RedRaven Posted July 12, 2018 Share Posted July 12, 2018 Michael Jackson always scared the Beejeesus out of me as a kid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N e r V Posted July 13, 2018 Author Share Posted July 13, 2018 (edited) Tales of the Zombie was my favorite of the Marvel magazine group and one of my favorite characters still today. Although issue #1 was probably on the newsstands when I started collecting I didn’t buy a copy until the second issue a few months from now. I quickly sent in the 75 cents or dollar for a back issue of #1. The fact that Bill Everett did the original story exactly 20 years earlier to the month only made the series better to me over time. It’s why I went after a copy of Menace #5 just a few years ago because I felt I needed one back in my collection to join the b&w magazine series. Try to remember that in 1973 there was no Walking Dead series and any of the related/similar themed zombie apocalypse movies crowding the market. The original trend setter of the zombie apocalypse theme Night of the Living Dead was released just 5 years earlier with no sequels as of yet and it was still beginning to achieve its cult status. Tales of the Zombie was a nod to all the earlier zombie stories. I still feel that the Marvel “horror” series are a unused but valuable asset to the Marvel Cinematic Universe If ever called upon. The Blade films even preceded slightly the current Marvel run in film but sadly little has been spoken of mining this sector of the Marvel universe since. Perhaps their time will still come. With the success and popularity of zombies today I would think a series taking a different take from the current zombie apocalypse theme could be a breath of fresh air into a tiring genre. Simon Garth was always a more personal journey of horror. I remain with fingers crossed that Marvel horror makes it to the big or little screens soon. Now going back to Doc V’s site since no one knows or does Atlas comics better than him: “Zombie!” was the apex of both creators’ pre-code horror work, a genre soon to be short-circuited by the advent of the comics code. Yet, the "Zombie" would live again. Flash forward exactly 20 years. Marvel editor Roy Thomas was in the midst of a full-fledged horror revival both in the four color comics (Werewolf by Night, Tomb of Dracula, Ghost Rider) and the black and white magazines (Dracula Lives, Vampire Tales). Together with writer Steve Gerber, the Zombie was revived and given a name (Simon Garth) and his own black and white magazine, Tales of the Zombie, lasting 11 issues from 1973 to 1975. The first issue featured a beautiful painted cover by famed fantasy cover artist Boris Vallejo and story art by John Buscema and Tom Palmer, fleshing out the back-story of all three main characters from the original Lee/Everett Atlas gem. Following part one of this new debut story, the original Everett 7-pager is reprinted, time-lined to follow the events in the opening tale (and will be reprinted a third time in the final issue, an annual, #11). Strangely, the Everett gem, while reprinted in black and white, has a page 2 in two-tone black and green. I checked this against a second copy I have of this issue and it's the same in both. Inexplicably, a handful of other pages in the book similarly have this weird green-tone coloring effect. Further, Marvel in the 1970's touched up the artwork (changing hair and eyes) and even changed exposition and dialogue from the original story to update continuity towards the now ongoing series with a backstory. Even the image of Simon Garth's daughter was re-drawn, turning her from a brunette in the original Everett story to a blonde in the new series (including re-drawing the panel to reflect this in the reprint). Garth's hair is also changed from slick 1950's short, to a mangy-long 1970's style. Then the second part of the debut story concludes at the end of the book with artwork by John Buscema again, this time assisted by Syd Shores. Horror stories, both new and Atlas reprints, filled out the rest of the magazine and this format would persist throughout the run. Simon Garth, “The Zombie!”, has since secured a fixture of sorts in the Marvel universe. The second story this issue is another tale illustrated by Joe Maneely, his second. Up above the story title Stan once again writes a little intro but not before letting his readers know that “Zombie!” is predicted to become… “a masterpiece of comic art and --script!”. “Crack-Down!” is a neat little ironic yarn about a senate investigation of crime, an underworld mob boss, a nickel-and-dime crook, and a shock ending, Maneely’s gritty inking lends itself to coarse depictions of unsavory characters quite nicely. The text illustration accompanying the text story is a panel from an unidentified Ayers story. Edited July 13, 2018 by N e r V The Lions Den 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N e r V Posted July 13, 2018 Author Share Posted July 13, 2018 To anyone reading this thread (?) Comic Con is next week so I’ll probably be taking a break from any new additions for a little bit but should have something on Monsters Unleased #2, Haunt of Horror #2 and yet another new magazine in the then ever expanding monster magazine line...Vampire Tales! The Lions Den and oakman29 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian48 Posted July 13, 2018 Share Posted July 13, 2018 Gotta have some Conan in this thread. RedRaven and batmiesta 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian48 Posted July 13, 2018 Share Posted July 13, 2018 Hulk Smash! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian48 Posted July 13, 2018 Share Posted July 13, 2018 Ohhh, that cover Brandon Shepherd 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N e r V Posted July 13, 2018 Author Share Posted July 13, 2018 36 minutes ago, Brian48 said: Gotta have some Conan in this thread. At one time I owned many now I find myself looking for a copy. Probably not a 9.6 though. Lol The Lions Den 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oakman29 Posted July 15, 2018 Share Posted July 15, 2018 On 7/13/2018 at 10:30 AM, Brian48 said: Gotta have some Conan in this thread. Amen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon Shepherd Posted July 15, 2018 Share Posted July 15, 2018 I just caught up on this amazing thread. Thank you@N e r Vfor putting this together. You have contributed great writing and quality pictures, I'll be coming back to this thread again. The Lions Den and FoggyNelson 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oakman29 Posted July 15, 2018 Share Posted July 15, 2018 Yes Nerv I want to thank you for the awesome reporting of these books that deserves their rightful place in the genre. The Lions Den 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
batmiesta Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 22 hours ago, oakman29 said: Yes Nerv I want to thank you for the awesome reporting of these books that deserves their rightful place in the genre. Seconded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Lions Den Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 Thirded! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N e r V Posted July 16, 2018 Author Share Posted July 16, 2018 Thanks guys. As I said I’ll resume it sometime after Comic Con this week. With that coming up Wednesday and having to put down my favorite dog this morning I need some time away.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FoggyNelson Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 On 7/15/2018 at 11:23 AM, Brando- said: I just caught up on this amazing thread. Thank you@N e r Vfor putting this together. You have contributed great writing and quality pictures, I'll be coming back to this thread again. Yes mrNerv this is a great thread thank you ☝️?? thank you I enjoy reading 1950's war comics and ComicConnoisseur 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chevalmeow Posted July 16, 2018 Share Posted July 16, 2018 2 hours ago, N e r V said: Thanks guys. As I said I’ll resume it sometime after Comic Con this week. With that coming up Wednesday and having to put down my favorite dog this morning I need some time away.... Very sorry to hear about your dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
batmiesta Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 On 7/16/2018 at 10:51 PM, N e r V said: Thanks guys. As I said I’ll resume it sometime after Comic Con this week. With that coming up Wednesday and having to put down my favorite dog this morning I need some time away.... Sorry to hear that man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FoggyNelson Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 Sorry for your dognerV 1950's war comics, ComicConnoisseur and Lucky Baru 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucky Baru Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 On 7/16/2018 at 4:51 PM, N e r V said: Thanks guys. As I said I’ll resume it sometime after Comic Con this week. With that coming up Wednesday and having to put down my favorite dog this morning I need some time away.... Sorry to read that. I hope that the memories you made together warms your heart when you feel down. 1950's war comics and FoggyNelson 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N e r V Posted August 14, 2018 Author Share Posted August 14, 2018 (edited) OK, so after some recovery time I’m going to restart this thread beginning in May 1973 with the first of three releases that month in the Marvel magazine line. The first was another new title with Vampire Tales #1. Dracula was already in use with his own title so the then Spider-Man Villain Morbius got the nod as a lead. He would later turn up again back in the color comics after Man-Thing departed the Fear title. He also was around to drop back into Spider-Man’s life soon enough. According to his intro in this issue: ...few issues of a certain superhero comic-book called THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN have ever been more warmly received or more greedily collected and hoarded than those which introduced a tortured soul named Morbius... Each time this 20th-century vampire has appeared in print, so great has been the outcry to give him his own magazine that finally nothing was to be done but to grant him a place of honor in this premiere issue of VAMPIRE TALES. And here, hopefully, he'll remain - a more science-fiction-oriented monster in some ways than any before him - in many ways Count Dracula's spiritual descendant, yet because of his nagging conscience in other ways his opposite. Edited August 14, 2018 by N e r V The Lions Den 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N e r V Posted August 14, 2018 Author Share Posted August 14, 2018 The cover was by Esteban Maroto with a nice graphic style for the period and a blood red backdrop. I didn’t buy this issue off the newsstands (my first was issue #2) but VT #1 was another I got from their back issue supply. I really like the classic ghoul vampire look on the cover. Esteban Maroto did some very fine work over the years. The Lions Den 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
