Warren launched Creepy in 1964 and took the inspiration for the black and white publication from the classic EC horror comics of the fifties.
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| Creepy #1 (1964) Art by Jack Davis |
Russ Jones was the original editor but Archie Goodwin became story editor with #2 and replaced Jones with #4.
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| Creepy #5 (October 1965) Art by Frank Frazetta |
Publisher Jim Warren insisted on using only the best artists and Creepy featured the talents of such luminaries as Reed Crandall, Jack Davis, Gray Morrow, Alex Toth, Wally Wood and Frank Frazetta. Editor Goodwin was a highly talented writer/editor and a big fan of the EC comics of his youth and he ensured that Creepy and sister title Eerie paid homage to the pre-code classic horror titles.
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| Creepy #8 (April 1966) Art by Gray Morrow |
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| Creepy #15 (June 1967) Art by Frank Frazetta |
Goodwin left after #17 (October 1967) and financial difficulties forced the magazine to rely on reprints. The magazine would return to greatness in the seventies with artists such as Bernie Wrightson and Richard Corben but the glory days of the sixties were over.
EC was before my time, and Marvel's comics like Tales of Suspense and Tales to Astonish had switched from horror anthologies to super-hero series by the time I started reading them. So Warren magazines were my first exposure to the EC-type format, i.e., horror anthology comics with a twist or surprise ending. Marvel sometimes reprinted their 1950's science fiction and horror comics in the sixties (as back-ups in Marvel Tales) and seventies (Where Monsters Dwell, Where Creatures Roam). But Warren could publish stronger stories, because the full-size magazine format allowed them to bypass the Comics Code.
ReplyDeleteYes, you are correct the storytelling was very strong, never more so than in Warren's Blazing Combat written and edited by the magnificent Archie Goodwin for the entirety of its short run.
DeleteI remember seeing Warren horror mags on sale in the '70s - even bought a few. Happy days. Has there ever been a replica edition of Creepy #1, do you know?
ReplyDeleteI think Dark Horse are doing Archives but I don't know about a replica. I bought a Bernie Wrightson collection of Creepy and Eerie and it is awesome!
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