Creepy #4 - Warren

Ok, one more early Creepy before we move onto something else--I don't want to get too bogged down with any one magazine, since they all deserve some love! (and I haven't procured a copy of Creepy #5 yet and I don't want to jump ahead to #6)

What to say about the Frazetta cover? Had I been around to see this on the newsstand, I would've plotzed myself its so cool and dramatic and, most of all, iconic. Really--this cover has everything you'd think of if someone said "werewolf."

Al Williamson does the honors for "Creepy's Loathsome Lore", this time all about the living dead. Clip 'em out and collect 'em all! (just kidding about the "clip 'em out" part). Our first tale proper is "Monster Rally!" by Archie Goodwin and Angelo Torres. I assume Goodwin, who was the right age to have grown up on Universal's horror classics, took his story title right from the description of Universal's monster team-up movies, as they were called "monster rallys." And this tale is just like that, working in several different classic monsters, ending with an appearance by Uncle Creepy in the story itself!

"Blood and Orchids", by Goodwin and Al McWilliams, about a countess with some plants who have a taste for blood. No, it doesn't take place in a flower shop...

Third is "The Damned Thing!" by Goodwin(yet again, which I find myself saying a lot with these early Warrens) and Gray Morrow, about some townspeople who don't believe the gruesome diary of a recently deceased fellow, though of course they should! Based upon a story by Amrose Bierce.

"Moon City!" is by Larry Englehart(Goodwin must have taken a half-day) and McWilliams, about two intrepid space explorers. Beautifully lush art job by McWilliams, full of classic 50s-sci-fi rocketships and space suits. A beauty.

Next is "Curse of the Full Moon!" by Goodwin(after taking a whole six pages off) and Reed Crandall, about a man who is on the receiving end of a gypsy curse. I've noticed almost all of the tales Goodwin and Crandall did together were set in the past. Crandall excelled at period detail so I wonder if when a Goodwin story came in set in the 19th century, they immediately shipped it off to Crandall.

Adam Link returns in "The Trial of Adam Link!" by Otto Binder and Joe Orlando, this time society puts Link on trial for his very existence! Poor Adam Link...he, The Red Tornado, and the Vision must get together for drinks and bitch about the Human Race.

And that ends the issue, since of course the pages and pages of Captain Company merchandise were still a short time away. But there was an ad for this classic toy:

...c'mon, Mom, it's harmless fun! The ad says so!