Eerie Archives Volume 5 [Hardcover]

After reading volume 5, I must say that the Warren slump of that time period seems to be coming to an end. There are 5 issues of Eerie and the first two issues contain reprints, uninspired artwork and bad storylines. Yet, when you approach that third issue, a major change takes place. Stories are of better quality, artwork seems much better and this carries through the rest of the book. Some great things to mention about this volume are as follows: Frank Frazetta did the cover art and as usual, it's awesome. There is another great cover and that was on issue 25 done by James Steranko. It's truly a gothic representation of horror by painting the woman in front of a tree at night and lurking in the far background, a hint of a vampiric being. There are some true gems including the story "Scavenger Hunt" (art by Jerry Grandenetti and story by Don Glut) which is about a party crasher who kills the atmosphere of another party until he gets tasked to bring back some peculiar items to liven the party up. "The Thing In The Cave (art by Mike Royer and story by R. Michael Rosen) is an original idea that makes for great reading. "The Machine Gods Slave" (art by Ernie Colan and story by Buddy Saunders) is a science fiction story that pits a mans technological intellect against that of the backwards race he has come to conquer. The most horrifying story is "Spiders Are Revolting" (art by Tom Sutton and story by Bill Warren). If you are a fan of Suttons artwork, be prepared for this one! This volume of Eerie serves up traditional horror stories mixed in with fantasy and science fiction. Lastly, the introduction by Don Glut was very revealing and honest. Wait until you find out how much Warren was paying people for their story ideas! There is enough good material here to rate a purchase.

The 60's ended with Eerie vastly getting its act together, with five amazing covers by Frazetta, Vic Prezio, James Steranko, Gogos and Bode, and finally Jeff Jones and Bode. The comics themselves have familiar favorites like Ernie and Eugene Colon Tom Sutton and unknowns like Ken Barr.
The tone is set in these issues for ghost stories, alien stories and sword and sorcery ("Journey into Wonder" by Ken Barr is masterfully done) dominating but still a dash of horror of course, a Sutton piece involving arachnophobia is just amazing.
Also a 2010 interview with writer don Glut gives insight into being a writer for these magazines
Much better than Archives four, and six will be better still.