Shanna,
The She-Devil, Vol. 1, No. 1, Dec., 1972. An obvious tribute (rip-off?) to Sheena, Queen
of the Jungle, but with an "ecological" theme. Shanna lasted 5 issues, then had
one story in Savage Tales. Credits: "Stan Lee presents an ecological epic by Carole
Seuling and Steve Gerber (story), George Tuska (art), Vince Colletta (inker), John
Costanza (letterer), and Roy Thomas (editor)."
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Jungle
Action, Vol. 1, No. 1, Oct., 1972. Around 1972 Marvel began reprinting many stories from
the Atlas comics from 1954 and 1955. Jungle Action was an Atlas title and the blond Aryans
Lorna and Tharn and the dark-haired, gypsy-like Jann were characters from those issues.
These stories are from the early Comics Code years are pretty tame. However, the stories
do have a "white supremacy" theme running through them that was prevalent during
the "innocent" Eisenhower years.
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Supernatural Thrillers, Featuring
IT!, Vol. 1, No. 1, Dec., 1972. "Stan Lee presents a macabre masterwork by: Theodore
Sturgeon, adapted by Roy Thomas (scripter), Marie Severin and Frank Giacoia
(artists)." Yes, it looks like the Swamp Thing, but the story is very much like early
EC stories--maybe because Marie Severin used to work for EC--which makes this one-shot
more enjoyable than most. Supernatural Thrillers lasted 15 issues, each one with unique
stories and no continuing hero-types.
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Journey
Into Mystery, Vol. 1, No. 1, Oct., 1972. The original Journey Into Mystery was an Atlas
publication that began around 1952, later to become a Marvel comic until 1965. The early
"Journeys" were all separate stories with no recurring characters until one of
Marvel's most famous characters appeared, Thor, who later got his own comic. Writers for
this issue were Roy Thomas, Steve Englehart, and Steve Skeates. Artists included Gil Kane,
Tom Palmer, Ralph Reese, Jim Starlin, and Mike Ploog.
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Chamber
of Chills, Vol. 1, No. 1, Nov., 1972. The original Chamber of Chills was a Harvey
Publication that ran from 1951 to 1954 and was very instrumental in forcing the Comics
Code into being. Mainly because the Harvey publication had extremely violent and
disturbing content--more so than EC ever could come up with. A note in the Overstreet
Comic Book Price Guide says that "about half the issues contain bondage, torture,
sadism, perversion, gore, cannabalism...". The new Marvel version was much tamer but
still retained some of the EC horror/mystery comic feel. Writers and artists this issue
were George Alec Effinger (writer) Craig Russell, Dan Adkins (artists); Stan Lee (writer)
and Russ Heath (artist) in a reprint; and Gerry Conway (writer) and Syd Shores (artist).
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Vault
of Evil, Vol. 1, No. 1, Feb., 1973. This title, which ran for 23 issues, was all reprints
from early Atlas comics, including Mystic, Uncanny Tales, and Menace. Artists in several
issues included Ditko, Drucker, Everett, Heath,and Krigstein.
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