"Mary Shelley's Frankenstein!"
*An Arctic expedition, led by Robert Walton IV, finds what it has been searching for: the body of Frankenstein's monster, encased in the ice. A storm threatens the crew before they can extract their prize, and a mutiny breaks out among the superstitious crew. Walton quells the rebellion with the help of the cabin boy Sean Farrell and First Mate Canute, and they get underway with their cargo aboard. Walton recounts the tale of how young Victor (renamed as 'Henry' in this telling) Frankenstein experimented with re-animation...against the advice of all sane voices...which led to his creation of the Monster. Frankenstein quickly determined his creation was a mistake, but that it possessed a power which made it uncontrollable, and could not be destroyed. The Monster escaped, leaving a trail of death behind it, which Frankenstein followed. Before Walton can conclude his tale, his ship sails into a gale. A cabin fire breaks out, melting the ice which encases the monster. *Source: Warlock
Story adapted from Mary Shelley's story by Gary Friedrich, illustrated by Mike Ploog, and lettered by John Costanza; 20 pages.
Story reprinted from Frankenstein (1973) #1
"Man-Thing!"
*In the swamps of the South lurks a monster, made of the very fabric of the swamp itself, and in its brain is the dim recollection that it was once a man. We see the origin of the beast in the story of scientist Ted Sallis, hidden away in a remote laboratory with his lover Ellen Brandt, having perfected his super-soldier formula for an unnamed government agency. He senses something wrong, as his contact was to have come for the completed product, but is overdue. Sallis had taken the precaution of destroying all record of his work, leaving all evidence of his process in his head, other than the completed sample. Sallis' fears come true, as he is betrayed by Ellen into the hands of a gang looking to profit from his work. Sallis bolts with the sample, pursued by the goons, and injects himself with the serum to protect it from falling into others' hands, but crashes into the swamp. The mysterious presence of the swamp alters the outcome of the transformation, and the Man-Thing is created. Ellen and goons soon learn the power of the beast, as well as the fact whosoever know fear burns at the Man-Thing's touch. *Source: Warlock
Story written by Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway, and illustrated by Gray Morrow; black & white; 11 pages.
Story reprinted from Savage Tales (1971) #1
"Gargoyle Every Night"
*Bernie Wrightson acts as narrator for a tale about a wood carver named Emil Vogel, whose specialty is gargoyles. Emil's dreams are haunted, and a series of murders in his village soon lets him know that one of his creations is more dangerous that his imagination. *Source: Warlock
Story written and illustrated by Berni Wrightson with Roy Thomas, and lettered by Artie Simek; 7 pages.
Story reprinted from Chamber of Darkness (1969) #7
Cover painting by Tennyson Smith.