Monday, May 28, 2012

Ryan B does The Dead Will Return






I don't like The Vault-Keeper. I'll just flat out say it. I know that a lot of people find the GhouLunatics to be interchangeable and to some degree I guess that's true, but as far as I'm concerned The Crypt-Keeper and The Old Witch are much more distinct both in personality and appearance than The Vault-Keeper is. I pretty much just see him as a Crypt-Keeper knockoff. Same jokes, similar look, just less fleshed out and more androgynous. Anyway, I just wanted to get that off my chest and maybe offer it as some kind of explanation as to why it's taken me so long to get around to The Vault and why I featured the other two's stories before getting around to one of VK's.


Today's story is a bit similar to the one from last time, Sea of Graves, in that it is your classic "just can't get rid of a body" story. Also, it takes place mostly at sea. You may think there's some kind of theme all of the sudden around here, but trust me, there isn't, it's just a coincidence and I'm sure you'll see if you stick with me long enough that there are many, many, many tales in the pantheon of horror comic about corpses that just won't quit. So strap on some cement sneakers and row on out with me as we discover that...


The Dead Will Return.


Sunday, May 20, 2012

Ryan B does Sea Of Graves





Web of Horror was a very short lived and often overlooked little horror mag from the late 1960's. It was launched around the same time as Warren's books, CREEPY and EERIE, and in the same black & white, magazine-sized format in order to get around the Comics Code. It only lasted a measly three issues with a fourth one produced, but never published, yet it still deserves a place in the catacombs of horror comic history for two reasons:

One: It featured the talents of many established as well as up and coming artists such as Mike Kaluta, Frank Brunner, and Bernie Wrightson.

Two: It had a unique and memorable host in Webster, a surprisingly cute, pie-eyed spider who for some reason only had four legs.



Today we're going to be revisiting a story from this great anthology that I'm sure will leave you dripping with fright. So bring your beach blanket on down and lay it next to the...

Sea Of Graves.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Ryan B does Fair Exchange





Everybody gets old (well, except for me of course, I'm perpetually whatever age I was a few years ago), but more to the point, every THING gets old and usually when this happens the person or thing that gets old also winds up getting forgotten. It's sad, but true. EERIE Magazine, originally published by Warren Publishing along with CREEPY and Vampirella, got old and more than that it also got forgotten, because while the other Warren mags got revivals, Vampirella first by Harris Publishing and later Diamond Direct, and CREEPY Magazine that recently got relaunched by Dark Horse Publishing three years ago, EERIE has been out in the cold since Warren went bankrupt in the early eighties. What does all this have to do with today's story? Well, on the topic of EERIE and aging and being remembered I decided that it would be more than appropriate to look back on a classic EERIE tale from the early years of this great comic. A story about a man who wants to live forever and will kill to do it. A tale as old as slime called...

Fair Exchange.


Thursday, May 3, 2012

Ryan B does Horror We? How's Bayou?





The Crypt-Keeper kept The Crypt of Terror, The Vault-Keeper kept The Vault of Horror, how come the Haunt of Fear wasn't kept by The Haunt-Keeper?

Food for thought.

Anyway, today's story is brought to us by my second favorite of EC's GhouLunatics after The Crypt-Keeper, the actual keeper of The Haunt of Fear, The Old Witch. It's a soggy, swampland tale you'll always dismember called...

Horror We? How's Bayou?