Friday, February 25, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Best Horror Comic Cover #4
When Russ Jones pitched "Creepy" to James Warren in 1964, the outcome may have been drastically different if Frank Frazetta had not been involved. Frazetta painted eight of the first ten covers of 'Creepy'. The only two he didn't do were #1 (a 'safe' cover by Jack Davis) and #8 (Gray Morrow). These are legendary covers.
I could have chosen any, but I went with the cover 'Creepy' issue #3 from 1965. Again, because it's symbolic.
It was a tough call, but this cover is the essence of horror. It is a study in contrasts. It is the sudden juxtaposition of the real with the unreal, light and dark, culture and primal fear.
A cultured, intelligent man is suddenly confronted by the forces of darkness while reading. Does this mean that by reading 'Creepy' issue 3, we too will be visited by the supernatural? This monster is framed by white light. We thought the light was there to protect us, but instead it only illuminates the horror of the thing at the door.
Wow.
'Creepy' faced a monumental task at re-establishing horror in a comic format. Like EC's 'Mad', it had used the magazine loophole to get around the Code, but was the public ready to buy it? By bringing forward the best of the best and perseverance, Warren succeeded.
And Frank, you were the best of the best.
Frank Frazetta passed away in May 2010.
R.I.P. Maestro.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Best Horror Comic Cover #3
Creepy, Issue #79
Published May 1976, Warren Publishing
Painting by Manuel Sanjulian
If someone made me answer what was THE greatest 10 years in the history of horror, I would have to say 1968 to 1978.
The movies... 'Night of the Living Dead' in 1968 which resurrected the horror genre, and 'Rosemary's Baby' also 1968
'The Last House on The Left' 1972,
'The Exorcist' 1973,
'Black Christmas' and 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' 1974,
'Jaws' 1975,
'The Omen' 1976,
'The Hills Have Eyes' 1977,
'Dawn of The Dead' and 'Halloween' both in 1978.
Something very special happened in those years. If you look at all the titles (except 'Jaws'), the bad guys are, well, more or less, HUMAN. Living human dead who feast on the flesh of the living, demonically possessed human, to crazy human. Something has happened to us and we're BAD!
Oh yeah, Woodstock happened in 1969 as well. A very transitional 10 years. The fear of those who live outside our boundaries was replaced by a fear of those who live inside them. We have seen the enemy and it is ourselves. Well, for the most part anyway. Ridley Scott's 'Alien' was 1979.
For Horror Comics, these were Fantastic years. DC's 'House of Mystery' returned to its scary themes in July 1968, captained by Joe Orlando. Its success would launch a new wave of mystery/scare titles for both of the Big Two. 'Creepy' and 'Eerie' were forerunners (due to their magazine format) with Creepy debuting in 1964. The first 'Eerie' magazine hit in 1966 and 'Vampirella' debuted in late 1969. And 1968 to 1978 were some of their best years.
Anyways, back to the cover...
You'll notice that 'Creepy' doesn't have a large logo obscuring the top third of the art. It's actually just type with the focus on the artwork. Why is that?
1. Jim Warren paid these cover artists a lot of money.
2. Magazines weren't sold in spinner racks.
There's a bit of debate as to who actually did the cover to Creepy 79, Enrich Torres or Manuel Sanjulian. Both are amazing artists. The confusion is from the fact that Torres did an alternate cover to Creepy 79 that was never used. You can see it here.
And the winner is...
Manuel Sanjulian... You are brilliant. I'm upset that there is ANY type desecrating that gorgeous cover. The tag in the upper left-hand corner should have been enough. It's Creepy, issue 79, A Warren Magazine. Stick the $1.00 price tag underneath. Boom! Instant classic.
But this is the essence of great cover.
1. Why is this attractive woman clutching a severed hand?
2. Why is she (what appears to be) a mortuary?
3. Why is there FEAR in those dark, haunting eyes... She seems to be hiding... What could she be hiding from?...
oh crap.. what if that hand?.... oh.... jeez... no...
Really fires up the dark corners of the imagination, doesn't it? Fear of the unknown. We're given the setting and the mood and the tidbit of the severed hand, but no more. Mr. Hitchcock, you have taught us well.
Next Up, I think I'll discuss a work of the late Frank Frazetta.
Published May 1976, Warren Publishing
Painting by Manuel Sanjulian
If someone made me answer what was THE greatest 10 years in the history of horror, I would have to say 1968 to 1978.
The movies... 'Night of the Living Dead' in 1968 which resurrected the horror genre, and 'Rosemary's Baby' also 1968
'The Last House on The Left' 1972,
'The Exorcist' 1973,
'Black Christmas' and 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' 1974,
'Jaws' 1975,
'The Omen' 1976,
'The Hills Have Eyes' 1977,
'Dawn of The Dead' and 'Halloween' both in 1978.
Something very special happened in those years. If you look at all the titles (except 'Jaws'), the bad guys are, well, more or less, HUMAN. Living human dead who feast on the flesh of the living, demonically possessed human, to crazy human. Something has happened to us and we're BAD!
Oh yeah, Woodstock happened in 1969 as well. A very transitional 10 years. The fear of those who live outside our boundaries was replaced by a fear of those who live inside them. We have seen the enemy and it is ourselves. Well, for the most part anyway. Ridley Scott's 'Alien' was 1979.
For Horror Comics, these were Fantastic years. DC's 'House of Mystery' returned to its scary themes in July 1968, captained by Joe Orlando. Its success would launch a new wave of mystery/scare titles for both of the Big Two. 'Creepy' and 'Eerie' were forerunners (due to their magazine format) with Creepy debuting in 1964. The first 'Eerie' magazine hit in 1966 and 'Vampirella' debuted in late 1969. And 1968 to 1978 were some of their best years.
Anyways, back to the cover...
You'll notice that 'Creepy' doesn't have a large logo obscuring the top third of the art. It's actually just type with the focus on the artwork. Why is that?
1. Jim Warren paid these cover artists a lot of money.
2. Magazines weren't sold in spinner racks.
There's a bit of debate as to who actually did the cover to Creepy 79, Enrich Torres or Manuel Sanjulian. Both are amazing artists. The confusion is from the fact that Torres did an alternate cover to Creepy 79 that was never used. You can see it here.
And the winner is...
Manuel Sanjulian... You are brilliant. I'm upset that there is ANY type desecrating that gorgeous cover. The tag in the upper left-hand corner should have been enough. It's Creepy, issue 79, A Warren Magazine. Stick the $1.00 price tag underneath. Boom! Instant classic.
But this is the essence of great cover.
1. Why is this attractive woman clutching a severed hand?
2. Why is she (what appears to be) a mortuary?
3. Why is there FEAR in those dark, haunting eyes... She seems to be hiding... What could she be hiding from?...
oh crap.. what if that hand?.... oh.... jeez... no...
Really fires up the dark corners of the imagination, doesn't it? Fear of the unknown. We're given the setting and the mood and the tidbit of the severed hand, but no more. Mr. Hitchcock, you have taught us well.
Next Up, I think I'll discuss a work of the late Frank Frazetta.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Best Horror Comic Cover - Part 2
We'll get to Creepy 79, I promise.
But first, I wanted to talk about, well... this:
This is the cover to Harvey publications' 'Black Cat Mystery' issue 50, June 1954.
Cover artist is probably Lee Elias (although it may have been Warren Kremer).
At first glance, you probably say 'Ewww' or 'Man, they could get away with a lot before the Code came in!' It's a pretty gruesome image; a man's face and hands being melted away by a small bar of Radium. Actually, as Radium goes, that's a HUGE bar of Radium. And you'll be happy to know that even a huge bar of Radium-226 won't melt your face off at all, but radiation poisoning does exist so don't try this at home.
Where was I?
Oh yes.
The shocking cover is going to sell comics. Especially horror comics. And that is a shocking image. But do you know why it's a great cover.
Symbolism.
'Yeah, the A-Bombs won the war but now they've blown up in our face! Science has really mucked it up this time!'
1954. Nine cold years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Most people were led to believe that the Atomic bomb was just a really powerful bomb. It blew stuff up. Radiation was good, it made X-Rays and glow-in-the-dark numerals on your Swiss watch. Governments around the world were testing atomic bombs left, right and center. Check out Bikini Atoll for a little history lesson.
Horror is exploitative. Let's be honest. It uses sex, murder, monsters and any other headline it can wrap its talons around. So in June 1954 it was Radiation Poisoning!
One last thing...
You'll notice with all these old covers that the logo takes up the top third of the comic. That's a lot of real estate. Do you know why that is?
Take a look at the typical newsstand in 1948:
For 90% of the titles, the only thing you would see was the top third. :)
But first, I wanted to talk about, well... this:
This is the cover to Harvey publications' 'Black Cat Mystery' issue 50, June 1954.
Cover artist is probably Lee Elias (although it may have been Warren Kremer).
At first glance, you probably say 'Ewww' or 'Man, they could get away with a lot before the Code came in!' It's a pretty gruesome image; a man's face and hands being melted away by a small bar of Radium. Actually, as Radium goes, that's a HUGE bar of Radium. And you'll be happy to know that even a huge bar of Radium-226 won't melt your face off at all, but radiation poisoning does exist so don't try this at home.
Where was I?
Oh yes.
The shocking cover is going to sell comics. Especially horror comics. And that is a shocking image. But do you know why it's a great cover.
Symbolism.
'Yeah, the A-Bombs won the war but now they've blown up in our face! Science has really mucked it up this time!'
1954. Nine cold years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Most people were led to believe that the Atomic bomb was just a really powerful bomb. It blew stuff up. Radiation was good, it made X-Rays and glow-in-the-dark numerals on your Swiss watch. Governments around the world were testing atomic bombs left, right and center. Check out Bikini Atoll for a little history lesson.
Horror is exploitative. Let's be honest. It uses sex, murder, monsters and any other headline it can wrap its talons around. So in June 1954 it was Radiation Poisoning!
One last thing...
You'll notice with all these old covers that the logo takes up the top third of the comic. That's a lot of real estate. Do you know why that is?
Take a look at the typical newsstand in 1948:
For 90% of the titles, the only thing you would see was the top third. :)
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Best Horror Comic Cover
Comic Book Covers...
The comic book cover is the "brand" of the comic within. The cover is sex appeal, it's a high wire act, it's art. It's the publisher's best effort to get their book into your hands.
The strange dilemma of horror... How does the appalling appeal to us? Why do we buy something that may scare or disgust us? Is there some moral lesson imparted from these tales of fright that we need to hear for our own damned good? Will it put us on the path of righteousness? Or do fictional horrors serve to allay our own bed-time fears? Or just remind us to lock the door?
Perhaps we just like a good scare. Maybe all of the above and more.
So what makes a great HORROR cover?
It really is a case-by-case basis, isn't it? Let's consider perhaps THE most notorious comic cover in history, featured in Fredric Wertham's 'Seduction of the Innocent'... Johnny Craig's cover to Crime Suspenstories #22:
We could make the argument that this is a Crime comic, although William Gaines would disagree...
Senator Estes Kefauver: "Here is your May issue. This seems to be a man with a bloody axe holding a woman's head up, which has been severed from her body. Do you think that's in good taste?
William Gaines: Yes, sir, I do...for the cover of a horror comic. A cover in bad taste, for example, might be defined as holding the head a little higher so that blood could be seen dripping from it, and moving the body over a little further so that the neck of the body could be seen to be bloody...
OK, it's a Horror comic. And damn if Johnny Craig couldn't rock a cover!
There's just something about how the center is this guy's belly and your eye has to drift for a split second to put the elements together. The bloody axe, the half-shot of the woman's body on the floor and waitasecond... is that a severed head he's holding?! Whoa!
Right off the bat, you knew what kind of comic this was. Sure it ushered in the Comics Code Authority and destroyed comics for the next 20 years in America, but... whoa.
Next Up: Creepy #79
The comic book cover is the "brand" of the comic within. The cover is sex appeal, it's a high wire act, it's art. It's the publisher's best effort to get their book into your hands.
The strange dilemma of horror... How does the appalling appeal to us? Why do we buy something that may scare or disgust us? Is there some moral lesson imparted from these tales of fright that we need to hear for our own damned good? Will it put us on the path of righteousness? Or do fictional horrors serve to allay our own bed-time fears? Or just remind us to lock the door?
Perhaps we just like a good scare. Maybe all of the above and more.
So what makes a great HORROR cover?
It really is a case-by-case basis, isn't it? Let's consider perhaps THE most notorious comic cover in history, featured in Fredric Wertham's 'Seduction of the Innocent'... Johnny Craig's cover to Crime Suspenstories #22:
We could make the argument that this is a Crime comic, although William Gaines would disagree...Senator Estes Kefauver: "Here is your May issue. This seems to be a man with a bloody axe holding a woman's head up, which has been severed from her body. Do you think that's in good taste?
William Gaines: Yes, sir, I do...for the cover of a horror comic. A cover in bad taste, for example, might be defined as holding the head a little higher so that blood could be seen dripping from it, and moving the body over a little further so that the neck of the body could be seen to be bloody...
OK, it's a Horror comic. And damn if Johnny Craig couldn't rock a cover!
There's just something about how the center is this guy's belly and your eye has to drift for a split second to put the elements together. The bloody axe, the half-shot of the woman's body on the floor and waitasecond... is that a severed head he's holding?! Whoa!
Right off the bat, you knew what kind of comic this was. Sure it ushered in the Comics Code Authority and destroyed comics for the next 20 years in America, but... whoa.
Next Up: Creepy #79
Sunday, December 19, 2010
"...And All Through The House..."
Cloud 109's blog has posted EC's "...And All Through The House..." from 'Vault of Fear' #35. For those of you not familiar with Johnny Craig, you're in for a treat. This version is black and white which really showcases Craig's talent. This is certainly one of the best Holiday horror comic stories of all time.
http://cloud-109.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-favourite-ever-ec-christmas-story.html
Sunday, October 31, 2010
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