The Thing In Denny Colt's Grave!

Warren Magazines wanted to promote its new Spirit mag and so it got Will Eisner to condone a crossover of sorts in the fiftieth issue of Vampirella. Jose Ortiz was a top artist at Warren during this era, able to deliver both atmosphere and action. Both are on display in this Bill Dubay story. 

If you blink, you'll almost miss Denny Colt giving a high sign to Pendragon. My favorite panel is the one with the tell-tale shadow on the coffin on the final page. They have solved one mystery only to reveal another. That's how it usually works. 

More on Warren's Spirit output tomorrow. 

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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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Vampirella - Crimson Chronicles Volume Three!

By the time we get to this third volume of Crimson Chronicles the Vampirella series has become fully formed. We have established her coterie of male assistants -- the drunk magician Pendragon, the dour Dr. Van Helsing, and the handsome Adam Van Helsing. There are several writers who will take a crack at Vampirella in this collection but the art of Jose Gonzalez gives the strip its signature look. This is to my mind the best of the three Jim Silkie covers produced for this series. 

Under a striking cover combining past issues of the mag with an iconic Jose Gonzalez figure (used as the full-sized poster of Vampi) we do get a short ten-page story titled "Shadow of Dracula". In this oddball tale by T. Casey Brennan Vampirella travels back in time to 1897 to encounter the original Dr. Van Helsin and get help with a potential cure for vampirism. She encounters Dracula who has likewise been sent back in time by the Conjuress for the same reason. 

Vampi's time-travel adventure ends when Dracula is unable control his hungers and causes the death of Lucy Westerna again, after she'd been saved from the curse of vampirism. The story is by T. Casey Brennan. Luis Domniguez created this very fetching cover. 

Back in her own time Vampirella along with Pendragon, the two Van Helsings and Dracula are sent to a strange world of desolate sand inhabited by monstrous sand worms. To survive Dracula returns to his old ways and loses the support of the Conjuress who sent them there. When Vampi and her gang return to their own world she is despondent that she might never free of the vampire curse. This a story written by both T. Casey Brennan and "Chad Archer", a pseudonym for Steve Englehart. The cover is by Enrich Torres. 

Under an unrelated cover by Marti Nipoli we get a story by Steve Englehart under his own name. "Hell from on High" takes the team to the mountains where Vampi's plane crashed, and Van Helsing's brother was killed by a lack of blood. The find a dubious priest and seek to ferret out a strange man in remote castle. 

We are treated to a Sanjulian cover for the next issue, lovely though not connected to Vampi directly. "The Blood Queen of Bayou Parish" is a direct sequel to the last story in which the Vampi gang head to the swamps where they find a deadly woman who can appear as the "dream woman" for anyone, hence making her seductions all the more powerful. This is Englehart's last story for Vampirella. 

This cover by Enrich Torres is one of my all-time favorite Vampirella covers, it's both sexy and ominous, the perfect blend of emotions for the book. Bill DuBay takes over the scripting (unheralded) and in "Into the Inferno" introduces more information about Pendragon's past. We find out his daughter has married a gangster and she wants revenge on her father for abandoning her and her mother so many years before. 

The second half of the story by Bill DuBay is "What Price Love" in which find out the costs of Pendragon's daughter's revenge. Vampirella is given vast amounts of pure cocaine and loses control of her vampiric desires, ultimately killing Pendragon's grandson. This cover is by Enrich Torres. 

"Demons in the Fog" is a story credited to Len Wein, but according to the Grand Comics Database it was in fact ghost-written by Tony Isabella. The art in this issue by Gonzalez and another talent named Escalono. The Cult of Chaos is back and up to its old tricks as Vampi falls victim to the demon Nuberius. With the ultimate help of Pendragon she escapes. The cover is a hodge-podge of elements from artists Gonzalez, Estaban Maroto and others. 

"Return Trip" is a story by Jose Toutain and gives up a chap named the "Dreamer" who contracts to get revenge for Pendragon's former wife for the death of her grandson. He captures Vampi in a hazy world of illusions in which she is cajoled into attacking Pendragon. It is followed by a non-Vampirella story titled "Wecome to the Witches' Coven" by Don McGregor with art by Luis Garcia. In this one a young woman seeking empowerment falls victim to a cult worshipping the goddess Diana. 

Under another stunning Enrich Torres cover we meet Vampirella's next regular writer Flaxman Loew. In the story "Curse of the MacDaemons" we travel to Scotland where Vampi is again lured to become a potential sacrifice for a deadly sea creature which had taken over the will of the local lords of the castle. This story sets up the next quite nicely, but that will have to wait until next time. 

On more general note let add that the art by Gonzalez has been betting stronger issue by issue as the storytelling is much improved. The stories in this volume were produced in 1972 and 1973. The removal of the Van Helsings from the latter stories helped quite a bit with the pacing and with the stories focusing on Pendragon that made sense. More Vampi next week when I take a glance at the fourth volume where new artists appear to give Vamirealla hand. 

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Vampirella - Crimson Chronicles Volume Two!

It was in the last few stories of the first volume of Crimson Chronicles that the Vampirella we are familiar with today at last took her most pleasing shape. In this second volume the series will get into a higher gear, establishing the status quo which will permeate for years to come. Archie Goodwin wrote all but the last two of the stories in this volume. T.Casey Brennan took over for the final two. Tom Sutton draws one more story in the series and then Jose Gonzalez will take over the art chores giving the world the definitive Vampirella for the first time. Jim Silke did the lusty cover this collection. 

The "Feary Tales" in issue eleven is by Tom Sutton and deals with the "Devil's Daughters" or witches. This issue also marks Sutton's last outing as regular Vampi artist. The story "Carnival of the Damned" takes Vampirella  to a carnival which just so happens to be run by the Crimson Cult. She escapes with her life and a copy of the "Crimson Chronicles". She also makes the acquaintance of The Great Pendragon, a bedraggled magician with a drinking problem. He turns out though to be one of Vampi's greatest allies. The Van Helsings close in. The cover is by Frank Frazetta. 

"Vampi's Feary Tales" in this issue features a wonderful full-page illustration by Frank Brunner of the Sirens. 

The issue also marks the debut of Jose Gonzalez as the new regular artist on Vampirella. Gonzalez proves to be an ideal talent for the strip, able to simultaneously give the stories a light tone and also grace the reader with outstanding single-page images of the lovely Draculonian. In "Death's Dark Angel" Vampi comes up against a madman who yearns for immortality through a vampire's bite and employs a demonic angel named "Skaar" to assist him. The tables are turned on the greedy bastard before the story ends. The dramatic cover is by Sanjulian, the first of many. 

Jeff Jones presents us a one-page story of the Lamaie in the "Feary Tales" installment. The Vampirella story titled "The Lurker in the Deep" begins with Van Helsing dreaming of killing our heroine before his son intervenes. Vampi is working with Pendragon in his magic show and the two are hired for a cruise which just so happens to have a chap on board who invokes one of the demons of the Crimson Cult from beneath the sea. The cover is by Sanjulian. 

  

Tom Sutton relates to Boston ghost yarns in "Feary Tales". In the tale "Isle of the Huntress", Vampi and Pendragon end up on a remote island after the sinking of their ship in the previous story. The run up against a desperate scientist, his lover and a deadly werewolf. By story's end Adam Van Helsing and his father have joined Vampi and Pendragon in stopping the threat. The elder Van Helsing is still convinced Vampirella is a threat. And truth told without her blood substitute she might very well be. The cover is again by Sanjulian. 

"Feary Tales" this time features the Devil's mistress and some juicy Rich Corben artwork. In the story "The Resurrection of Papa Voudou", Vampirella and Adam Van Helsing are on the island of Cote De Soleil, a Carribean island on which the former dictator has died. The celebrations might be premature since some loyal to him are using the Crimson Chronicles to raise him from the dead. The elder Van Helsing also shows up in pursuit of Vampirella. The cover is by Sanjulian. 

Vampirella sixteen features our heroine on the cover and it also announces the return of her arch-foe Dracula. The "Feary Tales" item is by Jan Strnad and artist Auraleon and deals with the "Gray Women". Pendragon and Vampi are swept away to a distant castle in which Dracula awaits to sacrifice her in the story "...And to be the Bride of Chaos". He tells of his journey from Draculon and how that fits in with what we already know of him. The sacrifice goes awry thanks to the timely arrival of the Van Helsings. It seems at story's end that Dracula is no more. The cover featuring Vampi is by Sanjulian. 

"Feary Tales" are by the same team as last time and tell the myth of Arachne. For her part in the story "...Beware Dreamers",  Vampi, Adam, and Pendragon are now in Florida in a swamp where they will eventually run afoul of "The Dreamslayer" an agent of the Cult of Chaos with the express mission to slay Vampirella. Needless to say he fails. During the struggle Vampirella has to resort to using Adam's blood to stay alive and this attack is felt by Adam's psychic father who renews his vow to slay the deadly Draculonian,. T. Casey Brennan debuts as writer in this issue. The cover is by Enrich Torres.  

Luis Garcia and Kevin Pagan tell the story of the Nymphs in "Feary Tales". In the main story which is announced with a wonderful cover by Enrich Torres and the blatant title "Dracula Still Lives", Dracula returns thanks to the Conjuress a powerful sorceress who seeks to reform the deadly vampire. He shares more of his history while Van Helsing hunts Vampirella. The truth is revealed, and he doesn't slay her, but later she must pass a test presented by the Conjuress and does so. Dracula too survives and rejects Chaos at story's end. He will be back. 

More Vampirella to come in volume three. 

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Vampirella - Crimson Chronicles Volume One!

Without question the most successful vampire in comics is Vampirella. Thanks to her astounding costume and the bodacious bod beneath she's hardly been out of print for decades. When Forry Ackerman first dreamt her up she was just another ghost host for her own self-titled horror anthology from Warren Magazines. She was a female equivalent of Uncle Creepy and Cousin Eerie. But she would not be contained in the corners of pages merely presenting horror yarns in the classic tradition, she demanded stories all her own and eventually she got them. Sone of the stories from the earliest issues were gathered by Harris when they had the property. The Jim Silkie does Vampirella proud. 

We are introduced to Vampirella in the opening story of issue one. She's an alluring vampire from the planet of Draculon where blood flows in rivers. But things have gotten tough and blood is hard to find until a spaceship from Earth descends and Vampirella discovers to heart's content that blood flows inside the bodies of these handsome blokes from another planet. This tongue-in-cheek yarn was written by Forry Ackerman in pretty much the same joking style he used in his many articles for Famous Monsters of Filmland. The Harris collection reprints two more stories from the debut issue, both written by Don Glut. The first titled "Death Boat' was drawn by Billy Graham and shows what happens when vampires turn up in all the strangest places, even when you're lost at sea. "Goddess of the Sea" was drawn by Neal Adams and seems to have been published from his pencils. A man falls in love with a betwitching creature from beneath the waves and sadly must pay the ultimate price. I'd be remiss to not mention Frank Frazetta's outstanding cover. 

Issue two sees the debut of "Vampi's Feary Tales" a one-page featurette written and drawn by diverse hands. This first one showcases the Bride of Frankenstein. "Evily" is by Bill Parent and artist Jerry Grandenetti. Rating the cover, we find out that the witch Evily is somehow related to Vampirella though that makes little sense. She's hung up on her looks like many an evil witch. "Down to Earth" by Ackerman and artist Mike Royer shows how Vampirella, already on Earth, tries to cope by entering a monster "beauty" pagent. Both Ackerman and publisher Bill Warren make appearances. 

Underneath an eye-catching cover by Vaughn Bode, the third issues of Vampirella offers up for entries in this collection. We get a "Feary Tales" about space queens. "Wicked is Who Wicked Does" was written by Bill Parent and drawn magnificently by Tom Sutton. It's about a sorceress and tries vainly to tie into the Vampi storyline. "Blast Off to a Nightmare" by Al Hewetson and artist Jack Sparling follows two astronauts to a planet filled with lovely women and other deadly creatures as well. There's an attempt by Sparling to evoke the cover but it's a clumsy effort. "Didn't I See You on Television?" was both written and drawn by Billy Graham and deals with a witch with an uncanny connection to the camera. 

Jeff Jones provides the cover for issue four. "Feary Tales" this time deals with witches being burned at the stake and is the work of Tom Sutton. Bill Parente wrote "Forgotten Kingdom" about an astronaut on a planet in desperate need of fertile men, but of course there's a twist. The art is attributed to "David Sinclair" but is almost certainly done by Ernie Colon. 

Issue five sports a Frazetta cover no less. The "Feary Tales" by Tom Sutton deals with ancient female cults at Stonehenge. Don Glut wrote and John Fantuccio drew "Craft of a Cat's Eye" about an unscrupulous gent who marries a woman for her wealth. Things go badly. 

The cover for the sixth issue is by Ken Kelly . "Feary Tales" deals with centaurs and is done by Dan Adkins. The story "Curse of Circe" was written by Gardner Fox and drawn magnificently by Jerry Grandenetti. It concerns a modern man who finds Circe's island and tries to flee.

The seventh issue of Vampirella offers up something a bit more ambitious beneath another Frazetta cover. Vampi tells three stories about three witches. Nick Cuti and artist Tom Sutton share the story of the "White Witch" who turns out to be less human than most folks find optimal. Cuti again writes "The Mind Witch" with art by Ernie Colon and deals with a woman who turns out to have celestial origins "The Black Witch" was drawn wonderfully by Billy Graham with Cuti in for a third outing. She's a witch who likes to change people into bugs, but finds that to be a mistake ultimately. This one has a frame drawn by Sutton and point the way for more coherence in the package. 

Vampirella makes the cover (by Ken Kelly again) of her magazine for a second in issue eight. After a "Feary Tales" item about classic horror romances, we get the first actual Vampirella story which has some sense of continuity. Archie Goodwin steps in to give us a more serious Vampi who runs afoul of the Chaos Cult for the first time. She also loses her wings while recovering from a plane crash. She is given her blood substitute, so she won't have to prey on people. It's fa great twenty-one page kick off for the Vampirella we've all come to know and adore. Tom Sutton, Vampirella's first artist is back in this and the next issue as well. 

The second installment of Goodwin's story picks up with Dr. Van Helsing and his son Adam getting on the trail of Vampirella when they believe she killed Van Helsing's brother. Vampi runs into more Crimson Cult members and even gets hold of the cult's bible "The Crimson Chronicles" (which also gave this reprint series from Harris its title). There's a "Feary Tales" item by Jeff Jones and Nick Cuti about the original vampire "Lilith". The cover is a combination of Wally Wood and Boris Vallejo. 

The tenth issue of Vampirella doesn't give us a new chapter in her ongoing adventures. Rather we have a tale titled "The Soft Sweet Lips of Hell" by Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams about a woman takes youth where she finds it, mostly from young men. "Feary Tales" this time is by Billy Graham deals with Medusa. The cover artist is Bill Hughes. 

There has been tremendous growth in the magazine in its year and half of publication. Vampirella has gone from a joke to a fully realized character who can carry her own adventures. The strip continues to develop and will take a major step forward next time when Jose Gonzalez joins the team. 

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