Monsters Unleashed! #8 - Marvel

Oct. 1974 - A classic (little bit of) sex and violence cover courtesy Earl Norem sets the tone for another issue of Monsters Unleashed!

Like previous issues, the inside cover features a "true" monster story, written by Tony Isabella and drawn by Ernie Chua/Chan, this time about:

...maybe it's because I grew up on all those "Unexplained Mysteries" books they had in school libraries, but I feel like I could read a whole issue of these things. A wonderful feature crammed into one measly page!

First up is "Frankenstein 1974" by Doug Moench and Val Mayerik. Picking up from the last issue, the Monster finds himself in the lair of James Sinoda, who we learned had lived a brutal life, totally without love but full of abject rejection.

So much so that it drove Sinoda mad, and he went about creating a whole "family" of freaks, all in an effort to get revenge on society. But when the beautiful Julia Winters turned him down for a date, Sinoda didn't take it to well:

...Mr. Sinoda, have you ever met Victor Von Doom?

Next is a Man-Thing text piece by the late Steve Gerber, with spot illustrations by Pat Broderick and Al Milgrom, followed by a text piece called "Swamp Stars of the Silver Screen" (focusing on one of my favorite monsters, the Creature From the Black Lagoon) by Don Glut.

Next is a real "lost" gem, "One Hungers" by Neal Adams and Dan Adkins about two wandering hippies who come across a creature in an old house that won't be satisfied with a flower in its, er, hair. I absolutely love Adams' just a tad cartoonish hippies:

...it has a weird, creepy ending. A minor classic.

Last is Gullivar Jones, Warrior of Mars!, in "A Martian Genesis!" by Isabella, Moench, and the art team of George Perez, Duffy Vohland, and Rich Buckler (whew!--that's a lot of names there). This was very early in Perez' career, and other than his trademark layouts, I can't see much of his--or Buckler's--work here:

Gullivar was your typical futuristic barbarian type, except for his willingness to trash-talk his opponents. On the last page, he tells his "human" captors: "...maybe I don't deserve to return to Earth. Its a cinch I can't buy the ticket from you...but let me tell you something--unlike you gutless wonders, at least the people back on Earth are still trying!"

He also calls them cretins and bozos. I like this Gullivar guy!

Monsters Unleashed! #7 - Marvel

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":

...although there's no real story here, just a collection of moments, the unresolvedness of the ending weirds me out.

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:

...Ick!

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"!

Monsters Unleashed! Annual #1 - Marvel

This annual was another instance where Marvel, having cancelled the regular magazine, gave a title one last hurrah by releasing an annual or special edition featuring some of the best material it had run in the regular series. *sigh*

After the ehhh cover by Ken Bald, we have a letters page telling us that is in fact the final Monsters Unleashed! (see *sigh*, above), and then we have:

"The Cold of the Uncaring Moon" by Steve Skeates, George Tuska, and Klaus Janson--who actually make a pretty fine pair
a "They Might Be Monsters" segment by Tony Isabella and Pablo Marcos
"World of Warlocks!" by Gardner Fox, Roy Thomas, and Gene Colan, a solid tale of another dimension that needs a hero, and takes one from the rice paddies of Vietnam! As usual, Colan delivers the goods.
"Lifeboat!" by Gerry Conway and Jesus Blasco, which improbably works a monster into the story set totally in the title object
"Demon of Slaughter Mansion!" by Don McGregor and Juan Boix
the classic "Birthright!" by Thomas, Gil Kane, and the Crusty Bunkers
"To Love, Honor, and Cherish..." by Chris Claremont and Don Perlin
the Man-Thing in "All The Faces of Fear!" by Isabella and Alcazar
and then finally two one-page features, "Thunderbird", and "Monsters From The Sea", both by Isabella and Ernie Chua

...there is a lot of great stuff here, and if Monsters Unleashed! had to go, at least they were allowed one last curtain bow.

Monsters Unleashed! #10 - Marvel

An odd cover graces this issue of Monsters Unleashed!--courtesy Jose Domingo--this one being a little more passive that the usual Violence About to Happen scenario.

The inside covers "They Might Be Monsters" feature is by Tony Isabella and Pablo Marcos, all about the first time jungle explorers discovered an insane beast later identified as a...gorilla.

The opening story stars the Frankenstein Monster and is called "The 11:10 to Murder", by Doug Moench and Val Mayerik. Frankenstein stows aboard a train, where he, along with a woman who has also stowed away, stumble onto a plot to assassinate the president, who happens(!) to be on the same train! Despite this unwieldy, no-way-do-I-buy-this premise, the story is quick and clever, and a lot of fun to read, with a light enough ending that tells you Moench knew just how ridiculous this story was, too.

Next is "Beauty's Vengeance" by Moench and Sanho Kim, a fairy-tale-esque story of a fisherman who comes across a mermaid and is totally consumed with her, to the exclusion of everyone else in his life. He learns his lesson about being obsessed with outer beauty and not looking inside.

The third story, "The Serenity Stealers", stars Tigra the Were-Woman, and is by Chris Claremont, Isabella, and Tony DeZuniga. Tigra saves a man from a giant, rat-like creature, and discovers that he is just the slave of mystical-looking woman who lives in an underground layer(ohhh, that's who's on the cover!).

Despite all the serious goings-on in this story, Tigra retains a flip, whatever tone in her dialogue and attitude, very reminiscient to Spider-Man which makes the story fun to read--she keeps undercutting everything before the silliness factor goes through the roof.

A very solid issue, with all three tales being pretty enjoyable. The middle story is a nice tonal break from the more Marvel-ish stuff in the first and last ones, making for a fun and diverse set of horror yarns.

Vampire Tales/Monsters Unleashed! Ad - Marvel

This is an(obviously) much more elaborate ad, spotlighting two monsterrific magazines in the Marvel line.

It spans one and a half pages and ran in Dracula Lives! #4. Super-cool!

Monsters Unleashed! #4 - Marvel

I'm still in my Monster Mood, so I thought I'd keep going with Marvel's Monsters Unleashed!

Behind (literally) the typically-spooky cover by Frank Brunner is a Warren-esque one-page feature called "They Might Be Monsters" by Tony "The Tiger" Isabella and Pablo Marcos, about Man's first meeting with they thought was a monster...something later called a Gorilla.

"Frankenstein 1973" by Friedrich and Buscema continues (from issue #2), with the sorta-hippie guy bringing Frankenstein back to life...wanna bet it doesn't go quite as he intended?

After the always fun Marvel-style letters page ("Readers Unleashed!"), is a reprint tale "The Hands", an incredibly freaky tale of amputation and experimentation, drawn by some new kid named Gene Colan.

Chris Claremont's text piece "Our Martian Heritage" is a lot of fun, though I wonder why it's in a book called Monsters Unleashed! (oh hell, close enough). After that is "Web of Hate" by Isabella and the late, great Dave Cockrum and stars Gulliver Jones, Warrior of Mars!

"A Monster Reborn", by Steve Gerber and Pablo Marcos has an unusual setting for a horror tale (or a horror comic tale, at least)--a synagogue. Tony Isabella contributes another text piece, "The Monster Maker" a book review about the genius Ray Harryhausen.

"The Killers" is another reprint tale, drawn by...Bernie Kriegstein!! Wow! While this is obviously far from the best work Mr.Kreigstein ever did (it's a pretty obvious tale about monsters besetting a small lake community), it's still really neat to see such a genius' work show up in a Marvel monster mag!

"To Love, Honor, Cherish...", by Chris Claremont and Don Perlin, features a monster Mr.Perlin excelled at--werewolves! And speaking of werewolves, the issue ends with a heartfelt tribute to Lon Chaney, Jr., who has just recently died. Even though Lon had a rough life and career at the end (a long while before the end, sadly), he of course was remembered fondly--and still is today--as a Legend.

Howl one at the moon for me, Lon!

Monsters Unleashed! #2 - Marvel

I'm still in a monster-ish mood so we have more Monsters Unleashed! for today. And you can't get a more iconic-monster cover than this one by Boris Vallejo--you've got a monster, a damsel in distress, an angry mob...it all spells monster!

First up is "Frankenstein 1973" by Gary Freidrich and Big John Buscema, which is the fairly unusual tale of a pair of bickering, sorta proto-hippies who come across the poor monster stuck as a carnival sideshow attraction. The guy, who's a real dick, decides to take over the world (!), and is convinced the Frankenstein Monster will help him do it! As Cartman would say "damn hippies."

Next is a text-article on Boris Karloff, a review of a biography about him by my pal Tony Isabella, and full of stills of the great Boris. Third is "Lifeboat!" by Gerry Conway and Jesus Blasco(?), which is a mix of a Hitchcockian-premise with a horror element thrown in. Nice artwork by Jesus!

Fourth is a reprint tale "The Madman", an uncredited, goofy tale of a mad scientist and his weird creations. That never, ever goes well.

"The World's Most Wanted Monster" is another text piece, this time by Martin Pasko, about Karloff as Frankenstein. It's a damn shame Karloff didn't live long enough (he died in 1968) to see the enormous wave of reverence and nostalgia that would've greeted him just a few years later.

Next is "Sword of Dragonus", a Conan-esuqe tale beautifully rendered by Frank Brunner. What it's doing in Monsters Unleashed! I don't know, but it's still a nice little story--you know where it's going, but it's still fun getting there.

Finally is "The Roaches!" by Gerry Conway and Ralph Reese, a really creepy story of a woman who has a very improper relationship with the throng of roaches in her apartment building. Sure, the set-up is pretty formulaic, but Conway takes it a step further at the end, and having once lived in an apartment that had roaches, the whole thing makes my skin crawl. Yeesh, let's move on...

We end with an ad for the next issue of MU, which we talked about last time--behold, The Man-Thing!!

Monsters Unleashed! #3 - Marvel

One of my favorite magazine titles, its long overdue I got to talking about an issue of Monsters Unleashed! I picked this one out of the ones I have simply because I love this Neal Adams cover so much--creepy, brilliantly composed, and just a hint of the kind of material you wouldn't be able to find in a Marvel color book (women's shirts never ripped in the regular Marvel universe).

First is "Man-Thing", starring guess who, by Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, and a wonderfully moody art job by Gray Morrow. This story is the origin of Man-Thing, which as everybody knows is very reminiscient of Swamp Thing. Ted Sallis' story is a little more grim and violent, maybe owing to it appearing in a black and white mag.

Next is a reprint, "The Cyclops", which is goofy in the extreme, but it's drawn by the legendary Jack Davis so everything's okay. Then we have a text article on the movie Frankensteins by Martin Pasko, which is a fun read. I know these were done as cheap page fillers, but the enthusiasm for the subject matter shines through since the writer(s) were most often big monster fans.

Fourth is "The Death-Dealing Mannikin" by my pal Tony Isabella, Kit Pearson(?), and drawn by Win Mortimer. It's a fun (?) story about witchcraft (plus it's got Nazis!), but I have to say Win's kinda dull art sort of works against it. Someone more suited at creepy horror material might've been a better choice, or even just someone with a more exciting art style. Oh well, can't win' em all.

Next is a "Marvel Mini-Monsterpiece", a crazy two-page tale by madman (and I mean that in a good way) Tom Sutton. I wish comics had more stuff like this nowadays--fun little throwaways that add a little spice to the main story(ies) and aren't meant to be anything more than that.

"Swamp Girl" is another reprinted tale, and is not as fun as the title suggests--yeah, there's a spooky girl in a swamp, but she doesn't look like a female Swamp Thing or anything. Next is a text-and-spot-illustration "preview" of Marvel's newest sensation, Son of Satan! I still don't know how Marvel got away with that...

"The Cold of the Uncaring Moon", by another pal of mine, Steve Skeates, and the unlikely art team of George Tuska and Klaus Janson(!), is a classic werewolf tale, full of agonized, tortured souls, brutal attacks, and full moons. Tuska and Janson actually make for a pretty decent art team.

Finally is a Marvel classic, reprinted many times but worth it, is "Birthright" by Roy Thomas, Gil Kane, and the Crusty Bunkers, who look a lot like Neal Adams. A fantastic tale, full of savage adventure, sex, and giant monsters, as well as a typically-70s downbeat ending. Kane, Adams, and whoever the hell else inked this really went to town; this is one of the nicest art jobs I've ever seen in a Marvel magazine.

All told, an enormously fun issue, full of great talent and at a high level of enthusiasm. Let's unleash more monsters!