Doug Moench | Magazines and Monsters!

Kull The Conqueror #2, 1983 “The Blood of Kings!”

Posted on May 5, 2015 by billyd75

You might be cool, but you’ll never be Kull fighting werewolves cool! Sorry to burst your bubble so early on, but it’s true! The story is great, and features Kull, trying to live the good life, and be with his woman, but of course, in typical hero fashion, evil is never far behind! When you mix fantasy and horror, you can get a great mix that spills out into something exceptional. This is definitely one of those times, and we have Robert E. Howard to thank for creating the awesomeness that is Kull the Conqueror!

The Bronze Age of comics gave us the beginnings of some incredible writers. One of those that doesn’t get as much air time as he should, is Doug Moench. If you look at just Werewolf by Night and Moon Knight, that in itself is something to admire. The wraparound cover and interior art is by John Bolton, and if you’ve never seen his work before, look up issues of Classic X-Men, where he and Chris Claremont did supplemental stories in the back pages of that series for a while. Joe Rosen on letters, Christie Scheele (along with Bolton) on colors, and Ralph Macchio editing, round out the creative team on this tale of the supernatural!

Fantastic Four #219, 1980 “Leviathans”

Posted on February 27, 2015 by billyd75

The reason I chose this issue, aside from it being the Fantastic Four, is the story, and the creative team. The latter, I’ll get to in a minute, but first, let’s get acquainted with the story. In it, we see Namor, as his underwater kingdom is attacked by some foreign army of underwater creatures. On the surface, Reed is growing more and more apart from the rest of the team. Snapping at them for something miniscule, he storms off in a huff. Can the team unite and help Namor fight off a multitude of attackers, one of which has attained a relic from Atlantis that can make him unbeatable?

Now, on to the creative team. At this point, the book was in a slight bit of flux, in that the Kirby/Lee legendary run was well over, and a couple of the other, lesser known (but still kicked butt!) runs were also over (Wein/Perez, Conway/Buckler, etc.). The other big run, that of John Byrne had yet to begin, leaving room for a strange but incredible great story like this one to be presented by Doug Moench (writer), Bill Sienkiewicz (pencils), Joe Sinnott (inks), Jim Novak (letters), colors by George Roussos, and edited by Jim Salicrup! Enjoy this great issue by this awesome team of creators!

Pin-up by ‘Joltin’ Joe Sinnott

Werewolf by Night #36, 1975 “Images of Death”

Posted on October 31, 2014 by billyd75

It’s time once again, to bark at the moon! Another tale in the twisted life of Jack Russell is upon us, and this time, we’ll see a beheading, a hanging, skeletons, rats, and a squad of ghost cops! Well, and just to be clear, we’ll see a werewolf as well! I love necromancer type characters, and virtually all magic practitioners in comic books. Why this is, I have no idea, but the sorcerer supreme, Doctor Strange is my all-time favorite. The villain in this story, is a man named Belaric Marcosa. The dude wasn’t around very long, but he was a great villain for Werewolf by Night. And besides, the dude was so cool, he had two rubies imbedded in his two front teeth!

The awesome villain was created by Doug Moench, and Don Perlin. These two guys (especially Perlin) get very little credit for their work on this title, but if you really take a long look at their run, it’s chocked full of weirdo characters that made this book so good. Don’t just forsake everything past the early issues, because if you do, you will be doing a disservice to yourself! Written by Doug Moench, art by Don Perlin, colors by George Roussos, letters by Debra James, and edited by Marv Wolfman! Enjoy!

Moon Knight #23, 1982 “Perchance to Scream”

Posted on September 27, 2014 by billyd75

I’ll admit that I’m not the biggest fan of Moon Knight. No vitriol here, but I just never was a huge fan for some unknown reason. That being said, I am picking up a few issues to give the character a shot. One of these issues is Moon Knight #23, and with a cover like this one (by Bill Sienkiewicz), you cannot deny the high “cool” factor it delivers. The issue is basically a part two of an encounter between Moonie and his foe, Morpheus. I’m not too familiar with this adversary, but he looks completely deranged, and a perfect fit for this title. Oh, and if you didn’t know, “Perchance to Scream” is a riff on “Perchance to Dream”, by Shakespeare (Hamlet).

Let’s be honest about this book. Doug Moench (writer) and Bill Sienkiewicz (pencils & inks) made this character what he is to this day. It’s the defining run for Moon Knight, and from what I have read/heard, rightly so. Sienkiewicz is definitely an acquired taste, and one that you definitely have to give a chance with reading a few issues and just not one or two before you make up your mind. Personally, I find his work striking, and just flat-out different from everyone else in the biz. Letters by Joe Rosen, colors by Christie Scheele, and edited by Denny O’Neil!

Werewolf by Night #40, 1976 “Souls in Darkness”

Posted on August 18, 2014 by billyd75

Wow, if you can find another decade that had as many off-beat (but crazy cool) characters created in it, please, let me know. In this issue, we see the return of Doctor Glitternight. This wild character is from the minds of Doug Moench and Don Perlin, and their run had some really zany moments that most people can’t even dream of trying to write, let alone make any sense of, but they did it wonderfully!

In this issue, Moench (writing) and Perlin (pencils & inks?), show us how to get down in Haiti with Brother Voodoo! The team (Brother Voodoo, Werewolf by Night, and Topaz) are trying to save the life of Raymond Coker. In doing so, Topaz gets turned into a demon, and tries to kill everybody! You get werewolves, zombies, demons, a sorcerer, and Brother Voodoo to cap it all off! It seems (by the credits) that Perlin inked himself in this issue, and sometimes when artists that normally do a lot of pencils ink themselves, it doesn’t turn out for the best for some reason. But in this case, it looks pretty solid. Actually, the first splash page kind of reminds me Gene Colan (check it out and see if I’m wrong!). Credits also include – Ed Hannigan & Tom Palmer (cover), Debra James (letters), Janice Cohen (colors), and Marvelous Marv Wolfman (editing).

Monsters Unleashed #11, 1975

Posted on January 22, 2014 by billyd75

This gem is my first foray into the magazine market of Marvel Comics. I was really shocked at how fantastic the interiors were in this one (not to mention that fabulous cover by Frank Brunner)! Not only does it contain three really good stories, but the very inside cover brings an illustration by the late, great, Dave Cockrum (below)! And not just any illustration, but one of my favorite Universal Monster movies, Creature From The Black Lagoon! It has a short prose piece underneath the artwork, and with just one small paragraph, you get the chills thinking about that great film!

Next, we get a very scary story, starring Gabriel, Devil Hunter! In this one, we see Gabriel, as he must exorcise a very powerful demon from an old man. This demon isn’t going quietly though, and it will take every trick in the book to put this one down! Great tale by Doug Moench & Sonny Trinidad!

“The Empire”, is a story by Gerry Conway & Rico Rival, and it tells of corporate viciousness, and all that it leads to in the end. This one might not have the guts, blood, or demons, but it really makes you wonder about things that are quite sinister in the corporate world on a daily basis, I’m sure!

Last, but not least, we see a story that Don McGregor & Billy Graham really use to send the issue out with a bang! Literally! This one reminds me of a Jonny Quest episode, where a mad scientist is experimenting with genetics in the reptile family. A once small lizard, grows out of control and terrorizes the city. The ending is reminiscent of the Ray Harryhausen movie, The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms!

As you can see, the stories and artwork in this magazine are excellent. Editor-in-chief, Marv Wolfman, along with Don McGregor (editor/writer), David Anthony Kraft (associate editor), and John Romita (art director), were the driving force behind the editing and art direction of these fine publications, and Marvel had a ton of them during this decade (Vampire Tales, Savage Tales, Tales of the Zombie, etc.)!

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