My Rating
“Warrior’s Dream”
Somewhere and sometime, lost within the Dark Ages, men killed other men over land, wealth and sometimes for the simple pleasure of spilling blood. Of those who survived, a few made their living by selling their broadswords to the highest bidder. One such man, Greygor, committed those acts and much, much more.
Haunted by his deeds, Greygor travels east in search of food and shelter. He hasn’t slept peacefully in what seems like days. The dreams always come, and they are always the same. Her face. Those dead eyes! Blood flows in deep red torrents from those sunken globes. How did his anger get so out of control?
That night, inside a run-down inn, Greygor consumes ale while the locals celebrate their evening meal. “More ale!” is all the weary warrior can muster to the serving wench. The woman smiles as she returns with his drink. Lust fills her eyes, but Greygor does not return the sentiment. There is something strangely familiar about this temptress. Has the troubled vagabond met her before?
Greygor has known so many women that the memories swirl together like sand beneath the ocean surf. Perhaps this one can finally make him forget the bloody dreams pulling him toward madness.
Or has the darkness of his past finally caught up with him?
Essays into the Supernatural: “The Werewolf”
Who are they? What is the nature of a werewolf? Why do they kill? Where do the legends come from?
Marv Channing takes a brief detour from the fictional horrors of Red Circle Sorcery to examine one of mankind’s oldest supernatural monsters. This one-page feature offers readers a quick introduction to the mythology and mystery surrounding the werewolf.
“Out of Practice”
High above the city, tucked away inside a plush New York penthouse, Dr. Marcus lies on his deathbed. A mysterious illness has overcome the young physician, placing both his life and lucrative medical practice in jeopardy. A colleague stands over the fading doctor and listens to his desperate words with little sympathy. Will the older man tend to Dr. Marcus and his wealthy patients until this strange sickness passes?
Several doctors throughout the city have fallen victim to the same mysterious disease in recent months. Dr. Foss, Dr. Reuther and Dr. Burncroft are just a few. All of these physicians became extremely wealthy tending to the medical needs of millionaire patients. Curiously, only Dr. Knight and the man now standing beside Marcus’ bed have escaped infection.
But even the reality of Dr. Knight’s existence soon comes into question.
Dr. Marcus babbles about witchcraft, magic spells and forces beyond the understanding of modern medicine. Is the sickness merely the delirium of a dying man, or has someone discovered a supernatural cure for an overcrowded medical profession?
“Death Goes to a Sales Convention”
The 1960s were the heyday of prestigious ad agencies, three-martini lunches and corporate overindulgence. Overconfident salesmen walked with a certain swagger, while women often became little more than trophies for men with money and power. This tale concerns one such group of men.
Say hello to the sales staff of Traub Electronics.
After a banner year, the company rewards its salesmen with a trip to Costa del Sol, Spain. Among them is Harvey Muller, a man with more than his share of arrogance. His appetite for women and the pleasures they provide seems to have no limits. Does Harvey’s wife back home know his true nature?
After suffering through the daily morning sales meetings, Harvey and his companions escape into the streets and quaint mountain villages in search of their favorite prey. Women, preferably beautiful ones with long legs and deep tans, become the obsession of every salesman in the group. Costa del Sol is heaven compared to the dreaded family lives waiting for them back home.
It’s time for Harvey to fill his cup of overindulgence.
Following an extremely unlucky evening with a feisty gold digger, Harvey rents a Lamborghini Espada and races into the winding hills to clear his head. Yellow light from the headlamps splashes across the gravel road as he guns the engine. The roar of the Lamborghini slowly puts the drunken salesman into a trance.
Or is something else taking control?
A man, no more than a simple farmhand, suddenly appears in the road ahead. Adrenaline surges through Harvey’s alcohol-soaked blood. He must brake! He must stop!
But he cannot.
Faster! Harvey must go faster!
Later that night, a shaken Harvey Muller sits inside a police interrogation room. The authorities are about to reveal a reality he isn’t prepared to accept. There is no record of Harvey ever leaving for a sales convention in Spain. In fact, his wife and employer filed missing-person reports with the New York City Police weeks earlier.
So, Señor Muller, perhaps it’s time to tell us what really happened….
“The Patience of a Cat”
Love can attract many suitors. Some remain honest and forever faithful, while others take flight at the slightest temptation. The test of true love can arrive in many different forms. Sometimes it comes in the shape of shiny little trinkets.
In Elizabethan England, young Linnet of Cheapside sits fixated on her appearance while her swain, Tom, begs her to reconsider her plans. She moves a hand mirror from side to side and then up and down. Her hair is perfect. Her dress, fabulous.
The jewelry, however, has lost its luster.
Tom must leave before lovely Linnet’s newest admirer arrives. The mysterious gentleman will be there within minutes, and with him will come the shiny trinkets Linnet so desperately desires.
Tom refuses to surrender his beloved without a fight. Hands fly as he attempts to pull Linnet through an arched doorway and away from temptation. She must be saved from her own ambitions!
Then something strange happens.
From Tom’s perspective, Linnet suddenly grows taller and taller until she nearly fills the room. Or has Tom become much, much smaller? His voice disappears. His hands vanish.
Does he have a tail now?
Within seconds, jealousy turns to terror as Tom realizes Linnet has transformed him into a calico cat.
Will Linnet’s newest suitor fall under her spell? Has the Devil himself come to Cheapside?
Only time will tell through a cat’s eyes.
“The Black Fog”
Hal Thunder blasts through the locked bedroom door with the force of an NFL lineman, his shoulder nearly ripping the hinges from the frame. Inside, Hal comes face-to-face with the serial killer known only as the Strangler.
The masked lunatic stands above Linda as she lies unconscious on her bed. Hal has no idea whether she is alive or dead.
Then a black cloud fills his mind.
Hal’s next memory finds him standing outside on the apartment building’s ledge, fifteen stories above the bustling nighttime streets. He trades blows with the Strangler. The killer is strong and quick, but Hal is better in both departments.
Then Hal makes one mistake.
His footing slips.
Within seconds, Hal is left hanging from the ledge, his body dangling above the concrete far below. Then the black cloud returns, even faster this time.
Suddenly, Hal is looking into Linda’s blue eyes. He holds her in a lover’s embrace inside her New York City apartment. Linda is alive!
But where is the Strangler?
The darkness slowly begins creeping back into Hal Thunder’s mind.
What is the madness behind this black fog? More importantly, how much of what Hal remembers actually happened?
“Face of Love, Face of Death”
The shift runs from six until midnight at a small radio station in the town of Twin Corners. Larry Winters is the newest disc jockey to hit the local airwaves, and he believes his time has finally come.
Larry doesn’t mind the hours. His listeners, mostly single women, love his silver tongue and sappy Top 40 selections. He’s a ladies’ man, and before long he has them eating out of his hand. Still, one question lingers in the back of his mind.
Why have so many disc jockeys quit this job?
Management offers few answers. Radio is a transient business, after all. The previous DJ simply disappeared without giving notice. Larry doesn’t really care. The show belongs to him now, and the fringe benefits are proving fruitful indeed.
Each night at midnight, Larry has his pick of young female admirers. They call the station, request a song and soon find themselves caught in his web.
Then, one evening, a mysterious woman calls the show.
Her voice is unlike any Larry has heard before. She intrigues him but refuses his invitation to meet for drinks. The rejection only excites him more. Larry has to meet her. He has to possess her.
That voice is simply too mesmerizing to resist.
Will Larry Winters finally find his muse? Can he charm this mysterious woman like all the others? And why did so many disc jockeys abandon the job of a lifetime?
Reviewer’s Notes
Red Circle Comics was an imprint of Archie Comics aimed at an older audience, and Red Circle Sorcery #6 represents one of the stranger branches growing from the Archie family tree. The title evolved out of Chilling Adventures in Sorcery, which itself followed Chilling Adventures in Sorcery as Told by Sabrina. It’s an interesting little lineage, especially for readers who primarily associate Archie Comics with Riverdale, hamburgers, jalopies and teenage romance rather than murder, witchcraft and supernatural horror.
This issue follows the classic horror-anthology format, packing several short tales from different writers and artists between its covers. I enjoyed most of the plots, although I think you need to be of a certain age—or at least appreciate the entertainment of that era—to get the most out of them. These stories have a very distinct 1970s network-television feel. I could easily imagine several of them appearing as episodes of some forgotten late-night supernatural anthology or as one of those wonderfully strange made-for-TV movies that populated the decade.
That dated quality actually adds to the charm. The dialogue can be melodramatic, the morality isn’t particularly subtle, and more than a few of the characters seem destined for punishment from the moment they appear on the page. Greedy doctors, womanizing salesmen, unfaithful lovers and silver-tongued disc jockeys all wander into situations where the supernatural is waiting to hand them the bill. There is something comfortably familiar about that style of horror storytelling. Bad decisions have consequences, and sometimes those consequences have claws, fangs or a direct connection to Hell.
Red Circle Sorcery #6 isn’t a forgotten masterpiece, but it is an entertaining time capsule from 1974. If you enjoy Bronze Age horror comics and want a healthy dose of nostalgia served with sideburns, polyester and supernatural retribution, I would recommend giving this series a look.
I’m giving Red Circle Sorcery #6 three out of five stars.