[MarkWarner]

Happy New Year Reading Group!

We rounded off 2016 with our 150th book. This was appropriately Captain Marvel #150, and received a fairly enthusiastic thumbs up (especially from me!).

But it is now onwards and upwards. Looking at my suggestions list, I spotted this week's issue ... with the words "great cover". And it surely has that!!

So, we are starting the year off in in horrific style with Fiction House's Monster #1, which can be found here. https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=17242. and the story we will concentrate on is rather predictably "The Monster"!

[EHowie60]

First off, has anyone ever won a gamble with Satan? I guess that fiddler guy...

I saw this cover and thought right away that this was gonna be fun. I was mostly right. I love old-school horror like "The Monster". The art was decent, but the story was a bit cliched. (The creepy guy was...*gasp* the devil!) How is this guy thinking he's liberating mankind by turning them into monsters? Some nice panels, like the one of the scientist fleeing on p. 12.

"The Mirror": my goodness it took me a minute to figure out how to read p. 15. Like a romance comic from a few weeks back, the artist here has lavished attention on full-length drawings of a pretty woman that lie over the rest of the page. But in this case it serves to make the panel order more confusing. I didn't like this one much. It felt rushed and hard to follow.

Traitor's House: I'm a fan of nonstandard narration like this. Nice art, especially the parade of evil faces on the last page.

The Secret Files of Dr. Drew: this may not be Grandinetti, but whoever it was sure does a decent imitation of him. Really well-drawn art, very expressive.

[crashryan]

A mixed bag from Fiction House's dying days. Maurice Whitman's cover is certainly better than the story it illustrates. I'm not sure why the editor chooses to blow the story's surprise ending with the cover blurb. Not that it is much of a surprise. In a comic book a malevolent figure named Nicholas is certain to be Satan in disguise.

"The Monster" itself is nothing special. Like so many Fiction House stories it suffers from a choppy script that flows poorly from panel to panel.  The artwork is rather ugly and reminds me of the stuff Myron Fass reprinted in his 1970s Eerie Publications magazines.

"The Mirror" has creepy potential but the muddled script sinks it. I'm confused by the final caption. Previously, Christine "laughed" when she sent her husband to his doom but for some reason after sending the boy and the detective into the mirror she is "sobbing hopelessly." The serviceable art is spiced up by some classic Fiction House cheesecake.

"Traitor's House" wins the prize for the least coherent script. The ghosts haunting the house are all traitors,evil men. What do they care that a new batch of traitors has arrived to make mischief? It seems as if the ghosts act because Willie threatens to burn the house if they don't. But a couple of panels later the ghosts say they'll help Willie because he's their "only living friend." In the end the house tells Willie "they" will now allow him to live here in peace...who are "they"? The outside world? The ghosts? The artwork shows effort but is pretty ugly. Bleah.

Now comes the feature that makes the book worthwhile: "Dr Drew." So what if it's a reprint from Rangers #48? This thing's dynamite! The art is superb. The story is imaginative and well-paced. I side with JVJ in believing it's largely Will Eisner's work. I can buy Grandenetti having inked it. Maybe he even did some pencilling. But the figures, layouts, the backgrounds, even the shape of the balloons, are so Eisneresque that it's difficult to believe this is simply a matter of Grandenetti copying Eisner's style. I'll go out on a limb. I wouldn't be surprised if Eisner also wrote the script. Both the theme and the way the story is paced are reminiscent of his Spirit stories. The Drew stories in Rangers 48-56 are minor classics. It all ends with an abrupt style change in #57.

Overall impression: three stinkers redeemed by a monsterpiece.

[Morgus]

Yeah, Crashryan...THAT'S what the issue reminded me of...those Eerie comics from my misspent youth. For some reason they were looked down on,  (okay, actively hated) by my parents and so were more valuable to me...I'm willing to give a lot of slack for the three stores because I can still enjoy them through the eyes of a kid...but Dr Drew is nearly perfect. I got the hardcover collection before I joined the group, and never regretted the investment. Wonderful seeing it here.

[John Kerry]

Okay. This one was interesting. The first story, "The Monster", reminded me of some of the old horror movies I used to stay up late to watch back in the late sixties/early seventies. It had that sort of feel to it. It did seem a bit rushed at times though. Not impressed with the second story, "The Mirror". It seemed to me that some explanatory material was missing. Otherwise why is she quite happy to send her husband into the mirror but then be upset when the boy and the inspector end up going into it as well. "Traitor's House" was not bad. I did notice that even though the house has seen both good and evil it was the evil Willie saw. Not sure if it was only the evil ghosts that came to the rescue. Am I correct in thinking that the bodies hanging from the trees were the rest of the spy ring. The Dr. Drew story that rounded out the issue was enjoyable. Might have to check out some of those issues of Ranger Comics to see if there was any sort of backstory for the good doctor.

[pabrides]

Best copy:  Page 5, first panel - great alliteration.  Then unbelievable mirror hag; boobs too nice.  Loved the claustrophobic torture box.  Got a kick out of the Dr Drew snorting horse and carriage page 3.  Learned something new - pipes can talk (word balloon made from pipe smoke) page 6 last panel. 

All in all, the book was acceptable but a bit hard to follow on some pages. 

[Captain Audio]

"Traitor's House" wins the prize for the least coherent script. The ghosts haunting the house are all traitors,evil men. What do they care that a new batch of traitors has arrived to make mischief? It seems as if the ghosts act because Willie threatens to burn the house if they don't. But a couple of panels later the ghosts say they'll help Willie because he's their "only living friend." In the end the house tells Willie "they" will now allow him to live here in peace...who are "they"? The outside world? The ghosts? The artwork shows effort but is pretty ugly. Bleah.

In the words of Lazarus Long "no man is a villain in his own eyes".

[K1ngcat]

The Maurice Whitman cover promises far more than the rest of the contents delivers, with the exception of Grandenetti's delicious Dr. Drew.  Prior to joining CB+, I'd only ever come up against one reprint, in a UK B/W Horror compendium, but his incredibly accurate swipe of Eisner's style sold me on the strip, and proves imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery.

The other stories are the usual melange of horror cliches, and not awfully well strung together either.  Bleah.

[paw broon]

This was a real example of extremes, but, fortunately, the good stuff was waiting at the back.  just like a good variety bill, the talent often gets to close the show.
The cover was good and it was such a disappointment to see that much lowere standard of art on the first story.  However, it fair rattled along, but I had to go back a couple of times to figure out who was who and what was happening to them.  The problem for me, apart from the art, ws that the story seemed all over the place.  Are those "mysteries of eternity" blokes in the last panel related in any way to the ghosts in Traitor's House? Actually, I don't want to know as that story wasn't very well told.
The artist(s) on The Mirror story made the lady very glamourous but, again the storytelling let it down.
Detective Brady looks a lot like Bob Benton a/e of The Black Terror, in some panels.
Now to Dr. Drew and this was a belter.  Thoroughly enjoyed just looking at it - and the story wasn't half bad either.  While I have nowhere near the knowledge of crashryan and others on here, or the same ability to recognise art styles, I have the feeling that there is a lot of Grandenetti here. But over the years I've noticed that Eisner does the best rain and this is up there with the best rain.  So I think this was a collaboration.  Either way, what a good read.

[SuperScrounge]

The Monster - Eh, seemed... uninspired? The writing wasn't necesarily bad, it was just... there. Probably written more for a paycheck than any attempt to tell a really good story.

The Mirror - Better than the first story. Some nice cheesecake drawings as well.

Pulling Boners - Well, who knew stamps could be so risque? 

Traitor's House - Interesting.

The Philosopher's Stone - Best story in the book.

[narfstar]

I found the Monster to be a hodge podge mess of a story. It was like so many Fiction House stories going for pizazz over substance. Throw this at the reader throw that at the read never really tell a good story but have a lot thrown in.

[MarkWarner]

I am a great fan of old Horror films (Hammer Horror types). Low budget cheesy horror and I am your man.

But although I sort of do like horror comics, their low budget and cheesyness just seem to be that. There is little joy to reading them. As opposed to the countless hours of enjoyment I have had watching Peter Cushing, Karloff, the immortal Lugosi etc.

And unfortunately, this book which looks so good  is as the other reviewers have said, a big let down. It left me rather disappointed.

Which leads me to a question. Does what I seek exist on Comic Book Plus? Are there titles, a title or even a single issue which can emulate in print the old horrors I love to watch??

Verdict: A pass. If it wasn't for the great scan and the cover this would have been a fail. But they both just persuaded me to wave it through.