I was talking about PLOP the other day and someone mentioned Marvel's attempt at a weird humor comic at about the same time, a little pamphlet entitled ARRGH!. The comic lasted less than a half dozen issues but it gave us some interesting work, nearly all of it reprinted from other sources, albeit some of those sources being somewhat rare. The first issue offers up a ludicrous vampire tale from Bruce Jones, Mike Sekowsky and Tom Sutton and an offbeat tale from Sutton alone reprinted from The Monster Times alongside a reprint by Bill Everett from the 1950's Atlas Crazy comic book.
Under a fantastic Marie Severin cover the second issue offers up two new tales, one by Tom Sutton and another by Bruce Jones and Alfredo Alcala alongside another reprint from the 50's.
The third issue gives us an Alfredo Alcala cover and beneath that a Tom Sutton sequel to his Rat story from the debut. Also on had is Bigfoot story by Don Glut and Mike Sekowsky and Mike Vosburg. Another Crazy reprint rounds it out.
The fourth issue of ARRGH! showcases a classic spoof of The Night Stalker dubbed "The Night Gawker" by Bruce Jones, Jerry Grandenetti and Frank Springer. This is the highlight of the run for me. Two Atlas reprints fill up the balance of the comic. Here is a link to the full story of "The Night Gawker" -- love Grandenetti!
The fifth and final issue of AARGH! changes it up pretty robustly with three stories by the Ross Andru and Mike Esposito team reprinted from their self-published GET LOST comic from some years before. It was the only glimpse of that material I had for many years.
There was apparently \ supposed to be a sixth issue, also drawing upon the Andru and Esposito team material as the unpublished art above indicates. So ARRGH! was a hodge-podge but did get into a wider circulation some really offbeat humor with an weird and eerie twist.
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That's the stuff. In the third issue of Charlton Spotlight (Tom Sutton tribute), his associate discusses the ornate plans Sutton had for developing the "Rat" character into a wild cosmic epic that sounded as expansive as Dune. I believe at least one more Rat tale appeared in Death Rattle later on.
ReplyDeleteI'd forgotten about these Rat tales, but they are very compelling. Sutton is well remembered as a great comic book artist,but he had more -- he was a great storyteller with stories to tell.
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This series came on the heels of another short-lived Marvel humor comic, Spoof, which I actually prefer to Arrgh. Would be nice to have these two collected together in a single trade paperback collection. I know - dream on.
ReplyDeleteI preferred SPOOF myself. It was more in the grand MAD tradition, but sales must not have been all that strong. With a talent like Marie Severin on staff it was beholden for Marvel to find a way for her to show her talents.
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