 but the page count dropped to 64 pages. Best story & art here was the nifty ‘Angel Of Jaipur’ by DuBay & Severin.

90. cover: Enrich Torres (July 1977)

1) Warrior On The Edge Of Forever [Bill DuBay/Jose Ortiz] 9p

2) The Comic Books [Joe Brancatelli] 1p [text article]

3) The Wash Out [Bruce Jones/Leopoldo Duranona] 8p

4) The Search [Roger McKenzie/Carmine Infantino & Gonzalo Mayo] 8p

5) Please…Save The Children [Bill DuBay/Martin Salvador] 10p

6) The Sacrifice [Jose Toutain/Rafael Auraleon] 4p

7) Dollie [Roger McKenzie/Leopold Sanchez] 10p

Notes: The first issue not listed as a special of some sort in quite a while. Enrich’s cover, depicting a young girl holding a vampire dollie while blood dribbles down the girl’s neck, was quite effective. Back up to 72 pages. The story ‘Warrior On The Edge Of Forever’ was a leftover for the previous issue’s war special. The story ‘Dollie’ was a leftover from the Christmas special. The odd pairing of Infantino & Mayo on ‘The Search’ was surprisingly good and provided the best art for the issue. Best story honors go to Bill DuBay for ‘Please…Save The Children’.

91. cover: Frank Frazetta (Aug. 1977) reprinted from Vampirella #11 (May 1971)

1) Nightfall [Bill DuBay/Berni Wrightson] 8p reprinted from Eerie #60 (Sept 1974)

2) The Comic Books: The Worst And The Dullest [Joe Brancatelli] 1p [text article]

3) Creeps [Archie Goodwin/John Severin & Wally Wood] 8p reprinted from Creepy #78 (Mar.

1976)

4) Phantom Of Pleasure Island [Gerry Boudreau/Alex Toth] 8p reprinted from Creepy #75 (Nov.

1975)

5) Benjamin Jones And The Imagineers [Budd Lewis/Luis Bermejo] 6p reprinted from Creepy

#80 (June 1976)

6) Cold Cuts [Berni Wrightson/Jeff Jones] 6p reprinted from Vampirella #34 (June 1974)

7) Thrillkill [Jim Stenstrum/Neal Adams] 8p reprinted from Creepy #75 (Nov. 1975)

8) Gamal And The Cockatrice [Bruce Bezaire/Rafael Auraleon] 12p reprinted from Vampirella

#47 (Dec. 1975)

9) The Shadow Of The Axe! [Dave Sim/Russ Heath] 6p reprinted from Creepy #79 (May 1976)

Notes: The 1977 Creepy Annual. $1.50 price with 88 pages. If Warren had reserved their use of reprinted cover to the annuals it would have made a great deal more sense. This particular issue is one of the best buys of a Warren magazine you can make. Not a single dud story, exceptionally fine artwork and at least six geninue classics {‘Nightfall’, ‘Creeps’, ‘Thrillkill’, ‘Gamal And The Cockatrice’, ‘Cold Cuts’ & ‘The Shadow Of The Axe!’} appear here. The other two stories are simply very good. Great value for your dollar (and a half)!

92. cover: Frank Frazetta (Oct. 1977) reprinted from Eerie #23 (Sept. 1969)

1) A Toast To No Man’s Memory [Len Wein/John Severin] 8p

2) The Comic Books [Joe Brancatelli] 1p [text article]

3) Mrs. Sludge And The Pickled Octopus Raid [Bill DuBay/Luis Bermejo] 9p

4) Instinct [Nicola Cuti/Richard Corben] 7p

5) Towards High Places [Bruce Jones/Ramon Torrents] 10p

6) The Executioner [Russ Heath & Cary Bates/Russ Heath] 8p

7) Goddess In A Kingdom Of Trolls [Gerry Boudreau/Esteban Maroto] 8p

8) Everybody And His Sister [Jim Stenstrum/Leopold Sanchez] 8p [art miscredited to Jose

Sanchez]

9) The Generations Of Noah [Roger McKenzie/Leopoldo Duranona] 9p

Notes: With this issue, at least, an attempt was made to justify the Frazetta cover reprint, namely by ordering up a new story, ‘Towards High Places’ {and it was a pretty good story, too!} to accompany it. Cover price was $1.75 (just 10 years previously it had been 35 cents!) for 96 pages. The story ‘Instinct’ was an inventory story done in 1970. Since 1975 Warren had been making an effort to insure that the late summer issue of new stories would be a special one. This one was no exceptation. Very good stories appeared from the teams of Wein/Severin, Jones/Torrents, Bates/Heath and Boudreau/Maroto but all the stories were of generally high quality.

93. cover: Don Maitz (Nov. 1977)

1) The Replacement [Roger McKenzie/Carmine Infantino & Dick Giordano] 10p

2) The Comic Books [Joe Brancatelli] 2p [text article]

3) The Return Of Rah [Roger McKenzie/Carmine Infantino & John Severin] 6p

4) The Great Black Cheese [Bill DuBay/Carmine Infantino & Alfredo Alcala] 9p

5) Elixer [Roger McKenzie/Leopold Sanchez] 8p

6) Running Wild [Roger McKenzie/Carmine Infantino & Alex Nino] 9p

7) Cold Blooded Murder [Bill Mohalley & Nicola Cuti/Leopoldo Duranona] 8p

Notes: Noted SF & Fantasy artist Don Maitz made his Warren debut. This was the second all-sports special. A third was planned for 1978 but abandoned at some point and the stories were scattered among the three main Warren titles. Price back down to $1.50 with 72 pages. The story ‘The Return Of Rah’ was a sequel to ‘The Mummy’s Victory’ from Creepy #84.

94. cover: Don Maitz (Jan. 1978)

1) 1978 Warren Calendar Ad [Jose Gonzalez] 1p [frontis]

2) Etran To Fulsing [Nicola Cuti/Dick Giordano] 8p

3) The Comic Books: Superman Versus Soccer [Joe Brancatelli] 1p [text article]

4) Bad Tommy [Roger McKenzie & Nicola Cuti/Martin Salvador] 9p

5) Bad Ada [Bill Pearson/Alfredo Alcala] 8p

6) Bessie [Gerry Boudreau/Leopoldo Duranona] 8p

7) Sacrifice [Roger McKenzie/Luis Bermejo] 8p

8) Backwaters And Timing Circles [Budd Lewis/Alex Nino] 9p

Notes: For the first and only time the Warren Calendar featured new artwork from Rafael Auraleon, Luis Bermejo, Richard Corben, Leopoldo Duranona, Jose Gonzalez, Russ Heath, Esteban Maroto, Jose Ortiz, John Severin, Ramon Torrents, Alex Toth & Berni Wrightson. Wrightson’s calendar art was from his upcoming Illustrated Frankenstein volume. Corben’s would later appear as the cover to The Odd Comic World Of Richard Corben. The Toth & Heath contributions were particularly nice. Nicola Cuti was listed as editor for this issue only, while Jones remains senior editor. This was an all-weird children’s special. Maitz’s cover was quite attractive. For some reason, at this time, the price of an issue of Creepy began to jump all over the place, without apparent reason. In this instance the price dropped down to $1.25. Bill Pearson returned with a story for the first time since the mid 1960s. The best story was ‘Sacrifice’ by McKenzie/Bermejo. When someone pointed out that ‘Backwaters And Timing Circles’ had the same plot as Ray Bradbury’s famous ‘A Sound Of Thunder’, the editorial response rather lamely explained the story was a “tribute” to Bradbury’s original.

95. cover: Don Maitz (Feb. 1978)

1) The Star Saga Of Sirius Sam [Nicola Cuti/John Severin] 8p

2) The Laughing Man [Bruce Jones/Berni Wrightson] 6p

3) Murder On The Vine [Cary Bates/Esteban Maroto] 8p [color]

4) The Empire Of Chim-Pan-Zee [Nicola Cuti/Luis Bermejo] 8p

5) The Comic Books: Patent Medicine Profits? [Joe Brancatelli] 1p [text article]

6) The Oasis Inn [Bob Toomey/Jose Ortiz] 10p

7) The Old Ways [Roger McKenzie/Leopoldo Duranona] 9p

Notes: An all-apes special. Cuti was now listed as assistant editor. $1.75 price. ‘The Laughing Man’ was Wrightson’s last illustrated story for Warren, although he did do some incidental work for them for future issues. It was also the best story of the lot. ‘Murder On The Vine’ was a decent Tarzan spoof, marred by dreadful coloring.

96. cover: Kim McQuaite (Mar. 1978)

1) Predation [Bruce Jones/Rudy Nebres] 10p

2) The Comic Books: Kiss And Tell [Joe Brancatelli] 1p [text article]

3) Trilby And The Star Rovers [Budd Lewis & Bill DuBay/Luis Bermejo] 6p

4) Bonga And Me [Nicola Cuti/Esteban Maroto] 8p

5) Alien! [Bill DuBay/Martin Salvador] 9p

6) The Green [Bruce Jones/Luis Bermejo] 6p

7) Alien Strain [Bill DuBay/Alex Nino] 8p

Notes: McQuaite’s cover looked as if it had wandered over from a Famous Monsters issue or a Star Wars style movie magazine. With the horror boom of the early 1970s over and Star Wars mania in full force, Warren began to lean more and more on covers with science fiction themes. This was listed as the Alien Encounters special. $1.25 cover price. The story ‘Bonga And Me’ was originally intended for Eerie #78. Rudy Nebres’ art on ‘Predation’ was the best stuff here.

97. cover: Frank Frazetta (May 1978) reprinted from Eerie #3 (May 1966)

1) Momma Is A Vampire [Nicola Cuti/Leopoldo Duranona] 8p

2) The Comic Books: Safe At Home? [Joe Brancatelli] 1p [text article]

3) The Wax Werewolf [Bob Toomey/Jose Ortiz] 8p

4) Black Death [Bruce Jones/Leopold Sanchez] 10p

5) Snaegl or How I Conquered The Snail That Ate Tokyo [Nicola Cuti/Martin Salvador] 8p

6) Dragon Lady [Bill DuBay/Esteban Maroto] 8p

7) Sisters [Bill DuBay/Alex Nino] 8p

8) Presenting The 1977 Warren Awards [Louise Jones/Frank Frazetta, Bruce Jones, Bill DuBay,

Alex Nino & Ramon Torrents] 2p [text article]

Notes: This issue was of slightly higher quality than usual. ‘Momma Is A Vampire’ was the best story with Maroto’s art on ‘Dragon Lady’ being the highpoint on the illustration front. Duranona had some excellent pages here as well. The 1977 Warren Awards went to Frank Frazetta for best cover on Eerie #81; best story to Bruce Jones for ‘Yellow Heat’, Russ Heath for best art on ‘Yellow Heat’, best cover artist to Richard Corben, best all around writer to Bruce Jones, best all around artist to Alex Nino and special awards for excellance to Ramon Torrents as well as Bill DuBay & Luis Bermejo for the Rook.

98. cover: Attilla Hejje (June 1978)

1) The Alien Factor [Budd Lewis/Jose Ortiz] 8p

2) The Comic Books: Classics Illustrated: R.I.P. [Joe Brancatelli] 1p [text article]

3) Helen Horror Hollywood [Gerry Boudreau/Leopoldo Duranona] 8p

4) Graveyard Shift [Bruce Jones/Leopold Sanchez] 11p

5) Starlet, Starlet, Burning Bright [Gerry Boudreau/Carmine Infantino & Dick Giordano] 8p [art

miscredited to Ramon Torrents]

6) The Image Makers [Nicola Cuti/Jose Ortiz] 8p

Notes: An all-media horror special. Cover price $1.50

99. cover: Bob Larkin (July 1978)

1) An Old Game [Nicola Cuti/Pepe Moreno] 8p

2) The Comic Books: Still More Kiss [Joe Brancatelli] 1p [text article]

3) Ssshh! [Cary Bates/Joe Vaultz] 8p

4) Brothers [Bill DuBay/Jose Ortiz] 10p

5) A Slight Case Of Overkill [Bill DuBay/Leopold Sanchez] 8p

6) There Shall Come A Great Darkness [Bob Toomey/Alfredo Alcala] 8p

7) One Hell Of A War [Roger McKenzie/Leopoldo Duranona] 9p

Notes: Disaster special. Cover price $1.25. ‘A Slight Case Of Overkill’ was an overflow story from Creepy’s all-ape issue. Rather average issue with the sole bright spot being the Warren debut of Pepe Moreno, a fine Spanish artist.

100. cover: Bob Larkin (Aug. 1978)

1) The Pit At The Center Of The Earth! [Gerry Boudreau/Pablo Marcos] 8p

2) The Comic Books: Death By The Numbers [Joe Brancatelli] 1p [text article]

3) Professor Duffer And The Insuperable Myron Meek! [Bill DuBay/John Severin] 6p

4) Tale Of A Fox [Nicola Cuti/Jose Ortiz] 8p

5) Nobody’s Home [Cary Bates/Joe Vaultz] 5p

6) Winner Take All! [Len Wein/Luis Bermejo] 8p [color]

7) Hell Hound [Bruce Jones/Russ Heath] 10p

8) Wisper Of Dark Eyes [Gerry Boudreau/Rafael Auraleon] 8p

9) They’re Going To Be Turning Out The Lights [Bill DuBay/Alex Nino] 9p

Notes: Cover price at $1.75 with 88 pages. An effort was made to make this a very special anniversary issue but, although it’s considerably better that the lackluster #50, most of this issue seems…well, a bit tired. It’s better than the average issue, but for Creepy’s 100^th issue, you were hoping for something a little more kickass. From the cover to the last story, there’s nothing like that here. The best story was Cuti’s ‘Tale Of A Fox’, which became a series starting with Vampirella #95. ‘Hell Hound’ was beautifully drawn and the story ain’t bad but it seemed a little familiar. The rest of the issue was simply ok. ‘They’re Going To Be Turning Out The Lights’ was printed sideways.

101. cover: Richard Corben (Sept. 1978)

1) In Deep [Bruce Jones/Richard Corben] 10p reprinted from Creepy #83 (Oct. 1976)

2) In Deep, part 2 [Bruce Jones/Leopoldo Duranona] 9p

3) A Boy And His Thing [Bill DuBay/Alex Nino] 10p

4) Waterbabies [Louise Jones/Pablo Marcos] 8p [color]

5) The Seven Sisters Of The Sea [Gerry Boudreau/Alfredo Alcala] 9p

6) Alternate Paths [Chris Adames/Pepe Moreno] 8p

Notes: Say you’ve got a great cover, a really great cover, that was intended to be the cover for #83. It was meant for a story so vivid that you couldn’t possibly use that cover to highlight any other issue or story without it being very apparent that you’d screwed up two years earlier. What do you do? Well, you reprint the story, ask the writer to pen a sequel and cross your fingers that nobody says nothin’. Unfortunately you picked Leopoldo Duranona to follow Rich Corben’s original artwork. Both fine artists but about as incompatible in style and approach as any two artists you could look at. So the best art on an original story goes to Alex Nino for ‘A Boy And His Thing’. $1.50 cover price.

102. cover: Patrick Woodroffe (Oct. 1978)

1) Pantomime At Sea [Cary Bates/Joe Vaultz] 10p

2) The Comic Books: What Hath Congress Wrought? [Joe Brancatelli] 1p [text article]

3) Almost Shangri-La [Bruce Jones/Leopoldo Duranona] 11p

4) The Thing In The Haunted Forest [?/Abel Laxamana] 7p

5) Killer Claw [Mark Lasky/Walt Simonson & Klaus Janson] 10p

6) Night Eyes [Bruce Jones/Alfredo Alcala] 10p

7) Fair Prey [Bruce Jones/Isidro Mones] 10p

Notes: An all-monster issue. Another lack-luster issue with the best work done by Bruce Jones & Alfredo Alcala on ‘Night Eyes’. Isidro Mones returned after a long absence with a new art style. $2.00 cover price.

103. cover: Walt Simonson & Kim McQuaite (Nov. 1978)

1) Thane: Angel Of Doom [Archie Goodwin/Jeff Jones] 6p reprinted from Creepy #16 (Aug.

1967)

2) Bookworm [Gerry Conway/Richard Corben] 7p reprinted from Eerie #32 (Mar. 1971)

3) The Comic Books: Roll Over, Brancatelli [Joe Brancatelli] 1p [text article]

4) On Little Cat Feet! [John Jacobson/Rafael Auraleon] 11p reprinted from Vampirella #38

(Nov. 1974)

5) Thumbs Down! [Anne T. Murphy/Al Williamson] 6p reprinted from Creepy #6 (Dec. 1965)

6) Lucky Stiff [Gerry Boudreau & Carl Wessler/Ramon Torrents] 5p reprinted from Vampirella

#38 (Nov. 1974)

7) The Black Cat [Berni Wrightson] 12p from the story by Edgar Allan Poe, reprinted from

Creepy #62 (May 1974)

Notes: The 1978 Creepy Annual. $1.50 cover price. This issue bore all the signs of being assembled by someone just picking up random issues from the file shelves. Not a single story appeared from Creepy’s excellent 1976-1977 run. In fact, most of the stories didn’t even appear in Creepy. This was, at least, the third go around for the Williamson story and the second for the Thane tale. Only the reprinting of Wrightson’s adaptation of ‘The Black Cat’ was really worthy of an annual placement. Great cover by Simonson & McQuaite, though.

104. cover: Ken Kelly (Jan. 1979) reprinted from the back cover of Eerie #63 (Feb. 1975)

1) The Games [Roger McKenzie/Pablo Marcos] 8p

2) The Comic Books: Notes On Comix People [Joe Brancatelli] 1p [text article]

3) The Caretaker [Bob Toomey/Alfredo Alcala] 8p

4) Mother Park [Roger McKenzie/Jose Ortiz] 10p

5) Wolfer O’Connel: In The City Of Gold [Budd Lewis/Pepe Moreno] 10p

6) Holocost [Steve Englehart/Terry Austin] 6p

7) Keep Kool [Bob Toomey/Alex Nino] 8p

Notes: $1.25 cover price. Kelly’s reprinted cover featureed Exterminator One. This was an all-robot stories special. Wolfer O’Connel’s previous story had appeared in Eerie #76 (Aug. 1976). The O’Connel story was also the best one in the issue.

105. cover: Esteban Maroto (Feb. 1979)

1) Shrivel [Bob Toomey/Val Mayerik] 8p

2) The Comic Books: The Party [Joe Brancatelli] 1p [text article]

3) Night Life [Bob Toomey/Rafael Auraleon] 8p

4) Dime Novel Hero! [Nicola Cuti/Russ Heath] 8p

5) Always Leave ‘em Laughing! [Len Wein/Alex Nino] 8p

6) The Sign [Roger McKenzie/Pepe Moreno] 8p

7) Visit To A Primitive Planet [Bill DuBay/John Severin] 6p

8) The Summoning [Bruce Jones/Gonzalo Mayo] 11p

Notes: Great cover from Maroto, which also appeared as the cover to a later issue of Heavy Metal. $1.50 cover price. This was a very good issue with some great stories in it! ‘Shrivel’, by Toomey & Mayerik, was an amusing little jape. The delightful ‘Dime Novel Hero!’ by Cuti & Heath was a rewrite & expansion of a two-pager Cuti wrote & published in July 1973 for The Monster Times. That version, entitled ‘Werewolf Goes West’, was illustrated by Frank Brunner. The final page for ‘Dime Novel Hero!’ had a nifty and oh-so-obvious-that-I-should-have-thought-of-it-myself story twist that leaves you with a big grin on your face. About half the horror stories I’ve read that involve clowns have some variation on the ‘Always Leave ‘em Laughing’ title. The title is very much a cliché, but then so is this story itself. ‘The Sign’ was a neat Christmas story and a definite nod to the old Warren Christmas specials. The DuBay/Severin story was a triumph of subtle storytelling while the Jones/Mayo team delivered a fine little shocker. In fact, the Bruce Jones/Gonzalo Mayo story/art team delivered some of Warren’s best stories during 1978-1979.

106. cover: Romas Kukalis (Mar. 1979)

1) Quimby The Barbarian [Bob Toomey/Pablo Marcos] 9p

2) The Comic Books: Going For The Bucks [Joe Brancatelli] 1p [text article]

3) Fangs [Laurie Sutton/Leopoldo Duranona] 9p

4) Swords In The World Series [Ken Gale/Jim Starlin & Joe Rubinstein] 8p

5) Primal Equation [Budd Lewis & Jon Sinsky/Isidro Mones] 6p

6) Sudden Death Playoff [Bob Toomey/Pepe Moreno] 8p

7) The Art Of Killing [Larry Hama/Val Mayerik] 10p

Notes: This was cover artist Romas Kukalis’ professional debut. Both ‘Swords In The World Series’ and ‘Sudden Death Playoff’ were originally intended to be part of the third all-sports stories special, probably originally intended for Creepy #102. That special issue was cancelled and the stories parceled out over different magazines for the next couple of years. The best story here was the Hama/Mayerick samurai story ‘The Art Of Killing’, which was clearly inspired by the long-running Japanese series ‘Lone Wolf & Cub’, which hadn’t been seen by the general U.S. public at the time this story came out. This was a pretty good tribute, with Mayerick’s art seeming to take a giant leap of quality from the often lumpy-looking art he’d been doing for Marvel. The story led to a series for the young samurai warrior that appeared in Eerie.

107. cover: Romas Kukalis (May 1979)

1) The Rubicon [Budd Lewis/Pepe Moreno] 10p

2) The Comic Books: The Inevitable Superman Story [Joe Brancatelli] 1p [text article]

3) Family Ties [Bruce Jones/Val Mayerik] 10p

4) Presenting The 1978 Warren Awards [Louise Jones/Ruby Nebres, Leopoldo Duranona, Jordi

Penlavi, Kim McQuaite, et al] 2p [text article]

5) The World From Rough Stones [Jean Michel Martin/Joe Vaultz] 4p

6) Stainless Steel Savior [Len Wein/Leopoldo Duranona] 8p

7) Quirks [Bob Toomey/Walt Simonson & Terry Austin] 8p

8) Mindquake [Jim Stenstrum/Garcia Pizarro] 9p [story credited to Alabaster Redzone]

9) The Rook Ad [Rudy Nebres] 1p [color, on inside back cover]

Notes: Due to an editorial error, all credits were missing from the actual stories. The credits were given on the letters’ page of #110. Best story here probably belonged to Bruce Jones’ ‘Family Ties’ while ‘Quirks’ had the best art. The story ‘Stainless Steel Savior’ was overflow from Creepy #104’s all-robot stories special. The 1978 Warren Awards went to Jordi Penlava for best cover from Eerie #96, Bruce Jones for best story for ‘Hell Hound’ from Creepy #100, best art to Rudy Nebres for ‘Predation’ from Creepy #96, best cover artist to Richard Corben, best all around writer to Bruce Jones, best all around artist to Leopoldo Duranona, and special awards of excellance went to Gonzalo Mayo & Kim McQuaite.

108. cover: Terrence Lindall (June 1979)

1) Hole In The Head [Frank Salvatini/Alex Nino] 9p

2) The Comic Books: So Much For Traditions [Joe Brancatelli] 1p [text article]

3) Camelot Crosstime [Jean Michel Martin/Val Mayerik] 8p

4) Sultana [Budd Lewis/Pepe Moreno] 10p

5) Going By The Book [Kevin Duane/Alfredo Alcala] 8p

6) House Of Magic [Gerry Boudreau/Pablo Marcos] 8p

7) Hell’s Playground [Jean Michel Martin/Leopoldo Duranona] 8p

Notes: This was Terrence Lindall’s professional debut and his gruesome medieval-styled art caused quite a bit of controversy when it first appeared. Myself, I quite liked it. Lindall also contributed a self-portrait on the letters’ page. Cover price was $1.75. ‘Sultana’ had very good artwork by the always impressive Pepe Moreno and a fine story by Budd Lewis. In addition, Alex Nino contributed a superior art job and ‘House Of Magic’ was also well done.

109. cover: Jim Laurier (July 1979)

1) Vampire Dawn [Archie Goodwin/Pepe Moreno] 12p

2) The Comic Books: Notes On Comix People [Joe Brancatelli] 1p [text article]

3) The Organizer [Bruce Jones/Leopoldo Duranona] 10p

4) The Ravenscroft Affair [Bill DuBay/Paul Neary] 6p

5) Alien Affair [Cary Bates/Val Mayerik] 12p

6) Heart Of Darkness [Bill Mantlo/Luis Bermejo] 8p

Notes: Jim Laurier’s spaceship cover looked a lot like either a repainted hair dryer, a flashlight or a lady’s pleasure toy. What it didn’t look like was an actual working spaceship. Cover price at $1.50. Between editing jobs at Marvel, Archie Goodwin returned to Warren and would contribute ten or so stories over the next year and a half. ‘Vampire Dawn’ was a welcome and strong return and had easily the best story and art of the issue. ‘The Ravenscroft Affair’ was also quite good. Luis Bermejo contributed probably his worst art job for Warren with the dreary and heartless ‘Heart Of Darkness’.

110. cover: Patrick Woodroffe (Aug. 1979)

1) Snapper [Bill Kelly/Leopoldo Duranona] 10p

2) The Comic Books: The Corporate Mad [Joe Brancatelli] 1p [text article]

3) Sunset Farms [Gerry Boudreau & Alex Southern/Rudy Nebres] 8p

4) Take Your Child, Please! [Cary Bates/Jose Ortiz] 8p

5) The Demon Hater [Nicola Cuti/Rafael Auraleon] 8p

6) Horror Is A Highrise [Archie Goodwin/Leopoldo Duranona] 10p

7) A Knightmare To Remember [Cary Bates/Joe Vaultz] 6p

8) The Clockmaker [Bob Toomey/Jesus Blasco] 9p [story credited to Gary Null and art

miscredited to Jesus Blasquez]

Notes: Patrick Woodroffe’s tight closeup of Pan’s head was the most striking cover image Creepy had seen since Corben’s excellent cover to #101. Price bounced up again to $1.75 with 80 pages of story. The rest of the issue didn’t hold up to the promise of the great cover but ‘Snapper’ would have fit right in with the stories from the Goodwin Era, while Goodwin’s own story is quite good. Joe Vaultz’s airbrush art was quite crude when he tried to draw human beings but with the right subject matter it was often very effective and ‘A Knightmare To Remember’ is actually well worth remembering. ‘The Clockmaker’ is an unacknowledged rewrite by Toomey of a European adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’. This was celebrated European artist Jesus Blasco’s Warren debut but he would never receive credit for his work as he was always miscredited as former Warren artists Jesus Blasquez or Jaime Brocal. I don’t know why this confusion happened. Neither of those two artists’ work looks anything like Blasco’s. Perhaps Blasco was ghosting art for for the two? Toomey would use the penname Gary Null for European stories that he provided rewrites for—perhaps the same reason Jim Stenstrum began to use the penname Alabaster Redzone.

111. cover: Duane Allen (Sept. 1979)

1) Dreams Of Grandeur [Budd Lewis/Val Mayerik & Klaus Janson] 10p

2) The Comic Books: Still Collecting After All These Years [Joe Brancatelli] 1p [text article]

3) A Stiff Named Sczynsky [Bob Toomey/Rafael Auraleon] 8p

4) Heart Of The Warrior [Bill DuBay/Alejandro Sanchez] 8p

5) Blood-Lust [Cary Bates/Leopoldo Duranona] 12p

6) Night Wind [Masanabo Sato & Gary Null/Masanabo Sato] 9p

7) A Switch In Dime [Nicola Cuti/Leopoldo Duranona] 11p

Notes: Another good cover from a newcomer, although this would be Duane Allen’s only Warren appearance. This was a fair-to-middlin’ issue. Nothing was particularly notable or awful.

112. cover: Richard Corben (Oct. 1979)

1) The Homecoming [Archie Goodwin/Al Williamson] 9p

2) The Comic Books: The Comic-Book Gravevine [Joe Brancatelli] 1p [text article]

3) Warrior’s Ritual [Archie Goodwin/John Severin] 10p

4) Nobody’s Kid [Bob Toomey/Leopoldo Duranona] 8p

5) Relic [Bob Toomey/Walt Simonson] 8p

6) Beastslayer [John Lakey/Val Lakey] 10p

7) Sunday Dinner [Larry Hama/Rafael Auraleon] 8p

8) The Rook Ad [Pablo Marcos] 1p

9) Thane: The Last Sorcerer [Archie Goodwin/Alex Nino] 12p

Notes: $2.00 cover price with 88 pages. A spectacular Corben cover of Lon Chaney’s version of the Phantom Of The Opera leads off the last truly great issue that Warren would produce. There’d be some good ones done down the line but none that hit this level of quality. Much of that quality could be attributed to one man—Archie Goodwin, who contributed three stories here, the most he’d had in any one issue since 1967. All three of them were gems. ‘The Homecoming’ had originated from a script by Bruce Jones but Williamson, who had completed the art, decided he didn’t like the script and asked Goodwin to write a new one. Jones was (and is) a good writer but Goodwin’s SF script is so good that one would have a hard time imagining a better version. The last appearance of Thane {three previous stories had appeared from 1967-1969} also graced this issue and it too was a winner, taking the Conan-like Thane and giving him a send off story that was considerably better than most of the Marvel sword & sorcery adaptations of that time. And I say that despite the fact that I quite enjoyed Roy Thomas’ work on Conan. Alex Nino’s art was also impressive on this story. The cream of the crop here, however, was the impressive ‘Warrior’s Ritual’ with great artwork by John Severin. This French Foreign Legion story was about as good a horror takeoff on Beau Geste as you could ask for. Good as the artwork for all three Goodwin stories were though, the best art this issue belongs to Val Lakey’s Warren debut with ‘Beastslayer’. Her retouched photos & artwork combo was very impressive. I don’t know if John Lakey was her brother or her husband {she later appeared in Heavy Metal with a different last name} but his story was quite good as well. ‘Relic’ was a sequel to #107’s ‘Quirks’ and it’s just as good a tale as the first. I also liked ‘Nobody’s Kid’ which had an interesting story & fine artwork by the team of Toomey & Duranona. The only story I didn’t like was the rather rancid ‘Sunday Dinner’. Just a fine, fine issue.

113. cover & titlepage: Berni Wrightson (Nov. 1979)

1) The Muck Monster [Berni Wrightson] 7p reprinted from Eerie #68 (Sept. 1975)

2) The Comic Books: Lies Our Forefathers Told Us [Joe Brancatelli] 1p [text article]

3) The Laughing Man [Bruce Jones/Berni Wrightson] 6p reprinted from Creepy #95 (Feb. 1978)

4) The Pepper Lake Monster [Berni Wrightson] 10p reprinted from Eerie #58 (July 1974)

5) Clarice [Bruce Jones/Berni Wrightson] 5p reprinted from Creepy #77 (Feb. 1976)

6) Cool Air [Berni Wrightson] 7p from the story by H. P. Lovecraft, reprinted from Eerie #62

(Jan. 1975)

7) Country Pie [Bruce Jones/Carmine Infantino & Berni Wrightson] 6p reprinted from Creepy

#83 (Oct. 1976)

8) A Martian Saga [Nicola Cuti/Berni Wrightson] 6p reprinted from Creepy #87 (Mar. 1977)

Notes: The 1979 Warren Annual. A Berni Wrightson issue. $1.50 cover price with 64 pages. Very nice reprint issue worth looking for.

114. cover: Kirk Reinhart (Jan. 1980)

1) Rats [Bob Toomey/Pepe Moreno] 10p

2) The Comic Books: Notes On Comix People [Joe Brancatelli] 1p [text article]

3) Charnel Combat [Pierce Askegren/Danny Tallerno] 6p

4) Heat [Gerry Boudreau/Leopoldo Duranona] 8p

5) Small War [Roger McKenzie/Jim Starlin & Pablo Marcos] 8p

6) The Reaper [Archie Goodwin/Alex Toth] 10p

7) An Android Affair [Mark Laskey/Rafael Auraleon] 8p

Notes: 72 pages. Nice cover and a nice solid issue that included a chilling story from Archie Goodwin and interesting work from Gerry Boudreau and Bob Toomey. Best art was Pepe Moreno on ‘Rats’ with good work from Alex Toth, Jim Starlin, Pablo Marcos & Leopoldo Duranona.

115. cover: Manuel Sanjulian (Feb. 1980)

1) Gabriel’s Horn [Roger McKenzie/Leopoldo Duranona] 16p

2) The Comic Books: Some Thoughts On What Has Gone Before [Joe Brancatelli] 1p [text

article]

3) 1979 Warren Awards Ballots [Chris Adames] 1p [text article]

4) The Last Labor Of Hercules [Budd Lewis/Delando Nino] 10p [art credited to A2-120]

5) Cyrano [Bob Toomey/Michael Saenz] 8p

6) Rapid Fire Angel [Gerry Boudreau/Axel Laxamana] 8p

7) Et Tu Brutus [Nicola Cuti/Val Mayerik & Rudy Nebres] 8p

8) War Children [Gerry Boudreau/Val Mayerik] 8p

Notes: $1.75 cover price with 80 pages. Sanjulian’s first cover since #79 was clearly intended to be a ‘Beastworld’ cover for Eerie. New Berni Wrightson art adorned the letters’ page for this issue only. For the first time, the Warren Awards were open to voting & nominations by the readers. Saenz provided the best art while Roger McKenzie’s ‘Gabriel’s Horn’ ws the best story.

116. cover: Terrence Lindall (Mar. 1980)

1) Endangered Species [Gerry Boudreau/Fred Carrillo] 10p

2) The Comic Books: Building A New Marvel [Joe Brancatelli] 1p [text article]

3) The Highway [Nicola Cuti/Val Mayerik & Rudy Nebres] 8p

4) Day Of The Locust [Jordan Black/Masanabu Sato] 6p

5) The Greatest Editor Alive! [Bill DuBay/Alex Nino & Delano Nino] 11p [DuBay’s story

credited to Will Richardson]

6) Graduation Day [Bruce Jones/Val Mayerik & Jeff Easley] 11p

7) Never Again [James Warren] 1p [text article, on back cover]

Notes: 72 pages. For only the second time in Warren history, James Warren penned a political editorial, this time denouncing revolutionary Iran for taking over the U.S. embassy. The accompanying photo showed two Iranians carrying garbage in an American flag. This was the last appearance of Joe Brancatelli’s column. At this point Bill DuBay began using the penname Will Richardson, which would appear for the next several years. Best story & art goes to ‘Graduation Day’ by the team of Jones/Mayerik/ Easley.

The Decline & Fall

117. cover: Ken Kelly (May 1980)

1) Scream [Bob Toomey/Leopoldo Duranona] 19p

2) A Noble Gesture [?/Adolfo Abellan] 7p

3) The Beast [Michael Fleisher/Isidro Mones] 10p

4) Nightmare Highway [Gerry Boudreau/Carmine Infantino & Steve Leialoha] 10p

5) The Silkie [Nicola Cuti/Val Mayerik & Jeff Easley] 10p

Notes: DuBay, as Will Richardson, returned as editor while Louise Jones {nee Simonson} headed off to new frontiers at Marvel. The logo changed to a new, more modern lettering. Kelly’s cover originally appeared as a T-shirt design in 1976. The letters’ page claimed that Enrich Torres was the uncredited cover artist for Creepy #115 but it certainly appeared to be Sanjulian’s work. ‘Scream’ seemed to end quite abruptly, without an actual climax. It was originally intended to be one of Bob Toomey’s ‘Gary Null’ stories.

118. cover: Enrich Torres (June 1980)

1) Nursery School [Bob Toomey/Leopoldo Duranona] 15p

2) Epitaph [Len Wein/Joaquin Blasquez] 7p

3) The Curse Of The Binderwoods [Mark Laidlaw/Isidro Mones] 8p

4) Junior Was A Momma’s Boy [Gerry Boudreau/Carmine Infantino & Jorge Benuy] 13p

5) Process Of Elimination [Bob Toomey/Val Mayerik & Pablo Marcos] 10p

Notes: Enrich’s best cover in some time highlighted a solid issue. Good work appeared from just about everybody here. ‘Nursery School’ was intended to be one of Toomey’s ‘Gary Null’ stories. Duranona, who wrote the original story, was reportedly astounded at Toomey’s rewrite. Best artwork was from the team of Carmine Infantino & Jorge Benuy.

119. cover: Jim Laurier (July 1980)

1) A Boy And His Thing [Bill DuBay/Alex Nino] 10p reprinted from Creepy #101 (Sept. 1978)

2) Eerie Ad [Esteban Maroto] 1p

3) Keep Kool [Bob Toomey/Alex Nino] 8p reprinted from Creepy #104 (Jan. 1979)

4) Always Leave ‘em Laughing! [Len Wein/Alex Nino] 8p reprinted from Creepy #105 (Feb.

1979)

5) Sisters [Bill DuBay/Alex Nino] 8p reprinted from Creepy #97 (May 1978)

6) Backwaters And Timing Circles [Budd Lewis/Alex Nino] 9p reprinted from Creepy #94 (Jan.

1978)

7) Alien Strain [Bill DuBay/Alex Nino] 8p reprinted from Creepy #96 (Mar. 1978)

8) The 1979 Warren Awards! [Bill DuBay] 2p [text article]

Notes: Warren began having multiple reprint issues during a given year. Previously, only the annual had featured reprints. For Warren Publications, this was a sure sign of trouble behind the scenes. This issue was an Alex Nino reprint special. The Warren Awards went to Kirk Reinert for best cover on Creepy #114 {cover dated Jan. 1980}, Archie Goodwin for best story for ‘The Night Willa Jane Gornley Went Home’ from Vampirella #82, Val Lakey for best art on ‘Beastslayer’ from Creepy #112, Patrick Woodroffe for best cover artist, Bob Toomey for best all around writer, Abel Laxamana for best all around artist and special awards for excellance to Terrence Lindall and Lee Elias.

120. cover: Jeff Jones (Aug. 1980)

1) Uncle Creepy’s Introduction [Bill DuBay/Rudy Nebres] 1p

2) Deathwatch [Roger McKenzie/Leopoldo Duranona] 8p

3) The Rook Ad [Jordi Penalva] 1p [cover to The Rook #3]

4) Hell House [Jim Stenstrum/Jesus Blasco] 6p [story credited to Alabaster Redzone, art

miscredited to Jaime Brocal]

5) Black Rainbow [Budd Lewis/Rueben Yandoc] 8p

6) One Mind, Closed For Alterations! [Gerry Boudreau/Jess Jodloman] 8p

7) A Taste For Heroes! [Gerry Boudreau/Carmine Infantino & Pablo Marcos] 10p

8) Winterbeast [Budd Lewis/Val Mayerik] 8p

9) Black Snow [Jeff Rovin/Herb Arnold] 8p

Notes: Jones’ cover was done in 1975 and was originally intended for Seaboard/Atlas’ magazine Weird Tales Of The Macabre. By this point most of the Spanish artists from SI had left the three horror titles, with the notable exceptions of Jose Ortiz