THWAK #3

It wasn't until late 2000 that I first discovered the marvelous monster/horror magazines that Warren had started in the '60's. What really peaked my interest was the absolutely amazing art that vividly accompanied each well crafted tale. I instantly recognized many of these talented creators as having contributed to the original EC comics from the '50's. CREEPY & EERIE boasted such EC talent as Frank Frazetta, John Severin, Wally Wood, Angelo Torres and of course Jack Davis sporting the iconic CREEPY #1 cover.

It was after discovering these gems that the idea came to do an "All Monster Issue". Knowing that I really wanted to parody this cover I initially (naively) approached Bernie Wrightson to illustrate it and was turned down quicker than you can say "NO!" : ) Next another artist took a swing at it but it wasn't quite right until my friend Ben Boling stepped up to the plate with what proved to be a funny spoof/homage to that amazing initial issue.

While waiting for our Diamond order I stumbled across another magazine that had the very same idea sporting their latest cover. It was the excellent "MONSTER MEMORIES 2002 Yearbook" from the long running SCARY MONSTERS magazine. Indeed what a coincidence that we were both thinking along the same lines at that very moment. I thought it would be fun to put all these 3 covers side by side to see the differences and similarities. This same concept was also utilized on the cover to Two Morrows Publishing's "The WARREN Companion" a must have book for anyone interested in Warren's rich publishing history.

While Uncle CREEPY, Sam Scare (SCARY MONSTERS), Jim Warren (The WARREN Companion) all read their titles to an attentive (if not quite terrifying) audience, Stupid Cupid has no such luck as his listeners are clearly more than repulsed by the drivel that he's reading them.

The contents of this issue while all keeping with the "All Monster" theme were quite varied, including these 3 main features: Mayberry RIP by Lint Hatcher about characters from the beloved Andy Griffith show turning into zombies it was illustrated in a realistic style (very CREEPYish) with a humorous twist. Billy Genius (101 Uses for a Turd) did an excellent job with his 6 pages of illustrated lyrics to some Monster songs filled with tons of sight gags and Dave Newton's homage piece to EC comics called "Reduction of the Insolent" which included cameos by the 3 Ghoulunatics and Alfred E. Neuman. Much FUN !!!