Eerie #2 - Warren

This is probably the closest I'll ever get to owning the first issue of Eerie, since the "real" first issue was little more than an all-black-and-white "ashcan" edition, hastily thrown together by Jim Warren and company to secure copyright on the title.

There are so few in existence that I've never even seen one for sale, anywhere. It became so sought-after in the 60s that someone actually made bootleg versions, with drove Jim to run a "Most Wanted" ad for the counterfeiters in some of his magazines, and even drew attention by the FBI!

Heck, I'd even take one of those.

Anyway, this is the first issue proper of Eerie, and a cover by Frank Frazetta is a good way to start. First up is Archie Goodwin and Reed Crandall's "Footsteps of Frankenstein", a riff on the classic story with all new characters, with a patented Goodwin twist ending.

Next is "One for De-Money" by E.Nelson Bridwell(!) and Angelo Torres, about a guy playing around with the underworld. Bad idea. Third is "Eye of the Beholder", by Goodwin and "Jay Taycee" (aka Johnny Craig), another story about a guy who attempts to cheat Death who took away his true love. When will these guys learn?

"Flame Fiend" by Eando Binder and Gray Morrow, who really turned in an outstanding art job here (didn't he always?), and then a one-page "Eerie's Monster Gallery"--a profile of a werewolf by John Severin! Maybe it's all the years of seeing his work in Cracked, but I can't help but chuckle at his rendition of a werewolf, carrying off some poor village wench. I don't think it was meant to be funny.

Next is "To Pay the Piper!" by Larry Ivie and Gene Colan, who did very little work for Warren, all of it excellent--the wash tones he employed really brough his work to life, much moreso than the colors applied to his superhero stuff. It's a vampire tale, with another classic monster guest-starring...

As if having Johnny Craig, Gray Morrow, Frank Frazetta, Reed Crandall, Gene Colan, and John Severin wasn't enough, we've got "Vision of Evil" by Archie Goodwin and...Alex Toth!!! This is a quick, grim little story of a painter with an evil spirit, knocked out the park with excitement by Mr. Toth.

It says something about the level of artwork in this issue that the next story "Ahead of the Game!" by Goodwin and Joe Orlando and about a cruel wild-game hunter, is even slightly a let down. Usually, a story by Goodwin and Orlando would be a highlight. Only in this company is it average.

The back cover features a portrait of Cousin Eerie by another master, Jack Davis! Behind Eerie is a pastiche of all the stories in this issue, so this is the closest we'll ever get to a Craig-Morrow-Crandall-Colan-Toth-Torres-Orlando-Davis jam piece.

All this in the first issue--talk about hitting the ground running!