Monster Mania
Below is a two page comic, but first a little background story.
During lunch recess, plenty of other kids on the playground at school would spend time showing off the latest issue of their favorite super hero comic book, but not me. I would sneak off from school to the drugstore down the block. There I would buy the latest ghoulish issue of either Famous Monsters of Filmland, Eerie, or Creepy from Warren Publishing. If those were out, I would by an issue of the lesser Monsters of the Movies from Carlton/Marvel.
I would also try to buy Vampirella but the clerk always said I was too young for such “filth.”
Apparently they never read any of the gruesome adult horror between the pages of Eerie and Creepy. Most of those stories would make a baptist faint and a nun blush.
But seriously, by age 12, I was already a pretty twisted kid before delving into these wonderfully illustrated tomes. Reading Mad, Cracked and even Sick! magazine from the age of 8 made sure of that.
However, to this day I still can’t believe the clerk would also sell copies of National Lampoon to little 12-year-old me.
Now that I look back on it, the clerk must have been a real deviant looking to corrupt as many minors as possible.
Of course, I’m thankful for that since each issue of these magical, heretical, gory horror and humor mags helped to teach me what was truly amazing comic art and writing.
After my homework, and in my freetime, which I had plenty of since there was no internet to distract me back then, I would faithfully try and copy the art from Eerie and Creepy.
Richard Corben, Bernie Wrightson, Alex Toth, and all those great Spanish Artists hired by Jim Warren were just some of the comic artists whose work I studied and learned from.
If truth be told I probably owe most of my earnings from my career as an artist to all that training found inside Warren Publications. But don’t let Jim Warren know this. He might want a cut of my salary.
Special Update: This comic was recently published in American Bystander #22
Stay tuned for a follow up podcast in a couple days. I delve more deeply into the Monster Movie craze of the early 60s and 70s and how it influenced my tender twisted brain.
Do share my love of old Horror Mags and Movies? Have a story about what influenced you as a child? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.
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Another "I should have" for Ed Flynn
I had a book called "Al Jaffee's Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions" that my mother STILL thinks is a serious self help book for dealing with idiots.