Poe 1967, Pt. 1

(Continued from Poe 1966, Pt. 3)

EERIE  11
"BERENICE"

The real "golden age" of POE comics continues!

Warren was the small empire of magazine publisher James Warren.  Freed from constrictions of the Comics Code due to its B&W magazine format, editor Archie Goodwin managed to recruit the cream of the old EC artists, including Jack Davis, Joe Orlando, Al Williamson, Angelo Torres and Reed Crandall, as well as Gray Morrow and Frank Frazetta.  After doing his final comics story in CREEPY #1, Frazetta switched over to cover paintings, carving an entire new career for himself in the process.

When CREEPY became a success, Warren decided to add a 2nd title... EERIE.  The name had been previously used by Avon, Ziff-Davis, Hastings Associates, I.W. Publishing / Super Comics, and, in England, by Thorpe & Porter and Alan Cass.  An "ashcan" edition consisting of reprints from CREEPY was rushed together to secure the Trademark when it appeared someone else (probably the VERY tacky Eerie Publications) intended to make use of it.  As a result, confusingly, there never was an official EERIE #1.  But starting with #2, it followed the same format of CREEPY.  In fact, in its early years, it's hard to say if there was any criteria whatsoever to determine if some stories would wind up in one magazine or the other.

Mixed in with new stories were a nice spattering of adaptations of classic works, among them those of Edgar Allan Poe.  In the late 60s, 6 of these appeared, the first 3 in CREEPY, the other 3 in its brother magazine, EERIE.  I feel safe in saying that despite the high caliber of some of the versions seen before this, these may have to rank among the BEST ever done.

Their 4th offering...

     "BERENICE".

      This was the 2nd comics version of this story, after...
Outubro's CLASSICOS DE TERROR #24 (1962)
     ...5 years earlier.

The art this time was by Jerry Grandenetti.  He started out as an assistant to Will Eisner on THE SPIRIT, before developing his own distinct, unique, and I might say, "demented" style. The unrelated cover painting was by Joe Orlando, who started out in the 50s doing a lot of work with science-fiction artist Wally Wood.  This would be his ONLY cover for Warren.

Archie Goodwin, meanwhile, didn't so much "adapt" this story to comics as do an "illustrated" version of the story, with much of the original text INTACT.  Enjoy!

EERIE  11
cover by JOE ORLANDO   (Warren  /  September 1967)

"BERENICE!"  /  Version 2

Adaptation by Archie Goodwin  /  Art by JERRY GRANDENETTI  /  Page 21

Page 22

Page 23

Page 24

Page 25

Page 26

VAMPUS was a Spanish version of CREEPY.
This story appeared in its 1st "Annual"...

VAMPUS EXTRA VERANO 1972
cover by JACK DAVIS   (Ibero Mundial De Ediciones  /  Spain  /  1972)

Dark Horse started as a small "independant" comics publisher in the early 80s "direct market" boom, and remains, currently, one of the FEW survivors of that brief, glorious period. In 2008, they began a series of reprints of CREEPY and EERIE, licensed from James Warren, who had gotten back the rights to those series following a lawsuit with Harris Comics, who had earlier acquired them via a bankruptcy auction.  "Berenice!" does not appear to have been reprinted before 2010, some 43 years after its 1st appearance, although in the meantime, Warren wound up doing a completely different version of it.

EERIE ARCHIVES Volume 3
cover by FRANK FRAZETTA   (Dark Horse  /  June 2010)

Copyright (C) Warren Publishing.

Scan of EERIE #11 (1967) from the Heritage Auctions site.
Scans of EERIE #11 (1967) interiors from The Golden Age blog.
Scan of VAMPUS EXTRA VERANO (1972) from the Tebeosfera site.
Scan of EERIE ARCHIVES Volume Three (2010) from the GCD site.

Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa

For more:
Read about Edgar Allan Poe at The Poe Museum site.
Read about Edgar Allan Poe at the Biography site.

Read about Berenice at the Old Style Tales site.
Read the complete story at the Poe Stories site.
See the BERENICE Gallery of Illustrations.

     Audio:
Hear the Vincent Price recording!
Hear the CBS RADIO MYSTERY THEATER episode!

     Comics:
Read the Flavio Colin BERENICE adaptation!
Read the Jerry Grandenetti BERENICE adaptation!
Read the Edegar & Ignacio Justo BERENICE adaptation!
Read the Carlos Moro BERENICE adaptation!
Read the A. Carrasco BERENICE adaptation!   (coming soon!)

Read the Ricardo Villamonte BERENICE adaptation!
Read the Isidro Mones BERENICE adaptation!
     (Coming soon:)
Read the D. Cebello BERENICE adaptation!
Read the Richard Corben BERENICE adaptation!
Read the Omar Hirsig BERENICE adaptation!

Read the Alineromero9 BERENICE adaptation!
Read the Jose Pimentel Neto BERENICE adaptation!
Read the Nelson Evergreen BERENICE adaptation!
Read the Jack Bertram BERENICE adaptation!
Read the Luca Frasca BERENICE adaptation!

     Misc:
Read the Jerry Grandenetti HOUSE OF USHER adaptation!
Read the Jerry Grandenetti BERENICE adaptation!

See the CHRONOLOGICAL list of Edgar Allan Poe stories!
See the ALPHABETICAL list of Edgar Allan Poe stories!

(Continued in Poe 1967, Pt. 2)