Reading Room 1984 "Bugs!"

In 1978, Warren Magazines began publishing a new title...1984...

...which had nothing to do with George Orwell's novel, except that the mag was filled with speculative fiction...aka sci-fi!

This particular never-reprinted tale, written by Bill DuBay and illustrated by Joe Vaultz, appeared in #1, and was typical of the type of material James Warren felt could compete with the then-new Heavy Metal magazine which primarily reprinted translated material from European artists appearing in the French comic publication Metal Hurlant.
The magazine ran from 1978 to 1983  for a total of 29 issues, with a title change from 1984 to 1994 due to a legal demand by the estate of George Orwell as of #11 in 1980.

Most of the material has never been reprinted, though Jan Strnad & Richard Corben's Mutant World and Frank Thorne's Ghita of Alizar strips have achieved success as reprint hardcovers/trade paperbacks!

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Friday Holiday Fun VAMPIRELLA "Jackie and the Leprechaun King"

For St Patrick's Day, here's an offbeat tale about leprechauns...

...as rendered in an extremely non-traditional way by comics legend Esteban Maroto!

Scripted by Bill DuBay, this somewhat more "heroic fantasy" approach to the legend of leprechauns appeared in Warren's Vampirella #53 (1976) when elves and related creatures were experiencing a revival in popularity due to the 20th Anniversary of the official American publication JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy.
(It's a long story, and I'll tell it in a future post...)
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to start prepping Shepherd's Pie (with lamb marinated in Guinness) for dinner...

Trump Reading Room / Friday...Fun? HELP! "Now, Just to Save Time..."

After watching last night's Triumph of the Will-type convention rally by Don da Con...

...do you really think this "humorously"-captioned pic from Warren's HELP! #26 (1965) isn't as relevant today as it was 55 years ago?

Be Afraid!

Be VERY afraid!

For another, even more horrifying, look at American racism from the same issue of HELP!, click HERE for Not Safe for Work Comics!

Reading Room DRACULA "Story of the Stars"

A surreal 1970s sci-fi tale in a magazine called "Dracula"?

BTW, despite the magazine being called "Dracula", the legendary vampire only appears in one-page humor strips on the back cover!

The tale, written and illustrated by Jose M Bea was originally published in England in Dracula #11 (1972), a partworks magazine* by New English Library.

Some of the stories from this project made their American debut in Warren Publishing's HTF Dracula TPB in 1972 which reprinted #1-#6 of the British Dracula's run.
The remaining tales from #7-#12 (including this one) have never been published in the US.
*Partworks magazines are a limited series issued weekly, fortnightly, or monthly.
They usually run 12-24 issues for each volume.
When the final issue in a volume is published, the publishers offer a wraparound cover to make the complete set into a hardbound book. 
The buyer is offered the option to bind the magazines themselves or send the set to the publisher who professionally-binds the mags and sends the bound volume back to the customer.
This concept is extremely popular in Europe, but has never caught on in America, despite numerous attempts.

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CoronaVirus Comics EERIE "Masque of the Red Death!"

Wow!

It's scary how many adaptations there are of Edgar Allen Poe's classic story...

...including this one from Warren's Eerie Magazine #12 (1967)!

Adapted by writer/editor Archie Goodwin and illustrated by Tom Sutton, this tale is one of the looser versions we've run.

But, at the same time, it's one of the more effective ones at evoking the mood and visceral terror the story requires!

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Volume 3

(reprinting this tale, plus everything else in issues 11-15)

CoronaVirus Comics VAMPIRELLA MAGAZINE "Masque of the Red Death"

We've presented several versions of Edgar Allan Poe's tale of pandemic pandemonium HERE...

...and HERE...

...and HERE...

...in fact, its' one of the most re-told tales of classic horror that doesn't involve a classic "monster" like Frankenstein or Dracula!

Here's another rarely-seen (in fact, never-reprinted) version from Warren's Vampirella #110 (1984)...

Written by Rich Margopoulos, and illustrated by Rafael Auraleón, this is one of the moodier and graphically-gruesome versions, stopping just short of qualifying for our Not Safe for Work Comics Retroblog!

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Raven and the Red Death

Adapted by Richard Corben

Reading Room EERIE "Alien Plague"

With the coronavirus making its' way around the world in record time...

...we thought this never-reprinted tale from Warren's Eerie #31 (1971) was both apropos and ironic!

Obviously, the coronavirus isn't being spread by aliens disguised as paper products...OR IS IT?

Written and illustrated by Billy Graham, who's best-known to mainstream comics fans as the primary artist on the "Panther's Rage" story arc of the 1970s Black Panther strip in Marvel's Jungle Action!

That storyline provided many of the plot elements for the billion-dollar blockbuster Black Panther film!

Graham was part of the Bronze Age (second) wave of comic fanboys-turned-pros which included Jim Starlin, Steve Gerber, Mike Kaluta, Berni Wrightson, Don Newton, Rich Buckler, and George Perez!

He was also one of the large number of Black creatives who entered the industry during the 1970s!

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