Creepy (2009 Series) #1

July 18, 2009

Creepy #1 (Dark Horse Comics)
By Joe Harris, Dan Braun, Mike Woods, Neil Kleid, Bill Dubay, Jason Shawn Alexander, Angelo Torres, Saskia Gutekunst, Brian Churilla, Hilary Barta, Alex Toth & Eric Powell

One of the classic horror anthology comics returns with a new volume from Dark Horse. Creepy has a sense of horror and whimsy that’s quite similar to the old EC comics (Tales From the Crypt being the most obvious example), but the stories contained in this issue are decidedly more adult than the ones appearing in that magazine currently — plus, you get a lot more of them. Part one of “The Curse” is a nice look at the danger of wish-fulfillment. “Hell Hound Blues” is a great story, one of the most amusing in the book, about how terrible collection obsession can be. These two are the usual “horror story as morality fable,” but “Chemical 13” is a pretty chilling look at genuine horror set in a concentration camp. “All the Help You Need” lightens things up again with a fat camp that’s murder on people who don’t make the cut, and it has a dandy twist as well. “Faustian Deals” is a quickie that relates back to an earlier story and has some highly amusing celebrity cameos. Finally, we get a classic Bill Dubay/Alex Toth reprint, “Daddy and the Pie,” about an American family that finds and takes in a stranded alien. This is a really great package with some fine horror stories and great artwork, including the aforementioned Toth classic and some good stuff by artists usually more associated with comedy like Kilary Barta and Angelo Torres. I loved this first issue. This is the kind of horror comic we need to see more of.
Rating: 4.5/5