Bluewater has released an interesting anthology series dubbed “Vincent Price Presents” and it deserves a little appreciation for trying to be new and different. Unlike other anthology series, the book only presents one tale per issue which allows the story to develop over the entire issue. (I used to enjoy House of Mystery when I was a kid, but in retrospect the four tales per issue provided no time for development) In a way, this anthology reminds me of the final issues of CREEPY MAGAZINE where the tales were a little garish and tried to infuse a little social commentary to make the prurient aspects more palatable. Thankfully, Vincent Price Presents does not go for graphic shock value like Creepy did and that is a good thing. What we do get are traditional monsters such as vampires, werewolves, abominable snowmen and even a sci-fi version of Bluebeard all tinged with the aforementioned social commentary. Unfortunately, we have seen this type of commentary many times before and that detracts from the punch the stories are trying to present. This is not to say the books are poorly written. They are quite nicely scripted and the artwork is of high quality as well. But if the focus of the book is to be “different” then it needs to present morality tales with something new to offer. This would provide more of a punch to the twist endings.

Oh, and about that Vincent Price thing, it is kind of cool to see the late, great horror star remembered and honored by presenting him as the host of the comics. Horror comic hosts were once an iconic part of the medium but they have fallen by the wayside over the years. Price’s intros are quite well written and aid in establishing and ominous tone to the books. That is a much better role for a horror comic host that a promoting a retread of old EC Comic style puns.