Picture Perfect Wednesday:Cross-genre Weirdness on the Planet of the Apes

When I was a kid, among the first comics I owned and read were issues of Marvel's black-and-white "Planet of the Apes Magazine." One of the stories I loved the most, and bits of which I remember to this very day, was an epic tale of a time-traveler who sets out to rescue Taylor and the other astronauts stuck in the future... only to find himself stuck there, but in a place far weirder than any one they visited. And, like Camelot, perhaps even somewhat silly... as this title page shows.

Click on the image to see a larger version of that glorious Rico Rival splash page.

Joe Bloke at his wonderful Grantbridge Street & Other Misadventures recently posted clear, legible scans of the entire tale and gave me the opportunity to read "Kingdom on an Island of the Apes" again for the first time since 1976 or so. And the jaded grognard that I am now loved it every bit as the tiny tyke I was then.

Click here to read this story by Doug Moench and Rico Rival that mixes sci-fi, fantasy, and comic book weirdness. It is one of the greatest tales to ever emerge from the House of Ideas. (Oh... and don't be frightened by the "adult content" warning. There are no naked boobies in this story.)

'Werewolf by Night' goes out howling

Essential Werewolf by Night, Vol. 2 (Marvel Comics, 2007)
Writer: Doug Moench
Artists: Don Perlin, et. al.
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

"Werewolf By Night" was one of several titles published by Marvel Comics that played off a mixture of classic movie monsters and 1970s exploitation movie fare. Following the exploits of reluctant werewolf Jack Russell, it was perhaps the most successful of the titles from a pure story-telling point of view, with a direction and tone set in the first few tales in "Marvel Spotlight" that continued with only a minor adjustment up to the title's cancellation with issue #42.

In this massive, low-cost black-and-white reprint book, Marvel Comics presents the second half of one of their greatest horror series, "Werewolf By Night", with the 20 issues of the regular comic benefiting from the presence of a single creative team of writer Doug Moench and artist Don Perlin, and a steadiness of story focus almost unmatched in Marvel's horror titles. Although the title passed through the hands of three different editors, Moench and Perlin seemed to be holding steadily to the same path the series had been following all along, avoiding the numerous re-inventions that kept causing Ghost Rider's motorcycle to sputter, as well as avoiding getting tangled up in too many subplots as Marv Wolfman did on "Tomb of Dracula". There are a number of story threads running through the book--including some that started in the previous volume, one or two of which were unceremoniously dropped by previous writers--and Moench and Perlin keep them all flowing and tie them up very neatly at exactly the right moment every time. They even managed to almost successfully usher the Werewolf into a position of viable superhero as Marvel's horror wave crashed, creating in the process a character that would go onto become one of the more interesting Batman knock-offs comicdom has ever seen, Moon Knight. Moench and Perlin may not have been the original creative team on the title, but they were certainly the greatest.

In addition to the 20 issues of the regular series, the book collects four issues of "Giant-Sized Werewolf" and an issue of "Marvel Premiere". The one thing these additions have in common is that they are the weakest points of the book, not only disrupting the flow of the main story as you read the collection, with forced meetings between the Werewolf and other Marvel horror characters (like Frankenstein's Monster and Mobius the Living Vampire) and stories that just aren't as interesting as the ones in the main title. The exception is the tale from "Giant-Sized Werewolf #3" which reintroduces characters and story elements last seen around the middle of "Essential Werewolf By Night, Vol. 1" and starts a ball rolling that eventually brings us to some of the most effective of Marvel's horror tales.

Basically, as was the case with most of Marvel's horror characters, "Werewolf By Night" was at its best when it stood apart from the greater Marvel Universe. Most cross-overs simply didn't work, including those featuring other horror characters, such as Frankenstein's Monster.

Superhero flair and classic/exploitation horror aren't easy to mix--as my comments regarding the "Giant-Sized Werewolf" reprints implies--but Moench and Perlin tried it with "Werewolf By Night" as the last dozen or so issues of the title moved steadily in a more traditional Marvel direction, with Jack Russell gaining control of his transformations and even coming up against Iron Man in the final issue. But, as Moench and Perlin worked to transition the title, they gave us some of the most effective horror stories Marvel ever published.

In their efforts to tie up Jack Russell's horror past, the werewolf first savagely mauled Jack's best friend, Jack's sister is transformed into a hideous monster when a villain triggers the dormant werewolf within her; long-time supporting cast members Taboo and Topaz return during a show-down with the downright Lovecraftian villain Glitternight; Brother Voodoo shows up to help put Jack's legal problems behind him in one of the most effective appearances of that inherently goofy character ever, a final showdown takes place against the downright Lovecraftian villain Glitternight; and Jack and friends are trapped in a haunted house where the title manages to surpass even the horrific Tom Sutton-illustrated Tatterdaemallion stories of Volume One.

But, as excellent as these stories were, the Marvel Age of Monsters was over. As the 1970s came to a close, so did Werewolf By Night. However, it ended on a very strong note, and the two volumes collecting all the early stories of Marvel Comics' reluctant werewolf are worthy of attention from comics and horror fans alike.

Picture Perfect Wednesday:Paul Gulacy and Blood on Black Satin

This installment features a little more text than usual. Please bear with me.

Of Half-Remembered Horrors....

When I was a kid in the early 1980s, I got my hands on a few issues of "Creepy" and/or "Eerie" magazines and fragmented memories of the art for those stories have stuck with me-perhaps even haunted me--ever since.

One tale involved a guy who was either a real estate broker or just some poor schmuck who's car had broken down, who goes to visit a house on a hill that turns out to be a giant monster. I remember how the runner carpet in the hallway turns out to be a tongue.

Another take involved some kids and a bully who ends up locked in a fridge at the end. I think the art must have been by Tom Sutton, because I remember it being both scary and very ornate.

And then there's the story of a private detective or reporter or something like that who was fighting a killer in a jack-o-lantern mask, as he and a girl were trying to escape the clutches of a Satanic cult. I remember wishing I could have read the whole story--as what I was reading was but one chapter in a multi-part series--and I remember knowing that it would probably have been very cool, because it was by the same artist who was doing the James Bond-esque Kung Fu stuff over in "Master of Kung Fu," Paul Gulacy.



Of Horror Rediscovered....

Some 25-30 years later, I have finally gotten to read not only that half-remembered chapter with the Gulacy art, but the entire story, thanks to Joe Bloke's excellent Grantbridge Street and Other Misadventures blog.

Titled "Blood on Black Satin," it was a three-part series by Gulacy and writer Doug Moench, and it was well worth the decades-long wait. It's ever bit as excellent as the other masterworks these two collaborated on, such as the two "Six From Sirius" mini-series and their run on "Master of Kung Fu". It is perhaps some of the very best material to every appear in "Eerie," even if was printed during the magazine's twilight years in the 1980s.

Joe Bloke has posted crystal clear scans of the stories, and if you're a fan of gothic horror, I recommend you go read them. It's truly great stuff. Click on the links to read each chapter, and click on the sample illos to see larger versions. (The same is true of the scanned pages at Grantbridge Street.

Blood on Black Satin, Part One (from Eerie #109)


Blood on Black Satin, Part Two (from Eerie #110)


Blood on Black Satin, Part Three (from Eerie #111)



Click here to visit Paul Gulacy's website.

Godzilla rampages through the Marvel Universe!

Essential Godzilla, King of Monsters (Marvel Comics, 2006)
Writer: Doug Moench
Aritst: Herb Trimpe, Tom Sutton, Tony DeZuniga, Fred Kida, Dan Green, and Jim Mooney
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

Here's one entry in the "Essential" giant black-and-white reprint from Marvel that I've picked up is another one that doesn't really seem all that essential. It collects the 24 issues of "Godzilla, King of Monsters", dating from the late 1970s. It might not be an essential bit of comics story-telling, but it's a fun read.

The volume chronicles the adventures of Godzilla in the Marvel Universe. He emerges from the ocean off Alaska and fights a wide range of giant monsters and trashes several Amercian cities as he makes his way across the United States, until finally squaring off against the Avengers and the Fantastic Four in New York City. Every giant step of the, he is dogged by the Agents of SHIELD in their helicarrier, along with a a Japanese scientist and his grandson, Lttle Rob, who doesn't believe Godzilla is evil, and is constatly trying to convince others of that fact. He's also fights all manner of giant monsters and a cybernetic battle-machine nicknamed Red Ronin.


For those who are familiar with the broader Marvel Universe (or even parts of like, like SHIELD or the Fantastic Four) there are some major plot-holes here and there, but the wildness of Godzilla's adventures more or less make up fot those. (For example, he gets abducted by space aliens in one issue, and gets sent back in time to his "native place" in another.)

Nonetheless, the book is a fun enough read as brainless comics go. The material here will never make anyone's list of "The Greatest Comics EVer Published", but if you like Godzilla movies, I think you'll enjoy the material here. (For the record, when Godzilla trashes Salt Lake City, artist Herbe Trimbe actually drew the city skyline exactly as it appeared in the 70s! He even got the state capitol building in the place! On the downside, the writer and/or editor seemed to think SLC is in Nevada!) This series also has the benefit of being able to make Godzilla look like a genuine, giant radioactivity-breathing monster, as opposed to a guy in a rubber suit.

'Essential Monster of Frankenstein' ranges from excellent to excrement

The Essential Monster of Frankenstein (Marvel Comics, 2005)
Writers: Gary Friedrich, Doug Moench and Bill Mantlo
Artists: Mike Ploog, John Buscema, Val Mayerik, et.al.
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

I suspect that most people reading this first came to Frankenstein's Monster through the movies, be they the Hammer films or the ones from Universal Pictures. Myself, my first exposure to Frankenstein's Monster was in the pages of a comic books where in one issue I read about him fighting a giant spider while looking for the man who created him, and then later fought vampires and ultimately did come face-to-face with his maker.

These two issues helped fuel my love of comics, as random as they were in the overall placement of the Marvel Comics' version of Frankenstein's Monster, so when I saw Marvel was collection ALL the stories in one big fat book, I had to have it, so I could read the rest of the story, even if it was three decades later.

This mammoth black-and-white reprint volume features some of very best comics published by Marvel... and some of the very worst. It collects all the early of Frankenstein's Monster as seen through the prism of the House of Ideas, presenting material that original appeared in "Monster of Frankenstein," "The Frankenstein Monster," Legion of Monsters," and "Monsters Unleashed."


The tales within its pages that have Gary Friedrich credited as writer are true gems of comic story-telling. From the fabulous adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel, to the inevitable battle between gothic horror titans Dracula and Frankenstein's Monster, through the tragic conclusion of the monster's quest to find the Last Frankenstein, the first 11 issues of the Monster of Frankenstein comic book are indeed "essential" reading. Friedrich's stories are well-crafted, the 19th century setting refreshing, the characters all interesting, and the illustrations for those tales, primarily by Mike Ploog and John Buscema, are also among some of the finest work those artists ever did.

The same is true of the first few reprints featuring Frankenstein's Monster from the pages of Monsters Unleashed. The saga of Frankenstien's Monster is moved into the modern day as an obsessive mad scientist discovers the inert creature in a traveling sideshow and revives him with bizarre and tragic consequences. The first few of these stories were written by Gary Friedrich and illustrated by John Buscema, and these, again, are true comic-book classics. But once Friedrich leaves as writer, the quality goes down the drain.

With the exception of the final story in the collection, the episodes penned by Doug Moench are just plain awful, with Frankenstien's Monster facing off against a silly secret criminal organization and even sillier by-products of the efforts of modern-day monster-builders. I hate to say that Moench turned in bad work for the series, as he has written some of my favorite comics ("Master of Kung-Fu," "Six From Sirius," his run on "Catwoman"), but there is just nothing redeeming about his efforts on the Frankenstien series. (Except the very last story reprinted from "Legion of Monsters". Moench and the artist he was teamed with on the strip, Val Mayerik, do their only decent work for the entire series on that one.)

In the final anaylsis, about 1/3rd of this book is trash, but the good parts are really good and this makes "Essential Monster of Frankenstein" a worthy addition to any fan of horror comics' bookshelf. Just skip the material that originally appeared in The Frankenstein Monster issues 12-18 and Monsters Unleashed issues 6-9.

Unfortunately, Marvel Comics has chosen not to keep the book in print. It's too bad, because, although flawed, It's worth seeking out, and I recommend getting a copy from some source before "collector prices" truly start kicking in.

'Essential Tales of the Zombie' is an accurate title for a fine collection of comics

Essential Tales of the Zombie (Marvel Comics, 2007)
Writers: Steve Gerber, Tony Isabella, Doug Moench, Chris Claremont, et.al.
Artists: Pablo Marcos, Alfredo Alcala, John Buscema, Bill Everett, Gene Colan, et.al.
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

"Essential Tales of the Zombie" is one of an ongoing series of 500-page+ collections of reprinted material from the past 30-40 years of Marvel Comics' output. The material in this book originally appeared in some of Marvel's black-and-white magazines from the mid-Seventies. It presents dozens of tales of voodoo and walking dead, the majority of them taken from the 10-issue run of "Tales of Zombie." Also sprinkled throughout the book are some of the best text features from the magazine, such as reviews of zombie movies and articles about voodoo.

It should be noted that nowhere in "Essential Tales of the Zombie" will you find walking corpses of the flesh-eating, post-Romero kind. The undead here are mostly the result of voodoo curses and similar magics. For me, this classic feel is refreshing in this day and age of rampant splatter and dismemberment.

The most worthwhile material in the book is the ongoing saga of the Zombie from the title. It's the story of Simon Garth, a captain of industry and control freak, who is murdered and reanimated as a zombie. Painfully aware of his condition, yet helpless to do anything about it, he becomes the undead slave of a series of different masters, controlled by the mystical Medallions of Damballah.

The stories of Simon Garth are top-notch, classic horror comics, which is not surprising, given they were penned by Steve Gerber when he was at the height of his creative powers. The manage to present social commentary, tragedy, chills, and poetic justice to the bad guys, often-times within the confines of the same story. The narration may get a bit purple at times, but the power of the stories shine through. Plus, the two-part tale that sees Simon Garth finally gain the peace of the grave is an excellent bit of writing by Gerber's successor on the strip, Tony Isabella. It is a perfect end to the story of a man who was forced onto a journey of discovery and redemption.

Although Bill Everett and John Buscema drew the first three tales featuring the Zombie, the art on the Simon Garth saga is mostly by Pablo Marcos. Alfredo Alcala also handles the art on a couple of the stories. Despite the vast difference in styles between these four artists, the mood remains consistently oppressive, dark, and spooky, and all do a great job capturing the macabre atmosphere of the Louisiana swamps and Haitian back-woods that the Zombie spends most of his time. (Alcala, Buscema, and Everett happen to be three of my favorite artists, and they do fine work here.)


Aside from the stories chronicalling Simon Garth's journey, "Tales of the Zombie" contains two stories with Brother Voodoo (a superhero who, as his name implies, gains his powers from voodoo rites) and a couple dozen short horror stories. The Brother Voodoo stories are... well, they're Brother Voodoo stories. The character always seemed a bit goofy to me, and he's true to from in both stories. (One wraps up the plotline from his "Strange Tales" appearances, and it was nice to finally know how that all ended, but the character still doesn't do much for me.) The shorts are mostly your standard twist-ending sort of tales that have been around in comics since the 50s... the ones that once filled the pages of "Creepy", "House of Mystery" and "Psycho". Althoguh they are all excellently written and illustrated, these run the gamut of quality from ho-hum to masterful.

Rounding out the book is an interesting time capsule of table of contents from each issue of "Tales of the Zombie", selected text pieces about voodoo and the occult, a two-part short story from Doug Moench, and some reviews of movies featuring zombies. The movie reviews were of particular interest to me (big surprise there, eh?) and there were even a few mentioned that I hadn't heard of! These magazine articles made for surprsingly good reading... although I wished a few more of had been included. I would have liked to read the obit of Bill Everett that was mentioned on one of the ToCs.)

"Tales of the Zombie" is an unusual entry in the "Essential" series, but one that lives up to its title. Fans of horror comics won't regret spending money on this one.