Aug. 1974 - There's nothing quite like the escapist fun of a good issue of Monsters Unleashed!The spiffy cover is by Richard Hescox, and when you look at it, you realize it can be taken two ways--is the guy grabbing his girl to get away from Ch'Manu(?) or is he pushing her forward, giving himself some time to get away? I love the goofy look of confusion on the girl's face, too.
The inside cover is a one-page feature (remember those?) by Tony Isabella and Ernie Chua, a weirdly creepy piece called "The Burning Man":
First up is Frankenstein in "A Tale of Two Monsters" by the ever-dependable Doug Moench and Val Mayerik. Frankenstein gets caught up in another man's gruesome revenge on the world that has treated him so brutally, with an ending that feels like the Monster has wandered into a Swamp Thing story:
Next is "Monster in the Mist" by ? and Al Williamson. This story, reprinted from Astonishing #60, runs only four pages, so consequently it showed up a couple of times in these Marvel mags--the perfect story length to eat up a couple of empty pages.
Third is "The Frankenstein Legend", a text piece by Alan Gold reviewing Don Glut's book of the same name, decorated by some spiffy movie stills.
Fourth is "Bleeding Stones" by Moench and Vincente Alcazar, about gargoyles who come to life, nicely rendered by Alcazar. Following that is "Madness Under A Mid-Summer Moon", a Werewolf by Night prose story by Gerry Conway, with spot illustrations by the unusual art team of Pat Broderick and Klaus Janson.
Last is "Blind Man's Bluff" by Conway and Carlos Freixas, about a swamp creature and a mysterious magic medallion. The story is fine, but the monster is a lot more scary on the cover.
Not a bad issue, though all the best stuff is packed into the first half of the magazine. I would've loved to have seen more "Burning Man"!
1 comment:
Gadzooks, how I loved the Marvel B & W horror line. Maybe I was just at the right age at their publication, but I sought out, purchased, read and reread those magazines countless times. I could never feel thesame affection for the Warren titles, but between these and the Skywald outlay, I was one deliriously happy horror fan.
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