Warren Magazines

[Cherokee Jack]

Does Harris Publishing own the rights to the Warren magazine material, or do they just "rent" Vampirella?

It sees a crime that the first 18 issues of CREEPY, the first 12 EERIEs, and all four issues of BLAZING COMBAT aren't available in reprint form.

My dream/fantasy would be to see them reprinted in tpbs, maybe four issues to a trade, printed in the original size.

[Karl J. Barnes]

Didn't Warren also publish The Rook ? I remember loving that series.

[RawShark]

yup, the Rook ROCKED! ;)

I would love to see reprints of that series
(including the back up stories that were in, huh, Vampirella???)

[MDG]

It sees a crime that the first 18 issues of CREEPY, the first 12 EERIEs, and all four issues of BLAZING COMBAT aren't available in reprint form.
There are a couple of TPBs that were put out several years ago, but they're hard to find, and tend to price high on eBay.

But like you, I'd like to see the stories from the early issues available. (Are your selections here based on when Archie Goodwin was editor?) The quality of stories in the Warren magazines seemed to vary widely after the first two years and through the rest of their runs into the 80s.

MDG

[Cherokee Jack]

There are a couple of TPBs that were put out several years ago, but they're hard to find, and tend to price high on eBay.

But like you, I'd like to see the stories from the early issues available. (Are your selections here based on when Archie Goodwin was editor?) The quality of stories in the Warren magazines seemed to vary widely after the first two years and through the rest of their runs into the 80s.

MDG


I believe these were all Goodwin edited. My cutoff point was where the reprints began.

[Donald M.]

Does Harris Publishing own the rights to the Warren magazine material, or do they just "rent" Vampirella?



As far as I know Harris owns Vampirella, but they lost Creepy and Eerie when James Warren contested their ownership of the rights a few years back. Nothings been done with them since then and, as far as I know, there are no plans to do anything with them in the near future.

[nweathington]

Right, Harris owns Vampirella and all related characters (like Pantha). All the rest is back in the hands of Jim Warren.

[Paradox]

Put me down as another HUGE Rook fan. I was never anything more than a sporadic Warren reader before that, but I LOVED this book! Even Joe Guy was great stuff.

Never understood why they dumped it for that Goblin nonsense. Sales, I can only presume.

[sheets]

As far as I know Harris owns Vampirella, but they lost Creepy and Eerie when James Warren contested their ownership of the rights a few years back. Nothings been done with them since then and, as far as I know, there are no plans to do anything with them in the near future.

I was disappointed when I read that IDW was hoping to do Warren reprints but that the negotiations fell through (which lead to IDW developing Doomed as a substitute). I'm not sure what Jim Warren's waiting for but I would be thrilled at any news that reprints were coming.

[Brad Curran]

I bought the collection of the Batman: Black and White mini-series this week. In the introduction the book's editor, Mark Chiarello, was talking about these comics and how well regarded they were.

[Captain Jim]

I'd like to see the stories from the early issues available. (Are your selections here based on when Archie Goodwin was editor?) The quality of stories in the Warren magazines seemed to vary widely after the first two years and through the rest of their runs into the 80s.

I agree on both counts.

[Aaron Kashtan]

Me too. I should ask Jon Cooke to pester Jim Warren about reprinting that material. :)

[rarndt]

The most consistant quality Warren books were from 1965-1967 but don't discount the 1970-1980 material. They featured spectacular work from Berni Wrightson, Russ Heath, Frank Brunner, Tom Sutton, Carmine Infantino, Esteban Maroto, Fernando Fernandez, the art debuts of Dave Cockrum, Mike Ploog, great stories from Bruce Jones, Bill DuBay, Bob Toomey, Archie Goodwin & many, many more. A complete checklist (more comprehensive that what appeared in the Warren Companion), with commentaries on each Warren issue and interviews with the editors, writers & artists who appeared in the Warren line can be found at www.enjolrasworld.com {then look for Richard Arndt's pages}. Not only Warren appears there, there's also similar checklists for the Skywald books, Star*Reach, Web Of Horror, the Atlas B&Ws, the Marvel horror B&W's, witzend, and many more B&W magazines. If you're a fan of B&W artwork it's well worth checking out!

That said, a collection of Creepy, Eerie, Vampirella, Blazing Combat & The Rook volumes done in the style of the Russ Cochran EC Library Sets would be most welcome.

Rich Arndt

[MDG]

The most consistant quality Warren books were from 1965-1967 but don't discount the 1970-1980 material. They featured spectacular work from Berni Wrightson, Russ Heath, Frank Brunner, Tom Sutton, Carmine Infantino, Esteban Maroto, Fernando Fernandez, the art debuts of Dave Cockrum, Mike Ploog, great stories from Bruce Jones, Bill DuBay, Bob Toomey, Archie Goodwin & many, many more.
You forgot Corben. And, yeah, there was great stuff in the 70s (I actually saw Wrightson in the Warrens before seeing any of his DC work), but that just made the not-great stuff seem that much worse.

On a somewhat related note: There were two local variety stores where I bought Creepy and Eerie, but neither of them carried Vampirella after the first two or three issues. Anyone know if some retailers/distributors were put off by the explicit sexuality of the covers and didn't carry them (especially after the Aurora Monster Scenes were pulled off the market)?

MDG

[Brad Curran]

Warren's Spirit reprint magazines were damn good, as well. I've picked up a few of those off of E-Bay recently, and I like them more than the comic sized Kitchen Sink reprints.

[Harry Angel]

Warren's Spirit reprint magazines were damn good, as well. I've picked up a few of those off of E-Bay recently, and I like them more than the comic sized Kitchen Sink reprints.


In my opinion those Warren Spirits were the best looking editions of those stories ever. They even look better then the old newspaper inserts. And the color sections are just about the most beautiful comics art you'll ever see.

I bet you're that guy I keep bidding against on E-Bay. :)

[tekteam26]

Hello, all
I have been looking for a long time for a couple of particular issues of Eerie and Creepy. These issues were published sometime between 1979 and 1983. I don't know the issue numbers or even which magazine the segments of interest were in. I was a student in college back then and would go to the local book and magazine stand to browse. As with so many college students, money was tight so purchasing something was a rare thing. But the Warren stories were both very graphic and gripping. Two of these stories really stood out over the years in my mind.
One of the issues had a story that was set in a frontier planet. A young woman's and her family was attacked by marauders, who eventually killed her family and captured her....but not before she shot off the hand of one of them and shot another through the eye. So they smashed one of her hands to ruin and burned out one of her eyes in revenge before leaving her to die. An old Indian found her, removed her ruined hand and when she woke up, she found that she had been given a new mechanical hand. This young woman went out hunting for the killers of her family hunting them down, one at a time until they were all dead.
The other story of interest was set in a concentration camp during the Holocaust. A Jewish man and his girlfriend were subjected to many horrors. He continued to resist in spite of the tortures, which included the forced removal of both his and his girlfriend's reproductive organs. The fresh organs were tossed into the camp's sewer where something supernatural happened. The man was finally going to be crucified and forced to watch the execution of his girlfriend when the spawn of their removed flesh came out of the sewers, slaughtered their captors and freed them.
If anyone remembers those stories and the issues that they were in, please email me at tekteam26@aol.com. I would appreciate your help very much.

Jerry

[Kid Monster]

These magazines were incredible, and left a huge impact on me when I read them as a horror and comics-crazed junior-high-age kid back in the early 80s. Even the issues from the "decline" years are full of gems.

Eerie had it's own weird-ass little "mini-universe" of, well, I guess "horror heroes" might be the best term: Darklon the Mystic (by Jim Starlin, hitting on all acid-drenched cylinders), Spook, Coffin the Living Dead Man, Huntar, Exterminator One... they all had this really odd "Superheroes by way of E.C. horror meets 2000 A.D." sort of feel that really pushed a button in my warped little brain at the time.

Great, great stuff.

[benday-dot]

Hello, all
I have been looking for a long time for a couple of particular issues of Eerie and Creepy. These issues were published sometime between 1979 and 1983. I don't know the issue numbers or even which magazine the segments of interest were in. I was a student in college back then and would go to the local book and magazine stand to browse. As with so many college students, money was tight so purchasing something was a rare thing. But the Warren stories were both very graphic and gripping. Two of these stories really stood out over the years in my mind.
One of the issues had a story that was set in a frontier planet. A young woman's and her family was attacked by marauders, who eventually killed her family and captured her....but not before she shot off the hand of one of them and shot another through the eye. So they smashed one of her hands to ruin and burned out one of her eyes in revenge before leaving her to die. An old Indian found her, removed her ruined hand and when she woke up, she found that she had been given a new mechanical hand. This young woman went out hunting for the killers of her family hunting them down, one at a time until they were all dead.
The other story of interest was set in a concentration camp during the Holocaust. A Jewish man and his girlfriend were subjected to many horrors. He continued to resist in spite of the tortures, which included the forced removal of both his and his girlfriend's reproductive organs. The fresh organs were tossed into the camp's sewer where something supernatural happened. The man was finally going to be crucified and forced to watch the execution of his girlfriend when the spawn of their removed flesh came out of the sewers, slaughtered their captors and freed them.
If anyone remembers those stories and the issues that they were in, please email me at tekteam26@aol.com. I would appreciate your help very much.

Jerry

This page might help... http://www.enjolrasworld.com/Richard%20Arndt/The%20Warren%20Magazines.htm

[nonhosonno]

These magazines were incredible, and left a huge impact on me when I read them as a horror and comics-crazed junior-high-age kid back in the early 80s. Even the issues from the "decline" years are full of gems.

Eerie had it's own weird-ass little "mini-universe" of, well, I guess "horror heroes" might be the best term: Darklon the Mystic (by Jim Starlin, hitting on all acid-drenched cylinders), Spook, Coffin the Living Dead Man, Huntar, Exterminator One... they all had this really odd "Superheroes by way of E.C. horror meets 2000 A.D." sort of feel that really pushed a button in my warped little brain at the time.

Great, great stuff.

Exterminator (and Exterminator II) were cool characters. Their costumes were so "Mad Max," post-apocalyptic gladiator-type duds. There was also Zud Kamish (sp?), usually brilliantly rendered by E.R. Cruz. Cruz also illustrated that one feature-length epic, towards the end of Eerie's run, that collected all of the characters mentioned, and then some, including Child, who was basically a "junior Frankenstein" with a larger physique, and pitted them against each other. I've gotta dig that out and read it again!

[mgs]

Does Harris Publishing own the rights to the Warren magazine material, or do they just "rent" Vampirella?

</p>
I thought Vampirella was self owned by now (by whom, I have no idea) but I thought that they just got out of being owned by Harris. :confused:

[Kid Monster]

E.R. Cruz also illustrated that one feature-length epic, towards the end of Eerie's run, that collected all of the characters mentioned, and then some, and pitted them against each other. I've gotta dig that out and read it again!

Thanks for telling me about this!

According to the fantastic Warren index on Enjolrasworld.com, this was EERIE #130. He also really rips on it and says it was a terrible issue...
however, I still must hunt it down and possess it, as it has my main man Darklon the Mystic in it.

[berk]

You forgot Corben. And, yeah, there was great stuff in the 70s (I actually saw Wrightson in the Warrens before seeing any of his DC work), but that just made the not-great stuff seem that much worse.

On a somewhat related note: There were two local variety stores where I bought Creepy and Eerie, but neither of them carried Vampirella after the first two or three issues. Anyone know if some retailers/distributors were put off by the explicit sexuality of the covers and didn't carry them (especially after the Aurora Monster Scenes were pulled off the market)?

MDGI always assumed, without really thinking about it much, that its market share was taken away by Heavy Metal in the late 70s early 80s.

A couple more favourite artists (I might get the spelling wrong on some of these): Gonzalo Mayo and Alfredo Alcazar (who did some beautifully atmospheric work for Marvel as well). And Don MacGregor and Paul Gulacy did two of their best collaborations ever, I thought, 1 each for Creepy and Eerie, IIRC. Then there was Alex Toth ... too many to mention now I start to think of them all.

[Aaron Kashtan]

I always assumed, without really thinking about it much, that its market share was taken away by Heavy Metal in the late 70s early 80s.

A couple more favourite artists (I might get the spelling wrong on some of these): Gonzalo Mayo and Alfredo Alcazar (who did some beautifully atmospheric work for Marvel as well). And Don MacGregor and Paul Gulacy did two of their best collaborations ever, I thought, 1 each for Creepy and Eerie, IIRC. Then there was Alex Toth ... too many to mention now I start to think of them all.

I think you're confusing Vincente Alcazar with Alfredo Alcala.

[InfoBroker]

I always assumed, without really thinking about it much, that its market share was taken away by Heavy Metal in the late 70s early 80s.

While the competition may have detracted or maybe even increased sales (I know it sounds odd, but it happens) the killing blow for Warren was the lost of distribution and sales to the many military bases due to a very racially insensitive story. It was illustrated by Bernie Wrightson, and I think Bill Dubay was the writer, but don't quote me on the later part.

-jb the shocked at what they were thinking ib -

[Red Oak Kid]

While the competition may have detracted or maybe even increased sales (I know it sounds odd, but it happens) the killing blow for Warren was the lost of distribution and sales to the many military bases due to a very racially insensitive story. It was illustrated by Bernie Wrightson, and I think Bill Dubay was the writer, but don't quote me on the later part.

-jb the shocked at what they were thinking ib -

Are you sure about this?

There is nothing about this in the Warren Companion book from Twomorrows.

Jim Warren does mention that Blazing Combat was banned from PXs because of an anti Vietnam war story by Archie Goodwin and Joe Orlando.

I've seen most of the stories Wrightson did for Warren and this doesn't ring a bell.

[InfoBroker]

Pretty sure. I do remember reading the story, but I'm not sure if it was in Creepy, Eeire or 1984/1994.

What was odd, when the Military nixed Warren from the PX it was a long time (months, perhaps even more than a year) after the particular issue would have been pulled via natural distribution processes.

I believe I read the details of this in the Comics Buyers Guide in the early 80s.

What does the Tomorrow publication mention about the reasons for Warren suspending publication circa 1982?

-jb the curious ib -

[Red Oak Kid]

It was the Bernie Wrightson reference that got me to researching this. As best I can tell Wrightson did not do any work for 1984/94. His last new work for Creepy was ish 95 which was Feb of 78. His last new work for Eerie was ish 72, Feb of 76. I'm not including the one page frontpieces(or reprints) he did for Warren. Most of Wrightson's stories were written by Bruce Jones.

I think the end of Warren's magazines was well after Wrightson was doing new work for them, other than the 1 page frontpieces.

I've just been skimming thru the Companion but it does mention Jim Warren's illness which caused him to stop being involved with the magazine line beginning around 1980, and the failure of Warren to embrace the direct market as contributing to the line's downfall.

I'll go back and skim some more to see if I can find any references to the suspension of publication you mention.

[InfoBroker]

Late 70s is the timeframe that I remember reading this particular story. It may have been Bruce Jones who wrote it. In fact I had a small urging to include his name as the possible writer in my first append.

But, like I said, the banning of Warren's books from the PX happened long after that. It wasn't as late as 1982 though. But it could have been as late as 1979 or 1980. Not sure of the particulars there. But the loss of that money cut a huge chunk of change from Warren's accounts receivables, I do remember the CBG article mentioning that. And they did cite this story as the reason for the ban.

-jb the ib-

[Red Oak Kid]

I don't doubt that the story you cite appeared in CBG. I'm not saying it didn't happen that way. It just surprised me that I had never heard the story before.

In the Warren Companion, Jim Warren does admit that 1984 magazine was attacked by critics as being "hateful, misogynistic and brutal".

But his final word as to why Warren Communications Corp declared bankruptcy in 1983 was because he had been advised to make large investments in other non magazine related fields that went bad. This left him with no financial resources to continue publishing.

Now I'm going to look up the word "misogynistic".

[InfoBroker]

Thanks for the confidence.

But you've got your references at hand, and I trust that a lot more that fleeting memory links, even mine. (Sometimes especially mine). So I'm just doing associate memory link exercises and noting them as I go along.

Plus I'm just citing one article, with essentially one point of view and if my memory serves me right, it is an article that was printed in the early to mid 90s, so history was already ticking. And I should add, my Warren comics have been boxed since 1994, and this is a story that I read twice, maybe three time tops.

While I don't doubt that several forces lead to Warren's demise, I am curious now about how this incident balances against the others, and if it holds with what I remember reading in CBG, why it wasn't mentioned in the Tomorrow's publication.

-jb the (wanting to keep things in perspective) ib-

[berk]

I think you're confusing Vincente Alcazar with Alfredo Alcala.Yes, Vicente Alcazar was who I meant, although I do like Alcala a lot as well. Alcazar did a beautiful Kull story in the short-lived b&w Kull magazine, can't remember what else he did for Marvel right now. That's one downside of the anthology mags: I'd like to get everything I can find by Alcazar, but you have to hunt down all these different issues - which could be a good thing, OTOH, depending on who else is in them.

Interesting info about the downfall of Warren; I never heard that story before.

[MDG]

Alcazar had some stories in the revival of Red Circle Sorcery that was (I believe) editied by Gray Morrow.

MDG

[Bill Angus]

I'm pretty sure you're right about Morrow editing Red Circle Sorcery - I know he edited the issue which had Toths' If I Were King (a favourite of mine).

[dan bailey]

I'm pretty sure you're right about Morrow editing Red Circle Sorcery

The GCD agrees.

[Rob Allen]

Vicente Alcazar is responsible for one of the best "hidden messages" in mainstream comics history. He drew the last few stories of the Thongor feature in Creatures on the Loose, and in issue #29, he put a message into one large panel. It was in mirror-image and in Spanish, and it said, "Esta vi&#241;eta se la dedico a Neal"; in English, approximately, "This picture I dedicate to Neal".

I noticed this message when I first read the comic, back in 1974. When I discovered online fandom in 2001, I looked for any mention of it, but couldn't find one. I posted to the GCD list about it in February 2002, and Bob Bailey wrote back: "He [Alcazar] worked for Neal at Continuity at one time. Neal got him his first main jobs in the US including a series for Warren (thus bringing this post back on-topic), which Neal worked on the first story with him." So that's why Vicente would be dedicating a picture to Neal. At the 2005 Emerald City Con, I showed this message to Roy Thomas, who had edited the comic. He had been unaware of it. Alcazar snuck one past everybody, it seems. Roy mentioned that Stan Lee frowned on hidden messages like this but Roy thought they were kinda fun.

[Aaron Kashtan]

Vicente Alcazar is responsible for one of the best "hidden messages" in mainstream comics history. He drew the last few stories of the Thongor feature in Creatures on the Loose, and in issue #29, he put a message into one large panel. It was in mirror-image and in Spanish, and it said, "Esta viñeta se la dedico a Neal"; in English, approximately, "This picture I dedicate to Neal".

Just to nitpick slightly, I think it means "This panel I dedicate to Neal."

[berk]

I have Red Circle's Chilling Adventures in Sorcery #3, which contains all Gray Morrow artwork (most excellent), but not #s 4 & 5 which are the ones Alcazar did according to GCD. Anyone know why GCD lists only issues 3 - 5? Was there never any #1 & 2 , or did it switch titles or something?

I've only recently tracked down all the Thongor issues of Creatures on the Loose (love that title, BTW, Marvel should revive it), and haven't gotten around to reading them yet. But at a glance, Alcazar's artwork here doesn't look to be quite up to the standard of his black and white stuff. Still pretty good, but looks like it might have been a bit rushed, or maybe he wasn't used to working in colour. But I'll have to withhold judgement until I sit down and read 'em through one of these days.

But I'm glad this thread reminded me of how much I like Alcazar's stuff. This will help me decide which Eeries and Creepys I want to hunt down.

[Aaron Kashtan]

I have Red Circle's Chilling Adventures in Sorcery #3, which contains all Gray Morrow artwork (most excellent), but not #s 4 & 5 which are the ones Alcazar did according to GCD. Anyone know why GCD lists only issues 3 - 5? Was there never any #1 & 2 , or did it switch titles or something?

The first two issues were published under the title Chilling Adventures in Sorcery as Told by Sabrina. I don't believe Gray Morrow was involved with those two issues.

[dan bailey]

Hmmm. I remember Val Mayerik on Thongor, but not Alcazar (whom I, too, first noticed in Chilling Adventures in Sorcery). Of course, I haven't seen those issues in more than a quarter-century ...

[T GUy]

Sir Tim,

The first two issues were published under the title Chilling Adventures in Sorcery as Told by Sabrina. I don't believe Gray Morrow was involved with those two issues.

:D :D :D

[Rob Allen]

The first two issues were published under the title Chilling Adventures in Sorcery as Told by Sabrina. I don't believe Gray Morrow was involved with those two issues.
He wasn't; those two issues were a bizarre hybrid - real horror stories with traditional "Archie"-style art. Scott Shaw! has featured both in Oddball Comics, IIRC.

And berk, the title changed again after #5 - issues 6-11 were called Red Circle Sorcery. Alcazar was in issues 6, 7, 9 and 11, and all of them are well worth a read.

[powellw]

Hello, all
I have been looking for a long time for a couple of particular issues of Eerie and Creepy. These issues were published sometime between 1979 and 1983. I don't know the issue numbers or even which magazine the segments of interest were in. I was a student in college back then and would go to the local book and magazine stand to browse. As with so many college students, money was tight so purchasing something was a rare thing. But the Warren stories were both very graphic and gripping. Two of these stories really stood out over the years in my mind.
One of the issues had a story that was set in a frontier planet. A young woman's and her family was attacked by marauders, who eventually killed her family and captured her....but not before she shot off the hand of one of them and shot another through the eye. So they smashed one of her hands to ruin and burned out one of her eyes in revenge before leaving her to die. An old Indian found her, removed her ruined hand and when she woke up, she found that she had been given a new mechanical hand. This young woman went out hunting for the killers of her family hunting them down, one at a time until they were all dead.


I'm looking for this exact same story, although you remembered a lot more about it than I did. Possibly because I was much younger than college age when I read it. :) I probably shouldn't have been reading Creepy OR Eerie at that age, but my folks were fairly liberal in what they let me get my hands on. At any rate, has anyone here been able to answer this question? I went through the Richard Arndt page, but none of the titles really jogged my memory. Weirdly enough, I posted the same question on another board yesterday, and stumbled across this board today. A guy on the other board seemed to think it was in the magazine 1984, and that it sounded like something Bill Dubay would have done. I'm leaning towards it being in Creepy or Eerie, but I don't have anything solid to base that on, just a vague memory that I read those magazines at that time. Anyways, if anyone knows please respond. Either on the board or via email at powellw@hotmail.com

Thanks!
Kris

[powellw]

I found it! The story about the girl with the mechanical hand was in Eerie #119, and it was called "Sindy Starfire." I lucked out and found the issue at a local comics place this weekend. It was pretty cool reading it again after so long. I'm afraid I'm going to be addicted to Eerie now, though. :)

Kris

[Quiddity]

Hello, all
I have been looking for a long time for a couple of particular issues of Eerie and Creepy. These issues were published sometime between 1979 and 1983. I don't know the issue numbers or even which magazine the segments of interest were in. I was a student in college back then and would go to the local book and magazine stand to browse. As with so many college students, money was tight so purchasing something was a rare thing. But the Warren stories were both very graphic and gripping. Two of these stories really stood out over the years in my mind.
The other story of interest was set in a concentration camp during the Holocaust. A Jewish man and his girlfriend were subjected to many horrors. He continued to resist in spite of the tortures, which included the forced removal of both his and his girlfriend's reproductive organs. The fresh organs were tossed into the camp's sewer where something supernatural happened. The man was finally going to be crucified and forced to watch the execution of his girlfriend when the spawn of their removed flesh came out of the sewers, slaughtered their captors and freed them.
If anyone remembers those stories and the issues that they were in, please email me at tekteam26@aol.com. I would appreciate your help very much.

Jerry

The story you're thinking of here is "Ragged Man" from Creepy 126. Just came across that story today. Hope this helps! :)

[DoubleWide]

Harris Comics published a new series based on The Rook which were horrendous! Do they still own the rights or have they reverted back to Warren? If so, perhaps Dark Horse will do something with it. One can hope.

[Budd Lewis]

In that its been over a year since anyone wrote about who owns the rights to The Rook franchise, I doubt anyone will ever see this message. But neither Warren or Harris owns it. It is owned by its creators, Bill DuBay and Budd Lewis. You can go to their website www.timecastlebooks.com and have a look around.

I oughta know. I'm Budd Lewis.

[Aaron Kashtan]

In that its been over a year since anyone wrote about who owns the rights to The Rook franchise, I doubt anyone will ever see this message. But neither Warren or Harris owns it. It is owned by its creators, Bill DuBay and Budd Lewis. You can go to their website www.timecastlebooks.com and have a look around.

I oughta know. I'm Budd Lewis.

Welcome to the forum, Mr. Lewis.

Have you been doing any writing for comics lately?

[LoveWarrenMags]

It was a warped little Richard Corben story about a post apocalyptic world where a character was going around machine gunning Jew, “Catolics”, and “water nymphs”.

Maybe it wasn’t even in a Warren book?

[MDG]

I think it might be this one: http://www.comics.org/issue/27669/

Issue concept was different stories written around the same cover.

[emb021]

I have Red Circle's Chilling Adventures in Sorcery #3, which contains all Gray Morrow artwork (most excellent), but not #s 4 & 5 which are the ones Alcazar did according to GCD. Anyone know why GCD lists only issues 3 - 5? Was there never any #1 & 2 , or did it switch titles or something?


This was part of Archie Comic's Red Circle Comics Group line that ran briefly in the mid 1970s. Obviously, it was done so Archie could do this, without sullying the Archie name and keep them separate.

It comprised the following titles:

"Chilling Adventures in Sorcery" #3-5 (October 1973- February 1974) retitled Red Circle Sorcery.
"Mad House" #95-97 (September 1974 - January 1975)
"Red Circle Sorcery" #6-11 (April 1974 - February 1975)
"Super Cops" (July 1974) 1 issue (one-shot)
"Archie's Super Hero Special" (1978)
"Archie's Super Hero Comic Digest Magazine" #2 (1979)

As noted, "Chilling Adventures in Sorcery" was a clear Archie Comics title for issues 1 & 2. Mad House was also a clear Archie humor title before #95, and it went back to being "Mad House Comics" with #98 that started almost a year later.

Gray seemed to be fairly involved with this effort, with stuff in both Red Circle Sorcery & Mad House. He also helmed a revamp of the Black Hood that was probably supposed to run in those early comics (or maybe a new title), but would finally see print in the second Archie Super Hero Comic Digest.

[Rob Allen]

Gray seemed to be fairly involved with this effort, with stuff in both Red Circle Sorcery & Mad House. He also helmed a revamp of the Black Hood that was probably supposed to run in those early comics (or maybe a new title), but would finally see print in the second Archie Super Hero Comic Digest.

Gray Morrow was the editor of the 1973-75 Red Circle comics. After they folded, he produced the Space:1999 magazine for Charlton.

[emb021]

In that its been over a year since anyone wrote about who owns the rights to The Rook franchise, I doubt anyone will ever see this message. But neither Warren or Harris owns it. It is owned by its creators, Bill DuBay and Budd Lewis. You can go to their website www.timecastlebooks.com and have a look around.

I oughta know. I'm Budd Lewis.

Nice to know.

When DH announced they were doing archive reprints of the Warren publications, I for one, wanted to see them reprint various of the Warren series (like Hunter and Rook) as separate volumes, as those I was more interested in.

Does this affect DH reprinting these stories when they get to those issues of Eerie??

I like that you all plan on reprinting the Rook (and related stories), tho I would have thought you would have started from the begining and go from there, rather then jumping around, as well as make the volumes bigger (and thus fewer). But I'll keep my eye out for when they are available. I had been buying up back issues of late to get the issues I missed (I got the Rook series, one of the few times I got any Warren magazines new).

[Rob Allen]

I've been in touch with Budd Lewis more recently; he has sold his interest in The Rook to the heirs of the late Bill DuBay. I have no more information about plans to reprint the stories. Budd has moved to a different career entirely.

[Quiddity]

It was a warped little Richard Corben story about a post apocalyptic world where a character was going around machine gunning Jew, “Catolics”, and “water nymphs”.

Maybe it wasn’t even in a Warren book?

The story you're thinking of is "An Angel Shy of Hell" from Creepy #64, written by Jim Stenstrum and drawn by Richard Corben. They eventually did 3 more stories featuring the character in Eerie although they weren't as good and were no longer drawn by Corben (although the artist, Jose Ortiz, was quite good).