''Tower of Shadows'' is a horror/

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

anthology

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

published by the American company

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

under this and a subsequent name from 1969 to 1975. It featured work by writer-artists

Neal Adams Neal Adams (June 15, 1941 – April 28, 2022) was an American comic book artist. He was the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates, and was a creators-rights advocate who helped secure a pension and recognition for Supe ...

Jim Steranko James F. Steranko (; born November 5, 1938) is an American graphic artist, comic book writer/artist, comics historian, magician, publisher and film production illustrator. His most famous comic book work was with the 1960s superspy feature " ...

Johnny Craig John Thomas Alexis Craig (April 25, 1926 – September 13, 2001),John T. Craig
at the ...

, and

Wally Wood Wallace Allan Wood (June 17, 1927 – November 2, 1981) was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, widely known for his work on EC Comics's titles such as ''Weird Science (comic), Weird Science'', ''Weird Fantasy'', an ...

, writer-editor

Stan Lee Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Publications which ...

, and artists

John Buscema John Buscema (; ; born Giovanni Natale Buscema, December 11, 1927 – January 10, 2002)Social Se ...

Gene Colan Eugene Jules Colan (; September 1, 1926 – June 23, 2011)Eugene Colan
at the Social Security Death Index via ...

Tom Sutton Thomas F. Sutton (April 15, 1937 – May 1, 2002) He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force after graduating from high school in 1955, and worked on art projects while stationed at Fort D.A. Russell (Wyoming), Fort Francis E. Warren, near Laramie, Wyom ...

Barry Windsor-Smith Barry Windsor-Smith (born Barry Smith, 25 May 1949) is a British comic book illustrator and painter whose best known work has been produced in the United States. He attained note working on Marvel Comics' ''Conan the Barbarian (comics), Conan th ...

(as Barry Smith), and

Bernie Wrightson Bernard Albert Wrightson (October 27, 1948 – March 18, 2017), sometimes credited as Bernie Wrightson, was an American artist, known for co-creating the Swamp Thing, his adaptation of the novel ''Frankenstein'' illustration work, and for his o ...

. The stories were generally hosted by Digger, a

gravedigger A gravedigger is a cemetery worker who is responsible for digging a grave prior to a funeral service. Description If the grave is in a cemetery on the property of a church or other religious organization (part of, or called, a churchyard), g ...

; Headstone P. Gravely, in

undertaker A funeral director, also known as an undertaker (British English) or mortician (American English), is a professional involved in the business of funeral rites. These tasks often entail the embalming and burial or cremation of the dead, as w ...

garb; or one of the artists or writers. After the 10th issue, the title was changed to ''Creatures on the Loose'', publishing a mixture of

sword and sorcery Sword and sorcery (S&S) is a subgenre of fantasy characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent adventures. Elements of romance, magic, and the supernatural are also often present. Unlike works of high fantasy, the tale ...

features, horror/fantasy reprints, and the science-fiction

werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely or ...

feature "

Man-Wolf John Jonah Jameson III (also known as Colonel Jupiter, the Man-Wolf and the Stargod) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is depicted as the son of J. Jonah Jameson, and a friend to ...

Original series

Designed to compete with

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

' successful launches of ''

House of Mystery ''The House of Mystery'' is the name of several horror, fantasy, and mystery Comics anthologies published by DC Comics. It had a companion series, ''The House of Secrets''. It is also the name of the titular setting of the series. First serie ...

'' and '' House of Secrets'', ''Tower of Shadows'', like its companion comic ''

Chamber of Darkness ''Chamber of Darkness'' is a horror/fantasy anthology comic book published by the American company Marvel Comics. Under this and a subsequent name, it ran from 1969 to 1974. It featured work by creators such as writer-editor Stan Lee, writers Gerr ...

'', sold poorly despite the roster of artists featured. After its first few issues, the title, published bimonthly, began including reprints of "pre-superhero Marvel" monster stories and other SF/fantasy tales from Marvel's 1950s and early 1960s predecessor, Atlas Comics. After the ninth issue, the title changed to ''Creatures on the Loose'', and the comic became a mix of reprints and occasional

/SF series. "At the Stroke of Midnight", writer-artist

's lead story in the premiere issue (Sept. 1969), won a 1969

Alley Award The Alley Award was an American annual series of comic book fan awards, first presented in 1962 for comics published in 1961. Officially organized under the aegis of the Academy of Comic Book Arts and Sciences, the award shared close ties with the ...

for Best Feature Story. Its creation had led to a rift between the celebrated Steranko and editor Lee that caused Steranko to stop freelancing for Marvel, the publisher that had showcased his highly influential work. Lee had rejected Steranko's cover, and the two clashed over panel design, dialog, and the story title, initially "The Lurking Fear at Shadow House". According to Steranko at a 2006 panel Dead link; pertinent passages reprinted at and elsewhere, Lee disliked or did not understand the homage to horror author H. P. Lovecraft, and devised his own title for the story. After much conflict, Marvel and freelancer Steranko parted ways. Lee phoned him about a month later, after the two had cooled down, and Steranko would return to produce several covers for Marvel from 1972 to 1973. In a contemporaneous interview, conducted November 14, 1969, Steranko reflected on the tiff: A Lovecraft story, "

The Terrible Old Man "The Terrible Old Man" is a short story of fewer than 1200 words by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. It was written on January 28, 1920, and first published in the ''Tryout'', an amateur press publication, in July 1921. It is notable as the fir ...

", appeared two issues later, adapted by writer

Roy Thomas Roy William Thomas Jr."Roy Thomas Checklist" ''Alter Ego'' vol. 3, #50 (July 2005) p. 16 (born November 22, 1940) is an American comic book writer and editor, who was Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. He is possibl ...

and penciler Windsor-Smith. Additionally, Thomas and Tom Palmer – a renowned

inker The inker (sometimes credited as the finisher or embellisher) is one of the two line artists in traditional comic book production. The penciller creates a drawing, the inker outlines, interprets, finalizes, retraces this drawing by using a pencil ...

in a rare example of his penciling and inking – adapted the Lovecraft story "

Pickman's Model "Pickman's Model" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft, written in September 1926 and first published in the October 1927 issue of ''Weird Tales''. It has been adapted for television anthology series twice: in a 1971 episode of ''Night Gallery' ...

" in issue #9 (Jan. 1971). Marvel also published the all-reprint ''Tower of Shadows King-Size Special'' #1 (Dec. 1971).

''Creatures on the Loose''

Retitled ''Creatures on the Loose'' with issue #10 (March 1971), this version led off with a seven-page

King Kull Kull of Atlantis or Kull the Conqueror is a fictional character created by writer Robert E. Howard. The character was more introspective than Howard's subsequent creation, Conan the Barbarian, whose first appearance was in a re-write of a rejec ...

sword-and-sorcery story by Thomas and artist

. The book included new stories by artists

Herb Trimpe Herbert William Trimpe (; May 26, 1939 – April 13, 2015) was an American comics artist and occasional writer, best known as the seminal 1970s artist on ''The Incredible Hulk'' and as the first artist to draw for publication the character Wolver ...

in #11,

Syd Shores Sydney Shores (1916 – June 3, 1973) was an American comic book artist known for his work on Captain America both during the 1940s, in what fans and historians call the Golden Age of comic books, and during the 1960s Silver Age of comic books. Bi ...

in #12, and

Reed Crandall Reed Leonard Crandall (February 22, 1917 – September 13, 1982) Reed Crandall
at ...

in #13, then became all-reprint until issue #16 (March 1972). There, writer Thomas and the art team of

Gil Kane Gil Kane (; born Eli Katz ; April 6, 1926 – January 31, 2000) was a Latvian-born American comics artist whose career spanned the 1940s to the 1990s and virtually every major comics company and character. Kane co-created the modern-day versio ...

and

Bill Everett William Blake Everett (; May 18, 1917 – February 27, 1973) was an American comic book writer-artist best known for creating Namor the Sub-Mariner as well as co-creating Zombie and Daredevil with writer Stan Lee for Marvel Comics. He was alle ...

introduced the feature "Gullivar Jones, Warrior of Mars", starring an interplanetary Earthman created by author Edwin L. Arnold in his 1905 book '' Lieut. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation''. Following another issue by Thomas and one by

Gerry Conway Gerard Francis Conway Thomas, Roy. "Roy's Rostrum" ("Bullpen Bulletins") in '' Marvel Super-Heroes'' #43 and other Marvel Comics cover-dated May 1974. (born September 10, 1952) is an American comic book writer, comic book editor, screenwriter, t ...

, science fiction novelist

George Alec Effinger George Alec Effinger (January 10, 1947 – April 27, 2002) was an American list of science fiction authors, science fiction author, born in Cleveland, Ohio. Writing career Effinger was a part of the Clarion Workshop, Clarion class of 1970 an ...

wrote the final three installments. Effinger continued as writer for the series that immediately followed, in issue #22 (March 1973): "

Thongor Thongor is a character in a series of sword-and-sorcery novels and stories written by Lin Carter, stylized after Conan the Barbarian and set in ancient Lemuria. The character was picked up by Marvel Comics in the 1970s for its series ''Creatures ...

! Warrior of Lost Lemuria!", adapting a

sword-and-sorcery Sword and sorcery (S&S) is a subgenre of fantasy characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent adventures. Elements of romance, magic, and the supernatural are also often present. Unlike works of high fantasy, the tal ...

barbarian character created by author

Lin Carter Linwood Vrooman Carter (June 9, 1930 – February 7, 1988) was an American author of science fiction and fantasy, as well as an editor, poet and critic. He usually wrote as Lin Carter; known pseudonyms include H. P. Lowcraft (for an H. P. L ...

. Following writers

Tony Isabella Tony Isabella (born December 22, 1951) is an American comic book writer, editor, actor, artist and critic, known as the creator and writer of Marvel Comics' Black Goliath; DC Comics' first major African-American superhero, Black Lightning; and as ...

and

Gardner Fox Gardner Francis Cooper Fox (May 20, 1911 – December 24, 1986) was an American writer known best for creating numerous comic book characters for DC Comics. He is estimated to have written more than 4,000 comics stories, including 1,500 for DC ...

, Carter himself co-wrote (with

Steve Gerber Stephen Ross Gerber (; September 20, 1947 – February 10, 2008) was an American comic book writer and creator of the satiric Marvel Comics character Howard the Duck. Other works include ''Man-Thing'', ''Omega the Unknown,'' ''Marvel Spotlight:' ...

) the final two installments. Thomas, Marvel's associate editor at the time, recalled in 2007 that Thongor had been the company's first choice when Marvel decided to published a licensed fantasy character, rather than the eventual hit

Conan the Barbarian Conan the Barbarian (also known as Conan the Cimmerian) is a fictional sword and sorcery hero who originated in pulp magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, films (including '' Conan the Barbarian'' and '' Conan the Destroyer'') ...

. Publisher Martin Goodman "authorized us to go after a character. I first went after Lin Carter's Thongor, who was a quasi-Conan with elements of

John Carter of Mars John Carter of Mars is a fictional Virginian soldier who acts as the initial protagonist of the Barsoom stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs. A veteran of the American Civil War, he is transported to the planet Mars, called Barsoom by its inhabi ...

, partly became editor-in-chief

liked that ''name'' the most ... I soon got stalled by Lin Carter's agent on Thongor (he was hoping I'd offer more than the $150 per issue I was authorized to offer), and I got a sudden impulse to go after Conan". The title's last series, "

", starred John Jameson, the

son of

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the ...

supporting character

J. Jonah Jameson John Jonah Jameson Jr. is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, most commonly in association with the superhero Spider-Man. The character was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, and he ...

. It ran from issue #30–37 (July 1974 -Sept. 1975). Its writers were

Doug Moench Douglas Moench (; born February 23, 1948) is an American comic book writer notable for his ''Batman'' work and as the creator of Moon Knight, Deathlok, Black Mask, ''Electric Warrior'' and ''Six from Sirius''. He is also known for his critically ...

, Isabella, and

David Anthony Kraft David Anthony Kraft (May 31, 1952 – May 19, 2021) was an American comic book writer, publisher, and critic. He was primarily known for his long-running journal of interviews and criticism, ''Comics Interview'', as well as for work for Marvel C ...

, with art by

pencilers A penciller (or penciler) is an artist who works on the creation of comic books, graphic novels, and similar visual art forms, with a focus on the initial pencil illustrations, usually in collaboration with other artists, who provide inks, colors ...

George Tuska George Tuska (; April 26, 1916 – October 16, 2009),George Tuska
at the Social Security Death Index via Fami ...

and

George Pérez George Pérez (; June 9, 1954 – May 6, 2022) was an American comic book artist and writer, who worked primarily as a penciller. He came to prominence in the 1970s penciling ''Fantastic Four (comic book), Fantastic Four'' and ''The Avengers (co ...

. The series depicted Jameson as a god to an alien race. The series was finally finished years later in ''

Marvel Premiere ''Marvel Premiere'' is an American comic book anthology series that was published by Marvel Comics. In concept it was a tryout book, intended to determine if a character or concept could attract enough readers to justify launching their own seri ...

'' #45–46 (Dec. 1978 and Feb. 1979).

Reprints

''Tower of Shadows'' stories reprinted in other Marvel comic books or black-and-white horror-comics magazines: * "At the Stroke of Midnight" (#1, Sept. 1969) :Writer-artist

:''Marvel Visionaries: Steranko'' (Marvel, 2002, ) *"One Hungers" (#2, Nov. 1969) :Writer-penciler

, inker

Dan Adkins Danny L. AdkinsDanny L. Adkins
at the Social Security Death Index via FamilySearch.org. Retrieved December ...

:''Monsters Unleashed'' #8 (Oct. 1974) * "The Moving Finger Writhes" (#3, Jan. 1970) :Writer

Len Wein Leonard Norman Wein (; June 12, 1948 – September 10, 2017) was an American comic book writer and editor best known for co-creating DC Comics' Swamp Thing and Marvel Comics' Wolverine, and for helping revive the Marvel superhero team the X-Men ( ...

, penciler

Gene Colan Eugene Jules Colan (; September 1, 1926 – June 23, 2011)Eugene Colan
at the Social Security Death Index via ...

, inker Mike Esposito (under pen name Joe Gaudioso) :''Giant-Size Chillers'' #3 (Aug. 1975) * "The Terrible Old Man" (#3, Jan. 1970) :Writer

, penciler Barry Smith, inkers Dan Adkins,

John Verpoorten John Verpoorten (May 15, 1940 – December 15, 1977) was an American comic book artist and editorial worker best known as Marvel Comics' production manager during the latter part of the Silver Age of Comic Books and afterward, during a seminal peri ...

:''Masters of Terror'' #1 (July 1975) * "Contact!" (#6, July 1970) :Writer-artist

:''Supernatural Thrillers'' #11 (Feb. 1975) * "Sanctuary!" (#8, Nov. 1970) :Writer-artist

:''

'' #47 (Feb. 1975) * "Pickman's Model" (#9, Jan. 1971) :Writer Roy Thomas, penciler-inker Tom Palmer :''Masters of Terror'' #2 (Sept. 1975)

Collected editions

* ''Man-Wolf: The Complete Collection'' includes ''Creatures on the Loose'' #30–37, 408 pages, October 2019,

References

External links

''Tower of Shadows''
at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators *

at the

Big Comic Book DataBase The Big Cartoon DataBase (or BCDB for short) is an online database of information about animated cartoons, animated feature films, animated television shows, and cartoon shorts. The BCDB project began in 1997 as a list of Disney animated featu ...

''Creatures on the Loose''
at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators *{{comicbookdb, type=title, id=2352, title=''Creatures on the Loose''

at the

1969 comics debuts 1975 comics endings Marvel Comics titles Comics anthologies Comics by Gardner Fox Comics by George Pérez Comics by Gerry Conway Comics by Roy Thomas Defunct American comics Horror comics Mystery comics Thongor