tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post815370342070242488..comments2024-03-27T05:54:38.797-07:00Comments on <i>bare</i>•bones e-zine: The Warren Report Issue 73: April 1976John Scolerihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14082147756474762000noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-3887443261581152222022-03-11T15:43:54.440-08:002022-03-11T15:43:54.440-08:00Thanks for stopping by, Rich!Thanks for stopping by, Rich!Peter Enfantinohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04317575598411394944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-20041754984316400892022-03-11T14:43:59.809-08:002022-03-11T14:43:59.809-08:00I have not read any of them, so I can't commen...I have not read any of them, so I can't comment, but you make them sound good!Jack Seabrookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02216640325305820140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-5455771045143173332022-03-11T14:09:15.180-08:002022-03-11T14:09:15.180-08:00I love the Warrant magazines, myself. Vampiress Ca...I love the Warrant magazines, myself. Vampiress Carmilla, Shudder AND The Creeps. Those books are the only way to get true Warren styled entertainment in today's world. Obviously, that frivolous lawsuit hasn't stopped Sala from continuing with the Warrant name, or even the magazine for that matter, which simply changed it's name to Shudder, which Sala claims he only did to avoid the cost of a multi-million dollar lawsuit that he would have ultimately won, since Dark Horse let the "Creepy" trademark registration lapse over a decade ago. I actually like the name Shudder better than The Creeps and Shudder magazine has actually stepped it up a notch over The Creeps with the addition of some remarkable cover art and interior work from one of my favorite Wrightson inspired artists, Kelley Jones. I'm also a fan of Don Glut's writing, not just for Warren, but for Marvel, DC and Gold Key as well. Glut took over as the associate editor of both Warrant magazines after Nicola Cuti passed away a couple years ago. Cuti, a long time Warren writer and editor, did some of his best work for Warrant. I'm glad that Sala had the balls to grab the reigns of the black and white horror magazine genre, especially after Dark Horse screwed the pooch with their lack-luster reboot attempts. Say what you will, but Sala managed to round up interior work from some of Warren's best artists, in my opinion. It's hard to argue with credits inside those books from Frank Brunner, Rich Corben, Ralph Reese, Vicente Alcazar, Isidore Mones, Alex Nino, Neal Adams, Rich Buckler, Alan Weiss and dozens of others. I have every book that Warrant has released so far. I also read a piece on Sala's Facebook group a couple days ago saying that the great Angelo Torres is working on a new story for Shudder right now. No one else has had the guts to do what Rich Sala is doing and I appreciate his efforts. I'll be buying his books as long as he's able to produce them. Judging from the apparent success of all of his Warrant magazines and the tens of thousands of followers on his Facebook pages, I'm far from alone. LONG LIVE WARRANT! THE RIGHTIOUS SUCCESSOR TO THE WARREN THRONE!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-75895176908002758552021-11-30T09:15:21.550-08:002021-11-30T09:15:21.550-08:00The "Warrant" stuff comes off to me abou...The "Warrant" stuff comes off to me about as obvious a trademark infringement as possible; the guy is aping the Warren magazines in every way, beyond simply the extremely similar titles and hosts the guy is having many covers produced that are really similar to original Warren ones, often using the same artist too. To a level where if you were just purchasing based on a picture rather than reading things in detail you could accidentally buy one of his mags thinking it was an original Warren one.<br /><br />I've never checked them out because beyond the covers (where credit to him, he's been able to get some really good ones from star artists like Frazetta, Corben, Jeff Jones, Sanjulian, etc...) much of the creative talent that draws me to the Warren magazines aren't there. The guy can boast about how he has all these former Warren creatives working for the magazine, but its people like Don Glut or Lynn Marron, who contributed mediocre material during Warren's dark ages. I'd change my tune if I saw that the magazines had people working on it that really draw me to the original Warren magazines (ex. Esteban Maroto, Bruce Jones, Alex Nino, etc...). Unfortunately the sad fact is that many of the great talents have already passed away.Quiddity99https://www.blogger.com/profile/17809157926893454731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-20318034130733071522021-11-29T16:48:09.837-08:002021-11-29T16:48:09.837-08:00I TOTALLY admire the guy’s chutzpah, but yeah, def...I TOTALLY admire the guy’s chutzpah, but yeah, definitely asking for trouble. With ‘Warrant’ as the name of the company, the transparent pseudonym ‘Artie Godwin’ credited with writing many of the stories, the mag’s mascot a blatant tracing of old Jack Davis Uncle Creepy drawings, etc — the legal trademark owners seemingly had him dead to rights in terms of infringement, taking advantage of the goodwill towards the original IP, etc. <br /><br />I’ll continue to flip through it (and VAMPIRESS CARMILLA) at the magazine rack and if the art catches my eye, i may be in inclined to purchase. <br /><br />b.t.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-55037750324332945462021-11-29T15:55:59.349-08:002021-11-29T15:55:59.349-08:00Get with the program, Peter! The 'sister' ...Get with the program, Peter! The 'sister' pub from Warrant is VAMPIRESS CARMILLA.John Scolerihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11800985021534562914noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-52275307140277665262021-11-29T15:48:52.243-08:002021-11-29T15:48:52.243-08:00I've seen Creeps at the local Barnes and Noble...I've seen Creeps at the local Barnes and Noble and I've also seen the magazine there too (b-dum!). Anyway, I've thumbed through it and it just seems like a really low rent rip-off of Warren (which, to me, equals Skywald). The guy was only asking for trouble, wasn't he? Warrant Publishing. Was his in-house sales department called Caption Company? Where was the sister pub, Earrie? Peter Enfantinohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04317575598411394944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-24207782683044736482021-11-29T15:28:00.456-08:002021-11-29T15:28:00.456-08:00Hey, speaking of ‘Creeps’…
You all been following...Hey, speaking of ‘Creeps’…<br /><br />You all been following the ‘Warrant Publishing’ saga, this guy Richard Sala (no, not THAT Richard Sala) and his remarkable Warren lookalike mag THE CREEPS, and how he finally ran afoul of the current rights-holders of the CREEPY and EERIE trademarks and as part of a settlement has agreed to change the name of his mag and even stop selling his back issues by May 2022? <br /><br />I’ve been impulse-buying them whenever I see them on the magazine rack at Barnes and Noble — I see those Sanjulian and Ken Kelly covers (and occasional Frazetta reprints) with spot-on vintage fonts and trade dress and I can’t help myself. I always find the interior stories and art to be somewhat underwhelming — generally ‘pretty good’ but rarely outstanding. A few weeks ago, I saw the first issue of the re-titled SHUDDER magazine at B and N, and strangely found it fairly easy to pass up. <br /><br />b.t.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-49381979365864603962021-11-29T10:46:25.346-08:002021-11-29T10:46:25.346-08:00Quiddity-
We don't tend to do "Best of E...Quiddity-<br /><br />We don't tend to do "Best of Eras" but, rather, a Best of Every Two Years. 1975-76's Best will run on March 14. Buy your advance tickets now!Peter Enfantinohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04317575598411394944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-42266347154773632582021-11-29T10:05:11.294-08:002021-11-29T10:05:11.294-08:00Nothing special for me with "The Horseman&quo...Nothing special for me with "The Horseman". This is Quesada's sole story for Warren, with him kinda coming off like a low rent Jose Ortiz. Not much of a story to "Unreal" but as with you I'll happily take an Alex Toth drawn story even if there's not much of a plot. "Creeps" is the highlight of the issue, a particularly strong and effective story from Goodwin and a rare Wood - Severin team up. Since its been well over a year since Goodwin departed Warren I'm wondering if this is a a story that Wood penciled, then never finished, sitting in the inventory pile for a while until Severin completed it? Just speculation on my part. Art-wise, "Lord of Lazarus Castle" kinda comes off like the type of story I'd expect from Skywald rather than Warren; like Quesada, Moliterni does this single story for Warren then never appears again. Don't really have anything to say about "The Nature of the Beast". I fell asleep multiple times trying to read "God of War" which goes to show how memorable that story was for me! The story seems to just stop midway at an odd point, failing to give us much of a climax. Alcazar's art is quite scary at times but similar to you I struggle to figure out what is going on for much of it. As Dubay's final issue as editor of Creepy perhaps there is some truth to Jack's speculation, did he dump a lot of lackluster stories in this last issue of his so Louise Jones wouldn't have to deal with them? Or more likely, because James Warren demanded they print all these stories he already paid for?<br /><br />We get here the first attempt to provide a lengthy issue long Vampirella story (although they still had space to fit in one non-Vampi one); does it work? Unfortunately I only had the chance to read the first 2 stories before today so I don't recall all the intricacies off the top of my head, but I'd say no, and I continue to greatly prefer the non-Vampi stories in Vampirella magazine. Dubay continues to over complicate things and is trying here to meld all of the Vampirella magazine backup heroines (Pantha, Fleur) into the Vampi storyline. I don't particularly care what happens to Vampi or any of them, especially as we just saw with the previous issue that they are never going to actually kill off any of these characters. They are hence never in any real danger. That said, I did very much enjoy that for the first and only time we get a Vampi issue filled with a bunch of different artists trying their hand at drawing her (Gonzalez, Maroto, Torrents, Dubay and Jones). It does provide a nice amount of variety that we tend to lack in future issues of Vampi that are entirely focused on her, and to my knowledge is the only time that Torrents, Dubay and Jones draw her. "Ground Round" is a rather icky story but perfectly suited for Auraleon's style. I agree that it very much comes off like an EC story.<br /><br />No "Best Of" feature for Dubay's era as editor? I do continue to look fondly upon his era running the show here, although having now gone through it again, I will not deny that much of the writing during this era is flawed. The art is for the most part is outstanding throughout this era, including amazing work from the Spanish artists, numerous color stories from Richard Corben and the majority of the output Berni Wrightson will provide for Warren. This era has a few of my all time favorite stories ("Jenifer", "The Other Side of Heaven", "Rendezvous"), but a lot of them are still to come in the Louise Jones era, where I think the writing takes a big step forward, primarily due to Bruce Jones, and the artwork starts to take a step back.Quiddity99https://www.blogger.com/profile/17809157926893454731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6672923492889685727.post-50227766543035397622021-11-29T08:05:12.702-08:002021-11-29T08:05:12.702-08:00Toth’s ‘Unreal’ is, once again, not much of an act...Toth’s ‘Unreal’ is, once again, not much of an actual story. Day in the life of a silent movie star who turns out to be a robot (from outer space, yet). Still all kinds of awesome, though! Toth often complained about the scripts he was given to illustrate, and with some justification, certainly. But left to his own devices, he often came up short himself. As long as he was drawing things he was interested in (rugged mountain wilderness at sunset with aviator, bi-plane and UFO in ‘Tibor Miko’, silent era Hollywood with Harold Lloyd/Buster Keaton gags in ‘Unreal’) the end result was usually 6 to 8 pages of lightly plotted but gorgeous, evocative b/w art and I’m totally OK with that. <br /><br />Ah, ‘Creeps’. I love this one. For me, this is Archie ‘doing ‘Updated EC’ just exactly right. NYC really WAS a blighted hellscape in the 70s, and the story captures I the danger and squalor of it perfectly . Art-wise, I never would have imagined that Wood and Severin would make such an effective art-team, but Lordy, their styles mesh perfectly here. One of my favorite stories from one of my favorite periods of the Warren mags. <br /><br />‘God of Fear’ is a mess, no doubt, but I kinda like Alcazar’s art here. It’s dark and spooky and I dig that gnarly man-beast. The busy page layouts remind me a little of that handful of shockers Bill Payne drew for the DC ‘Mystery’ mags in the early 70s. A bit more coherence in the compositional structure would be nice tho. <br /><br />Don’t have a lot to say about the Vampi ish. <br /><br />b.t.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com