Creepy
Encyclopedia
Creepy was an American horror-comics
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...

 magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...

 launched by Warren Publishing
Warren Publishing
Warren Publishing was an American magazine company founded by James Warren, who published his first magazines in 1957 and continued in the business for decades...

 in 1964. Like Mad
Mad (magazine)
Mad is an American humor magazine founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines in 1952. Launched as a comic book before it became a magazine, it was widely imitated and influential, impacting not only satirical media but the entire cultural landscape of the 20th century.The last...

, it was a black-and-white newsstand publication in a magazine format and thus did not require the approval or seal of the Comics Code Authority
Comics Code Authority
The Comics Code Authority was a body created as part of the Comics Magazine Association of America, as a tool for the comics-publishing industry to self-regulate the content of comic books in the United States. Member publishers submitted comic books to the CCA, which screened them for adherence to...

. The anthology
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...

 magazine was initially published quarterly but later went bimonthly. Each issue's stories were introduced by the host character, Uncle Creepy. Its sister publications were Eerie
Eerie
Eerie was an American magazine of horror comics introduced in 1966 by Warren Publishing. Like Mad, it was a black-and-white newsstand publication in a magazine format and thus did not require the approval or seal of the Comics Code Authority. Each issue's stories were introduced by the host...

and Vampirella
Vampirella
Vampirella is a fictional character, a comic book vampire heroine created by Forrest J Ackerman and costume designer Trina Robbins in Warren Publishing's black-and-white horror comics magazine Vampirella #1 . Writer-editor Archie Goodwin later developed the character from horror-story hostess, in...

.

The Creepy launch

Russ Jones
Russ Jones
Russ Jones is a Canadian novelist, illustrator, and magazine editor, active in the publishing and entertainment industries over a half-century, best known as the creator of the magazine Creepy for Warren Publishing...

, the founding editor of Creepy in 1964, detailed the magazine's origins and his lengthy negotiations with Warren in his memoir, "Creepy & Eerie," at his website. While doing covers, illustrated stories and photo stories for Warren, Jones continued to pitch the idea of doing a comics magazine, and eventually Warren agreed:
Originally it was to be a 64-page magazine. Jim cut it back to 48... I made a sketch of my host for the mag and sent it off to Jack Davis to work up a cover. Still no title. Titles are tough. Ask anyone who ever had to come up with one. One night I was sitting in the studio alone, looking at Woody
Wally Wood
Wallace Allan Wood was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, best known for his work in EC Comics and Mad. He was one of Mads founding cartoonists in 1952. Although much of his early professional artwork is signed Wallace Wood, he became known as Wally Wood, a name he...

's tear-sheets from the ECs, when Warren called. He was furious and demanded a name for Project D. I was looking at a balloon over an Ingels Old Witch, and in her narrative, the word "creepy" grabbed out at me. I muttered the name to Jim... We now had a title for our mag.


Joe Orlando
Joe Orlando
Joseph Orlando was a prolific illustrator, writer, editor and cartoonist during a lengthy career spanning six decades...

 was not only an illustrator for Creepy but also a behind-the-scenes story editor
Story editor
Story editor is a job title in motion picture and television production, also sometimes called "supervising producer". A story editor is a member of the screenwriting staff who edits stories for screenplays....

 on early issues. His credit on the first issue masthead read: "Story Ideas: Joe Orlando." Bill Pearson also worked on the first issue.

This publication and later companion "Eerie", were seen as largely inspired by legendary E.C. Comics' storied line of horror and suspense publications- from story content, to host storyteller "Uncle Creepy" filling the role of EC's own Crypt Keeper, et al, to Warren's use of many former EC artists. Indeed, the EC "tone" for Warren was furthered with the addition of "Blazing Combat"- a gritty war comic that from art/artists to realistic and darker story lines mimicked EC's own previous war books- "Two-Fisted Tales" and "Frontline Combat". On those merits alone, the earlier efforts of the Warren line were relatively well regarded by the small cadre of organized comics fandom of the era.

The Archie Goodwin era

Russ Jones soon departed, and in 1965, Archie Goodwin
Archie Goodwin (comics)
Archie Goodwin was an American comic book writer, editor, and artist. He worked on a number of comic strips in addition to comic books, and is best known for his Warren and Marvel Comics work...

 became the editor of Creepy. Goodwin, who became one of comics' foremost and most influential writers, helped to establish the company as a major force in its field.

Artists during this era included Neal Adams
Neal Adams
Neal Adams is an American comic book and commercial artist known for helping to create some of the definitive modern imagery of the DC Comics characters Superman, Batman, and Green Arrow; as the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates; and as a creators-rights advocate who...

, Dan Adkins
Dan Adkins
Dan Adkins is an American illustrator who worked mainly for comic books and science-fiction magazines.-Early life and career:...

, Reed Crandall
Reed Crandall
Reed Crandall was an American illustrator and penciller of comic books and magazines. He was best known for the Quality Comics character Blackhawk and for stories in the critically acclaimed EC Comics of the 1950s.Crandall was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2009.-Early...

, Johnny Craig, Steve Ditko
Steve Ditko
Stephen J. "Steve" Ditko is an American comic book artist and writer best known as the artist co-creator, with Stan Lee, of the Marvel Comics heroes Spider-Man and Doctor Strange....

, Frank Frazetta
Frank Frazetta
Frank Frazetta was an American fantasy and science fiction artist, noted for work in comic books, paperback book covers, paintings, posters, LP record album covers and other media...

, Gray Morrow
Gray Morrow
Dwight Graydon "Gray" Morrow was an American illustrator of paperback books and comics.-Biography:Born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Morrow is best known as art director of Spider-Man between 1967 and 1970 and as illustrator of the syndicated Tarzan, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon and Prince Valiant comic...

, John Severin
John Severin
John Powers Severin is an American comic book artist noted for his distinctive work with EC Comics, primarily on the war comics Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat; for Marvel Comics, primarily on its war and Western comics; and for the satiric magazine Cracked...

, Angelo Torres
Angelo Torres
Angelo Torres is an American cartoonist and caricaturist whose work has appeared in many comic books, as well as a long-running regular slot in Mad magazine, typically film or television parodies.-Biography:...

, Alex Toth
Alex Toth
Alexander Toth was an American professional cartoonist active from the 1940s through the 1980s. Toth's work began in the American comic book industry, but is known for his animation designs for Hanna-Barbera throughout the 1960s and 1970s. His work included Super Friends, Space Ghost, The...

, Al Williamson
Al Williamson
Alfonso "Al" Williamson was an American cartoonist, comic book artist and illustrator specializing in adventure, Western and science-fiction/fantasy...

 and Wally Wood
Wally Wood
Wallace Allan Wood was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, best known for his work in EC Comics and Mad. He was one of Mads founding cartoonists in 1952. Although much of his early professional artwork is signed Wallace Wood, he became known as Wally Wood, a name he...

. Originally published quarterly, Creepy switched to bi-monthly by the end of 1965.

Goodwin resigned as the editor of Creepy after issue 17 (October 1967). Due to a lack of funds, the majority of the magazine's leading artists left, and Warren was forced to rely on reprints, which would be prevalent in the magazine until issue 32 in April 1970. A variety of editors ran the magazine during this period, including Bill Parente, Nicola Cuti and Warren himself. Things would pick up starting in 1969 with the premiere of Vampirella
Vampirella
Vampirella is a fictional character, a comic book vampire heroine created by Forrest J Ackerman and costume designer Trina Robbins in Warren Publishing's black-and-white horror comics magazine Vampirella #1 . Writer-editor Archie Goodwin later developed the character from horror-story hostess, in...

magazine. Some of Creepys original artists, including Frazetta, Crandall and Wood, would return, as did Goodwin, who was associate editor for issues 35 through 39.

Editors and artists

A variety of editors continued to manage
Creepy after Goodwin's second departure, including Billy Graham and J. R. Cochran. William Dubay, who had started at Warren as an artist with issue 32 in 1970 would become editor of the magazine for issues 50 through 78, except for a short period of time in 1974 where Goodwin returned for issues 61 through 64. During this period the frequency of Creepy and Warren's other magazines was upped to nine issues per year.

Another major development occurred in late 1971 when artists from the Barcelona Studio of Spanish agency Selecciones Illustrada
Selecciones Illustrada
Selecciones Ilustradas is a Spanish art agency founded by Josep Toutain.-Warren Publishing:Selecciones Ilustradas is probably most well known in America due to its connections with Warren Publishing, where S.I.'s artists drew hundreds of stories between 1971 through 1983. The deal with Warren and...

 started appearing in Creepy and other Warren magazines. Artists from Spain would go on to dominate Creepy and the other Warren magazines throughout the 1970s. These artists included Esteban Maroto
Esteban Maroto
- Career :Born in Madrid, he began his career in the 1960s with series like Cinco por infinito, published in English by Continuity Comics as "Zero Patrol" ....

, Jaime Brocal
Jaime Brocal Remohi
Jaime Brocal Remohi is a Spanish comic book artist, born in 1936.- Career :Born in Valencia, Spain, Brocal began his comic career at the age of 20, working of various adventure comics including Leslie Chartiers' The Saint and an adaption of Jules Verne's "From Earth to Moon"...

, Rafael Aura León
Rafael Aura León
- Career :The artist was known primarily as Auraleón, which is how he signed his work. Auraleón's career began in 1959 when he joined the Spanish agency Selecciones Illustrada, drawing the comic strip Flash for Space Ace and Lone Star...

, Martin Salvador, Luis García
Luis García Mozos
-Career:More widely known in English as just Luis García, he was born in Puertollano, Spain in 1946. García began his career drawing European romance comics for Fleetway. In the 1960s, he joined the well known Spanish agency Selecciones Illustradas. In 1971 García joined Warren Publishing, where...

, Fernando Fernández, José González, José Bea
Jose Bea
Jose Bea is a Spanish comic book artist, born in 1942.-Career:Jose Bea started his comic book career in the late 1950s when he worked for Fleetway in Britain. He also worked on Miller's TV Heroes during this period. In the early 1960s he worked on Space Ace for Atlas, as well as Lone Star...

, Isidro Monés
Isidro Mones
- Career :Isidro Mones was born in Barcelona, Spain in 1947. Mones started his career as an artist doing children's books, covers and trading cards. He joined the agency Selecciones Illustrada in the early 1970s and started drawing for Warren Publishing in 1973. He was miscredited as 'Munes' in...

, Sanjulián
Sanjulián
Manuel Pérez Clemente is a Spanish painter, most notable for his magazine and novel covers. He was born 24 June 1941 in Barcelona, and studied at Belles Arts of Sant Jordi....

, and Enrich Torres. Additional artists from S.I.'s Valencia Studio joined Warren in 1974 including José Ortiz
José Ortiz (comics)
José Ortiz Moya is a Spanish comics artist, best known for several collaborations with Antonio Segura, such as the series Hombre.-Biography:...

, Luis Bermejo
Luis Bermejo
Luis Bermejo , is a Spanish illustrator and comics artist known for his work published in Spain, Italy, Great Britain, and the United States...

, and Leopold Sánchez. Notable writers during Dubay's era as editor included Gerry Boudreau, Budd Lewis, Jim Stenstrum, Steve Skeates
Steve Skeates
Steve Skeates is an American comic book creator known for his work on books such as Spectre, Hawk and Dove, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, Aquaman, and Namor the Sub-Mariner.-Career:...

 and Doug Moench
Doug Moench
Douglas Moench , better known as Doug Moench, is an American comic book writer notable for his Batman work and as the creator of Black Mask, Moon Knight and Deathlok.-Biography:...

.

Themed specials dominated Dubay's era as editor, and included two Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...

 issues (69 and 70), three Christmas issues (59, 68 and 77), three issues dedicated to a single artist (71, 72 and 74), a science fiction issue (73) and an issue where every story was based on the cover painting (64). This era also featured stories that were printed in color, many of which were done by Richard Corben
Richard Corben
Richard Corben is an American illustrator and comic book artist best known for his comics featured in Heavy Metal magazine...

. Towards the end of his period as editor, many artists from Creepys first golden era returned, including Alex Toth
Alex Toth
Alexander Toth was an American professional cartoonist active from the 1940s through the 1980s. Toth's work began in the American comic book industry, but is known for his animation designs for Hanna-Barbera throughout the 1960s and 1970s. His work included Super Friends, Space Ghost, The...

 and John Severin
John Severin
John Powers Severin is an American comic book artist noted for his distinctive work with EC Comics, primarily on the war comics Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat; for Marvel Comics, primarily on its war and Western comics; and for the satiric magazine Cracked...

.

Dubay resigned after issue 78 and was replaced by Louise Jones
Louise Simonson
Louise Simonson, born Mary Louise Alexander , is an American comic book writer and editor. She is best known for her work on comic book titles such as Power Pack, X-Factor, New Mutants, Superman: The Man of Steel, and Steel...

, his former assistant. Jones would edit the magazine until issue 116 in March 1980. Former DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...

 publisher Carmine Infantino
Carmine Infantino
Carmine Infantino Carmine Infantino Carmine Infantino (born May 24, 1925, in Brooklyn, New York is an American comic book artist and editor who was a major force in the Silver Age of Comic Books...

 joined Warren shortly after she became editor and did pencils for over 50 stories. Much like the wave of Spanish artists that dominated Creepy throughout the mid-1970s, a number of artists from the Philippines joined Warren during her period as editor, including Alex Niño
Alex Niño
Alex Niño is a Filipino comic book artist best known for his work for the American publishers DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and Warren Publishing, and in Heavy Metal magazine.-Early life and career:...

, Alfredo Alcala
Alfredo Alcala
Alfredo P. Alcala was a Filipino comic book artist, born in Talisay, Negros Occidental in the Philippines. Alcala was an established illustrator whose works appeared in the Alcala Komix Magazine. His 1963 creation Voltar introduced him to an international audience, particularly in the United...

 and Rudy Nebres, remaining with Creepy until its end in 1983. While he had resigned as editor, Dubay remained with Warren and became their dominant writer during this period. Other dominant writers during this period included Bruce Jones
Bruce Jones (comics)
Bruce Jones, whose pen names include Philip Roland and Bruce Elliot, is an American comic book writer, novelist, illustrator, and screenwriter whose work included writing Marvel Comics' The Incredible Hulk from 2001-2005.-Early career:...

, Bob Toomey, and Roger McKenzie
Roger McKenzie (comics)
Roger McKenzie is an American comic book writer best known for his work on Daredevil with Frank Miller.McKenzie and Miller's first collaboration was on a two-page story entitled "Slowly, painfully, you dig your way from the cold, choking debris..." published in DC Comics' Weird War Tales #68...

.

After Louise Jones resigned as editor following issue 116, Dubay returned to edit the magazine using the alias "Will Richardson" until issue 126. After Dubay's departure, various editors including Chris Adames and Timothy Moriarty held the position. Reprints would once again start predominantly appearing in the magazine, with many reprint issues being dedicated to a single artist. Jim Warren's last Creepy (#145) was published February 1983, and then he went bankrupt. Harris Publications
Harris Publications
Harris Publications Inc. is an American consumer-magazine publisher in New York City, New York, that publishes over 75 titles, including Juicy, XXL, King, Dog News, 0-60, Guns & Weapons for Law Enforcement, Small Business Opportunities, Men's Workout, Exercise & Health, Celebrity Hairstyles, and...

 bought rights after Warren's bankruptcy and published a single issue (#146) in 1985.

In 2000, after a protracted legal dispute with Harris Publications, Jim Warren and Warren Publishing finally regained sole ownership of all rights to his two iconic and flagship comic book franchises Creepy and Eerie.

Archives and the relaunch

In February 2007, New Comic Company, LLC completed a total rights acquisition from Warren and his entity for all rights to Creepy and Eerie, after seven years of effort. Terms of the deal were never disclosed. All copyright renewals and trademarks have been re-established in the name of New Comic Company LLC.

Shortly after that rights acquisition deal, in June 2007, New Comic Company LLC principals Dan Braun, Craig Haffner, Josh Braun and Rick Brookwell completed a partnership agreement with Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...

 and its CEO Mike Richardson to republish in archival hardcover form all 285 total issues of the original Creepy and Eerie. The first Creepy archival volume was published in August 2008, with additional releases available every four months. The first Eerie archival volume was released in March 2009, with subsequent archives available every four months.

In July 2009, Dark Horse Comics and New Comic Company LLC released the new Creepy magazine. Edited by Shawna Gore with Dan Braun
Dan Braun
Dan Braun is a musician, composer, writer, editor, art director, and film producer.-Early music career:Dan Braun and his twin brother Josh started several punk bands in high school in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, including Platinum Hardcore and Hack Ptooey. Their first real band was called Spinal...

 and Craig Haffner, it displayed the work of artists Bernie Wrightson
Bernie Wrightson
Bernie "Berni" Wrightson is an American artist known for his horror illustrations and comic books.-Biography:...

, Angelo Torres
Angelo Torres
Angelo Torres is an American cartoonist and caricaturist whose work has appeared in many comic books, as well as a long-running regular slot in Mad magazine, typically film or television parodies.-Biography:...

 and Jason Alexander Smith illustrating scripts by Michael Woods, Dan Braun, Joe Harris, Saskia Gutekunst, and Bill Dubay.

Cultural legacy

Uncle Creepy is mentioned in an early scene in Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief is a 2010 fantasy-adventure film directed by Chris Columbus. The film is loosely based on The Lightning Thief, the first novel in the Percy Jackson & The Olympians series by Rick Riordan...

.

The back cover of Roger Meddows-Taylor
Roger Meddows-Taylor
Roger Meddows Taylor , known as Roger Taylor, is a British musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the drummer, backing vocalist and occasional lead vocalist of British rock band Queen. As a drummer he is known for his "big" unique sound and is considered one of...

's (drummer of rock band Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...

) solo project album Fun in Space
Fun in Space
Fun in Space is the debut album by English musician Roger Taylor. Released in May 1981 in the UK and US, the album was recorded in between legs of Queen's tours for The Game and Flash Gordon albums. Taylor wrote, produced, sang and performed all of the songs himself. While the album did fairly in...

shows him reading Creepy.

In 2010, New Comic Company, LLC signed a deal with mask company Trick or Treat Studios to release the first officially licensed Uncle Creepy mask in almost 20 years. The mask was sculpted by Trick or Treat Studios Art Director Justin Mabry and will be available in Halloween and costumes stores across the world for the 2011 Halloween season.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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