Eerie Presents El Cid!

Here's a strange and weirdly wonderful tome featuring a strange sword and sorcery character from Warren Magazines named El Cid. He springs from the imagination of Gonzalo Mayo and Budd Lewis. He was concocted when Warren ran out of handy-dandy Esteban Maroto stories about a guy named Dax. He was Warren's real last stab at putting out some serial sword and sorcery. 

This Sanjulian painting which originally appeared on Eerie #66 doesn't really capture the tone of Mayo's rendition which is quite a bit more civilized, at least in the beginning. It's a fantastic painting nonetheless. 

The collection begins with "El Cid and The Troll", which it turns out has something of a twist ending. We are treated in this one to terrible images of giant and repellant trolls. Written by Budd Lewis. 

"El Cid and the Seven Curses" is a lush tale not unlike the Odyssey in which our hero slays a wizard to puts these curses on which play out in extremely violent ways. But our hero finds love even in the middle of all the slaughter. This is the longest of the tales and is told in two parts. Story by Bill DuBay and Budd Lewis. 

"El Cid and the Vision" pits the hero against a doughty Black Knight. But it turns out that Knight was merely a hallucination. Later Cid learns why he had the vision when a real Knight shows up. Story by Gerry Boudreau and Budd Lewis. 

"The Lady and the Lie" pits the Cid against two demons named Az and Ahriman -- the Lust and the Lie. These two plot to bring down the noble Cid with all manner of nubile temptations. The Boudreau and Lewis team returns. 

"The Emir of Aragon" shows the Cid entranced by a woman named Arias who in actuality serves the Emir of Aragon. Many times she schemes against the Cid all the while entrancing him with her body. Jeff Rovin and Budd Lewis team to write this one. 

"Crooked Mouth" shows up the Cid as he demonstrates both mercy and wisdom by welcoming Moors into his home. An old man is angered by this and goes to an old enemy of the Cid's named "Crooked Mouth" who uses magic to stop his rival. Written by Budd Lewis. 

"Demon's Treasure" is the tale about a man who wakes a wizard when he seeks treasure. That wizard corrupts the kingdom and it's up to the Cid to bring end his misrule. Budd Lewis finishes his run on the hero. 

(Berni Wrightson)

The adventures of El Cid feature some outstanding Gonzalo Mayo artwork. The work is lush and entrancing, if at times a tad difficult to decode. All of Mayo's women are full-bodied and quite bodacious. 

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Vampirella - Crimson Chronicles Volume Four!

This fourth and final volume of Crimson Chronicles finds the Vampirella series fully formed. Vampi and Pendragon are a twosome throughout the volume with only a brief visit by the Van Helsings. Getting shed of Adam Van Helsing does open up Vampi to romantic entanglements and she has a few dalliances in this tome. All of the stories in the volume are by "Flaxman Loew" (according to some sources the British writer Mike Butterworth -- see comments), and all of the early stories are drawn by Jose Gonzalez. Gonzalez is using more dark areas in his art and that is helping the storytelling immensely. The volume is decorated with a very alluring painting by Luis Dominguez. 

The story "The Undead of the Deep" is a follow up to the last story from the third collection and showcases Vampi falling into the clutches of an undersea demon which can cast illusions of such a nature as to make one stay beneath the waves. The cover is by Enrich Torres. 

This is the first of two stories, "The God of Blood" is set in Mexico City in which Vampirella is targeted by an Aztec cult as a proper sacrifice to the great Sun God. Thing is Vampi and the Sun God fall in love and the worshippers suffer the consequences. This cover is also by Enrich Torres. 

Now in France, Vampi is still suffering from the attentions of the Sun God in "The Bretrothed of the  Sun God", who takes it upon himself to immolate anyone who looks with passion on the young vampire. She is able to turn the Sun God's attention on a gang who kill folks for their wealth. We have one of Frank Frazetta's more iconic covers on this issue. 

In "The Running Red" an immortal gambler comes into conflict with a corrupt and cruel man and his mistress. The end is the end of the gambler, but Vampi suffers as she has feelings. Another bizarre Enrich Torres cover. All of the covers are by Enrich unless otherwise noted. 

The mistress of the man becomes a sultana and seeks vengeance upon Vampirella when the opportunity presents itself in the aptly named "The Sultana's Revenge". But the tables are turned. 

In "The Carnival of Death" the pair are in Venice, and Vampirella and Pendragon run afoul of a mob of listless and horrible people who are more dead than alive, but who meet folks who are even deader. 

This issue features new artist Jose Ortiz who offers up a very distinctive look at Vampirella. It's certainly attractice but less languid than what has come before. The villains rob people of blood to use in a strange variation of Frankenstein's experiments in "The Blood Gulper". 

We are told that Vampirella and Pendragon are fated to be together and have always been in some form or other. Vampi it turns out was Cleopatra and Pendragon was her loyal servant. The pharaoh turns out to have a dark secret as well in a story titled "The Vampire of the Nile". Sanjulian supplied this delectable cover. 

"She Who Waits" is an odd story written by Archie Goodwin and drawn by Gonzalez in his original style. It seems to be a file story used here after many years. The presence of the Van Helsings also points to an earlier time. This is their only appearance in this collection. 

Gonzalez returns in "The Mummy's Revenge" in a follow up to the Cleopatra story in which a man is able to animate an ancient mummy for his own evil purposes. Sanjulian also did this cover as well as the previous issue.

Vampi and Pendragon are in England where they meet "The Head-Hunter of London" who seems charming enough until he decides to hunt you down for a trophy for his wall. This is the first of three stories illustrated by Leopold Sanchez. Ken Kelly was tapped for this cover. 

In "The Nameless Ravisher" a sequel to the previous issue, the sisters of the "Head-Hunter" want vengeance and engage in some sorcery to get it. They all pay the price by issue's end of course. Enrich Torres is back for the final two covers. 

This collection wraps up with "The Malignant Morticians", a lurid story about an evil mortician and his gang who has a sideline in the cat food industry. You can imagine what all he gets up to. But Vampirella and Pendragon prove more than they can handle. 

These early tales of Vampirella showcase the changes which not the character undergoes but the publisher itself. When Vampirella debuted Archie Goodwin was in charge and the influence of Forry Ackerman was very evident. She was a character played for laughs like Uncle Creepy and Cousin Eerie. But at some point they decided to do something more substantial and Goodwin and artist Tom Sutton began a legit series of continued tales. When Jose Gonzalez was tapped, the series matured and grew steadily in elegance if not necessarily taste. By the time of these latest issues Vampirella is an icon on the comics scene, an icon who has never really left us. But that's what vampires do isn't it, if they're lucky they go on forever. 

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Sanjulian's Demon Queen!

She's one of those ladies you cannot forget. Manuel Sanjulian's "Demon Queen" from the cover Eerie magazine is at once an attractive and repulsive figure -- the kind of monster who kills.

Here is what I believe to be the pencil version of Sanjulian's memorable masterpiece.

But it might well be connected to this recreation done by Sanjulain.

The original lured the public once again as both the front and back covers of Warren's Ring of the Warlords, published to piggyback the notoriety of Ralph Bashki's version of The Lord of the Rings. 

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Getting The Creeps!

I pretty much noticed Warrant Publishing's The Creeps right away when it hit the stands, but for whatever reason I have just this week picked up my first issue. The magazine fills a nifty space as I am still casting around for proper entertainment to complete the gap left by cancellations of all my current favorite comics. The premise of Warrant's magazine is dead simple -- imitate Warren publishing as much as possible. What we have here is a weird zombie-like imitation of Creepy and Eerie from the halcyon days of Jim Warren's maverick magazine line which gave us top-flight characters like Uncle Creepy, Cousin Eerie, Vampirella, Hunter, and The Rook among many others. Now we can add "The Old Creep". It's a weirdly charming idea.

The talent has been pretty darn good with reliable names like Roger McKenzie, Nicola Cuti, T. Casey Brennan and Don Glut as writers and Frank Frazetta, Ken Kelly, Sanjulian, and Rich Corben on covers. Inside has been handled by a bevy of talented young pros who do a grand job evoking recognizable styles. Even Groovy Friends of the Dojo have had a hand in the production of the magazine. In fact with the fourteenth issue Nick Cuti joins the editorial staff headed by Rich Sala, so it does rather feel even more like old times. So add The Creeps to the list. Now I have some back issues to chase -- sounds like fun.

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The Movie You've Been Waiting For!

Sanjulian

And always will be.

"The movie you've been waiting for" did not happen, not that way at least.

Once upon a time there was a simply fabulous comic magazine producer called Warren Publishing, the notion of Jim Warren and an ever-changing stable of incredible writers and artists who called back classic horror comics in the grand tradition of legendary EC Comics but with an oddly effective black and white gloss.

Once upon a time there was a delightful movie company called Hammer Films which carved out a highly successful niche with horror films in the grand tradition of the legendary Universal Pictures but with a brightly colored and bloody difference. 

Once upon a time there was a moment when both of these monster-themed companies were on the ebb and they thought it might be prudent to join forces and produce a movie based on a resilient comic character by the name of Vampirella. Vampi was in production at Hammer for quite some time, the details of which can be read here.

Barbara Leigh as Vampi Painted by Bob Larkin

What came from that fusion of two horror enclaves was alas not a movie, but mostly disappointment. There was an exception though. Barbara Leigh, a vivacious and spectacularly beautiful woman was tapped to portray Vampirella, a chance she only got to pursue in photos and in conventions in support of the aborted film project. Some of those photos though became a series of evocative covers during 1978 and 1979 for the Vampirella magazine itself.

Here they are:

That's what we got. No movie, only the wonderfully imaginative thoughts of what might've been. No movie was made starring the "Darling from Drackulon" until 1996 when a beauty named Talisa Soto got the role in an action/horror flick alongside The Who lead singer Roger Daltrey.

I've never seen this one, not all the way through. But here is a glimpse at the trailer.

Sanjulian

Soon sadly both Hammer and Warren were gone (at least in their original forms), impressive and influential in their time in the world of horror narrative. They never got together on what might've been one of their most memorable projects. It's a classic "what if", and a significant shame it didn't happen. 

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