Action and adventure
Action and adventure |
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Page 37 of 42  House of Secrets (DC Comics, 1975). Art: Anon; Other horror publishers avoided the Code altogether by putting out comics in a magazine format (usually in black-and-white). Creepy and Eerie (both Warren, 1964 and 1965 respectively) harked back to the glory days of EC, and in fact used some of the same artists (newer names included Berni Wrightson and Neal Adams). They featured stories heavily influenced by the 'gothic' films of studios like Hammer and Universal. Warren's third major title, Vampirella (1969) was its most original, and starred a sexy vampire from another planet ('A hickey from this vamp is sure worth dying for!'). There were many others, some good, some bad: Nightmare, Psycho and Scream (all Skywald, 1970,1971, and 1973) were not of the same quality as the Warren magazines, but had more interesting narratives, dealing in psychedelic weirdness and imaginative adaptations of Edgar Allen Poe stories. Finally, no survey of American adventure titles would be complete without briefly returning to the Gilberton 'Classics Illustrated' comics. As mentioned previously, these were intended to introduce children to great works of fiction, which in effect meant books by 'classic' authors. The majority were action-orientated - ripping yarns such as Treasure Island, The Last of the Mohicans and The Three Musketeers - though there were a few romances, such as Wuthering Heights. They stood apart from the other comics on the racks because they were lengthy, self-contained stories, and because they were obviously meant to be educational: for this reason they tended to be bought by parents rather than children. They were published in America by Gilberton from 1947, and in British editions by Thorpe and Porter from 1951: they reached their peak popularity in the immediate post-Code period.  House of Mystery (DC Comics, 1975). Art: Anon; |