Martinex1: Today we are bringing you a little treat, rather than a repeat trick, with a new Halloween topic to mull over. Since we are upsetting the normal Sunday vibe, we will keep it simple - did you read and follow any of the Marvel monster mags of the Bronze Age? When Frankenstein's Monster, Dracula, and the Werewolf started appearing on the spinner rack were you there?
Artists like Mike Ploog and Gene Colan brought us some wonderfully creepy stories of the classic monsters meshed with an eerie Marvel feel.
I did not delve into these four color tomes until much later in life, but I have come to appreciate the intricacy and storytelling. Particularly
The Monster of Frankenstein and
The Tomb of Dracula were of interest as they generated rather complex tales and emotion, while the art was overall quite good.
Werewolf By Night was a bit more campy and seemed to trip into the superhero realm more than the others; or maybe because the book introduced Moon Knight I am just more sensitive to that theme.
Believe it or not, my initial introduction to these characters was through youthful glimpses at Universal monster movies. As a child, my father watched the Abbott and Costello comedies that featured the characters with me. That may have colored my early perception, but as I said more recently I've begun to enjoy these missed gems.
Along the way, I also stumbled upon Marvel's
Supernatural Thrillers and I was surprised that I enjoyed the Living Mummy issues.
That title also carried some adaptations of classic horror tales that I found to be well-crafted considering the truncated length and any limits of the medium. I found that the covers really caught my eye; there was some interesting art throughout.
So if you were a collector of these classics from the 70s, speak up and share your thoughts! Comments are welcome this fine October Sunday! Cheers (and fears) as we celebrate Halloween throughout the month!
