One of Creepy's finest issues is headlined by a beautiful Ken Kelly cover, and then a Wrightson Uncle Creepy frontspiece, and opening story, an adaptation of Poe's "The Black Cat", the kind of story Wrightson really sank his teeth into. Did Warren ever collect all the Poe/Wrightson adaptations?Next up is "Buffaloed" by Larry Herndon and the legendary John Severin, about a ruthless buffalo hunter who wakes up in an Indian village, and doesn't bother to listen to the local legends. Classic EC-esuqe story told with high-style by Severin--like Wrightson with his Poe tales, these western stories seem to fit Severin to a tee.
Third is "Firetrap" by Jack Butterworth and Vincente Alcazar, about a slum landlord who gets his comeuppance. Nice use of claustrophobic blacks--the story seems lit by a 20-watt light blub at best--by Alcazar.
Next is the color feature, "Judas" by Rich Margopoulos and Rich Corben, about an alien race coming to take over Earth, and it's one last, desperate attempt to fight back.
After that is "Survivor or Savior!" by Steve Skeates and Gonzalo Mayo, a grim tale of a time traveler who attempts to save the world. Distractingly nubile women populate this story, all courtesy Mayo.
Next is "The Maze" by Skeates and Leo Summers, about a small-time theif looking for a place to hide out until the heat's off, who stumbles upon an entire nightmarish world underground. He adjusts rather well.
Finally is "The Demon Within!" by Skeates(again!) and Isidro Mones, a psychological-horror tale set on the ledge of a building as a woman contemplates suicide. Another grim tale courtesy Steve Skeates, who must have been in a weird mood that week...
Like I said, a really great issue, feauring some classic artists and some newer talents, plus settings as varied as the Old West all the way to modern Manhattan. Throw in a couple of pages of Captain Company ads and you've got a solid installment of Creepy!
2 comments:
Couldn't agree more with your assessment, this is an amazing issue, and probably is a top 10 Creepy issue of all time. It was one of those few issues edited by Archie Goodwin in 1974 when he came back to Warren for a few months. The three issues I have from this era that he edited (61,62 and 64) are all great issues. Issue 63's the one issue from this period he did that I don't have and from what I've heard it is a rather lousy issue, although it does include Wrightson's classic "Jenifer".
The cover was actually done by Ken Kelly, not Berni Wrightson. Although it was obviously inspired by the final panel from Wrightson's story.
If I remember correctly this story (which was actually Wrightson's first story for Warren) was the only Poe story Wrightson ever did for Warren. He did a Lovecraft story in Eerie 62. Warren did a couple of all Poe issues (Creepy 69 and 70) although Wrightson didn't have a single story in either of those issues. I've heard that he was supposed to do "The Pit and the Pendulum" from issue 69, but dropped out after a few pages and they had Jose Ortiz do the entire story instead. Creepy 113 was an all Wrightson issue, although all reprints.
This is that rare issue of Creepy where there isn't a dud at all on the art or story front. Severin's story was a very good one that fit him perfectly. He was certainly the expert at Western/Cowboy esque stories, having done so many of them in his EC days with Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat. Judas while not as good as some of the peak color Corben stories is still an extremely good story from the art and story front.
The Maze is probably the most interesting to me outside of the Wrightson story as its so bizarre and out there. Leo Summers did very little work for Warren (about a half a dozen stories total if I remember correctly) but I always enjoyed his work, particularly this one and the ultra controversial "Twisted Medicine" from the previous issue (where the ending revealed that the entire story was hallucinations of a blind, deaf and handless vegetable).
Great job as usual with the Warren reviews! :)
-Quiddity99
D'OH! that cover credit was careless of me...duly corrected!
Wrightson only did one Poe story? that seems unbelievable to me...my memory must be failing me in my...thirties(*gulp*!).
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