tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post2739642961234577310..comments2024-03-27T05:54:38.797-07:00Comments on <i>bare</i>•bones e-zine: The Warren Report Issue 63: May 1975John Scolerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14082147756474762000noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-57606362565604466452021-07-14T21:35:17.398-07:002021-07-14T21:35:17.398-07:00The thing about "The Mountain of Skulls"...The thing about "The Mountain of Skulls" that stays with me is a part that's like some self-parody. It's the fact that Vampirella's costume gets some attention of the negative kind, when another female passenger attacks her with one of those "You shameless hussy!" type lines.<br /><br />In fact, that might be the actual phrase. <br />As far as I know, it's pretty rare for her outfit to get any kind of attention, good or bad.Granthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09603892208775996594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-85227998516988042132021-07-12T21:34:59.416-07:002021-07-12T21:34:59.416-07:00I was so used to Leopoldo Sanchez’s wonderfully ch...I was so used to Leopoldo Sanchez’s wonderfully chiaroscuro-soaked art on the Vampi series, that I was honestly a little let down by my first real look at Gonzalez’ take. The letters pages in the previous few issues had been full of fans clamoring for his return, and I’d seen a few of his gorgeous photo-realistic pencil renderings of the lady on the inside covers, so my expectations were likely a bit too high. Hence, my slight disappointment.<br /><br /> In retrospect, this issue’s Vampi story looks just fine, about par for Gonzalez — neither his best work nor his worst. And Vampi herself looked beautiful, of course. But overall, the story looked a little bland to my 13-year-old eyes, a little too ‘open’, not enough atmosphere, the line-work a little skritchy, the compositions and page layouts not as dynamic as Sanchez’s.<br /><br />Speaking of ‘a little bit bland’ : I can’t think of a single Luis Bermejo story that really wowed me. He is to the Warren mags what Bob Clarke was to MAD Magazine: competent, serviceable. Pleasant. You never groan when you see his name in the credits, but neither do you ever think, ‘Oh boy, a Luis Bermejo story!’ And I’m sorry, but FIVE Bermejo stories in one issue is like having five courses of mashed potatoes for dinner.<br /><br />b.t.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-12622672611353936972021-07-12T06:34:17.170-07:002021-07-12T06:34:17.170-07:00In contrast to the two of you I'm quite happy ...In contrast to the two of you I'm quite happy with the stories and the art for this issue. Yes, Bermejo is not on the level of someone like Berni Wrightson, but he's still a very good artist, at least at this point in his Warren career (he will have a Reed Crandall-esque collapse eventually). He's got really strong artwork throughout the issue. "Room for One More" was in fact my favorite story of the issue, a story perfectly suited for Bermejo's style. "But When She Was Bad" and "His Name is John" I liked quite a lot too. My one complaint is that the idea of having one artist do an entire issue isn't a good one. Creepy's best as a pure anthology with a mix of different types of stories and artists. For whatever reason Dubay suddenly becomes obsessed with issues dedicated to one artist, with three of four issues of Creepy being dedicated to one (granted one is all reprint) as well as the next issue of Eerie. I don't get why these stories couldn't have simply been spread out over several issues.<br /><br />Good to see Gonzalez's return to Vampi, although I did enjoy both Sanchez and Ortiz's brief time of drawing her. The story is as usual nothing special, although this does hold the distinction of being the final Flaxman Loew story and the series goes in an entirely new direction starting next time. Very happy to see the return of Luis Garcia, my all time favorite Warren artist to its pages, although this story is not a Warren original but rather a reprint of a story from a series called "The Chronicle of the Nameless" that was printed in the French Magazine Pilote. This and subsequent stories from the series will appear in Vampi over the next several issues although are rewritten by Warren regulars with original writer Victor Mora often not credited at all. "Laugh, Clown, Laugh" I enjoyed quite a bit and Leferman did a good job in their one and only Warren story. Droopy is quite a sympathetic figure and it's a fairly unique and sad story, although also quite absurd (why in the world would a Senator put so much effort into unmasking a clown?). "Pantha" returns but there is nothing special here, at least story-wise; Auraleon's art is strong as usual. Like you, I found "The Whitfield Contract" a good story, until the final two pages where out of nowhere our protagonist is revealed to be an alien. Fernandez is one of my favorite Warren artists and is usually a very strong writer too, but if I have one complaint about him, its his tendency to throw aliens in there at the end. He had done this previously with the story "The Truth" which was a really effective gothic horror story until a UFO appears out of nowhere.Quiddityhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13986124694445522253noreply@blogger.com