Cult Classic Comics: Warlock 5, Part Four

Our fourth and final installment taking a look at the Warlock 5 series from Aircel begins with a head scratcher. Remember the cliffhanger in issue #3, with Zania holding all of the Guardians hostage with a nuclear warhead? Yeah...well that seems all but forgotten here, as issue #4 ignores the previous story.

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Cult Classic Comics: Warlock 5, Part Three

The third issue has all five Guardians of the Warlock 5 working together to stop the Wraiths from coming into their dimension, after Argon blew up Zania's gate to hell in the last issue.

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Cult Classic Comics: Warlock 5, Part Two

Continuing on with this week's look at Warlock 5 is an in-depth look at issue #2, which features probably the most insane and hardcore Guardian of the bunch, Zania. We pick up where the last issue left off, with Zania and her undead minions ambushing Tanith and Savashtar. And as you're about to see, Zania spares no expense...

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Cult Classic Comics: Warlock 5, Part One

This week I'm going to tear into Warlock 5, an 80's series that I consider to be a cult classic within the B&W comics realm. Published by Aircel Comics in 1986, Warlock 5 was created by writer Gordon Derry and artist Denis Beauvais, who together weaved a complex tale of five Guardians engaged in an epic power battle for control of the Grid, a portal where all parallel dimensions intersect. One problem -- the Grid is located here on Earth, and it's their battleground.

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Fanzine Fever: A+Plus #2 (Megaton, 1977)

A while back I wrote about a strange fanzine called A+Plus #1. The stories inside were pretty obscure and off-the-wall, and I had wondered about the second issue after seeing this cover above, with a giant Gargoyle in a business suit. It's a neat cover, and I've finally got my hands on a copy.

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Goin' Underground: Rockin' Bones #1 (NEC, 1992)

Who says OTBP is dead? We're back, baby! And I have to apologize for the insanely long hiatus. A renewed vigor and love for video games led me to create another blog, called videodyssey (specializing in obscure games, of course), but other than that it has just been a bout of pure laziness on my part. I am happy to say that I am back and ready to up the ante on this blog, with all kinds of cool and obscure comic madness.

Let's kick this thing off with 90's underground comix gem Rockin' Bones #1 by New England Comics. The Rockin' Bones series was the brainchild of one Darren Merinuk, whose distinctive brand of retro-kitsch rock art will blow you away.

Right away we are introduced to Darren as he let's us in on what to expect in this first issue:

There are several different stories in this first issue. Monsters, Aliens, Punk Rockers...they're all here in a glorious lo-fi rock n' roll mash-up. Here are a few of my favorites:

In "I Was A Rockabilly Werewolf", Ronnie learns a vital lesson in women, being a werewolf, and revealing to much information in a song...

"Rock 'N' Roll Confidential" is a throwback tale reminiscent of the Pre-Code Horror scare of the 50's:

One of my favorites is "Mutant Lobsters At Large!", which appears to be an homage to Roger Corman:

Another favorite is this one page story "She Was A Hippie Vampire":

We are also treated to this splash page of absolute Monster Mayhem:

This is just a snippet of the awesomeness to be had in Merinuk's Rockin' Bones series. I believe the series lasted three issues, but Merinuk has gone on to make artwork for several album covers (you can see a bunch here). His artwork is amazing and really stands out, claiming a genre of it's own. Also be sure to check out In The Rubber Room, which is Merinuk's art blog where he is still posting his amazing works today.

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