Amazing Stories Told Brilliantly by Joshua Hale Fialkov

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Amazing Stories Told Brilliantly by Joshua Hale Fialkov

10/22/2012 11:56am

By the time I was born, many of the things I would one day grow to love were already gone. Hammer films, film noir, EC Comics—all distant memories while I was coming through the birth canal. Luckily for me, Creepy and Eerie made it until my fourth birthday, which was still a few years shy of my comics reading, but enough that I can still feel like one of my passions in life coexisted with me, however briefly.

I discovered Creepy when I was nine or ten years old. My older brother would take me with him to the stores Phantom of the Attic (still going strong all these years later) and Eide's (not so much) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and as he'd pick up his issues of Vigilante and Batman, I'd dig through the long boxes looking for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics, which, as you might not remember, were originally in magazine format. Which put me smack dab in the Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella section.

I'd already fallen in love with the EC anthology series by then, and so immediately clamored to try these oversized, gorgeous magazines. What was inside was something I'd never imagined. Like a nightmare come to life in the most splendid way possible, issue to issue, month in and month out, Creepy was the best there was in horror, and the ghastly things contained within the dusty newsprint pages would shape me for life. My mother would say “scar,” but I'll go with “shape” instead.

So, now, a couple of decades later, I find myself constantly going back to my stack of Creepy and Eerie for inspiration, for education, and, more often, for the fun. These stories are from a different era, when telling a great story was the central goal, rather than marketing and crossovers and brand identity. In fact, the mentality seems to have been “Let our brand identity be totally amazing stories told brilliantly.” Which has been something I've always aspired to.

This collection you hold in your hands is a gift. A gift of the magic that comics hold, and specifically, the power that the old Warren magazines could wield. A perfect marriage of words and pictures into a chillingly lyrical package that deserves to be not on your bookshelf, but on your coffee table and being read by every person, comics reader or otherwise, that steps foot into your home.

The boundaries these comics pushed (and not just the ones of taste) were epic and effortless. The sense of spirit and adventure goes beyond just honoring the EC comics that came before them, managing to nearly eclipse them in terms of significance and quality—at least to those of us who make comics for a living. They stand as a perfect example of commerce meeting art and both coming up far better for it.

Take, for example, issue #64. Six stories in service of a cover. A cover was commissioned, and the accompanying story was never completed. Instead, Jim and Archie and the gang sent the cover out for their pools of talent to write their own versions of just what that story was about.

What you got was six radically different takes by some of the best guys in comics (including Tom Sutton, co-creator of my current gig, I,Vampire, over at DC Comics!) on a cover that's equal parts ghastly and stirring. Two of those takes are by the masterful Doug Moench who, without a credit to tell you otherwise, you would never mistake for being written by the same guy.

This issue, it should be noted, was Archie Goodwin's final issue of Creepy, and no better testament to his ability to get the very best out of the talent around him exists. Even in Archie's absence (the odd reprint issue aside), the book continued in both his and Jim Warren’s image for years and years to come (and gorgeous deluxe hardcover collections to come, too!). There just was no better horror comic on the stands at the time, and I'd argue, no offense to my friends and publishers, nor since. These are the very gold standard that all horror, for me, is judged against.

That being said, this book also makes me extremely sad. As one of a handful of horror writers still grinding away in comics, Creepy (and Eerie) stands as a testament to a bygone era, where the absolute top industry talents were given free reign to tell the type of stories that they were passionate about. Where horror wasn't seen as some flakey sub-genre of superhero comics (themselves a pretty damn flakey subgenre). Where imagination and creativity trumped safe corporate confines. Where major publishers saw the value in genres other than men in tights.

It was a different world then, obviously, where you could still make money from magazines and pamphlets, and you weren't competing with an infinite supply of movies and video games a click of the mouse away. But, I'd argue, what these comics have that you see less and less of these days is sheer and utter joy. So much of what makes comics great come from the head-scratchingly bold choices made by our forebearers. Every story contains a piece of their creative hearts, and coupling that with their talent and skill, they made every damn page of every issue a classic.

Maybe I’m wearing rose-colored glasses. I don't know. What I do know is that for twenty years, Warren Publishing published the stories that inspired me to do what I do.

So now, sit back, relax, and try not to wet yourself, as you read some of the best horror stories ever written from the best horror magazine that ever was. It feels so good to go back there.

—Joshua Hale Fialkov

March 2011, North Hollywood, CA

Joshua Hale Fialkov is the Eisner, Harvey, and Emmy Award-nominated writer of graphic novels including Elk's Run, Tumor, Echoes, and The Last of the Greats. He's also written I, Vampire for DC Comics, Doctor Who for IDW Publishing, and Vampirella for Harris Comics. Find out more about him online at TheFialkov.com.

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Amazing Stories Told Brilliantly by Joshua Hale Fialkov

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