Review- CREEPY ARCHIVES VOL. 11

CREEPY ARCHIVES VOL. 11 (Dark Horse, First Printing, 2011; Hardcover)

Collects Creepy #51-54 (cover dates March- July, 1973, originally published by Warren Magazines)

Writers: Fred Ott, Doug Moench, Rich Margopoulos, John Warner, Martin Pasko, Kevin Pagan, Steve Skeates, Greg Potter, George Henderson, Bill DuBay, Tom Sutton, Don McGregor, Jack Butterworth, and R. Michael Rosen

Artists: Sanjulian, Auraleon, Esteban Maroto, Felix Mas, Ramon Torrents, Adolfo Abellan, Jose Bea, Reed Crandall, Tom Sutton, Richard Corben, and Martin Salvador

Things have started to gently rebound from the series' first creative slump. The recovery was largely powered by Doug Moench, whose writing is among the best of the 1970s. My favorite artist in this book is by Rafael Auraleon, as his work is genuinely creepy. No pun intended.

Issue 51 features an eight page preview of the full color 120 page Dracula paperback which Warren published in 1972. I did some digging, and it turns out this was an English language translation of foreign comics which ran for twelve issues, with unsold copies being rebound into an Annual over in the UK. The Warren book reprints the first six issues from the New English Library (NEL) series, which themselves were reprints of the 1971 Buru Lan Spanish series. It seems like something ripe for a reprinting if rights issues can be sorted out.

Issue 52's Them Thar Flyin' Things rules. That same issue features Reed Crandall's The Man With The Brain Of Gold. Crandall actually refined his craft as he aged, with his artwork being worlds beyond even his 1950s EC greatness. Richard Corben's incredible artwork turns up in #54's The Slipped Mickey.

This was a good but very inconsistent read. If I ever get around to rereading this book I will skip over most of the stories, as they sort of meander and have mediocre artwork. The good stuff is really good, though.

Volume 27 is currently in my possession, with the final volume (Vol. 29) being announced for a summer 2019 release. We will have the entire Creepy and Eerie runs collected in just 11 years, with Dynamite having already covered Vampirella across 15 books and Fantagraphics having done Blazing Combat a decade or so ago. There was a time when seeing all of these collected was little more than a pipe dream. Some argue that the golden age of collected editions is over, but who cares if this is true? We have gotten so many treasures and these books will last my lifetime. Some of them might even get read before I depart this mortal coil.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3 out of 5.

The OCD zone- This is the part where I go into tactile sensations and materials used in physical media. Those with heart conditions, high blood pressure, or women who are pregnant should exit my blog at their earliest convenience, as their safety cannot be guaranteed beyond this point.

Linework and Color restoration: High resolution scans of the original magazines. The color portions came out very nice.

Paper stock: Coated stock with a slight sheen.

Binding: Sewn binding. This book will outlast me.

Dustjacket and Hardback cover notes: The hardback as faux leather casewrap with dye foil stamping. The dustjacket is laminated but was a little “wavy” fresh out of the shrinkwrap when I bought way back in 2011.

Review- VAMPIRELLA ARCHIVES VOL. 4

VAMPIRELLA ARCHIVES VOL. 4 (Dynamite, First Printing, 2012; Hardcover)

Collects Vampirella #22-28 and 1972 Vampirella Annual (cover dates Annual 1972- October, 1973)

Writers: Don Glut, Bill DuBay, Doug Moench, Steve Englehart, Tony Isabella (credit given to Len Wein; Isabella ghost-wrote the story for him), J.R. Cochran, Esteban Maroto, Dube, Steve Skeates, John Jacobson, Ed Newsome, Kevin Pagan, Gerry Bordeau, Jim Stenstrum, Robert Rosen, Nicola Cuti, W. Eaton, George Henderson, James Crawford, Lynn Marron, Jose Toutain, Flaxman Loew, Fernandez, Jose Bea, James Crawford, and Bruce Bezaire

Artists: Jose Gonzalez, Esteban Maroto, Rafael Auraleon, Bill DuBay, Jose Bea, Ramon Torrents, Munes, Fernandez, Escolano, and Felix Mas, with cover paintings by Aslan, Enrich Torres, and Sanjulian

Vampirella is the star of this series. Her story takes up a chunk of each issue and she hosts the rest of the stories a la the Cryptkeeper. She is all cheesecake and helped usher adolescent Baby Boomers through puberty. In all honesty, she is the least interesting aspect of the series to me, as I don't read comic books for that kind of inspiration. I much prefer the non-Vampirella stories. They are interchangeable with the stories found in the other Warren Magazines (Creepy and Eerie), meaning that they are well executed EC-inspired Horror.

Artwork by Auraleon.

The 1972 Annual, which was omitted from Vol. 3, is thankfully included here. Stories which were reprinted from earlier issues in the series are omitted from that issue, which is fine. #23's Cobra Queen is one of those morality type stories that is so familiar that it must be derived from a fable. Don Glut is a great writer and pulls it off fabulously.

A quick look at the list of writers above shows that this is a proverbial who's who of Bronze Age stars before they were stars. Doug Moench's talent was already fully formed, as his stories are a cut above the rest. All of the stories were good, and the art is top notch as well. Younger fans may not recognize many of the names above, but all of these writers and artists deserve your notice.

Artwork by Auraleon.

Rafael Auraleon's artwork is without peer. His art in #24's The Choice is fantastic, so photo realistic that if it were done today I would swear that he was a Photoshop cheat of an artist. I wonder if he used models for photo referencing. Look at that splash page from #25's The Haunted Child. He crams so much atmosphere into each panel, truly cinematic stuff. His panel composition is like a camera angle, with each panel being a different shot. Absolutely brilliant. I could sit here all day and gush about his work.

Artwork by Auraleon. 

Munes is another artist whose artwork is museum worthy, as evidenced by #26's Blood Brothers! He uses solids to paint colors in your mind more effective than using actual color. #28's Old Texas Road is another creepy one.

This is fun, old-fashioned Horror, heavy on the haunted houses, werewolves, and the like. It is interesting to see slasher type Horror begin to creep in. Anxieties about the Viet Nam War and the Cold War would soon usher in a new breed of Horror movie the following year. Movies like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre would forever change the standards of what is considered Horror, but that is a different conversation altogether. I prefer the old school to what passes as Horror these days. Now get off of my lawn!

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5.

The OCD zone- Dynamite lists the creator credits in the table of contents by the names used in the original issues. Some of these, such as Dube, were pseudonyms for creators. (Dube was Bill DuBay.) There is a difference between a pseudonym and a “stage name”.

Other credits are not included. For example, the artists who did the painted covers that made the series so famous are not listed in the table of contents of the book (although they are credited on the original issue letters pages, which are included). Dynamite should have an intern do five minutes of Internet research so that proper credit can be given to the creators. Cripes, I'd be willing to do it for a comp copy of the book.

This book is presented in the dimensions of the original magazine publications, meaning that this is the same height and width as Dark Horse's Creepy and Eerie Archives as well as their EC Archives.

Linework and Color restoration: These are all cleaned up high resolution scans of the original issues. Covers and the handful of pages originally presented in color are in full color here.

Paper stock: Thick glossy coated stock. I like the smell of these Chinese made books.

Binding: Smyth sewn binding, lays perfectly flat. This book will outlast me on this Earth.

Dustjacket and Hardback cover notes: Dustjacket is fully laminated. Hardback has faux leather casewrap and dye foil stamping on the cover and spine. 

Review- EERIE ARCHIVES VOL. 8

EERIE ARCHIVES VOL. 8 (Dark Horse, First Printing, 2011; Hardcover)

Collects Eerie #37-41 (cover dates January- August, 1972)

Writers: Bill DuBay, Steve Skeates, Lynn Marron, Don McGregor, Larry Herndon, Doug Moench, T. Casey Brennan, Don Glut, J.R. Cochran, Esteban Maroto, Kevin Pagan, Fred Ott, Sanho Kim, Buddy Saunders, John Wooley, and John Thraxis

Artists: Enrich, Bill DuBay, Jaime Brocal, Ken Barr, Auraleon, Ernie Colon, Ken Kelly, Jose' Gaul, Paul Neary, Esteban Maroto, Tom Sutton, Richard Bassford, Jose' M. Bea, Dave Cockrum, Sanjulian, Mike Ploog, Sanho Kim, Luis Garcia, and Jerry Grandenetti

The story lengths grew longer than they were in the earlier issues but still manage to hold my interest for the most part. Things pick back up in this volume with the influx of then-new talent that would go on to be legends in the industry. A lot of these guys would go on to work for Marvel in DC in the '70s and '80s.

While free from the constraints of the Comics Code Authority, the Warren Magazines seem tame by today's standards. There is little gore and no swearing and nothing more than fleeting nudity. It's mostly old school Horror with a slight edge for its time.

#37's Horror At Hamilton House is filled to the brim with Gothic atmosphere, really good stuff. That same issue's The Ones Who Stole It From You has one sequence which is amusing by 21^st century standards. Natahan Prine and Amanda Vincent are enjoying post-coital conversation and Amanda goes into a paranoid tirade about “tinier and tinier cages of freedom” and how banks are computerizing everybody, eventually giving everyone a “tiny charge card that'll have your symbols and responsibility all stamped on it's plastic surface”. The paranoia of the Baby Boomer generation seems downright quaint here in the middle of the second decade of the 21^st century. Computerized files and credit cards seem innocuous compared to drones, NSA surveillance, emerging robotic technology, artificial intelligence, and the like. Sadly, we do have tinier and tinier cages of freedom. If someone reads these words in forty years the things that I worry about today will seem quaint. NSA surveillance? Try One World Government surveillance, where they send the robot thought police to arrest you for thinking about something offensive to someone somewhere!

Ken Barr is one of those artists who seems lost to time. A quick check online revealed a fair amount of work in the 1970s, eventually moving on to painted covers. Jose Bea and Esteban Maroto were at the front of the pack of the Filipino comic artists who were hired by Warren in the early '70s. Maroto excelled at the fantasy stuff. Eerie was more diverse than Creepy, delving into science fiction (Yesterday Is The Day Before Tomorrow) and swords and sorcery stuff (Dax The Warrior, an ongoing strip) which was popular at the time.

We get treated to some great early Mike Ploog artwork in #40s The Brain Of Frankenstein. Ploog of course went on to draw the first six issue's of Marvel's The Frankenstein Monster shortly after this story was published and became synonymous with the early '70s monster revival at Marvel.

The highlight of this book was #41's The Caterpillars, a genuinely creepy story by Fred Ott with brilliant artwork by Luis Garcia. Garcia didn't do nearly enough comic work, leaving the field in the mid-80s to become a painter. It saddens me that a lot of these artists, whose work blows away a lot of modern artists, couldn't make a living as a comic artist and so left the industry. How much quality artwork did we miss because they happened to be a certain age at a certain point in time? Garcia would be a star today.

Artwork by Luis Garcia, well before the advent of Photoshop.

Dark Horse pumps these books out rapidly, and while I buy them all I am extremely far behind on reading them. The entire run of Creepy and Eerie should be collected in the next year or two, and Dynamite is zeroing in with Vampirella as well. Fantagraphics collected Blazing Combat a few years ago. I will see the entire run of Warren Magazines collected in high end hardcovers in my lifetime, which was a pipe dream of mine just a decade ago.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5.

The OCD zone- Presented in the size of the original magazines, these books are taller and wider than your standard collected edition.

Linework and Color restoration: High resolution scans with yellowing removed. Covers and pages which were originally printed in color are presented in color.

Paper stock: Coated stock with a slight sheen.

Binding: Smyth sewn binding, lays flat.

Dustjacket and Hardback cover notes: Dustjacket has glossy lamination. Casewrap has the faux leather graininess to it and foil dye stamps. 

Review- CREEPY ARCHIVES VOL. 10

CREEPY ARCHIVES VOL. 10 (Dark Horse, 2011; Hardcover)

Collects Creepy #46-50 (cover dates July, 1972- January, 1973)

Writers: Jack Butterworth, Doug Moench, Rich Margoupolos, Jose' Maria Bea, Lynn Maron, Greg Potter, Ed Fedory, Cliff Jackson, Buddy Saunders, T. Casey Brennan, Dennis P. Junot, John Throxis, Steve Skeates, Bill Dubay, John Cochran, Fred Ott, James Stenstrum, Al Hewetson, and Al Milgrom

Artists: 'Sanjulian', Luis Garcia, Esteban Maroto, Tom Sutton, Jose' Maria Bea, 'Jorge B. Galvez', Richard Corben, Cliff Jackson, Ron Cobb, Reed Crandall, Martin Salvador, Luis Dominguez, Jerry Grandenetti, Bill Dubay, Rafael Aurlaeon, Jaime Brocal, Josep Gual, Adolfo Usero Abellan, and Felix Mas

Will you just look at all of that talent listed above? It should come as no surprise to anyone with a working knowledge of '50s-70s creators exactly how many great writers and artists worked on this title. Some of them did some early work here before they were considered great (Doug Moench and Richard Corben), others were veterans of the industry at this time (Reed Crandall).

These Warren Magazines were the illegitimate children of 1950s Pre-Code Horror comics like EC. Being a magazine meant that they could show things not permitted in comics due to the constraints of the Comics Code Authority. Creepy was a black and white anthology series 'hosted' by Uncle Creepy, a Cryptkeeper type with bad puns. All of the covers and the handful of pages with color are presented here in full color.

Luis Garcia and Esteban Maroto took photo realistic artwork to new heights. I wonder if they used photo models and lightboxes or if they were simply that good? If they came out today I would automatically assume that they cheated and used Photoshop. Reed Crandall is one of those artists whose work looks better in black and white than it does in color. His EC stuff was stellar but here he is at the top of his game.

The stories all run the typical Gothic Horror gamut. My favorite in this book is #50s Frog God!!, one of those cautionary tales that doesn't end well for the protagonist. These stories might seem tame to kids weaned on Saw movies but are worth a read for those interested in traditional Horror comics.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5.

The OCD zone- Issue #48 was an all-reprint issue. Only the cover and handful of new pages are reprinted here since the stories were all reprinted in earlier volumes.

Linework restoration: Scanned from the original issues and slightly cleaned up. Looks good enough for me.

Paper stock: Thick coated stock with a slight sheen.

Binding: Smyth sewn binding. Book block has sufficient room to flex in the casing and lays flat.

Hardback cover notes: Faux leather casewrap, die is foil stamped. 

Review- VAMPIRELLA ARCHIVES VOL. 3 HC

VAMPIRELLA ARCHIVES VOL. 3 (Dynamite, 2011; Hardcover)

Collects Vampirella Nos. 15-21 (cover dates January- December, 1972)

Writers: Archie Goodwin, Don McGregor, Doug Moench, Dave Mitchell, Pat Boyette, Nicola Cuti, Don Glut, Bill Dubay, Nebot, Gus St. Anthony, Jan S. Strnad, T. Casey Brennan, Mike Jennings, Esteban Maroto, Steve Skeates, Kevin Pagan, Martin Pasko, Greg Potter, Chad Archer, and Chuck McNaughton

Artists: Jose' Gonzalez, Esteban Maroto, Jose Bea, Richard Corben, Luis Garcia, Nebot, Auraleon, Pat Boyette, Bill Dubay, Felix Mas, Jerry Grandenetti, L.M. Roca, Luis Dominguez, and Martin Pasko

The Warren magazines are a mixed bag in terms of quality, although this series is much better three books in. Vampirella the character has become more three-dimensional and less cheesecakey. The weaker stories were the ones with Vampirella in them. The better ones were the generic Warren Horror stories which would be interchangeable with either of the other titles, Creepy and Eerie. These were, of course, variations of old Pre-Code Horror comics such as those found in EC, Harvey, etc. of two decades prior. I don't need the wheel reinvented, just give me some solid old school Horror and I am happy. Even though this was a magazine which eschewed the Comics Code Authority of the day, there is little in the way of gore. Most of the taboos found here which would have raised the ire of the CCA would be slight nudity, excessive faux-occult references, and vampires and the like.

Gorilla My Dreams (issue #16) is one of those tried and true Horror stories which has been told so many times that it is almost impossible to pinpoint where it originally came from. I'm going to go with the old saying that all cliches come from either The Bible or Shakespeare. Surely this can be found in either one, right? (Insert winky-faced smiley guy.)

This book is filled to the brim with talent. Many of the writers, such as Don McGregor and Doug Moench, would go on to great acclaim over at Marvel (and later DC as well for Moench). On the art side there are fewer “names” but no less talent. Artists such as Esteban Maroto and Luis Garcia offer stunning photo-realistic artwork decades prior to Photoshop. Some of these cats are awe inspiring, and I can't help but wonder why they didn't stick around. Maybe they left comics to pursue more lucrative graphic design or commercial artwork.

The concerns of young people of the time, such as drugs, feminism, nuclear annihilation, and the overall anxiety and sense of foreboding of the era are all captured brilliantly here. I tend to read old comics with the era that they were written in in mind. Some of this material holds up in 2013 by 2013 standards, other stuff is lovably dated and charming and quaint.

There are some real problems with this book, though, and you must read this edition of The OCD zone below for more information on that. Before we end the review portion, I must give credit to the following fine human beings for their invaluable assistance:

Special thanks to Aussie Stu from the Masterworks Message Board for furnishing me with high resolution TIFs of the two missing story pages.

Special thanks to KOBE 27 from the Masterworks Message Board for furnishing scans of the two missing text pages.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5.

The OCD zone- This book is missing several pages. I have emailed and Tweeted Dynamite Entertainment about this and have yet to get a response.

Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, I have obtained scans of the missing story pages and printed them out and tipped them in myself. The following pages are missing:

Page 17 of ...And Be A Bride Of Chaos from issue 16 (Page 22 of the issue proper).

Page 8 of Death In The Shadows from issue 17. This page is the climax of the story for crying out loud! (Page 41 of the issue proper.)

Second page of the Scarlett Letters column in issue 20. 

Second page of the Vampi's Flames fan story column from issue 20.

So there they are...the four missing pages! Just print them out, trim them accordingly, and tip them in! Thanks again to Aussie Stu, who provided super high quality TIFs of the story pages, and KOBE 27, who did the JPEGs of the text pages. You guys rock!

Dynamite had three courses of action that they could have done to rectify these errors:

1. Recalled the entire run and pulped it and/or manually glued in tip-in sheets of the missing pages.
2. Offered high resolution PDFs on their site for people to print and then tip-in themselves, or...
3. Done #2 and then reprint the complete stories with an apology in Volume 4. NONE of these things happened. Dynamite is clowntown and I know of many folks who have quit this line of books because of the fiasco that is Vampirella Archives Volume 3.

Dynamite also screwed up by not including the Vampirella 1972 Annual, which had an all-new cover and a brand new 15 page story, The Origin Of Vampirella. This story was reprinted in issue 46, albeit with a new script.

It would be nice if a company doing a high end series of Archives like this, which are by design completist be all, end all editions, would do 10 minutes of research online when mapping these books out. Dynamite should also pay more attention when mapping these books out. People make mistakes, but owning up to them is part of being human. Dynamite has lost a lot of goodwill with the fans of these books.

Gripe for Volume 2 that I did not include in that book's review years ago: The story Fiends In The Night from issue 10 was not included in that book because it featured Uncle Creepy. This is at least understandable as Dynamite's license does not include that character, I am just mentioning it as a point of reference for the OCD completists out there. 

Curiouser and curiouser...this was found on Page 77, in one of the stories missing a page. Note how the *box refers to the Creepy Classics Trade Paperback from the '90s rather than the original issue. Is it possible that Harris did paste ups? Or is this the case of altered film? Or is it that Dynamite are simply incompetent boobs?

DVD-style Extras included in this book: A three page preview of Dynamite's new Vampirella series.

Linework and Color restoration rating: 5 out of 5. Solid restoration.

Paper rating: 5 out of 5. Beautiful thick coated stock, dull matte semi-glossy. Considerably less glossy than Dark Horse's Creepy and Eerie Archives. 

Binding rating: 4.25 out of 5. While the binding is indeed sewn, the book block is glued square to the casing, rendering it a two-fisted read for roughly a quarter of the book. It is a durable binding but will not lay completely flat in the very front or the very back of the book.

Buy VAMPIRELLA ARCHIVES VOL. 3 HC at InStockTrades!

Review- EERIE ARCHIVES VOL. 6

EERIE ARCHIVES VOL. 6 (Dark Horse, 2011; Hardcover)

Collects Eerie Nos. 28-31 (originally published by Warren Magazines; cover dates July, 1970- January, 1971)

Writers: James Haggenmiller, Bill Warren, Buddy Saunders, R. Michael Rosen, Al Hewetson, Pat Boyette, Nick Cuti, Rich Buckler, T. Casey Brennan, Doug Moench, Ken Barr, Gordon Matthews, Don Glut, Chris Fellner, and Steve Skeates

Artists: Dan Adkins, Billy Graham, Jack Sparling, Tom Sutton, Bill Dubay, Dick Piscopo, Pat Boyette, Rich Buckler, Carlos Garzon, Frank Bolle, Ken Barr, Jerry Grandenetti, and Tony Williamsune*. (*Tony Tallarico and Bill Fraccio's pseudonym)

This era was the tail end of the first creative slump on the title. Some veteran artists came aboard, and when coupled with then-new talent like Doug Moench and Steve Skeates, helped inch the title back home toward greatness. Issue 31 is the best issue in the book. 

Carlos Garzon and Frank Bolle turn in some impressive artwork. If you look at the list above you'll see artists who went on to do some notable stuff during the Bronze Age over at Marvel, such as Billy Graham (Luke Cage, Power Man). Others, like Dan Adkins, did a ton of work for various publishers over the years but have no character or run that fans identify them with. Jack Sparling is another great who must have been moonlighting from DC. He did a ton of art for their '70s Horror titles.

I, Werewolf by Ken Barr is my favorite in the book, in terms of both story and art. (In my Cliff Claven voice:) It's a little known fact that the original title to the Werewolf By Night series Roy Thomas pitched to Marvel in 1972 was I, Werewolf, but Stan Lee nixed it. I wonder if Roy was inspired by the title of this story? 

Issue 31's Point of View is one of those cause and effect time travel stories that I love to wrap my head around. Which is more responsible for an outcome, the cause or the effect? In this case, which one came first?

All house ads and letter pages are included, and they are quaint snapshots of this bygone era. Of particular interest are the Eerie Fanfare pages, where fans submitted writing and artwork samples. One of these samples of artwork was by Greg Theakston and Arvell Jones, two guys who went on to work in comics. It's very cool to see that they were once “one of us”.

I am thrilled to see Dark Horse continue this line of deluxe hardcovers. They release them far quicker than I can read them, but I am current on buying them at least. What's another year or two wait to read 40+ year old comics anyways?

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- These are some nice books. They are presented in the original magazine dimensions.

Linework restoration rating: 4.5 out of 5. These are high resolution scans and are generally excellent. There are one or two pages that look iffy, but it could be that the copy that they used for this book was an iffy printing. It happened back then.

Paper rating: 4.5 out of 5. Thick coated stock with a slight sheen. Semi-glossy paper is not optimal for black and white material but it doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the stories.

Binding rating: 5 out of 5. Superb sewn binding and a casing not glued square to the spine equals a book that lays flat. I'm happy.

Buy Eerie Archives Vol. 6 at InStockTrades!