The Critical Guide to
the Warren Illustrated Magazines
1964-1983
by Uncle Jack
& Cousin Peter
Jack Davis |
(Ashcan Edition)
"Image of Bluebeard!"★★
Story by Bill Pearson
Art by Joe Orlando
"Death Plane" ★★1/2
Story by Larry Ivie
Art by George Evans
"The Invitation" ★1/2
Story by Larry Engleheart
Art by Manny Stallman
So, what exactly is an ashcan edition? Well, I'm glad you asked. Back in 1965, James Warren decided Creepy was doing well enough to introduce a companion title. An ad was run in Creepy #6 (see way below) and Eerie #1 was scheduled for a late 1965 release, but James Warren got word that an upstart company was about to release an Eerie #1 as well. In order to convince his distributor (which was also the distributor for the new publisher) that Warren had claim to the title Eerie, he had Archie Goodwin cobble together three stories that were scheduled to drop in the next couple of Creepys and print 200 copies (in an odd digest size), to be dumped at the newsstand just outside the distributor's office (a better worded and more detailed synopsis can be found in The Warren Companion).
"Image of Bluebeard!" |
So, what did this "ashcan" serve up?
"Death Plane" |
Stallman splash Eerie #1 |
During World War I, a "mystery ace" is shooting down planes from both sides, evading any attempts to shoot it down. In a rare moment of cooperation between the Allies and the Germans, both sides team up to exterminate the threat. One American pilot gets close enough to the enemy's cockpit before he's shot down in flames and discovers the eerie secret behind the "mystery ace."
As noted above, "Death Plane" has a very light printing tone and that doesn't help George Evans's delicate penciling one bit. If you take a look at the Eerie #1 version and then the version printed in Creepy #8, there's no comparison in quality. Evans's wonderful pencil strokes disappear in a shock of white. As far as the script goes, Larry Ivie generates healthy suspense before laying an egg with a head-scratching expository in the climax. An interesting concept but one not played out to a satisfactory conclusion.
Stallman splash Creepy #8 |
Jack: I enjoyed this short magazine! Too bad Monica never looked in a dictionary for the definition of her husband's surname. I actually thought the poor reproduction improved the look of Joe Orlando's art and I enjoyed the surprise ending to 'Image of Bluebeard!" If it's a story about WWI planes, call George Evans! "Death Plane" has an unfinished look and a weak ending. That full-page splash on "The Invitation" is impressive and I thought the art, and especially the layouts, were reminiscent of Alex Toth. Midway through the story, though, the words overwhelm the pictures and the conclusion was just silly.
Frazetta |
"Landscape!"★★1/2
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Joe Orlando
"Saratoga"★★★
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Reed Crandall
"MiG Alley"★★★
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Al McWilliams
"Face to Face!"★★
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Joe Orlando
"Kasserine Pass!"★★1/2
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Angelo Torres & Al Williamson
"Lone Hawk"★★★
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Alex Toth
"Holding Action"★★★
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by John Severin
"Landscape!" |
Perhaps this anti-war tale was more effective when it hit the stands in late 1965, but today "Landscape!" seems trite and obvious. Joe Orlando does nothing special to elevate the narrative and Archie Goodwin's script tells a story that's been told many times before. War is futile and the little guy gets hurt. We get it. I suppose it was more surprising in the early days of the U.S. involvement in Vietnam, when anti-war sentiment was not yet widespread. Still, it's nothing we didn't see at EC during the Korean War.
"Saratoga" |
It's not enough to have Reed Crandall's gorgeous, almost woodcut-like art to enjoy, but this story is a pip! I had no idea the young general was Benedict Arnold and now want to learn more about him and the Battle of Saratoga. This is what a good war comic story should do!
"MiG Alley" |
Al McWilliams does a terrific job with this fast-moving piece about jet fighting in Korea, and both story and art reminded me of classic DC War comic stories from the late '50s and early '60s, when MiG battles were a regular feature. I am really impressed by McWilliams's mastery of faces and planes and look forward to seeing more of his art.
The men who flocked to Cuba to fight in the Spanish-American War in 1898 did not have much experience in combat, and when Trooper Halpern is complimented for continuing up the hill after being shot in the arm, he thinks war is pretty cool. Sent back down the hill to deliver a message, he encounters a lone Spanish soldier, who tries to take his gun away. Vicious, hand to hand combat ensues and, after Halpern kills the enemy soldier with repeated blows to the head from a rock, he suddenly does not think war is quite so cool anymore.
"Face to Face!" |
If I thought "Landscape!" was heavy-handed, the second story this issue by Goodwin and Orlando lands with an obvious thud. I don't understand why we have to put up with two stories by Joe Orlando when there were so many other great artists working for Warren. I also find it hard to work up much enthusiasm about the Spanish-American War.
"Kasserine Pass!" |
The story's not bad and the art is above average, but I've seen better from both McWilliams and Torres. One thing is for sure: it beats the Haunted Tank!
Here's the WWI Flying Ace, "Lone Hawk" William A. "Billy" Bishop in his
"Lone Hawk" |
The Korean War is nearly at an end, but new replacement soldiers arrive, including Stewart, who is scared and tries to run the first time he's fired upon. His tough sergeant insists that he grab his gun and start shooting enemy soldiers, but Stewart gets a little too wrapped up in his job. When a cease fire is declared, he is at loose ends and has to be dragged away from the battlefield.
"Holding Action" ends this issue on a strong note, as Goodwin's script is brought vividly to life by the great John Severin, an artist I've grown to appreciate more and more as we've worked our way through these blogs. Some of his individual tricks are on display here, including the wordless panel with one character glaring at another, and the multi-panel sequence where only small details change but have a big effect. He was an extraordinary comic artist and he seems to have excelled at war stories.-Jack
Severin's wordless glare ("Holding Action") |
Peter: I've never read any of the Blazing Combat stories prior to working on this blog and if I hadn't just absorbed all of Harvey Kurtzman's EC war stories recently, I might have thought some of these were pretty powerful. "MiG Alley" and "Landscape" certainly have their powerful moments but, overall, I have to say I'm disappointed in the title so far. Yep, most of the art is top-notch, but a lot of the scripting is obvious and Goodwin seems to be going for the easy moral. "Holding Action," in particular, seems cliched and predictable. But that may be due to my Kurtzman overload. Archie was influenced by Harvey's writing, that's clear to see, but most of his scripts are reading like homage rather than building on any inspiration. "Landscape" is the infamous anti-war story that pretty much killed Blazing Combat, as detailed in an interview with Archie Goodwin's widow, Anne T. Murphy (who would also contribute to Warren Publishing), in The Warren Companion. Milton Caniff, creator of the "Steve Canyon" comic strip, writes in to praise issue #1. Archie blushes with pride but the gremlins misspell Caniff's first name!
Frazetta |
"The Duel of the Monsters!"★★
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Angelo Torres
"Image of Bluebeard!"
(see Eerie #1 above)
"Rude Awakening!"★★1/2
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Alex Toth
"Drink Deep!"★★
Story by Otto Binder
Art by John Severin
"The Body-Snatcher!"★★★1/2
Story by Robert Louis Stevenson
Adapted by Archie Goodwin
Art by Reed Crandall
"Blood of Krylon!"★★1/2
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Gray Morrow
"Hot Spell!"★★★★
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Reed Crandall
"The Duel of the Monsters!" |
"Rude Awakening!" |
"Image of Bluebeard!" follows, with much better reproduction quality than we saw in Eerie #1. The art by Orlando isn't half bad, for Orlando, but I kind of liked the xerox-quality heavy blacks in the Eerie version.
Mr. Asher has a recurring nightmare in which he is held down by hooded figures while a man in glasses plunges a knife into his chest. He wakes up in the morning from the dream, has it again on the subway on his way to work, and still again in the elevator at work. Lying down at the office, he has the nightmare again, but this time he wakes up and falls backwards out of a third-story window. He is rushed by ambulance to the hospital and the last thing he sees in the operating room is the man with glasses approaching him with a scalpel.
"Drink Deep!" |
Reggie Beardsley may be rich and have his own yacht, The Golden Galleon, but he treats its crew terribly. The Beardsley family fortune can be traced back to pirate Black Beardsley who, two centuries before, scuttled ships across the Caribbean in order to build up his own pile of gold. Reggie's crew quits in disgust, so he hires new men and sails off to the spot where his ancestor had scuttled his last ship. Late one night, his crew deteriorates into rotting corpses or skeletons that drag him onto the wreck of the old ship that had risen up for the occasion; once Reggie is aboard, it sinks again and he dies, after having to "Drink Deep!" of the briny water.
Not one of Severin's best efforts, but passably good, this waterlogged tale is dragged toward the bottom of the Creepy ocean by a predictable plot.
"The Body-Snatcher!" |
"Blood of Krylon!" |
Frustrated by the poor prospects on Earth, a vampire named Remick rides a spaceship to a planet named Krylon, where he hopes to feast on the inhabitants. Arriving and anxious to taste the "Blood of Krylon!," Remick flies toward a city and sees a yummy fellow below. Just as he's about to start dining, the sun comes up and fries him; it seems night are shorter on this planet and poor Remick did not account for that.
Sometimes the dumbest stories are the most fun! Gray Morrow's art looks like he used some kind of wash or water color technique, if not paint, and it's really cool. The concept reminds me of the Atlas comic series from the '70s, Planet of the Vampires, though that was kind of the opposite situation.
Tied to the stake and burned as a warlock in 17th-century New England, Rapher Grundy curses the people of Warrenville and their descendants. Three hundred years later, a series of folks have died in accidental burnings and suspicion falls on an artist, new to the village and a dead-ringer for Frank Frazetta. The dimwitted townsfolk burn down his house with his young wife inside, then beat him to death. Just then, the spirit of Rapher Grundy rises and drags the four evil townsfolk down to Hell!
As Creepy develops issue by issue, we're seeing flashes of brilliance along with selective instances of increased gore and violence. "Hot Spell!" is outstanding in story and art, but it makes me wonder why editor Goodwin saved the best story in the magazine for the last position? Why not lead off with this?-Jack
Peter: The two high points here are "Hot Spell!" and "The Body-Snatcher!" Archie's adaptation is the best one thus far (and I'm not the biggest fan of these "Creepy Classics") and Crandall's art on both stories is as great as it was in the EC days, with that "Hot Spell!" splash a stunner. "The Duel of the Monsters!" is a silly monster mash-up that contains not one iota of the excitement promised by Frazetta's cover. Overall, it's still the art that makes us turn those pages as most of the the scripts seem like warmed-over EC but, ohhhhh, that art!
Next Week... Jack and Peter decide that, yes, they'll see this through to December 1976 |
8 comments:
Happy to see you covering the Warren magazines. For me, these early issues are the best horror comics ever published (Blazing Combat wasn't bad, either). I love the writing but the art just jumps off the page. I re-read the early Creepy and Eerie issues just about every year in the Archive editions. Great stuff. Looking forward to more.
Jack: For Benedict Arnold and Saratoga I recommend Nathaniel Philbrick's 2016 book "Valiant Ambition." Philbrick is always good; his "Mayflower" and "In the Heart of the Sea were both great.
Best,
Jim
Thanks, Jim! I'll put that on my list.
You know I came across another adaption of The Bodysnatchers. It was in The Graphic Canon of Crime and Mystery, and the art was done by Kriota Willberg. Had some really creepy art of a body being dissected.
Eerie #1 is one of those rare Warren magazines I don't own an original copy of (granted, there are few in the world who can claim to have a copy), so I can't comment upon the art reproduction. The stories I have read in their Creepy installments coming up. It is good to see George Evans in a Warren magazine, as he doesn't end up contributing much to them (2-3 stories from my recollection). Manny Stallman only did a few stories for Warren, but I thought his art was fairly good and a bit of a contrast to all the old EC artists currently working for the company. "The Invitation" will later get completely recycled with a new artist, if I remember correctly its "A Night's Lodging" in Creepy #17.
I didn't get a chance to re-read this issue of Blazing Combat before today (away on business!) so don't have much to say about the second issue's individual stories. "Landscape" is of course the infamous story that is blamed for getting the magazine killed when wholesalers, the American Legion, etc... mistakenly thought it featured American soldiers killing the old farmer (it was fellow Vietnamese). It is a fairly good story, one of my favorite Blazing Combat stories, so I'm a little higher on it than you guys, but I also find it a bit overrated. The story has had quite the reputation over the years (Richard Arndt's Warren book for example calls it one of the top 5 comic stories ever) and when I finally got to read it, it didn't deliver to that level. Its the type of story that would have fit quite well with the old Kurtzman EC war stories, and reminds me a lot of "Rubble" a story where we watch a Korean man spend all this time and effort building a home for his family only for it to get destroyed and presumably the entire family killed, by a tank during a skirmish.
Creepy #7 truly has some amazing art in it, kicking off with that Frazetta cover, which is his best yet. Torres always does a good job, even if it is an over complicated story. Both of Crandall's stories have great art as you have mentioned, and although the story is a bit silly, Morrow does a terrific job on his story as well.
Thanks, guys. One of the 5 best comic stories ever? Not even close. Off topic, I just finished the new Mister Miracle graphic novel from DC and can highly recommend it. I was laughing out loud and it also made me think. I could not stop reading.
I love the old Warren magazines. I have most issues stored away in plastic, but I still break them out for occasional reading. I've also been collecting a recent re-launch of the Warren line: a publication titled "The Creeps" that uses nothing but top Warren cover artists and a variety of original Warren artists and writer for interior work. It's literally Warren re-born.
I've seen The Creeps for sale but never read it. I'm glad to hear it's good!
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