Eerie Archives Volume 16

Published by: Dark Horse Comics
Released on: May 28, 2014
Writers: various
Artists: various
Cover: Richard Corben (reprinted from issue #77)
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Dark Horse's latest edition of Eerie Archives bringing more of that 70s black-and-white goodness back to world of comics. Volume 15 reprints books 75 through 80, published in 1976 and 1977 by Warren, and some issues feature color stories. Great advertisement pages are included as well as letters pages, providing a nice time capsule of sorts into an era of comic magazines that's long gone. Richard Corben's glorious cover comes from issue #77, and a forward by Peter Bagge starts the book off. This melting pot of genre stories ranges from adventure to sci-fi to horror, and many stories within are serials, running in and out of various issues. Stories like the Oogie tales, gorgeously illustrated by Esteban Maroto. Corben fans will no doubt dig issue #77's “Within You…Without You”, scripted by Bruce Jones and illustrated by the legendary Mr. Corben. Curiously, that is the cover story for that issue; a cover which is so vibrant it punches you in the face, and a cover that boasts color pages inside, but the Corben story is not in color. It's still breath taking Corben art though, which should go without saying anyway. What follows us a breakdown of each issue within this volume, with stories featured that were the most enjoyable.

Issue #75 cover by Jose Bea
• “The Demons of Jeremiah Cold” by Bill DuBay and Jose Ortiz. Jeremiah Cold stumbles upon a man mourning the horrible deaths of three children under his care. Disturbingly, the three children are right there for all to see, crucified, mutilated, and baked in the desert sun. Pretty nasty stuff. Anyway, Cold is forced to do battle against the prejudice townsfolk as they do not like this small community of “freaks” that the man has built for them to help them with having a normal life. Cold's dad, Jedediah Pan, shows up and helps them out, and they summon demons of hell to graphically rip the attacking townsfolk to shreds.
• “Freaks: The One Eyed Shall Be King!” by Budd Lewis and Leopold Sanchez. Continuing on their quest for a home, the Freaks (Sweet Pea, Wee Willie, and Dramulo) cross onto the land of Kaler and his followers and they must answer to Kaler as a result. Ok, fine. The freaks will go, but they don't want trouble (Kaler best not give it). Kaler is a tiny fat bald man, child-sized, who stays in a glass container to live and he has plans for the Freaks. They are to breed with hot chicks to make more freaks like them so he can eat them. Dramulo exploits Kaler's one weakness and the show's over.
• “Oogie and the Worm!” by Bill DuBay and Esteban Maroto.
• “Invasion”, script and art by Jose Bea
• “Gillian and the Sky Pirates” by Budd Lewis and Luis Bermejo.

Issue #76 cover by Sanjulian
• “Moonweavers: Deliver the Child” by Budd Lewis and Leopold Sanchez
• “Wolfer O'Conner: Highsong” by Budd Lewis and Luis Bermejo
• “Oogie & the Scroungers” by Bill DuBay and Esteban Maroto
• “Tales of Peter Hypnos: The Silver Key”, script and art by Jose Bea
• “Beware Darklon the Mystic!”, script and art by Jim Starlin. Darklon meets up with assassin Koph-Fan and forces Koph-Fan to tell the story of his botched assassination attempt on Darklon's life. From the accidental killing of Darklon's plaything to the bodies of Koph-Fan's accomplices. Darklon thanks him in kind by first ripping off his arm, and then gets the answer from the soon-to-be dead alien as to who hired him. The answer does not make Darklon happy.

Issue #77 cover by Richard Corben
• “Within You…Without You” by Bruce Jones and Richard Corben. A team of scientists have the ability to send a person's mind back in time, record what they see and hear in that time period, and photos can be developed by snapshots taken from their brain. While back in the Cretaceous Era time, and earthquake causes a mishap and Karen, the scientist whose mind is with the dinosaurs, gets it trapped without a way back and with her mind reverted back to a teenage girl's. Hippie stud Jeff is the only one who can help her, and he happens to be an old flame of hers from back when she was 18. T-rex don't care about that though and Jeff learns a lesson.
• “Moonweavers: The Gift” by Budd Lewis and Leopold Sanchez
• “Demons of Mob Hill” by Bill DuBay and Jose Ortiz. Continuing the story of Jedediah Pan and his son Jeremiah Cold and their demon-summoning bracelets from issue #75 brings the two men to 1914s San Francisco. Before too long someone steals the old man's bracelet and starts calling up the demons to do his bidding in the hopes of becoming the king of San Francisco. He doesn't make it too far with that plan.
• COLOR! “The Demons of Father Pain” by Bill DuBay and Jose Ortiz. And the story continutes in color! Jedediah Pan and Jeremiah Cold beat the idiot who stole the bracelet, but left it behind for some other asshole to snatch and misuse. Turns out it's a priest and he uses the demons to steal money for his orphanage. The demons are nasty little things and do more than just steal; they also shred those they are taking money from. During a scuffle, the old man Pan takes a nasty blow to the head. Is he dead? Is this the last Jedediah/Jeremiah tale?
• “Oogie and the Lie” by Bill DuBay and Esteban Maroto
• “Cronk: Stalker in the Maze” by Nick Cuti and Carmine Infantino (inks by Wayne Howard)

Issue #78 cover by Jaime Brocal Most of the stories in this issue are available to read in earlier volumes of Eerie Archives (noted in the contents of the issue). There are only two stories from #78 in this volume. Too bad, it would have been cool, no AWESOME, to have the whole Mummy story together.
• COLOR! “The Mummy:…And In the End!” by Steve Skeates and Jaime Brocal
• “The Hope of the Future” by Doug Moench and Jaime Brocal

Issue #79 cover by Ken Kelly
• “Time and Time Again” by Bruce Jones and Richard Corben. Continuing the tale the team started in issue #77 “Within You…Without You”; Karen is suffering from depression after what happened in the dinosaur world, and lies around the pool, gorgeously naked. Goddamn does Richard Corben ever draw sexy women. He has to be a fan of Russ Meyer films. At any rate she returns to the Cretaceous Era to exact some revenge on the T-rex that ate her sweetheart. But she screws with machine settings before she goes and creates a time paradox resulting in an unexpected change in Karen.
• “The Pea-Green Boat” by Budd Lewis and Leopold Sanchez
• “Darklon the Mystic: The Price”; story and art by Jim Starlin. Darklon wants to smite his enemies with great power, so he makes a deal with “The Nameless One” to gain said power. The price is not exactly what Darklon had in mind. In fact his mind is about the only thing left when the Nameless one is done with him. Jim Starlin's art really shines in this episode and it's quite violent to boot.
• “Third Person Singular Part I” by Bruce Jones and Luis Bermejo
• “Sam's Son and Delilah” by Bruce Jones and Carmine Infantino (inks by Al Milgrom)

Issue #80 cover by Ken Kelly
• “The Invisible One: Scallywag” by Budd Lewis and Jose Ortiz
• “Darklon the Mystic: Retribution: story and art by Jim Starlin. Darklon's rise to a new power concludes, and he emerges at a level of existence far beyond that of his former human self. He's got a new body, new eye, and he can blow part his enemies with but a single motion of his hand. But now he is indebted to the Nameless one and must renounce his claim to his father's throne. It's the end of the arc and per usual Starlin's art is great stuff.
• The Pea-Green Boat: On Moonlight Bay” by Budd Lewis and Leopold Sanchez
• “Tombspawn: Pieces of Hate” by Gerry Boudreau and Gonzalo Mayo. This sci-fi/fantasy hybrid wasn't all that great of a read, but the artwork by Mayo is worthy of mention. You can't go wrong with Gonzalo Mayo pictures, not matter what the story. His stuff is just perfect for black and white material, as he fills it with texture, depth, and detail. It just draws the reader in; it can't be helped.
• “Third Person Singular Part II” by Bruce Jones and Luis Bermejo
• “Cronk: Queen of the Purple Range” by Nick Cuti and Carmine Infantino (inks by Al Milgrom)

Per usual there is a host of talent jammed into this volume and with a mixed range of quality within that talent. And for the most part, the entire volume is very gratifying. Aside from way too much Carmine Infantino, the only real disappointment is the exclusion of the Mummy chapters in issue #78. The full issue would have really been appreciated by those who may not have the volumes referenced in the contents of the issue, and also appreciated by those who would enjoy reading the entire story all in one sitting and in one place. Other than that, it's another outstanding addition to the collection and a must have for anthology fans.