We checked out the last issue of Weird War Tales last year, but here's another of DC's former stable of supernatural horror comics: from 1982, Unexpected #222, featuring stories by Arnold Drake, Martin Pasko, and Robert Kanigher; with art by Keith Giffen, Marc Silvestri, and Tor F. Infante.
Not unlike that Weird War Tales, this issue is pretty much like most of the rest of the series at that time; with a widower having problems relating to his daughter after his wife's death in delivery, problems both caused and solved by alien intervention. Next, a vampire story where the remorseful bloodsucker tries to stop his rampage; and finally the best of the issue: "No Penny, No Paradise." Alexander the Great has conquered the known world, but a dying Persian proclaims he will never conquer the underworld...when Alexander dies of malaria, he asks for a priceless "Alexandrian penny" to be put in his mouth, to pay Charon for his passage to the underworld. Unfortunately for him, his wine-bearer steals the penny, and Charon turns out to be a real stickler about it. His shade returns to the land of the living for the coin, but his results are mixed...!
Not a modern classic or anything, but I do like early Keith Giffen art. There was a Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation this issue as well, with 10C. Total Paid Circulation: Average no. copies each issue during preceding 12 months: 83,371. Actual no. copies of single issue published nearest to filing date: 76,296. Granted, there were like 150,000 returns, but most publishers would kill for those sales now.
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