MONSTERS UNLEASHED! NO. 5 (PART 1)

MONSTERS UNLEASHED!

Vol. 1 No. 5

April 1974

Publisher: Marvel Comics Group

Editor: Roy Thomas

Cover: Bob Larkin

Pages: 68

Cover price: 75 cents

Marvel's monster magazine continues its combination of comic stories and text articles, including using a full-page photo with a blurb to set the mood for the story following.

Things get jump-started with a brand-new tale of Dr. Theodore "Ted" Sallis, aka Man-Thing. The series was originally plotted by Roy Thomas after collaborating with Stan Lee, and the script eventually went to Gerry Conway. Artwork was effectively drawn by Gray Morrow. In Thomas' ALTER EGO #81 (October 2008), he discussed how Man-Thing came about:

"Stan Lee called me in; it would've been late '70 or early '71. [...] He had a couple of sentences or so for the concept – I think it was mainly the notion of a guy working on some experimental drug or something for the government, his being accosted by spies, and getting fused with the swamp so that he becomes this creature. The creature itself sounds a lot like the Heap, but neither of us mentioned that character at the time.... I didn't care much for the name 'Man-Thing', because we already had the Thing [of the superhero team the Fantastic Four], and I thought it would be confusing to also have another one called Man-Thing."

A one-pager by Tony Isabella and relative bullpen newcomer Ron Wilson tells the tale of Peter Snubb, who was based on the real-life German farmer-turned-serial killer Peter Stumpp, who was accused of everything from being a werewolf to a cannibal; in fact, he was dubbed "The Werewolf of Bedburg".

Text articles are on Ray Harryhausen's THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD, actor Glenn Strange and look at the current monsters in media by Gerry Conway's wife at the time, Carla Conway.

CONTENTS

"All the Faces of Fear!"

Script: Tony Isabella

Pencils: Vicente Alcázar

Inks: Vicente Alcázar

"The Golden Voyage of Sinbad or What to Do Till the Genie Comes"

Gerry Conway (text article)

"Peter Snubb: Werewolf"

Script: Tony Isabella

Pencils: Ron Wilson

Inks: Frank Giacoia

"The Dark Passage" (reprinted from Adventures into Terror #10, June 1952)

Script: ?

Pencils: Ogden Whitney

Inks: Ogden Whitney

"Glenn Strange, Frankenstein: Monster of Dodge City"

Don Glut (text article)

"Demon of Slaughter Mansion!"

Script: Don McGregor

Pencils: Juan Boix

Inks: Juan Boix

"Monsters in the Media"

Carla Conway (text article)

"Werewolf Tale To End All Werewolf Tales!" (reprinted from Journey into Unknown Worlds #29, July 1954)

Script: ?

Pencils: Paul Hodge

Inks: Paul Hodge

"Once a Monster..!" (Frankenstein 1974 -- Chapter 3)

Script: Gary Friedrich

Pencils: John Buscema

Inks: Win Mortimer

Letters: Charlotte Jetter