(Charlton Comics, 1975)
This issue featured three stories, the first being "The Dictator" written by Charlton workhorse Joe Gill and illustrated by Enrique Nieto under his alias of "Marti." A British researcher and his daughter discover a highly intelligent species of primate on a small island off the coast of Africa. They are making amazing progress teaching the primates how to communicate in sign language but this very progress angers the local ruler. Soon, the researcher is imprisoned, and the ruler begins a campaign to exterminate every one of the advanced primates on "his" island. The primates, of course, see this coming, turn the tables on the ruler, and cause every human on the island to flee, including the researcher and his daughter. However, the primates make a point of not harming anyone other than the ruler and his cronies. It's a brisk, but well paced 9-pager, and Marti's unusual art style fits the tale perfectly, especially in the mandrill-like appearance of the leader of the primates, a wild-maned male that the researcher has named "Lester."
Up next is "A Belief in Vampires," a 6-pager written by, you guessed it, Joe Gill, and illustrated by the great Wayne Howard of Charlton's "Midnight Tales" fame. Besides the expectedly great artwork, this one puts a nice "extra" twist on the ending that you think you see coming by the second page. You see, a reporter and a detective work together to solve a series of supposed "vampire" murders, and they end up catching the perfectly human perpetrator, which is a relief, especially to the reporter. After all, if people start believing in vampires, they might also start believing in things that would lead them to discover that this reporter is...a werewolf!
That little bit of fun is followed up by "The Wakely Monster," a 7-pager written by Nicola Cuti (co-creator of E-Man) with art by yet another Charlton superstar, the great Tom Sutton! A young couple is attacked at a lovers' lookout by a shambling plant monster. Running from the creature, the young woman is saved by Martin Makely, who claims that his own father created the vegetable-based beast. The two take shelter at his home, but soon, heavy footsteps are heard on the porch. Firing blindly through the doorway, Martin kills...the young woman's boyfriend! Then, Martin promptly changes into the plant monster! I almost felt that my copy was missing a page, because in the very next panel, ol' Martin is strapped to an electric chair ready to be executed in prison! Justice works SWIFTLY in Charlton Comics, eh? As the voltage surges through inmate Wakely, he transforms, and his leafy form is incinerated, filling the execution chamber with the smell of burned vegetables! A goofy one, for sure, but Sutton's art elevates things, and he even seems to lean into a bit of Staton and Ditko stylings in a few panels.
Sutton goes on to provide illustrations for "The Key to Magda's Heart," the 2-page prose story that wraps up the issue. In this brief tale of woe, a horror novelist goes to Transylvania to see if the rumors of Magda DeVille's impossible and apparently eternal beauty are true. The rumors prove truer than DeVille could have imagined, but he also discovers that they key that Magda wears around her neck is also the literal key to her heart, which Satan himself has put in a locked box in Magda's bedchamber. Of course, he manages to steal the key, opens the box, sees Magda's heart, then falls to his death backing away as he see Magda's long-delayed age catching up with her. Magda than turns to a pile of dust shortly thereafter. Poor key management, there, Ms. DeVille.
This was a pretty packed issue of MH, one in which even the usually execrable prose story provided a fun diversion.
