Before we get into the Comic book you all showed up for, we have to address the album that all of this clinical insanity was tied into. For those blissfully unaware, “The Alice Cooper Group” was a band before it was a solo act, and all of it was predicated on the lead singer, Vincent Damon Furnier, who shared the namesake of the band as his stage name, “Alice Cooper”.

When the band broke up shortly after the lackluster release of the album, “Muscle of Love” …Vincent Furnier changed his name legally to ALICE COOPER and from then on, became a one man show…buuuut not really. There were an insane amount of musicians (most notably the great DICK WAGNER), songwriters, producers (most notably the great BOD EZRIN), and only one manager, (the legendary SHEP GORDON) who heavily contributed to the continued success of Alice Cooper, who’s boisterous personality, quick-whit, gravelly voice , gallows humor and vaudevillian stage show, projected him into a household name status by the mid-1970’s. “Alice goes Hollywood” era, as I say.

But like many musicians of the era (many of whom died in the 27 Club), Alice struggled with his own demons, mostly in the form of alcohol. By 1977, his new wife, SHERYL GODDARD, who was a dancer in his live performances, was already feeling the strains of sharing a life with an addict. As a result, Alice committed himself to the Cornell Mental Institution in New York to “Dry out”, and it was during his month-long stay at the institution that the seeds were sewn for the concept album, FROM THE INSIDE.

There was a big marketing push for FROM THE INSIDE (released on Nov. 17, 1978) and in usual fashion, the record album itself had “special features” to boot. This one had Alice’s face juxtaposed over a set of double institutional doors, that when opened, revealed a triple gatefold interior, introducing us to the many characters that appear in the songs lyrics. In the picture, there is a door labeled “The Quiet Room” that when opened, revealed Alice Cooper himself, sedate and looking uncharacteristically pensive. On the back cover of the record, doors opened up to reveal Alice and his merry band of inmates, running out with their “Release” papers waving away!

Shortly after, MARVEL COMICS would introduce us to the very first comic book incarnation of ALICE COOPER back when they would dare to do such a thing (being the super cool, un-corporate, independent publishing company that they once were…hard to believe now, I know). And with it, taking on subjects of mental illness (duh), substance abuse, murder, shellshock, sexual misconduct (and innuendo) and somehow delivering it in a package of slapstick humor that would harken back to the type of situation comedy you would get from episodic television of the era….and not offend a damn soul in the process. I was actually offended that they were NOT offended that I was NOT offended.

But I digress…

MARVEL PREMIERE #50 FEATURING ALICE COOPER WAS BORN (FEET FIRST, …OUCH!) Released 1979!

The story set up is a direct tie in to the lyrical content and themes of the album itself with the subtitle, STAN LEE PRESENTS: ALICE COOPER (written in the cool Welcome to my Nightmare Era logo) FROM THE INSIDE. There’s something that just made me giddy as fuck seeing Stan Lee introduce such a story!

Immediately we are treated to Alice goofily attempting to escape from the insane asylum before getting caught red-handed by the ominous (and extremely sexy) NURSE ROSETTA. Quickly we are serenaded by Alice’s one-liners and antics that fool absolutely no one. Alice is quickly apprehended by a coupla’ thug orderlies and lead by the Nurse Ratched-Like Rosetta, as they drag Alice kicking and screaming to the dreaded “QUIET ROOM”. Along the way, we are introduced to some of the other asylum (and album) alumni including JACKKNIFE JOHNNY, a shell shocked Vietnam veteran who does his best to stop the apprehension with a red plastic machine gun, and the questionable DR. FINGEROTH who in addition to being the shadiest doctor this side of Dr. Giggles, sports the most gigantic Art Garfunkel afro ta’ boot.

Alice is harshly deposited on The Quiet Room floor and locked in for good measure. At this point he breaks the fourth wall and talks to us, dear readers, about how he got into this SERIOUS pickle in the first place. Aaaand here we….GO!

As it were, Alice was getting “Coop’ed Out” from the perils from the road (much played down from the actual reasons associated with severe alcoholism) and checked himself into a clinic to “Dry up” (ahem). Alice has the unfortunate luck of sitting himself next to” a certified paranoid schizo with a radial tire fetish” by the name of ALEX Cooper, and in the name of egregious mistaken identity, the cops show up (looking strangely like Fred Gwynne and Joe Ross from Car 54, Where are you?) and mistakenly apprehend ALICE Cooper instead (because of course they did).

Once taken to the insane asylum, Alice is scrubbed down (with Namor as a shower buddy), subject to electro shock therapy, forced into ice water baths, MORE electro shock therapy (all of which have in real life been deemed cruel and unusual, and criminal by medical standards) before having his hair involuntarily cut short, all in attempts to make him look and behave “normally”.

Alice’s pet boa constrictor is a character in this story, and is even given the name VERONICA, which is a retcon from one of the characters who once committed, pines for his pet dog, Veronica, who is going to get euthanized if he can’t get to her in time, featured in the song FOR VERONICA’S SAKE. The snake Veronica, is quickly booted out the back door of the asylum when Alice is committed….more on her later.

Now “normalized”, a sedate Alice is wheeled into the main recreation hall where we are introduced to the rest of the album’s main characters. TIFFANY SLEEK, the delusional, entitled, debutante from the song WISH I WAS BORN IN BEVERLY HILLS, JEROME, the sexually psychotic “priest” who’s narrative drives the song NURSE ROSETTA (and not too funny anymore about priests being sexually deviant, huh?). MILLIE and BILLIE sit in mutual admiration, seemingly unaffected by the chaos all around them…and you already met the rest. If you look closely, keen eyes will notice J. Wellington Wimpy, Bluto, Popeye and The Hulk of all characters, huddling up in the background, working through their therapy sessions.

The next chunk of story comes from Alice’s point of view as he begins socializing within his new found group of inmates. These are all played out in mini-vignettes as we further delve into the personalities of these mentally ill characters (information that serves absolutely no narrative within the story). Strangely within the few minutes it takes for Alice to work the room, his hair magically goes from short, back to long…if this was to signify the passage of time, I didn’t get the memo.

Alice accidentally smashes through a fellow inmates paint canvas and decides to use the paint to re-apply his trademark make-up to his face, while exclaiming that he is NOT CRAZY! This is followed by a zany, One-Flew-Over-The-Choo Choo’s Nest style botched escape attempt that lands him another night in the Quiet Room. This time, Alice is strapped down tight to his bed with leather belts, which is really for nothing when Nurse Rosetta comes in later and mercifully takes them off to make him more comfortable.

Of course, Alice makes haste and uses a bunch of tied sheets to shimmy his way down the asylum wall. Once at the bottom he bumps into a small red box and when he opens it….VERONICA!!!!!! Now reunited with his beloved Boa, Alice makes his way to the outer containment wall. Then, like something out of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Alice uses Veronica (or Veronica uses herself) as a whip to catapult Alice over the wall and onward to freedom.

Alice runs far away to a town called Millville, seemingly far away from the asylum. There a parade of some kind seems to be taking place, but upon closer inspection we learn that this is all just a giant rally because, wait for it, …ALEX Cooper is now running for Governor!!! Of course, ALICE Cooper is now suffering from PTSD and tries to warn everyone that ALEX is just a psychopath dressed as a politician. This info flew like a frozen piece of shit, and the cops quickly apprehend Alice once again.

For his troubles, Alice (now with Veronica) is re-committed to the insane asylum, where they are deposited back into the Quiet Room to contemplate all that’s transpired. Alice breaks the fourth wall yet again to tell us what’s up.

Essentially this story is paper thin on plot and heavy on shenanigans and plays MUCH better as a companion piece to the album than it does as a self-contained story or a launching pad to its own series…at least as far as this one issue was concerned. Marvel by their own admission was hoping that there would be enough interest to launch an ALICE COOPER ongoing series, as was the forum that MARVEL PREMIERE provided. As it turned out, fans were happy enough with this standalone outing …at least until Marvel tried again 15 years later.

I’ve gotta say, I absolutely LOVE this comic book just the way it is. Clunky editing, outdated humor, one note plot and all. Nothing that came after, so perfectly captured the essence and the tongue-in-cheek irony that in essence IS Alice Cooper. This played out like a skit from THE MUPPET SHOW (of which he was once the host) and who doesn’t love that?

Strangely, this comic book was devoid of Writer/Artist/Editor/Letterer/Colorist credits from cover to cover. I have no idea why that important information was left out, as it was NEVER left out of any Marvel book to my estimation. Anyway…..

The Art was fantastic in this book and provided by TOM SUTTON (Pencils) and TERRY AUSTIN (inks), drawn in a classic satiric style that one could harken back to a spoof strip in the magazine, CRAZY.

The Script was written by several peeps (not sure this story needed that many) ED HANNIGAN, JIM SALICRUP, ROGER STERN and Mr. ALICE COOPER himself.

The Colors were provided by the multitalented MARIE SEVRIN with Letters provided by TOM ORZECHOWSKI.

This was the very first comic book appearance for Alice Cooper, but certainly far from the last. There was an issue dedicated to Coop’ in ROCK AND ROLL/Revolutionary Comics #18 back in 1990, which acted as a “ VH1 Behind the Music” episode, before there was such a thing. This would be followed by award winning writer Neil Gaiman’s take, as a tie in to Alice’s then newest record release THE LAST TEMPTATION, also by Marvel Comics in 1994. This one followed the continuing story of “Steven” who reprised his role from Alice’s debut solo album WELCOME TO MY NIGHTMARE. Next up, Dynamite Entertainment took a boa constrictor swing in 2014, which I admittedly have NOT checked out at the time of this writing, but it has a second volume slated for release in October 2023, from what Cold Ethyl tells me.

As the years went on, ALICE COOPER remained a constant in my life. Much like how his later comic book incarnations would infiltrate the lives of living, from an unspecified anti-world, where nothing was safe, nothing was real, and nothing was off limits. Alice was like a spiritual father figure to me…paving the world with four (4) albums before I was even born, and another twenty-five (25) at the time I release this Clot. Until recently, I was unsure if Alice would outlive even me, which would have been interesting within its own rite.

But he, along with my artist Uncle Tom and his posthumous deep, dark artistry had created a somewhat morbid, often times insane, second nuclear family for me for me to reside and be influenced within. I would grow up to become a misunderstood artist/musician amalgamation of my own, possessed by rockstars and gilded by ghosts.

Good old boys and girls.
Congregating, waiting in some other world.
We're all crazy.

We're all crazy.

We're all crazy….

D. ROOK

18AUG2023