If there ever was an underrated comic line it would be Marvel's horror magazine line of the 1970's. I had read a copy of TOMB OF DRACULA MAGAZINE #1 many, many years ago and was really enthralled by the stories. They were significantly from the comic series. While TOMB OF DRACULA COMIC (and WEREWOLF BY NIGHT and MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN) boasted excellent narratives they were bound by the comics code. The magazines were free of the constraints of the code and delved into more mature storylines. (No, they never became as R-Rated as the current Marvel Max line) I read a few magazines here and there such as VAMPIRE TALES and DRACULA LIVES and found them to be excellent. But, my exposure to the magazines was limited.

Then, I picked up ESSENTIAL TALES OF THE ZOMBIE which reprinted the complete run of Marvel's very short-lived zombie book. The writing in the book blew me away. I knew I needed to spend more time delving into these classic magazines. I picked up a few issues of MOSTERS UNLEASHED (Marvel's short lived rip-off of Warren's excellent CREEPY and EERIE MAGAZINES) MONSTERS UNLEASHED was seemingly less mature than the other titles. It was a step above the more adventure oriented comic books but did not really cross into the threshold of a mature title. (CREEPY and EERIE did become mature readers magazines until the late 1970's)

Perhaps you will notice a trend here. Those horror magazines were short-lived. Actually, they were ALL short-lived with the obvious exception of the long running SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN. Marvel though it could tap into the HEAVY METAL and Warren Magazine market but it didn't really work. Marvel tried and tried form 1973 – 1979 with a hit magazine and other than the aforementioned Conan mag nothing else was a hit.

Yes, the magazines did have their fans. And, more than likely, had there been better resources to advertise to the market the mags would have been a hit. Surely, there was a segment of older male readers who loved comic books but only left because they grew out of the overly simple storylines. All Marvel could hope for was that someone browsing the racks for HEAVY METAL would stumble across those Marvel Mags. They usually didn't and it was a shame. The comic world would be a much different one if a parallel magazine universe of mature titles had survived into the early 1990's