31 Days of Halloween - Awesome Art - Warren Publishing Part Two - Creepy

My look at Warren Publishing's great cover art continues with 10 of my favorite covers from Creepy (see here for part one). Like Eerie, Creepy was a horror comic magazine. The interior art was generally top notch (the stories were more variable in quality) but the covers were usually amazing.

Frazetta provided a great, kinetic cover with his take on Frankenstein's monster being cornered by villagers. The bats and blood red sky are nice, Gothic touches to an image that pops off the page.

This is an iconic image from Creepy. It's simple - one man and his ax - but the grim headsman is obviously waiting for the viewer. Looking at it gives you real sense of the artist (Frazetta again) breaking the fourth wall to disturbing effect.

This cover screams "high fantasy!" The bad ass on the horse and the unhappy looking goblin about to be cut in half. When I used to play Dungeons and Dragons this was one of the images stuck in my head.

Do I need to explain this one? Gruesome and colorful, with a nice "viewer participation" angle, since you know who the revenant is reaching for. You!

This is a neat mix of the sexy and grotesque. I always wondered if the monster with the banging body was a ghost, some kind of succubus or the victim of the guy standing near the cabin.

I like this because a) the idea of being walled up alive is pretty horrific and b) this is s great interpretation of one of the signature Poe images.

Okay, killer Santas are nothing new. But, Santa being strong-armed by some kid and his robot? Oh, heck yeah. When I was a kid, this was one cover that stuck with me...mostly because I really wanted to mug Santa Claus. Could you imagine having Santa's toy bag all for yourself? I could and did. Hey, I never said I was a good person.

More Frazetta! Maybe it's not so much that I like Creepy covers, I just like Frazetta covers. Hmmm...naw. Still, this is a great cover. It's ethereal and impressionistic, a unique take on Dracula, emphasizing the supernatural aspects of the character.

This covers is a favorite, mostly because it's so gross. Wait; totally because it's so gross.

This is just such a weird mash-up - wrestling flying giants, apparently in the skies of Europe during World War One - that it has always appealed to me. And, I always wondered what those pilots were thinking. Probably, "Okay, I've had enough of this war."

And there you go. Tomorrow, I'll be checking out the Warren run of Vampirella, the blood drinking vixen from Drakulon.

31 Days of Halloween - Stuff to Buy - Creepy and Eerie Digital Comics

In the Sixties and Seventies, if you were into horror comics, you were into Warren Publishing's Creepy and Eerie. Magazine sized, each issue featured primarily stand-alone stories, although there were some continuing characters, like the sci-fi series Hunter in Eerie. Both books were mostly black and white and feature some amazing art from the likes of Richard Corben and Neal Adams. The stories ranged in quality over the years, but the two magazines were generally filled with good to great writing.

Back in 2008, Dark Horse Comics started releasing hardbound collected editions. Although they are beautifully produced, I was interested in adding more books to my over-whelmed bookshelves. Then, they started releasing them in digital format a few years ago. I've been buying them slowly, since they have been $20 each. Last night I was checking out DH on my iPad and saw that the price had dripped to $10! Sweet! So, I bought a few and have spent the morning reading through them and getting a bit nostalgic. Hey, when I was a kid, I'd hang around in the local drug store reading them, much to the consternation of the clerks, so cut me some slack.

Anyway, if you like horror, great art and generally good writing, you should head over to DH and buy one of the collections. You won't be disappointed.