Eerie #100 - Warren

April 1979 - I realized a while ago I haven't talked about any Warren mags recently, and they were the main reason I started this blog in the first place!

So while buying stuff on eBay, I saw someone selling this 100th issue of Eerie, which I had never read, so I snapped it up.

Unfortunately, Eerie's 100th issue happened right smack in the middle of the sci-fi craze that swept the Warren mags, in the wake of the massive success of Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

And since my...apathy for this material has been stated here many times, I don't see the need to belabor the point. Not that there's anything wrong with this stuff, its just that I could never really get over the idea of this kind of material being in a magazine named Eerie.

Again, since Warren kept doing this stuff, obviously it was fairly popular; its just that it never grabbed me as a kid, and it still doesn't, all these years later.

So I'm going to present without comment some of the material in this issue, featuring superb art jobs by Alfred Alcala, Leo Durnona, Jim Janes, Isidro Mones, and Jim Starlin:

...of course, like all Warrens, this issue ends with pages and pages of fun Captain Company material. By this point, most of it was also sci-fi related, except for the back issues you could buy, reminding one of the genuinely, well, eerie material that this mag used to run:

Eerie #109 - Warren

Feb. 1980 - This cover doesn't bode well for this issue of Eerie.

It looks like your typical cheesy sci-fi paperback cover--I mean, come on! This is Eerie, one of the pillars of the legendary Warren Publishing empire! Home to some of the finest artists to ever work in the medium of comics! I want demons, monsters, and/or some scantily-clad Frazetta babes!

(Sorry, I don't mean to be harsh--I have more of a problem with the style and it being an Eerie cover at all rather than the painting itself, which is by Kirk Reinert)

First up is "Blood on Black Satin" by the great team of Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy, about a guy driving on the proverbial dark and stormy night having been invited to the All Hallows Eve Festival. But when he arrives at his destination, things are a little different than what he imagined.

He ends up being taken to a party, and Gulacy lets it rip:

I've never been to a party his fun in my life, and I went to art school.

He ends up getting involved in a plot concerning a mysterious old man who lives in a giant creepy mansion, devil worship, and the usual shenanigans. A lot of fun, even if the story ends mid-way to be continued in the next issue. Gulacy's art is top-notch.

Next up is "Beastworld" by Bruce Jones and Pablo Marcos, which features the giant man-eating insect from the cover. Third is "Race of the Damned" by Norman Mundy, Cary Bates, and Buz Vaultz(?), about two alien races fighting for supremacy where winning is the only concern.

Next is "Fugue State" by Larry Hama and Val Mayerik, a gory samurai tale featuring nifty art by Mayerik:

"Mactavish: End of the Steel Gang" by Alabaster Redzone, Alex Southern, and Moreno Casares is last. Another continued character, Mactavish is a space-going guy caught in the middle of a fight for power between his friend Spider Andromeda and the newly-elected government. Coming in in the middle made it tough for me to understand what was going on, but Casares' art is quite nice!

Contains twenty-four pages of Captain Company ads, maybe a record?

Eerie #90 - Warren

Feb. 1978 - A great cover by Richard Corben, featuring four stories all derived from this cover, a neat gimmick.

First up is "Carrion" by Gerry Boudreau and Gonzalo Mayo, who delivers a steady stream of scary monsters, creepy wizards, and of course (this is a Warren mag, after all) nubile, barely-dressed jungle women. Hubba hubba!

Next is "The Show Must Go On!", by Roger McKenzie and Leo Duranona, a girl who is left on a planet with her pet beastie and is challenged the local gunfighter to see who's fastest. Oh, and she's naked a lot, too.

Next is the color segment, "A Woman Scorned" by Bruce Jones and Corben. A very silly tale, keeping in spirit with the easy-going opening page:

"The Fianchetto Affair or: A Matter of Great Delicacy", by Bob Toomey and Jose Ortiz, which starts off goofy and ends with a gruesome act of violence which I found really unpleasant. The fact that the whole thing seems to be a big joke on the story's intended victim made it all the more repellent to me.

Last is The Rook in "What Is the Color of Nothingness?" (though the table of contents calls it "Edge Surfers"), by Bill DuBay and Alex Nino.

As usual, Nino pulled out all the stops, and delivered a twenty-page story made up mostly of vertical double-page spreads:

...how did he do stuff like this and not go insane?

Finish it all up with eighteen pages of Captain Company ads and you've got a decent issue of Eerie, that one story aside.

Eerie #88 - Warren

Nov. 1977 - As I've mentioned before when profiling Warren's sports-themed issues, I open the magazine with a healthy dose of apathy. I don't care about sports, I generally don't like sci-fi in my Eeries, so sci-fi + sports in Eerie? Oh boy...

The cover is by Don Maitz--isn't bad, a little dull in terms of the design. I do like the alien's custom-made athletic socks.

First up is The Rook in "Future Shock", by Bill DuBay and Luis Bermejo, featuring a payoff to all the time hopping, wherein the Rook gets the chance to start a new world.

Next is "The Key", by Budd Lewis and Jose Ortiz, starring the recurring character Scallywag. There's naked chicks, ninja, dragons, magic swords...I had trouble figuring what the hell was going on here, but it sure was pretty too look at.

Next is "Deathball 2100 A.D." by Bill Mohalley, our pal Nick Cuti, with art by Dick Giordano:

It's sort of a take on Rollerball, featuring an intergalactic basketball game, but with the human players displaying an astonishing level of brutality to win. Funny in its over-the-topness, with Giordano doing the art its like an issue of DC's Strange Sports Stories written by Michael Fleisher.

Next is "Boiling Point", the first chapter of a cool murder mystery story by Bruce Jones and Leopold Sanchez--a brutal killer haunts the subways! Creepy and effective.

Last is "Junkyard Battles or: Never Trust An Electric Shaver", by Cuti and Auraleon, a darkly funny story of a brutal future where machines of all kinds have taken over.

All in all, not too bad an issue--sports is just the subject of that one story, and that one was probably my favorite of the bunch!

Eerie #46 - Warren

March 1973 - I love this super-spooky Gothic cover by Sanjulian for this issue of Eerie!

The inside-cover story is "Portrait of Dracula" by Fred Ott and Auraleon, which presents some of the grim realities of Vlad the Impaler.

First up is "Dracula", featuring the Prince of Darkness in sort of a spin-off from a storyline in Vampirella, by Bill DuBay and Tom Sutton.

Sutton does a fantastic job on the art, constantly shifting the angle of the shots and the perspective, so you constantly feel off-balance and hence a little queasy, almost. To make things even more unsettling, Sutton of course could put horror and humor right next to each other, like this cartoony yet gruesome depiction of a witch:

Next is "The Things In the Dark!" by Ott and Jimmy Janes, about a creepy cemetary(is there any other kind?). Not bad, even if the ending is more goofy than the mood-drenched tone of the rest of the piece.

Third is "Garganza!" by Bill Warren and Paul Neary, a pretty straightforward giant monster story. Author Bill Warren(no relation to Jim, as far as I know)'s love of old 50's sci-fi is well known, so I imagine this story is the kind of movie he always wanted to see.

Next is "The Root of Evil", a mad scientist tale. Kind of a silly premise, but the art joby by Martin Salvador is so spot-on and real that it sells the piece. I love this detailed splash page:

"Planet of the Werewolves" is by Gerry Boudreau and Reed Crandall about an ill-fated space exploratory mission; not one one Crandall's best art jobs(looks a tad rushed to me).

After fourteen pages of Captain Company ads(hobby kits! hardcover comic strip collections! puzzles! monster pins and patches! a giant pink hand!), the issue wraps up with Dax the Warrior in "The Giant", featuring our titular hero fighting a giant cyclops to save the life of your typical sexy, mostly-undressed sword-and-sorcery babe.

An ok issue, some good stuff, some merely ok stuff. A Tom Sutton is always a joy to behold.

Eerie #29 - Warren

Nice, er, creepy cover by Ken Kelly!

After the anti-war editorial by Jim Warren, the magazine opens with "Loophole" by Nick Cuti and Jack Sparling, a neat tale about a group of time traveling "population controllers" who do their job a little too well. Try as I might, I can't get my head around Sparling's work--its just too sloppy for my tastes--but the story is fun and clever.

Next is another time travel tale, "The Fiend Planet", by Buddy Saunders and Dan Adkins, about some explorers who tend to shoot first, ask questions later. Not bad, but the last page gets bogged down in a lot of explanation.

Third is "The Bloodstaff", a tale of demons, vampire plants, and haunted written and drawn by Rich Buckler, who turns in a really nice art job, especially with the opening splash:

Next is "Gallery of Horror", a more traditional tale set in a spooky haunted house and even spookier paintings, is written by Saunders with art by Carlos Garzon, whose work doesn't reproduce all that well, but I just loved this open panel featuring a Wrightson-esque haunted house:

Next is what Nick Cuti mentioned as one of his favorites, "The Vorpal Sword", drawn by Tom Sutton, who knocked himself out with the opening:

"Vorpal" is a fun, goofy tale about a guy who has his love and his weapon all rolled into one.

Next is "Strange Gateway" by T.Casey Brennan and Sparling, about a guy who discovers a mirror that can transport him and his wife to a better life. It has a surprisingly simple, sweet ending, especially for an Eerie story--I almost couldn't believe it ended the way it did. A nice change of pace.

Last is "Snow Job", by Doug Moench and Sparling, about explorers on the hunt for a Yeti--but they find something else.

Not a bad issue at all, story-wise, but with three of them drawn by Sparling, I wish maybe these stories had come along either earlier in Warren's publishing history, or later.

Eerie #92 - Warren

I have to say, if I had seen this issue on the newsstands it would've been a definite "No Sale"; I never cared about sports and I sure as hell didn't want them mixed in with my comics! The $1.25 would've bought me a DC Comics Presents and a Star Wars that week.

The opening story is "Cold Sweat" by Bill DuBay and Jose Ortiz. Robots and space explorers play in a violent(I mean, more) game of intergalactic hockey. If you're a hockey fan with a lot of sci-fi paperbacks on your shelf, this is for you.

Next is the Rook(oh, joy) in "Strangers in the Strangest Places!" by DuBay and Abel Laxamana. A sort of parody of the Superman story, except the alien landing is taken advantage of by a greedy earth woman, and only the Rook can stop her. I dig Laxamana's art; it has a loose, Jack Davis-esque cartoony feel.

Third is "Let's Hear It For Homo Sapiens" by Gerry Boudreau and Aureleon. The members of the Animal Kingdom get tired of being Man's slaves and they revolt; a fun tale with a light touch.

Fourth is "Suzanna Don't You Cry" by Bob Toomey and Ortiz, another installment with the Moonshadow character. Not being too familiar with this series, I was a bit lost as to where we were and who these people are, but the lost love of a pair of assassins angle was interesting.

Another recurring character, Abelmar Jones, stars in "Bad Day To 'Cross 110th Street", by DuBay and Alex Nino. Two street kids, bored, get caught up messing around with magic--the perfect setting for someone like Nino, and he lets it rip here, the story practically bursting off the pages.

Last is "Gaffer: The Final Wish" by Roger McKenzie and Leo Duranona, a sad tale of one man's acceptance of Death.

Not one of my favorite issues, but that's due more to my personal preferences, I think--the stories in this issue look and feel very similar to me. And like a lot of Warren stories at the time, they all have that vague dystopian/future world setting and after a bunch of them in a row I start jumping to the Captain Company ads.

Eerie #82 - Warren

I feel about the Rook the way I did/do about the Legion of Super-Heroes...I just don't get it. Obviously, it was a very popular feature(the Rool even got his own magazine, albeit briefly), but it pretty much always left me cold.

And don't even get me started again on the idea of a futuristic, time-traveling cowboy strip in a magazine called Eerie. Though the cover by Luis Bermejo is very nice!

The Rook stars in "The Man Whom Time Forgot" by Bill DuBay and Bermejo, in a tale where he goes back in time, right smack in the middle of the battle for the Alamo!

Don't get me wrong--I think the strip is just fine, well-drawn and moves at a quick pace. But I personally just found it a bit repetitive and it seemed like to me the Rook was Eerie's main star, like, forever. Appopriate for a time-traveling character, I guess.

Next is "The Game is Afoot" by Gerry Boudreau, Carmine Infantino, and Gonzalo Mayo, a fantasy tale of vampires fighting to take over the Earth!

Third is "Castle of the Assassin" by Budd Lewis and Jose Ortiz, about an old scrapper named Sully who goes after revenge against Ninja, who had stolen a priceless statue from Scully and murdered his daughters! The Ninja is a tough fighter, but Sully has the Luck O' The Irish.

Last is "In A Deep Sea Tomb" by Lewis and Leopold Sanchez, a really fun tale of murder and treachery at the bottom of the ocean. My favorite tale of the issue, and nicely drawn by Sanchez.

Not one of my favorite issues, the only story I really dug was the last. It's just my personal tastes, but the whole fantasy/sci-fi stuff in Eerie just turned me off, and there's a lot of that here. Oh well, there's always the next issue!

Eerie #68 - Warren

Hunter is back, cover courtesy Ken Kelly!

First up is Coffin in "Half Walk" by Budd Lewis and Jose Ortiz. Our undead hero is found by a traveling carnival and given a job as the sideshow geek! Nothing like seeing a man character who prays for death get attacked by a no armed, no legged killer.

Hunter is in "Goblin" by Lewis and Paul Neary. Another grim story, as we find the new Hunter("Hunter II") realizing he is not anywhere near as heroic and effective as his predecessor. *sigh* Geez, what was Budd Lewis drinking this month?

Third is "Godeye!" by Budd Lewis(uh-oh) and Leopold Sanchez, about a guy trying to reach the Canadian border to escape the draft, and finds himself playing the hero in another dimension...sort of.

The color feature is "The Muck Monster" by Berni Wrightson, another take on the Frankenstein tale; moody and effective, as was all of Wrightson's Warren work. The melancholy ending buts right up against a full-page ad for Young Frankenstein, which makes for a weird reading experience.

Last is "Deep Brown and Jorum" by the always-fun Jim Stenstrum and Estaban Maroto, about two adventurers whose adventures made them legends, and bonded them in lifelong friendship. An effective, warm tale.

I was never that big a fan of the continued characters like Coffin, and the Hunter stories always left me cold, but the Wrightson and Stenstrum stuff is great.

Eerie #57 - Warren

My scanner can never reproduce those neon-y Warren used sometimes for their logo, dammit.

First up is a nice inside cover frontspiece by Berni Wrightson, and then the first story is "Stridespider Sponge-Rot"(wow, sounds like parody of Spongebob, thirty years ahead of time)by Doug Moench and Esteban Maroto, staring the recurring Warren voodoo character, The Spook(try getting these stories reprinted any time soon). Nice creepy atmosphere by Maroto.

Second is the final chapter of our cover star, "The Hunter", by Bill DuBay and Paul Neary. Hunter the Demon-Killer fights his arch-enemy Ofphal over nothing less than the end of the world!

Next is "Hide From the Hacker!" by Steve Skeates and Tom Sutton, a really creepy tale of a killer who only hunts police officers. Similar mood to From Hell but a lot shorter. Nice job by Skeates and Sutton.

Fourth is the color feature, "Child" by Greg Potter and Richard Corben. As well done as these Child stories were, I never really enjoyed them, they were so depressing. Corben's work has this tragic cartooniness, like you're reading a Sunday comic strip from Hell itself.

Next is "It: The Terror of Foley Mansion!" by Carl Wessler and Jose Gual, about an undead corpse with an undying need to protect its former home. Simple horror tale with classic elements, effectively told.

Last is "A Switch in Time..." by Gerry Boudreau and Isidro Mones, a gripping tale of murderous revenge. Mones' art is top-notch; the photo-realistic style makes you feel like this could've been turned into a Vincent Price movie with just a little effort. The grim, black humor ending works well, too.

A pretty good issue, overall. The sci-fi stuff like "Hunter" always sorta bored me, but considering how much of it they did it must have been popular. And the other stories are pretty much top-notch.

Eerie #53 - Warren

A nice mix of a classic movie still with a new painting, by Sanjulian, graces the cover of this issue of Eerie.

The first feature is just two pages, and it runs on the inside covers. By Doug Moench, Rich Buckler, and Bill DuBay, "The Wart Monster of Tennessee" is one of Warren's goofiest stories. Moench's tongue is planted--stapled, even--firmly in cheek.

The opening story is "And the Mummy Walks!" by Steve Skeates and Jamie Brocals. A mummy stalks the city streets! Gothic horror with a nice art job by Brocal.

Second is "Curse of the Werewolf!" by Martin Salvador and Al Milgrom, a name I didn't think I'd ever come across in a Warren mag. The twist ending reminds me of those early Goodwin stories. Milgrom does a nice job with the art.

Third is "Hunter", by Rich Margopoulos and Paul Neary, a John Carter, Warlord of Mars-esque story, about a demon hunter. Another nice art job.

Next is "Schreck: First Night of Terror" by Moench, Vincente Alcazar, and Neal Adams doing a rare inking-only job. Reminscient of I Am Legend, it's a grim, brutal tale; we get a scene of a naked woman hacking off our hero's...hand. Bloody and exciting.

Fifth is "Spawn of the Dead Thing" by Tom Sutton. A really grotesque tale centered around the birth of three hideous demon babies. Ick!

One last feature is a one-page report on the 1973 NYC Comic Art Con, featuring two pictures, one of Miss Angelique Trouvere dressed as Vampirella, and one of the infamous Heidi Saha. As we talked about last week, it's really inappropriate to see a kid dressed like this. The whole wrongness of it is driven home when you have Heidi next to Angelique, who looks like a real, adult woman, and unbelievably and improbably manages to keep the Vampi costume filled in all the right places.

Eerie #31 - Warren

An early Rich Corben(here billed as "Dick Corben") cover leads off this issue of Eerie, leading into the first story, called "Point of View" by Buddy Saunders and Tom Sutton. A really cool story of two races of beings, told from each of their...points of view.

Second is "The Drop" by Chris Fellner and Tony Williamsune, about two teenagers that drop acid in a haunted house. This is your brain...this is your brain on Warren...any questions?

Third is "The Devil's Hand", by Bill Dubay, about a group of demon hunters who managed to cut off one of Satan's hands and are keeping it prisoner!

Next is "The Alien Plague!" by Billy Graham(both story and art), a really envelope-busting story about space explorers who just might know they're just characters in a comic book story. Contains the line "We're being attacked by staples!" Great fun.

Fifth is "The Oasis" by Buddy Saunders and Carlos Garzon, featuring a group of soldiers fighting a really creepy group of spider-men. Icky.

Sixth is "Lady In Ice" by Nicola Cuti and Frank Bolle. A man is haunted by his dead wife in a cold, snowy landscape. Not bad.

Last is "The Killer Slime" by Steve Skeates and Garzon, about a giant glob of malevolent ooze moving under New York City. How this never got made into a 70s-horror film, I'll never know.

Definitely some good stuff in this issue, with "The Drop" standing out as the silliest of the group. "The Alien Plague!" deserved to get reprinted in some Best Of collections down the line...

Eerie #9 - Warren

A superb cover by Dan Adkins--spooky and unusual; doesn't this feel a little Evil Dead 2-ish, somehow?

"Eerie's Monster Gallery" is a full-page shot of Cyclopses(Cyclopi?) by Roy Krenkel, looking like it was reproduced directly from his pencils.

The first story is the bona-fide classic "Fair Exchange", by Archie Goodwin and Neal Adams, about a rich old man who wants to live forever, even if he has to kill to do it. This is the famous story where Neal, feeling his oats(?), used a different layout technique for each page--full-page shot, tilted panels, all horizontal panels, insets, etc. It doesn't have anything to do with the story being told, but it's part of the dynamic new ground Adams was breaking left and right.

Next is "Rub the Lamp!" by Allan Jadro(a pseudonym?) and Jerry Grandinetti. A guy buys a magic lamp and it all goes wrong. A goofy, fun story, again perfect for Grandinetti--one guy's really horrible day.

Third is "Terror in the Tomb!" by Goodwin and Rocco Mastroserio, an EC-esque tale of mummies and lost tombs. Not bad, but not as exciting as the previous two tales.

Fourth is "The Wanderer!" by Goodwin and Dan Adkins, about a dead guy who isn't quite, and he explains how this came to pass. This is the tale represented by the cover, and it's creepily effective.

Next is "Isle of the Beast!" by Goodwin and Steve Ditko. Ditko really pulled out all the stops with this one, doing the entire job in wash. It's set on an island where beasts hunt men, beautifully done.

"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" is an adaptation of an Ambrose Bierce story, which was also adapted as a long-form Twilight Zone episode not too long before this. By Goodwin and Bob Jenney, the story is well-done enough, though Jenney's art is pretty dull and doesn't help much.

Last is "Experiment in Fear!" by Goodwin and Gene Colan, a brutal tale of a Nazi scientist who has the tables turned on him. Nothing satisfies quite like watching a Nazi get it in the end, and Colan's last panel of the poor demented souls about to extract revenge is genuinely unsettling. A classic.

A very, very fine issue, with excellent work by Adams, Adkins, Ditko, Grandinetti, and Colan. An early Eerie classic.

Eerie #7 - Warren

A unusually subtle and literate cover for Eerie, courtesy Frank Frazetta.

Gray Morrow does the honors for "Eerie's Monster Gallery", this time about the Hydra. Instead of several panels, this time its oen big illustration, exciting and dynamic as any Ray Harryhausen movie. Nice job, Gray.

First up is "Witches' Tide" by Archie Goodwin and...Gene Colan! Yay! It's about a small town suddenly beset my sea monsters--an unusual story for Colan, but nevertheless he does a great job.

Next is "It That Lurks!" by Goodwin and Dan Adkins. Men vs. Dinosaurs. What else do you need to know?

Third is "Hitchhike Horror!" by Goodwin and Hector Castellon. A guy picks up a creepy hitchhiker, but all is not what it seems. Not a bad story, but the art by Castellon is sketchy and weak. This would've been perfect for Colan!

Fourth is "The Defense Rests!", with art and story by Johnny Craig. A tale of madness and revenge set in nineteenth century England, told with craft and care by JC. This could've been in an EC comic, no problem.

Next is "Fly!" by Goodwin and Steve Ditko, about a guy driven mad by a tiny fly. Another story set almost entirely in one room, a specialty for Ditko, who turns in another great art job.

Sixth is "The Quest!" by Goodwin and Donald Norman, about a baron who will do anything--anything--to discover the secret of eternal life. Not bad, with some nice intricate linework by Norman.

Last is "Cry Fear, Cry Phantom!" by Goodwin and Jerry Grandinetti. Once again, Grandinetti gives it his all in this haunted house tale. His splash pages were frequently worthy of the master, Will Eisner:
...has anybody ever drawn simple headlights as cool as this?

An awesome wrap-up to a fine issue. Colan, Craig, Frazetta, Ditko, Adkins, and Grandinetti? Awesome!

Eerie #5 - Warren

A cool, its about to go all wrong cover by Frank Frazetta on this early issue of Eerie.

On the inside cover is "Eerie's Monster Gallery!" this time about The Mummy, courtesy Wally Wood and Dan Adkins, and then appropriately the first story is "The Mummy Stalks!" by Archie Goodwin, Roy Krenkel, and Reed Crandall. You haven't seen anything until you've seen a werewolf jump out of a sarchopagus.

Second is "The Jungle", by Goodwin and Al Williamson, about two explorers not quite ready to deal with the horrors waiting for them deep in the jungle.

Third is "Black Magic", by Goodwin and Steve Ditko, about two competing sorcerers. Giving Ditko a sorcery tale was like throwing it right over the plate. Go ahead an knock it out of the park, Steve!

Next is "A Matter of Routine!" by Goodwin and Gene Colan, about a Regular Joe who suddenly steps into the world of the supernatural. As usual, Colan's work is top-notch. Colan didn't do that much work for Warren past these early issues, which is a shame, since they feature some of his best work, and that's saying something.

Fifth is "Dr.Griswold's File!" by Carl Wessler and Rocco Mastroserio, about a doctor who brings a corpse back to life to commit crimes for him! Absolutely flawless plan.

Next is the cover feature "The Swamp God!" by Goodwin and Angelo Torres, about some intrepid explorers(not the ones from "The Jungle", they're dead) who discover a dinosaur hidden in the deep, dark jungle. Nice wash work by Torres.

Last is "Vampire Slayer!" by Goodwin and Joe Orlando. It's about Baron Alexi, a self-professed fearless vampire killer, who gets involved with a woman with pale white skin and hair long enough to cover her neck. Hmmm....

A solid issue, highlighted by some fine, fine work by Ditko, Torres, Williamson, and especially Colan. For my money, I could've read a whole book of Goodwin/Colan tales....

Eerie #15 - Warren

This issue is from the era when Jim Warren had assumed the editorship of Creepy and Eerie; Archie Goodwin had left, money was dwindling, and, by Warren's own account, the company was hanging on by a thread, and these troubles surfaced in the books.

The cover is by Vic Prezio--I like the yellow and purple color scheme, though it being put in a box is not the way I woulda gone.

One way Warren's financial troubles affected the books was, even at this early stage, Eerie started to occasionally run reprints from earlier issues of...Eerie! In retrospect, Warren was just trying to hang on, and thank god he did, but if I had been a fan buying this off the newsstand, I woulda felt ripped-off reading stories that had appeared less than two years earlier.

The stories start off with "The Graves of Oconoco!" by John Benson, Pat Boyette, and Rocky Mastroserio, a tale of over-ambitious treasure-hunters. If these guys were in Raiders, they woulda been Belloch.

Next is "Wardrobe of Monsters!" by Otto Binder and Gray Morrow, from Creepy #2. A guy finds he can assume the bodies of various monsters (a devil, a mummy, Frankenstein), and uses it...for evil!

Third is "The Demon Wakes" by Archie Goodwin, Bill Fraccio, and Tony Tallarico. One of Goodwin's oddest, it combines psychological horror combined with monster visuals. The art is pretty dull; I think someone else in the Warren stable could've brought this across a lot better.

Next is "Under the Skin!" by Goodwin and Joe Orlando, from Eerie #3(the GCD lists Jerry Grandinetti as penciller, but he isn't credited here, and I don't see much of his very distinctive in this story). A classic EC-esque tale of a make-up artist filled with murderous jealousy, complete with nasty ending.

Following is the cover story, "The Doll Collector!" by Dave Kahler and Gutenberg Mondiero(??), about...you guessed it, a spooky doll collection. Not a bad story, but the artwork is very dull, like something you'd see in House of Mystery circa 1960, nothing that you'd come to associate with Warren.

The last story is "A Change in the Moon!" by Clark Diamond and a very early art job by Jeff Jones, a vampire tale set in the 19th century. Interesting look, certainly very different than the rest of the book, and you can see the superb artist Jones was on his way to becoming.

Some neat stuff, though the reprints would continue(and even increase) for a while. But, of course, Eerie and Warren would rise again...

Eerie #106 - Warren

Most of the time, any story that starts with "In a post-apocalyptic future..." I go "Zzzzzz..." but Warren's "Hard John Apple" series, which this issue is(mostly) a collection of, I always enjoyed, probably because of the sarcastic touch brought to them by Jim Stenstrum, one of Warren's best writers.

The cover is by the unusual team of Jose Ortiz and Walt Simonson, and after a chance to buy some genuine soil from Dracula's castle, we open with "An Angel Shy of Hell" by Stenstrum and Rich Corben, from Creepy #64. We're introduced to Hard John and his...unsubtle ways of handing problems in a post-apocalyptic world.

Next is "Kansas City Bomber" by Stenstrum and Jose Ortiz, where we're introduced to a cult devoted to killing Hard John, as well as an orangutan reading an Air Force manual. 'Nuff said.

Next is "Brass Monkey"(the next chapter after "Bomber"), also by Stenstrum and Ortiz, with Hard John continuing his quest to release the nuclear missles still sitting idle underground, and the cult's attempts to stop him.

The last Hard John story here, "Gonna Nuke Mankind Right Outa My Hair", where we find out Hard John's true plan. It ends with some dark-humor slapstick that works as a great way to wrap the series.

There is one more feature, a reprint of the classic "The Super-Abnormal Phenomena Survival Kit!" by Stenstrum and John Severin, which sends up monster stories as well as every Captain Company ad Warren ever ran. A nice addition to this book and its tone fits just perfectly along with the Hard John stories. made even funnier that its followed by fourteen pages of CC ads.

Eerie #4 - Warren

Great cover by Gray Morrow! Spooky and weird, this looks like it could've come right from a paperback book. Sa-weet!

"Eerie's Monster Gallery" is all about zombies this time, featuring an unsettling portrait of a throng of them, staring right at you, by Roy Krenkel. Run!

First up is "House of Evil!" by Archie Goodwin and Joe Orlando, about a man receiving a mysterious summons by his brother to come to a spooky haunted house. Gruesome and fun.

Next is "Hatchet Man" by Goodwin and Gene Colan, who did a lot of work for Warren early on, all of it uniformily excellent. A homicidal killer walks the streets; can the police find him before he hacks up another victim?

Third is "Gnawing Fear!" by Ron Parker and Rocco Mastroserio, about a nasty, unfeeling chemist working on a new rat poison. You should always be kind to animals, even rats...

Following that is "Shrieking Man!" by Goodwin and Steve Ditko. Ditko does a great job on the tale of two psychiatrists working in an insane asylum, one with a terrible secret. Fifth is "Undying Love!" by Goodwin and Donald Norman(?), a story set in the 15th century about a count who asks a wizard to create a potion to have the beautiful Esmerelda fall in love with him. As happens a lot in these early Warrens, be careful what you wish for!

The final story is "Island at the World's End!" by Goodwin and cover artist Gray Morrow, about a mysterious island(at the world's end, presumably) and a sea captain who falls for a beautiful, seductive woman named Cthylla who resides there. The unusual setting is nice and Morrow does his usual fine job. His sea captain reminds one of Gregory Peck as Ahab in Moby Dick, a cool touch I thought.

Warren was really doing well with Eerie, right out of the gate like they did with Creepy, and picking up speed. A solid issue.

Eerie #60 - Warren

"Super Special Summer Giant"? Does any phrase guarantee comics fun more than those? And why have those words pretty much disappeared from comics nowadays?

Anyway, I thought a sweltering July would be a perfect time to talk about an Eerie "Super Special Summer Giant" so here we go...

After the beautifully odd and somewhat erotic cover by Ken Kelly(the woman doesn't exactly look that bothered to be in that creature's tentacles) we open with "24 Hours to Hell!" by Bruce Bezaire and Jose Ortiz. It's about a blackmarket drug that turns its users into a raving, zombie-like mob. Great black and white storytelling by Ortiz, and the mob is suitably horrrible and terrifying.

Next is "Nightfall" by Bill DuBay and Bernie Wrightson, which is a classic monsters-in-the-closet story with simultaneous humor and horror, something of course Wrightson excelled at. An understated classic.

Third is "Exterminator One", about a robot who once was a man who is now programmed to be an assassin. By DuBay and Paul Neary, it's a fun old-school "twist-ending" sci-fi tale where things never turn out the way you or the characters expect.

Next is the color section of the book, "Childhood's End" by Budd Lewis and Rich Corben. It stars that sad, Frankenstein-esque "Child" character, in a tale of kindness rejected and tragic misunderstandings. Corben's work is of course beautiful and the color is picture-book-like, which fits the tale perfectly.

"The Man Hunters", by DuBay and Wally Wood, is also in color, and is about two heroic space explorers who land on alien world and confront a classic Wood-esque alien, replete with multiple tentacles and drooling jaws. The man disappears and the woman--his wife--comes to a horrible realization. This story ends where a lot of Hentai might begin, I think...

Back to black and white, we get "The Unholy Creation", by Steve Skeates and Leopold Sanchez. A sad, sad tale of man, about to start a new life with his bride, becomes the victim of a horrible set of experiments. Beautifully told, but depressing as all get out. Thank god Skeates didn't write Aquaman like this!

After a whole bunch of Captain Company ads(ooh, I never get tired of looking at that stuff!), we get one more story, "Interlude", by Gerry Boudreau and Isidro Mones, about two longtime adversaries--Dr. Archaeus and Miles Sanford--that is the last chapter in an ongoing scheme of revenge. It ends violently and ruthlessly, but stories of revenge never really end...

There's also fun back cover by Wrightson, promoting the "Nightfall" story that is wonderfully creepy...er, eerie.

Eerie #139 - Warren

I has talked about the last issue of Creepy awhile back and so I thought it was past due to talk about the end of Eerie, too.

I've always been interested in final issues, final episodes(I've watched final episodes of TV shows I've never watched previously...weird, I know). So I purposely sought out these final Warren publications to see how they ended their legendary runs.

Of course, this is a final issue only on a techincal sense, in that there was never an Eerie #140, but Warren didn't know that at the time, so this issue doesn't have any special "goodbye" content. Heck, even poor Cousin Eerie's face is obscured by a blurb. Sheesh!

Anyway, the cover is by the legendary Kelly Freas, about the issue's main feature, an adaptation of A.E. Van Vogt's "Voyage of the Space Beagle!" by Rich Margopoulos and Luis Bermejo. It's about the lone survivor of an alien race that comes across pesky--yet delicious--group of human space explorers, who foolishly let it aboard their ship. The story continues into Part 3, which appears after the color insert.

The insert was Warren's experiment in "color comics", a standard-size comic story bound into the inside of the magazine. The story in this case is "Infinity Force" by Bill DuBay and Rudy Nebres. A group of space travelers discover a mysterious metal that allows them to travel back in time, where they run the risk of destroying all of humanity.

I never fully understood what the point of these color insert sections were--they looked and read like regular Warren stories, yet they were in a regular comics size, sort of stitched dead center into the rest of the magazine. Weird.

"Space Beagle" Part 3 picks up here, with the hunt for the mysterious, muderous alien continuing. The crew of the Beagle do find a way to defeat the alien...maybe.

And...that's it. We get some fun Captain Company pages(Star Wars stuff, posters, Biotron, Warren back issues, even some DC Comics...never did understand that), and then Eerie is officially history.

While I enjoyed the "Beagle" story just fine, I could never quite accept all the sci-fi that appeared in Eerie. I thought the stories should be more...eerie. Y'know, ghosts, monsters, demons, or just people gone plum loco. But at this point, Warren Publishing was responding to trends, not creating them, so if kids wanted sci-fi, that's what they got. Poor Cousin Eerie seemed out of place in his own magazine.