HAVE A CREEPY SATURDAY!

CREEPY
Vol. 1 No. 1
1964
Warren Publications
Publisher: James Warren
Editor: Russ Jones
Story Ideas: Joe Orlando
Lettering: Ben Oda
Cover: Jack Davis
Pages: 52
Cover price: 35 cents

It's hard to describe the excitement I felt as a Monster Kid laying my 9 year-old claws on the first issue of CREEPY! It was Monster Magic. Here was a magazine-sized comic book with the kind of stories you didn't (and couldn't) see in the regular-sized comics; that era had died out a decade ago with the inception of the Comics Code Authority and the subsequent banning of horror comics. But here they were, back again, and with many of the same artists from those halcyon days of horror in four-colors -- this time in glorious black and white! I still have the one copy that we could find at our local newsstands and drug stores, and it was cajoled, traded and bought and sold by the rest of our gang until it finally ended up with me -- worn, but still original!

Other facts about this amazing first issue:

• The cover logo, designed by ace letterer, Ben Oda, would be changed in the second issue and remain until issue #116.
• "Werewolf" would be Frank Frazetta's last full-length comic strip as he upscaled his career by designing cover art and other commercial projects. The strip is hosted by "Julius", and was possibly completed before Uncle Creepy was decided on as the magazine's macabre mascot.
• Russ Jones is co-credited with Bill Pearson as the script writer for "Voodoo!", but he did not, in fact, contribute (see Two Morrows' WARREN COMPANION).
• Artists Maurice Whitman and George Evans are listed as artists on the contents page, but they had no work that appeared.
• There is a two-page ad for MONSTER WORLD, the magazine that would be the 10-issue companion to FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND (it hit the stands just before CREEPY).
• There is a one-page ad for the upcoming Famous Films issue of Warren fumetti, THE MOLE PEOPLE.

(NOTE: The information above was provided by David Horne's massive index of Warren Publications, GATHERING HORROR.)

If for some reason, you haven't yet had the opportunity to read this seminal issue that heralded a new generation of monster comics, now's your chance. If you have, then read again one of the great monster comics of all time!

CONTENTS
"Voodoo!"
Script: Russ Jones; Bill Pearson
Art: Joe Orlando

"H2O World!"
Script: Larry Ivie
Art: Al Williamson; Roy Krenkel

"Vampires Fly At Dusk!"
Script: Archie Goodwin
Art: Reed Crandall

"Werewolf!"
Script: Larry Ivie
Art: Frank Frazetta

"Bewitched!"
Script: Larry Ivie
Art: Gray Morrow

"The Success Story"
Script: Archie Goodwin
Art: Al Williamson

"Pursuit of the Vampire!"
Script: Archie Goodwin
Art: Angelo Torres