Black and White Wednesday: Web of Horror Wrap-Up

Okay, Groove-ophiles! Here's the big Web of Horror blow-out I promised ya last Wednesday! First up, how about a cover round-up, with Jeff Jones' ish #1 cover, followed by Bernie Wrightson's stunner for WoH #3?
Gassers, huh? Now, dig the Bernie Wrightson art on "The Game That Plays You" from WoH #1!

Now, I don't know about you, but Ol' Groove really, I mean REALLY digs the art of Ralph Reese. His art puts me in mind of a younger, hipper, trippier Wally Wood in a lot of ways. And why shouldn't it? Reese started working for Woody when he was about sixteen years old! The strips you are about to read were illustrated by one of the most talented teens to pick up pen and pencil, baby! Yeah, Reese went on to bigger and better venues (National Lampoon, Esquire), and his art got even better (he spent time honing his craft in the Underground Comics as well as at Neal Adams' Continuity Studios), but dang, man! First up, from WoH #1, here's "The Skin Eaters" written by Terry Bisson!

The next two strips are written by the immortal Otto Binder. "Man-Plant from the Tomb" (from WoH #2) and "Curse of the Yeti" (from WoH #3). Captain Marvel was never like this...


Speaking of Woody-disciples, here's an early strip by Wayne Howard. This is one of his earliest professional art jobs. Howard, by the by, started in comics working for Will Eisner, then worked for and got good enough to actually ghost for Wally Wood. A couple years after this strip, Howard started a long, fruitful relationship with Charlton Comics, where he was awarded his own mag, the great Midnight Tales. Oh, yeah, Ol' Groove'll be covering Midnight Tales and Wayne Howard in the near future, bet on it! Meantime, from WoH #1, here's Howard's "Growth" written by another Charlton super-star/Wally Wood alumnus, Nick Cuti!

Here's a treat I should'a tricked ya with at Christmas--the comicbook debut of far-out Frank Brunner! Check out "Santa's Claws"...

And finally, just for fun, here's a spine-tingler from Underground Comics legend Roger Brand called "Ashes to Ashes"...

Black and White Wednesday: A Bernie Wrightson Web of Horror #2 Two-fer

Web of Horror, published by Cracked publisher Robert Sproul, is a kind of a legend in comicdom. Though it ran only three issues (December 1969- April 1970 according to the indicia), it created quite a stir. First of all, it showcased many up-and-coming writers and artists, such as Wrightson, Jeff Jones (who did the cover), Michael Wm. Kaluta, Ralph Reese, Wayne Howard, and Roger Brand. Second, it featured all-new material when its major rivals, Warren Magazines' Creepy and Eerie, were mixing reprints in with their new material. And third, it's controversial, as it seems to have actually been killed by publisher Jim Warren's decree that if an artist worked on any rival b&w horror comic mags (which, at the time, was pretty much WoH on its lonesome), they would no longer work for Warren's mags.

There was a fourth issue of WoH planned, but never published.

Another interesting thing about WoH is that it was edited by a young man from Kentucky named Terry Bisson. Perhaps you've heard of him? He seemed to go on to a fairly successful career writing sci-fi and fantasy short stories and novels--oh, and winning Hugo and Nebula awards along the way.

Not a bad pedigree for a magazine that ran only three issues, huh, Groove-ophiles? As promised, here are the two Wrightson features from Web of Horror #2 (cover-dated February 1970): "Mother Toad" written by Terry Bisson and "Breathless" written by Marv (Tomb of Dracula, Nova) Wolfman.


Next week, we'll look at Mike Kaluta's efforts for WoH, and wrap things up two weeks from now with a WoH blowout!