Haunted!

'Tis the season to be jelly.....
....and to be honest, i'm kinda pooped.
Busy day at the turntables, but you didn't stop by to listen to me moan, so.... on with the show.
The highlight of issue #17 is "Budding Evil", a killer story drawn and written by Tom Sutton (and an amazing painted cover to go with it), but "Greed" by Pete and Steve Morisi is pretty good, especially the art. "Sargasso Trap" by Pat Boyette features some very experimental page layouts that liven up a pretty cliched plot.
HAUNTED #17 or here too!


#18 is a special all SF issue, featuring "The Survivor" by Steve Ditko, "Film Freak" by Joe Staton (yet another fine talent too often overlooked by "comic fandom") and one of my favorite Wayne Howard stories "Final Operation"..... an obvious homage to the classic Wally Wood EC SF tales from "Weird Science" and "Weird Fantasy".
Some of these issues from the George Wildman/Nicola Cuti/Bullseye logo period remain a high point, not just for the publisher, but for the industry itself in the 1970's. How many other publishers were letting artists WRITE their own material? i can count them on the fingers of my left ear.
Both Tom Sutton and Wayne Howard wrote and illustrated several memorable tales that just COULDN'T have been done at DC or MARVEL at the time. Personally, i think George Wildman knew EXACTLY what he was doing... i mean how else can you motivate artists getting the LOWEST page rate in the 4 color industry to turn in excellent work? By giving them something that is priceless to almost every creative artist - freedom!
(...i guess freedom's just another word for getting paid way less....)
HAUNTED #18 or here too!

PS. To my good and helpful friend who suggested that i might want to try playing the "Nick and Nora Drinking Game"
(that is, every time Nick or Nora take a drink in one of the Thin Man movies, you have one too)... no offense, but i'm a bit of a lightweight these days when it comes to alcohol, so i probably wouldn't make it to the end of the second reel. Damn, but those two can put it away! If it's OK.... i'll skip the scotch and just watch!