The Critical Guide to
the Warren Illustrated Magazines
1964-1983
by Uncle Jack
& Cousin Peter
Adkins |
"Fair Exchange"★★★1/2
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Neal Adams
"Rub the Lamp!"★★★
Story by Allan Jadro
Art by Jerry Grandenetti
"Terror in the Tomb!"★★★
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Rocco Mastroserio
"The Wanderer!"★★
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Dan Adkins
"Isle of the Beast!"★★1/2
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Steve Ditko
"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge!"★★1/2
Story by Ambrose Bierce
Adapted by Archie Goodwin
Art by Bob Jenney
"Experiment in Fear!"★★★1/2
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Gene Colan
An awesome splash page from the great Neal Adams |
More gorgeous Neal Adams art can only go so far when it is applied in service of a cliched script. Adams does some experimenting with layout, including one entire page tipped on a slight angle (unless this was a printing error), and it reminds me of some of Gene Colan's layouts, but his art is so crisp and beautiful I really can't complain. "Fear Exchange" might have been a better title.
A pretty neat large panel from Jerry Grandenetti ("Rub the Lamp!") |
Rabid antique collector John Coates finally finds what he's been looking for--Aladdin's Lamp! He finds a secluded spot where he can "Rub the Lamp!" and wishes for $50,000, but is distressed when his wife dies in a fire and he gets a check for $50,000 from the life insurance company. Next, he wishes to be immortal. Soon he's bitten by a vampire and his wish is again granted, just not in the way he expected. Finally, he uses his third and final wish to request that he be reunited with his wife. He trips and falls, impaling himself on a jagged piece of wood and joining his spouse in death.
Another vampire story? All stories involving three wishes follow the same path, and this one is no exception; the fun comes in the unusual or unexpected ways the wishes are granted. Coates is not sophisticated enough to avoid what seem like obvious traps, and--help me!--I kind of liked Grandenetti's wacky, highly-stylized artwork. It seems better suited to stories of the supernatural than to realistic war tales.
Now that's scary! ("Terror in the Tomb!") |
I must be in a good mood, since I thought this story was pretty cool and even enjoyed the artwork. I was worried that we'd discover the pharaoh was a vampire, but all he has are a couple of rows of sharp teeth, the better to eat you with, my dear.
A surgeon's patient dies on the operating table and is taken to the hospital's morgue, where he soon awakens and causes a ruckus. The doctor rushes to see him and the patient tells a strange story of dying in a car crash and finding himself in Hell, where monsters with long fangs pulled him ever downward. Suddenly, after a long time of suffering, he found himself pulled upward and awoke back in his body! The doctor insists on keeping him in the hospital for observation, realizing that the patient who just died had a heart attack and the car accident victim was from two years before. The doctor encounters a Hell-beast in the hallway dressed as an orderly and then finds the patient, reduced to skeletal remains.
The incomprehensible last page of "The Wanderer!" |
Amberson is shipwrecked and washes up on the "Isle of the Beast!," where Rochefort tells him he grew tired of hunting shipwrecked men with weapons and so invented a formula to turn himself into a beast who could hunt his prey without weaponry. He sets Amberson loose in the island's jungle and chases him down. To his dismay, the full moon reveals that Amberson is a werewolf, and that werewolves are better fighters than beasts.
Yawn. Referring to "The Most Dangerous Game" in a story that rips it off doesn't excuse the ripoff. The twist ending of "Surprise! I'm a werewolf/vampire/giant bug" is really wearing thin and we're only on the ninth issue of Eerie. Ditko used some kind of wash technique here that blunts his usual effectiveness.
Not what you want to see upon entering a house for the first time... ("Isle of the Beast!") |
It's hard to go wrong with Ambrose Bierce's classic story, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge." It was done on both Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone and I had a super 8 sound film of the Twilight Zone version back in the '70s when it was not in the TV syndication package, even though I did not have a super 8 sound projector. Those were the days. In any case, Goodwin's adaptation is faithful to the original and Bob Jenney manages to do a half-decent job of drawing the events as they unfold. At least the lead character, Peyton Farquhar, doesn't turn out to be a vampire in the last panel.
"An Occurrence at You Know Where!" |
Whew! Archie saved the best for last. This is a powerful story with nary a vampire nor a werewolf in sight, just human monsters who are worse than them all. Colan's art is impressive, as always, and perfectly captures the mood of the concentration camp and the horror of the situation. A strong finish to a strong issue!-Jack
"Experiment in Fear!" |
Frazetta |
"City of Doom!" ★★★
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Steve Ditko
"Adam Link, Champion Athlete!" ★
Story by Otto Binder
Art by Joe Orlando
"The Adventure of the German Student!" ★★★
Story by Washington Irving
Adapted by Archie Goodwin
Art by Jerry Grandenetti
"The River!" ★★
Story and Art by Johnny Craig
"The Terror Beyond Time!" ★★
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Neal Adams
"City of Doom!" |
A familiar voice cries out in the blackness, begging for death, and Thane turns to see his nemesis, Ultor, lying helpless on a slab. When Livia returns, bearing a torch, Thane sees why his fellow barbarian is craving a fast exit; Ultor is being fed upon by a huge, writhing, tentacled creature. Livia spills the beans: the monster is the living altar, the very heart of Kadith, and it must be nourished with a never-ending supply of blood. Thane puts Ultor out of his misery and then turns his attention to the giant blob-thing, piercing it with his magnificent blade. Livia rushes at Thane with a dagger, slips and falls into the monster, who slaps a tentacle on the girl's head and begins feeding. Thane sees this as his time to exit stage left. A fabulous sword-and-sorcery thriller, with Archie doing his very best Robert E. Howard imitation. If I have one very minor quibble, it's with Ditko's art. No, no, no, Steve's as great as always but he's just not right for this strip. It needed a Jeff Jones or John Buscema. Ditko doesn't do muscle-bound oafs very well. Magically, my prayers will be answered next issue. Still, it's a great read!
"City of Doom!" |
I won't waste precious space on the (thank God!) final chapter of the inane "Adam Link" saga, save to say this was the worst installment of the bunch. That's not an easy statement considering how awful the previous seven were. "Adam Link, Champion Athlete!" finds the robot and his girlfriend, Eve, acquitted of all charges and craving citizenship. The only way that will happen is to get public opinion behind the couple so Adam (naturally) becomes an athlete. I suspect an eight-year-old might have written and illustrated this better. Good riddance, Adam Link!
"The Adventure of the German Student!" |
"The Adventure of the German Student!" |
At the flat, the two fall madly in love and all seems to be bliss until the following morning when Wolfgang finds the girl lying across the bed, quite deceased. When the police arrive, they inquire as to how this girl came to be in Wolfgang's flat when she was guillotined the day before. As evidence, one of the officers removes the collar around her neck and her head falls to the ground. Wolfgang screams out loud, never stops screaming actually, and is committed to the asylum, where he dies shortly thereafter. The innkeeper scoffs and asks the doctor if he believes any of that nonsense; the doc's reply is to hold up the girl's collar and note that it was found next to Wolfgang's body.
"The Adventure of the German Student!" |
Aside from possibly "The Body Snatcher," "The Adventure of the German Student!" is the most effective adaptation Archie has yet attempted. Yes, we've seen plenty of these obvious ghost stories before but this one has a nasty edge to it. Why is this girl haunting Wolfgang? Was he merely an innocent bystander; would anyone have sufficed? Seems a very cruel trick of fate that a genuinely good guy should come to such a nasty end. I am by no means the world's biggest Jerry Grandenetti fan, but I do have to admit he's having his moments during his tenure at Warren. Nice flourishes here and there, including using the girl's hair as panel dividers, and his exaggerated Frank Robbins-esque herky-jerkyness seems to be kept in tow. A very good chiller.
"Come sail away with me, lad!" |
"The Terror Beyond Time!" |
Jack: I don't know if it's because I'm summarizing the stories in Eerie and just commenting on Creepy, but I'm finding Eerie more enjoyable, issue by issue. "City of Doom!" is mediocre Ditko, but even that is worth a look, despite the tired sword and sorcery setting. For once, Steve does a decent job of rendering a nubile lass, though he can't help drawing those patented Ditko expressions on her face. The Adam Link story is based on the bizarre idea that becoming sports heroes will garner public support for making the robots citizens. I'm glad this is the end of what was essentially a soap opera with machines. "The Adventure of the German Student!" is an old, old tale and I thought Grandenetti's expressionistic art got in the way of telling the story clearly. I love the Eisnerian second page of Craig's "The River!," where two characters converse as they descend a staircase and several views of them are presented in a large, single panel without any confusion at all. The story holds no surprises but is some of the best Craig art we've seen at Warren. Last of all is the double-length Adams story, in which a fairly dull tale is made better by stellar art and visual storytelling techniques. At this point in his career, Adams was not as good as Craig at telling a story lucidly from beginning to end, but there's no way to criticize his drawing.
I really enjoyed the lesson on how comics are put together in this month's fan club page, reproduced below.
Next Week... Let's join Big Bob in celebrating Rock's bicentennial... Even though it ain't! |
2 comments:
A fairly strong issue of Eerie, although I'd agree that the cover is rather weak. In particular I enjoy Fair Exchange quite a lot, as well as Experiment in Fear, one of the best of the early Warren stories. The other stories throughout the issue are all pretty decent too. This issue of Creepy is somewhat weaker, although does at least have a great Frazetta cover. Thane becomes somewhat of a recurring character, and will get a Jeff Jones drawn story in the near future if I remember correctly. I think he appeared in around 4 or 5 stories and each time a different artist drew him. I recall Alex Nino doing one of his stories very far in the future, but can't remember who else did it beyond those two. The Adventure of the German student would be my favorite story from the issue, also having strong artwork from Grandenetti. I appreciate them at least experimenting with a longer story length for The Terror Beyond Time although I agree its not the strongest story.
Thanks! Sounds like we're all generally in agreement on these issues.I'm looking forward to Nino's arrival.
Post a Comment