Reading Room WEIRD TALES OF THE MACABRE "Bog Beast"

Combining sci-fi and horror well is no easy task...

...but this series from the short-lived Atlas Comics of the 1970s was one of the better attempts.

Note that the Los Angeles cop wears a British constable's uniform.

That's because the artist is Spanish and had been illustrating material for the British market for most of his career, and was unfamiliar with American police uniforms.

"Badia Romero" is a pen-name for Enrique Romero, best-known for his work on Modesty Blaise and co-creating the Axa series.

His brother, Jorge Romero had been illustrating for Warren Magazines under the pen-name Jorge Galvez since 1971 and Enrique hoped to join him in the American markets, but this and two Santana tales for Marvel's b/w Haunt of Horror anthology were Enrique's only assignments working directly for American publishers (not counting Modesty Blaise and Axa reprints).

Debuting in Atlas' b/w anthology magazine Weird Tales of the Macabre #2 (1975), the strip moved into the color comic anthology Tales of Evil for the remainder of its' short run.

When it was reprinted in Australia, a previously-unpublished tale finally saw print.

You'll be seeing all of them here, so keep an eye out for them...