MORE FRAZETTA

Yes, it didn't stop at the cover reproductions on that fateful Creepy paperback. Inside lurked a story that was to make me feel uneasy for years to come - the story of the...

The story itself was pretty standard Creepy fare, featuring an asshole named Demmon and the ever-popular moral "don't be an asshole" (paraphrasing!). Nothing I hadn't seen before, honestly. The part that really haunted me was the werewolf itself.

I don't know if it's because this was an African werewolf or if Frazetta was just having fun with some crazy monster design, but the thing looked completely eerie and alien to me. The short muzzle and enormous mouth, the spiked black fur, all of it combined to make something that clearly did not belong to the natural world.

Plus: bats! The most frightening of mammals!

Eventually, of course, it came down to a one-on-one between Demmon and the beast, and of course that scared the hell out of me. The very thought of standing there attempting to stare down such a creature... brrr.

And then Demmon gets in a lucky shot and rips off the Gorilla-Man's origin story. That guy - what an asshole. I think that it's safe to assume that he didn't get to spend any time on a delightful super-hero team at any point, thank goodness. Note, however, the emaciated, half-transformed figure in the upper left. Frank Frazetta, why did you hate eight year old me? Why would you haunt me like this? I demand answers!

Or possibly money.

FRANK FRAZETTA.

Specifically, Frank Frazetta paintings. I had a paperback reprint of some of the old Creepy yarns and, well, check out the cover image:

Or at least the most prominent cover image - as I recall (twenty years on) this was a fairly busy bit of graphic design. The important part was really the fact that this image freaked me the hell out, and that it was entirely because of that crazy looking werewolf. Even by the standards of the supernaturally cursed, that thing does not look right. (The story referenced is one of the very best, though. For the record)

The back cover, or possibly the lower half of the front cover (twenty years, remember?) featured a few more covers, and they were almost as bad. Take this one:

Frank Frazetta is the only person ever to manage to make a caveman look frightening to me. It's remotely possible that this is because I saw Encino Man at a relatively young age, but I don't think that this in any way detracts from the accomplishment.

This here was the one that broke young Johnathan. Pubescence was rearing its horrific, spotty head and whispering things about how interesting the character in the foreground might potentially be, while general childhood terror was pointing out that the gorilla head and the colours were profoundly wrong. In retrospect I have to blame this image for my not retaining the collection over the years. Brrr. And also yowza.

Tomorrow: more Frazetta!