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COMIC EFFECT #37
($3.50 from Jim Kingman / PO Box 2188 / Pasadena, CA / 91102-2188 USA. Web:
www.comiceffect.com)
This horror-themed issue of
Comic Effect is a nice trip down memory lane for fans of EC comics,
Tomb of Dracula, DC's Silver Age horror books and so forth. Probably my favorite article this time around is Jim Kingman's "The Road Much Traveled", in which he mixes travel writing (following a road trip from California to Florida) with reflections on comics (stories that he read on said trip). Another bit I liked is Kingman's review of Milligan and Fegredo's
Face but mostly because he manages to juxtapose it with an issue of
Welcome Back, Kotter. Also in the issue: Kingman's (what, again?) list of essential horror reading; Peter Enfantino's
Haunt of Fear tribute and synopses for his favorite stories; Jason Sacks' discussion of the last few issues of Marvel's
Tomb of Dracula by Wolfman and Colan; and an interesting comparison (by Allen J. Schuler) of themes in Marvels' non-superhero
Tales to Astonish of November, 1961 and
Fantastic Four #1 which was released the same month (and began the new age of Marvel superheroes). Schuler makes it pretty clear – and I find it amusing – that the earliest Marvel superhero comics were really the same comics they'd been doing except everyone had colorful costumes. I'm not sure I'd ever really looked at it like that. Anyway, there's more in the issue, of course. If you've never read
Comic Effect and you're a fan of horror comics, I'd recommend starting with this one.
[ Link to this review ]
