A new era in comic books was launched in late 1963 with the first issue of Warren Publishing's Creepy, a magazine-sized publication designed to be sold on magazine racks, not comic book racks. Designed for mature readers, it was published in an 8 1/2" x 11" format and did not fall under the Comic Authority. It sold for 35 cents, not the standard 12 cents. (For comic readers of a certain age, the 12-cwnr price tag was an abomination because comic books should have remained at 10 cents, forever and ever; yet Creepy was definitely worth the higher cost.). And then there was the artwork...
Warren had previously had success publishing Forrest J. Ackerman's Famous Monsters of Filmdom and Harvey Kurtzman's Help! magazine (Gloria Steinman was one of Kurtzman's assistants, as was Terry Gilliam). (To be honest, Help! was not much of a success, being constantly underfunded and lasting only a few years, but as a cultural icon, it's influence cannot be overestimated .) The success of Creepy led to other Warren magazines, notably Eerie and Vampirella.
Artist in the first issue included Reed Crandall, Jack Davis, Frank Frazetta, Gray Morrow, Joe Orlando, Angelo Torres, Roy Krenkel, and Al Williamson. Writers included Russ Jones, Larry Ivie, and Archie Goodwin. Future artists would include Alex Nino, Jose Ortiz, Alex Toth, John Severin, Bernie Wrightson, and Richard Corbin; among the future writers were Steve Skeates, Doug Moench, Bruce Jones, Michael Woods, and Bill Dubay.
Wow!
The premiere issue leads off with "Voodoo!." Frank and Sylvia have been living on the tropical island for two years. Frank, engulfed by failure and alcohol, is completely unaware of his environment, but Sylvia realizes that the isaland is one of the last strongholds of voodoo.
In "H2O World," divers discover an underwater city. And it is occupied -- by mutated survivors of World War III!
Since Count Orsini and his new bride moved into the villa, five villagers have been found drained of blood. Elena soon suspects her husband is the vampire, but why does he give her a special glass of "juice" each morning, after "Vampires Fly at Dusk"?
In a remote section of Africa lies the hidden valley of Gonteekwa, known to be the home of the "Werewolf!". Skilled hunter Demmon is sent to track and kill the animal that natives feel is a werewolf. But is Demmon skilled enough? And sometimes it is not smart to poo-poo native legends.
"Bewitched!" tells not the story of Darrin and Samantha, but the story of Madge and her husband , who have moved into her grandmother's old house; before grandmother owned it, it was rumored to be a haven for witchcraft. Hubby doesn't believe in witches, but strange things begin to happen. Then an old crone gives their daughter a doll that looks him...and a bunch of pins...
No-longer human shapes rise from the river and head to shore. They are here to visit successful comic strip creator Baldo, who has literally left some bodies in his wake in his climb to the top. His is "The Success Story" no one wants.
The time: the late nineteenth century. The place: Austria. Villagers has gathered at the local cemetery after burying two young girls who were found drained of blood. the villager are determined to destroy the vampire, be he a local, or, as a stranger to the village soon finds out, non-local. There is danger when the villagers are "In Pursuit of the Vampire!".
The magazine and each story is introduced by "Creepy," this magazine's version of the Crypt Keeper. The artwork is magnificent. The stories, although sometimes cliched and trite, remain interesting. A great start for a classic magazine.
Enjoy.
https://archive.org/details/CREEPY1/mode/1up
By the time I started reading comics (beyond newspaper strips), ca. 1972, the Warren magazines seemed pretty dull, despite good black and white art rather frequently. The reprints from 1950s comics offered by DC and Marvel struck very young me as more engaging...and that I came in when the latter were going from 20c a copy to 25c, vs. the dollar? or so for Warren and imitators, helped my shopping choices along when paying with an elementary schooler's allowance. (The only new horror comics I found particularly engaging as a sprat were DC's WEIRD WAR TALES and WEIRD WESTERN TALES, and when I could find them, the Spectre [mostly in ADVENTURE], and Marvel's horror/antihero WEREWOLF BY NIGHT, though such titles as Gold Key's TWILIGHT ZONE and Charlton's HAUNTED weren't too bad for narrative, even if the art there was often not the best, to say the least.
ReplyDeleteNow, if I'd been around when HELP! was still publishing...Terry Gilliam sorta kinda took on Gloria Steinem's job at HELP! when she moved on from being Kurtzman's assistant...Steinem particularly good at getting famous comedians and comic actors to pose for HELP!'s covers, Gilliam more helpful with the comics art side of the business.
Along with newspaper strips, as a beginning reader I was fond of the comics in HUMPTY DUMPTY and CHILDREN'S DIGEST magazines, to some extent in HIGHLIGHTS.
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