Strange Things Are Afoot In Wyldwood Cemetary

cover by Sanjulian

 On Sunday i teased a faded image beyond the mists of time showing an encounter most odd. Plainly visible in the first page splash is our heroine, the scantily clad Vampirella and the headstone of Denny Colt - the Spirit! And to dispel any suspicions of mere name similarity, the gate of Wildwood Cemetery is plainly visible in the background.

But, perhaps you exclaim, how could this be possible? Could they get the rights to use the Spirit?
You betch'um, Red Rider. At this point in time, Warren was not only publishing reprints of The Spirit, but Will Eisner himself was editing the book for them. Many things were possible.

I'll be honest, i'd completely forgotten this strange little story from the 50th issue of Vampirella. Add in a Pantha girl or two, ancient Egyptians, the mystery of the pyramids and a blackmarket baby operation run by Granny Goose, and you've got a packed full 50th issue extravaganza.
And it's a big one, so unbuckle-up and here we go!

Our story opens with the previously teased splash page-

After that first chapter to set the tale, we shift to find Conrad Van Helsing suffering bloody visions in the night:

Note that in the tradition of the classic tales like early Justice Society Of America adventures, each chapter is drawn by a different artist, and frequently features different members of the cast. After Conrad shares his premonitions with Vampi and his son, Adam, the pair head off to seek information from Nubia El Marna - yet another in his global web of informants and mystics. Specifically, they need to learn more about the amulet she acquired as Conrad feels it is at the center of things...

She tells them of how the Pharaoh Khufu one day rescued a mysterious stranger, to whom he gave the name Khafra. Kahfra was a shapeshifter from the stars and original owner of the amulet. He constructed the great pyramid of Khufu, and his own, as well and began construction on a third for his successor. "Khafra wished the three pyramids placed in a line, so, he claimed, the great gods could see that the people of Egypt had not forgotten them!"

That night, after all have settled to bed and sleep...

Meanwhile, in New York City, our next chapter begins...

While the opening circumstances may seem to have little bearing on our tale, the conversations turn back to Wildwood...

While Conrad seeks the Spirit of Denny Colt, Vampir & Adam arrive just in time to see their contact kidnapped and quickly pursue. Tracking the kidnappers to their lair, they find the hostages about to be shot. Adam uses the amulet to join with Vampi as...

"For as long as there has been recorded time, this amulet has graced the throats of a noble family. A family that was spawned by Khafra, Pharaoh, Healer, and Star-Traveler."
She explains that the power to shift to panther form is bread into their genetics, but the amulet is required to assuage the shock, preventing mental damage and insanity. Tracing the vibrations, she determines that the last descendant is a girl in Egypt, and sends the pair off again on her trail.
The next chapter had no credits on the splash page, so we'll jump straight into the action as Vampi seeks our missing girl. But first, let's meet her next contacts:

Vampi arrives soon after, and the meeting proceeds as a typical courteous brush-off until...

Not at all suspicious behaviour, eh? Unsurprisingly, Vampi returns surreptitiously in aerial rodent form to find-

After the messy bits, the amulet is returned and her memory restored - including her recollection of having been sold by Granny Goose! With the shock and horror of all that has happened to her, Pantha decides to leave this miserable world and return to her own. It turns out she was found with her own craft, which is still accessible...

With Pantha's mystery solved, we break tradition from those old JSA stories - the entire team does not reunite for the final chapter, at last delving into the question of

And, so, in the end - no Spirit in this world. But a delightfully odd intersection between two realities.

story by Bill Dubay, art by Jose Gonzales, Esteban Maroto, Ramon Torrents, and Jose Ortiz for  Vampirella #50 (1976)

It Was The 70s...

Our Halloween Blue Monday continues with, as alluded, The Sexorcist-

Yes, eagle-eyed readers, that is Ernie Colon's artwork gracing the cover of this book. In fact, though it is a text novel, Colon's art is on pretty much every page. It is a short book, however. Less than 50 pages of text.

If you're too young to be familiar with Ernie Colon's work as an artist and editor, he began his career back in the 60s, working at Harvey, Gold Key and Warren before moving to DC to work as both artist & editor. That didn't stop him from working with Marvel, too. The man's work was everywhere, and he introduced characters like Amethyst and edited titles like Flash, Green Lantern, & Wonder Woman.
In more recent times he's drawn the 9/11 Commission Report graphic novel and other more politically important work.

As you can tell looking at the cover, this was the 1970s.
Ernie was approached to illustrate the book for Bleep, but didn't really want to do that sort of thing and turned them down. But, they wanted him and kept pushing more money at him until he felt it would be just stupid to refuse it. It was the 70s - sex was on the upswing, The Exorcist was huge. And Jaws gave us that cello Da-Dum echoing in our heads...

Hey, look! Jack Kirby wasn't the only one experimenting with collage work in his comics back in 1974:

Unfortunately, the printing on this page is terribly muddy. I'd love to see this artwork clean:

It's not a great book, but it's certainly unique and a look at a side of Ernie Colon's work we don't often see.
The author goes uncredited on the book. In fact, the only credit is Ernie's signature on his work.
Even the publisher's name gets BLEEPed.

illustrations for The Sexorcist by Ernie Colon for Bleep Publications (1974)

Monday Cafe

It's time to face a new week, and we always try to help with our regular Monday feature -

...um, no....  That's not it. But that is our featured artist this outing - Dave Stevens, an artist fairly well known for his loving renditions of the female form, as well as for triggering a renaissance of interest in the immortal Bettie Page. Both are easily great features we'll focus on in the future, let's narrow things down a bit to vaguely Halloween/Spooky/Supernatural themed images from Mr. Stevens for this edition of

Meanwhile, back in the pumpkin patch...

That comic sure has changed since i was a kid.
Something we get to see less often is Dave's paintings, such as this lovely witch-

Dave's Delicious Daughters of Darkness:

She may be "dressed," but his rendition of Vampirella looks all the more naked for it

Ever wonder who's in charge of dirty movies down below?

Let's end it with a another look at the bewitching Jill-

That's enough for now. We wouldn't want to have to call a sexorcist...

all art by Dave Stevens (various)