Eerie

Entry updated 30 September 2024. Tagged: Comics, Publication.

US Comic (1947, 1951-1954). Avon Periodicals, Inc (see Avon Comics). Eighteen issues. Artists include Sid Check, Rocco "Rocke" Mastroserio, Norman Nodel and Wally Wood. Script writers include Henry Kuttner (one identified story only) and Joe Kubert. Eerie Comics 52 pages, Eerie 36 pages per issue, usually with four long strips (Eerie Comics had five, plus a short strip) and a short text story.

In 1947 Avon published Eerie Comics #1 as a one-off: it is considered to be the first true Horror comic (Adventures into the Unknown, which began in 1948, is considered the first horror comic series). From 1951, they published a comic named Eerie (#1-#17), generally treated as the same publication. Save for the covers, #15-#17 consist of reprints from Eerie #1-#3. The stories are horror, mainly supernatural (see Supernatural Creatures), occasionally with sf elements. Eerie Comics and Eerie had some good stories, but also many that were unremarkable.

Eerie Comics #1 includes "The Man Eating Lizards!" written by Henry Kuttner, where two survivors of a US military plane that crashed on a South Pacific Island are tied to a tree by hostile male natives as food for the giant blind lizards they worship (see Religion). Fortunately they are saved by two (except in one panel, when there are five) of the local women. The pilots are passive throughout, merely commenting on events and lusting after their rescuers; the women, noticeably lighter-skinned than the male locals (see Race in SF), perform all the heroic deeds, (see Women in SF), including tying up the king so he is eaten by the reptiles (see Feminism). The military subsequently wipes out all the lizards.

Eerie #1 opened with "The Werewolf of Warsham Manor", where the last surviving heir to the titular estate learns that two generations ago an ancestor was one of two Scientists working to prolong life. The other, who is 45, is turned into a Werewolf following an accident with their formula: he blames the ancestor, whom he attacks, only to be stabbed – but vows to return whenever a descendant of his killer reaches 45: he does. In "King of the Living Dead", Budapest couples are being abducted, injected with a chemical which, combined with fumes emitted by the pit they are thrown into, turns them into Zombies. The man responsible was buried alive in a cavern "eons of time ago" for practising "evil Magic", with the fumes keeping him alive. Earth movements eventually gave him access to the surface: he builds a zombie army to conquer the world but is defeated by the pluckiness of the male half of an American couple. "The Monster from the Pit" concerns a blood-drinking Monster from Transylvania, called a Grakhu and looking more like a werewolf than the traditional Vampire. "Nightmare!" in #2 observes "now that the secret of the atom bomb is known to others, the United States must be doubly careful of attack with its own Weapon" (see Nuclear Energy); this story tells of an attempt by an Eastern European country to sneak bomb components into the USA.

#3's "The Case of the Painted Beast" has the painter of "The Forest of Fear" upset over not winning an art competition (the victorious picture is entitled "Our Feathered Friends"). So when the judges disappear, taken by a monster resembling the one in his painting, a rookie cop assumes this was the painter in disguise, only to discover the monster has emerged from the painting and dragged the judges – and the artist – back into it: they now replace the gnomes who had been cavorting around it in the original. In "The Mirror of Isis" an Ancient Egyptian high priest was "able to preserve his spirit after death" in said mirror, enabling him take revenge on anyone who steals it by possessing one of his descendants (see Identity Transfer). The mirror is now in a midwestern town and the bride of the current owner's grandson comes from Memphis, but does not have a southern accent. In "Phantoms of Reality" Charlie Walton is taken by his friend Derek into the fourth Dimension, part of which inhabits the same space as New York (see Parallel Worlds). Using "transition mechanisms ... [which are] a network of tiny wires under our clothes" (see Technology) they arrive in a City that combines the futuristic with Fantasy; Derek turns out to be the son of the usurped king and, after some palace intrigue, Charlie helps put him on the throne. "Operation Horror" in #5 has a Scientist attempting to "create an elixir to restore the vigor and power man had in the primeval era". When he tries it on himself he becomes a murderous caveman (see Origin of Man), stopped only when he fights a gorilla from a convenient circus nearby, both combatants ending up dead.

In #8#'s "The Monster of Zollmort Castle" an American author buys a medieval castle in central Europe as an anniversary surprise for his wife; they find a Torture chamber in a vault, where Quadro the caretaker points to a metal door and warns them not to enter, as behind it "lies the evil handiwork of my former master Baron Zollmort". The author dismisses both him and his remarks and buys some dynamite to blow open the door. Behind lies a volcanic crater, from which emerges a giant green monster. Fortunately Quadro reappears and uses some of the dynamite to kill the monster, at the cost of his own life. The author is unappreciative of this sacrifice. In "The Curse of the Bulaga!" a famous explorer and hunter is found with his throat ripped out and his estate frozen over, despite it being July in the southern USA. His diary reveals he had hunted the Bulaga beast of Antarctica: he learnt it was extinct but was shown one frozen in ice. He decided to take it home as a trophy, but after he chipped the ice away it came alive (see Suspended Animation) and killed the woman accompanying him. He fled and returned home, but the beast followed. The confusing "Princess of the Subway" in #9 has Dave Bartlet entering the subway but accidentally bumping into a girl wearing sunglasses. This is not appreciated and shortly after the train stops whilst in a tunnel under the river: fish people now appear and seem to turn the passengers into skeletons, except Dave and the woman. She explains she is their princess and long ago they were forced Under the Sea. The police don't believe Dave's story and the woman suggests he is mad – so he grabs her sunglasses, to reveal "the perfectly round, lidless eyes of – a fish!".

#10's "Green Grows the Grass" has a scientist developing a seed that can grow anywhere: it does not even need soil. His envious assistant locks him in the greenhouse and turns the heat up; but before he dies the scientist fires a shotgun through a window at the assistant, who discovers it was loaded with seed which has embedded itself in his flesh. It grows. In "Castle of Terror!" physicist (see Physics) Emil Zarko studies death and discovers where "emanations of death originate ... a place from which death Rays kill off the population": this turns out to be a castle in the African jungle. The resulting expedition arrives, discovering there not only Death but his master, The Devil (who is dressed like a Supervillain) and a tentacled monster. "Anatomical Monster" in #11 has a medical student given a remarkably accurate anatomical chart of the human body; unfortunately the body used was of a madman and its artist their killer, so naturally the chart comes to life and starts murdering people. "Robot Model L2 – Failure!" tells of a new Robot sentry built during the War with Mars, tasked with protecting Earth's commander. It kills a traitor, but as no one knew they were working for the Martians the robot is deemed a failure (we see the robot's ghost bewailing this injustice). Apart from a short text story, #12 (August 1953) is devoted to Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897; rev with cuts 1901) and is the first comic book adaption of that tale. #13 has "The White Gorilla", a giant African ape which, despite warnings from the locals, Frank Blair captures; but it can control the weather and escapes when a lightning bolt strikes its cage, while Blair simultaneously transforms into a gorilla. The other expedition members – thinking it the original – cage it, surprised by how tame its seems. On the journey home the ape hangs itself (see Suicide). "Help Us to Die!" has a couple stealing a mummy from a museum after discovering it is still alive. It carries a liquid that promises eternal life: they drink it, but age and weaken, wanting death yet now Immortal. In #14's "Master of the Dead!" Mad Scientist Pierre Jarnac becomes caretaker of a World War Two cemetery so he can experiment with raising the dead and creating an army to rule the world. He succeeds, but the dead soldiers do not want war and trample him to death.

After #17 the numbering was taken up by the second run of Strange Worlds. I.W. Enterprises Inc. published three issues (numbered #1, #8 and #9) of a comic titled Eerie in 1958, which consisted entirely of reprints; whilst two of the covers were from the 1951-1954 Eerie, none of the strips were. During 1963-1964 the same company published four issues (numbered #10-#12, #15) of a comic called Eerie Tales (#15 just said "Eerie" on the cover): again these consisted entirely of reprint strips, though the covers were original; #12 used the strips from Eerie #1 (1951). The popular horror comic Eerie (139 issues, 1965-1983) published by Warren Publishing Co. is unconnected to the earlier comics with that name. [SP]

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