THE BALLAD OF EERIE NO. 1

Original drawing by Sanjulian from the cover of EERIE #51.

One fine day in September, 1965, publisher James Warren, writer Archie Goodwin and letterer Gaspar Saladino slapped together a few reprint stories, used a logo previously designed by Ben Oda and sent it to the printer. The next morning, 200 "ashcan" issues of Eerie #1 were ready for force feeding to a few strategic outlets in New York in order to secure the title's trademark away from rival publisher, Eerie Publications.

Now, Warren was free to continue on with his plan to offer fans 12 months of horror comics magazines instead of just the six, bi-monthly issues of CREEPY. Plus, host Uncle Creepy now had a partner to exchange insults with. Warren explained: "We launched EERIE because we [the staff at CREEPY] thought CREEPY ought to have an adversary. The Laurel and Hardy syndrome always appealed to me. CREEPY and EERIE are like Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre..."

The cover of EERIE #1 is by Jack Davis. The contents contained reprint stories from earlier issues of creepy:

• "Image of Bluebeard", Story by Bill Pearson, art by Joe Orlando
• "Death Plane" Story by Larry Ivie, art by George Evans
• "The Invitation" Story by Larry Englehart and Russ Jones, art by Maurice Whitman and Manny Stallman.

Because of the low grade of its printing and lower distribution, a counterfeit edition of EERIE #1 appeared. Warren caught wind of it and offered a reward for anyone who would identify the culprit in a full-page advertisement in his magazine.

So far as the value of the 'zine, it has seen increasingly rising prices since it was first published. A recent auction sold a pristine copy for over double the previous value claimed by Overstreet.

Eerie #1 First Edition (Warren, 1965) Condition: NM. The low distribution of the first printing has made this issue difficult to find, especially in the grade of this pristine copy. This copy has the distinct lines on the roof of the house on page 1, and the bald headed man on page 18 panel 5 disappears into solid black (both of which are mentioned in Overstreet as indicators of a true first printing). We've offered a copy this nice on just two previous occasions since 2001, and both went for well over Overstreet guide value. Jack Davis cover. George Evans and Joe Orlando art. Overstreet 2013 NM- 9.2 value = $1,100. SOLD FOR $2,270.50