SICK'S KING KONG FANZINE + BONUS

Another humor magazine fighting for its place on newsstands alongside MAD was SICK. It ran for 134 issues for two decades from 1960-1980. Created by Joe "Captain America" Simon, he was the editor until near the end of the 1960's. First published by Crestwood Publications, it was handed over to Hewfred Publications and finally Charlton took over in 1979 with #109.

Like most of the other humor 'zines, SICK would take a poke now and again at movie monsters. This is one example from #112 (October 1976). At this time, Joe Simon's son, Jim, was the editor and Jerry Grandenetti was the Executive Director. Other notable artists that worked on SICK over the years were Jack Davis, Angelo Torres and Dick Ayers. Bob Powell was the Art Director until his death in 1967.

This King Kong "fanzine" was written by Jim Simon and illustrated by Grandenetti and Nonoy Marcelo. The cover for this issue is also by Grandenetti.

BONUS!

Jack Davis was at it again with another one of his humorous takes on the Frankenstein monster -- this from SICK (December 1963).

JOE SIMON'S EERIE TALES ONE-SHOT (PART 2)

JOE SIMON'S EERIE TALES ONE-SHOT (PART 1)

EERIE TALES

Vol. 1 No. 1

November 1959

Hastings Associates, Inc.

Editor: Joe Simon

Cover: George Tuska ("Always Room For One More")

Pages: 52

Cover price: 25 cents

In the aftermath of EC's New Trend titles and a run-up to Warren's horror comic magazines, EERIE TALES is a one-off anomaly of horror comics. There is an obvious similarity to EC's Picto-Fiction line which it was apparently inspired by. The difference is that it uses word balloons in addition to the typeset captions.

EERIE TALES was produced by Joe Simon (of the Simon/Kirby team, creators of Capt. America) who went into magazine publishing after the downturn of comics sales. He also later wrote for the Archie Comics super-hero line where he created The Fly. 

What also makes this an -- ahem -- eerie resemblance to the New Trend 'zines is that there are a number of EC alumni in its pages: scriptwriter Carl Wessler and artists Joe Orlando, Al Williamson and Angelo Torres.

Before scripting these weird tales, the prolific Wessler drew gag cartoons for a Canadian magazine, was an assistant animator at Fleischer Studios for over a decade in the 1930's and then was a cartoonist for the Sangor Studios. Later, after his work for EC Comics he wrote scripts for Marvel and Charlton, among others. During his career, Wessler used over a dozen pen names.

One amusing aspect was the crazy names given to the editorial and art staff -- Editor: Basil Darkerton (presumably Simon); Associate: Vanessa Vampira; Art Director: Richard Stalker; Production: Phillip Stealth. Charlton would a few years later adopt the same schtick for MAD MONSTERS and HORROR MONSTERS.

Not a bad mag, and could be nostalgically considered a last remnant of EC.

CONTENTS

"The Stalker"

Script: Carl Wessler

Art: Gray Morrow

"Gunk"

Script: Carl Wessler

Art: George Tuska

"The Suckspect!"

Script: ?

Art: Joe Orlando; Jack Sparling

"Burn!"

Script: Carl Wessler

Art: Joe Orlando; Jack Sparling

"Shroud Number Nine"

Script: ?

Art: Ken Battefield

"Frozen Stiff" (text story by Carl Wessler)

"The Unbeliever"

Script: ?

Art: Bob Powell

"Shocked to Death!"

Script: Carl Wessler

Art: Paul Reinman

"From the Greyble to the Grave!"

Script: Carl Wessler

Art: Angelo Torres

"Little Miss Gruesome"

Script: Carl Wessler

Art: Paul Reinman

"Lower Than Hell!"

Script: Carl Wessler

Art: Al Williamson