Eerie #30 - Warren

This was another purchase I made at the Philly ComiCon today. I was on the lookout for some more b/w magazines at a good price, and when I saw this on sale for around eight bucks I immediately got it.

I didn't know, nor did I care, what the contents were, I solely bought it for the cover. It's by Basil Gogos, who of course was a great artist, but this cover was so goofy to me I had to get this. The colors and staging are so flat, yet the subject matter so horrific, it looks like a particularly insane issue of Boys Life.

First, there's a "Monster Gallery" pin-up by Dan Adkins, this time explaining to the uninitiated what a "BEM" is. The first story is "The Entail", written and drawn by Pat Boyette, about a prince who comes to a small town and doesn't believe the stories the villagers tell him of "The Gormes", a roving pack of monsterish brothers, who come out at night and eat everything they can find. The prince's poor horse gets it, and then the prince himself ends up in an incredibly gruesome position. Yuck!

Second is "Mirror, Mirror", a more mainstream-horror-comic-esque tale by Nicola Cuti and Frank Bolle. The story concerns the concept of "mirror demons" and a doctor who releases them on people. It has a cool ending, but I found that the Bolle art is kinda boring so it doesn't really do the tale justice.

"Life Species" is written and drawn by future Warren editor Bill DuBay, which is a cute, O.Henry-ish tale of aliens who comes to visit Earth and meet who they think is a typical inhabitant. Punchbuggy zip-a-tone, no punchbacks!

"I, Werewolf" is by Ken Barr and pits classic horror story protagonists a werewolf and a vmpire against each other. The next story, "In Close Pursuit" is written by Gordon Matthews with a great art job by the underrated Jerry Grandinetti. It's about a rich fat cat who can't quite escape his own guilty conscience. Grandinetti mixes a cool, loose, cartoony style with some nice wash work.

Don Glut and Jack Sparling provide the cover feature "The Return of Amen-Tut!", where, indeed, a young boy defeats a mummy. Come to think of it, I don't think you ever did see that in Boys Life.

The final story is "The Creation", by a(presumably) young Doug "Douglas" Moench and Carlos Garzon. Moral of the story: be really careful whose brain you put into a giant monster body.

Not a bad issue, but certainly not one of Warren's best, though the Grandinetti tale is cool. And it was still worth it, just for the cover...