Above is a wonderful run of comics produced under the watchful eye of the late great Gray Morrow. Every now and again Archie Comics wants to try out something under their "Red Circle" logo. Morrow was the kahuna of this experiment by Archie to capture a bit of another aspect of the comics market in the early 70's. Sorcery and Madhouse are filled with really outstanding artwork by Morrow and others like Doug Wildey, Vicente Alcazar, and Frank Thorne. Then we are treated to three more covers by Gray Morrow for the Archie run of Chilling Tales of Sorcery. This title became Red Circle Sorcery with its sixth issue. The first two issues are in Archie style and feature Sabrina.
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These were great wee comics with as you note some lovely art and strong stories. I particularly enjoyed Alex Toths offerings. The only thing missing for me at least, was a host in the mould of DCs Cain and Abel etc.
ReplyDeleteThe conventional cackling host is something we've come to expect in our horror comics.
DeleteThanks to Morrow, this was a surprisingly good series. Back in the day I always thought it was strange that it was published by this "Red Circle" outfit and then learning it was Archie Comics!
ReplyDeleteThe Red Circle has proven a useful branding tool for Archie over the years. I really enjoyed it when they used to let Rich Buckler play with their superheroes.
DeleteThose look fun. Do they still maintain the Red Circle label and use it ever?
ReplyDeleteThey've busted it out for their superhero revivals off and on over the years.
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