tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post3696767973535506110..comments2024-03-27T05:54:38.797-07:00Comments on <i>bare</i>•bones e-zine: The Warren Report Issue 52: May 1974John Scolerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14082147756474762000noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-26221880686220243082021-02-08T10:04:53.930-08:002021-02-08T10:04:53.930-08:00Butterworth is all over the place as a writer. A b...Butterworth is all over the place as a writer. A bunch of hoary cliches with the tired 1001 nights nonsense meets a nice reversal of cliches with the Sultanas disposable harem - yeah, what could go wrong? - and the conte cruel ending. Not to mention the dodgy dialogues he writes. He can't seem to decide if he wants to write a straight horror tale or a black comedy. Instead it is both, which doesn't work well. At least we have Gonzalez who never fails.<br /><br />"Top to Bottom" was really weird. I wondered when Pinhead would turn up. But sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, it is just another story about a strange box. Not Corben's best work, I agree.<br /><br />I read Wrightson's story in another edition. His writing is at best okay, but he always was about the art. But I think "The Black Cat" must have been the most elaborate and detail-obsessed art he ever did for Warren. His other stories are different.andydeckerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01312309519462680892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-59502677699791774582021-02-08T09:53:49.267-08:002021-02-08T09:53:49.267-08:00Great to see the arrival of Bernie Wrightson; I gi...Great to see the arrival of Bernie Wrightson; I give Graham Ingels the title for the best horror comic artist of all time but Bernie is a close #2. His Warren art is absolutely amazing; not a single story he does that can even be considered an average performance. He also writes nearly all his own stories as well and does a great job there too (plus writing an upcoming Jeff Jones drawn story that is up there among Warren's top stories). Beyond the 10 or so full length stories he does, Wrightson becomes the premier Uncle Creepy and Cousin Eerie artist, drawing one page frontispieces for them for a number of years (with Jose Gonzalez basically taking the same role for Vampi). I think Wrightson's wife comes to work for Warren around this same time as well as a colorist although I don't think they were married yet as she's credited under a different last name. Or perhaps they met while working at Warren together.<br /><br />Good to see the return of John Severin as well, he will contribute a lot more work to Warren, although its spread out over a number of years. I never really made the "Blind Alleys" connection for "Firetrap" but it seems obvious in hindsight. Good sci-fi tale from Margoupoulos/Corben with "Judas". "Survivor or Savior" is a bit of a mess story-wise, as if they ran out of pages or if it was originally intended to be an Eerie multi-parter that got shifted to Creepy and compressed down to a single story. Mayo's art is quite strong, albeit a bit over the top in the elaborateness department. "The Maze" is up there amongst Warren's strangest stories (at least for non-Jose Bea stories), and I continue to disagree on Summers and like his artwork quite a lot. I wonder if he was frustrated at Skeates for having him draw yet another story about multiple amputees after last issue's Twisted Medicine. Excellent job from Skeates and Mones to wrap up the issue with "The Demon Within". This is one of the best issues of Creepy we've had in a very long time.<br /><br />"Vampirella and the Sultana's Revenge" just goes to show that there is no one who can draw women as as good as Jose Gonzalez can. Although I usually go for brunettes, Droga may be the most beautiful woman to appear in a Warren mag thus far (sans final panel). The monster on the other hand is a bit of a disappointment. Gonzalez will win the Warren award for best art in a story for 1974 for this one and it is well deserved. Pantha's original storyline comes to an end here with rather iffy results, story-wise. She will be back after a break of 6 or 7 issues. "Top to Bottom" I'm a lot higher on than you; it is an excellent story in my eyes and a rather unique concept. Part of me wonders if the story was an inspiration for Clive Barker's "Hellbound Heart" novella and the "Hellraiser" series based on it which also featured a puzzle box that has rather disastrous results once used. "Number 37 is Missing" is another really strong story and one of my favorite performances by Mones. Alas, Adolpho Abellan disappoints as usual with the finale. <br /><br />b.t. - <br /><br />Very much looking forward to Jenifer, which is coming up in the next issue of Creepy. A top 10 Warren story of all time.Quiddity99https://www.blogger.com/profile/17809157926893454731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-49451806981938767162021-02-08T09:28:34.348-08:002021-02-08T09:28:34.348-08:00One HUGE difference between Frank Robbins and Leo ...One HUGE difference between Frank Robbins and Leo Summers is that Robbins’ use of heavy spot blacks delineates the figures and backgrounds, so that you can easily tell what you’re looking at, no matter how twisted and contorted those figures happen to be (that applies to Grandenetti too). Summers’ stuff intends to be almost indecipherable — all those interlocking shapes of light-to-medium gray, with no darker values to denote depth. It’s like looking at a soft-focus photograph of seafood linguini. I don’t remember him doing much work for Warren, but he’s in every issue of Atlas’ short-lived b/w horror mags, all four of ‘em (at least, I THINK so).<br /><br />Of this week’s offerings, Wrightson’s ‘Black Cat’ gets top marks. Stunning! It’s a pity he did such a relatively tiny number of stories for the Warren mags, but I’m grateful for what we DO have — they’re magnificent. If you guys haven’t seen ‘Jenifer’ yet, Lord have mercy, you’re in for a ghastly treat...<br /><br />b.t.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com