CREEPY

[Scott]

I was a big fan of Creepy comics as a kid. I just bought the first volume eBook version of the Dark Horse editions, three bucks and some change. They did a good job with the 'frames' feature converting it to the eBook format. It's still great stuff.

[geneweigel]

I went through stacks of old comics and mags about 5 years ago or so and there are endless troves of good stuff from the pre-80's. Some stuff that I held in high regard like superhero stories of the 80's didn't age as well as I thought but the horror anthologies are always good because it always has to reboot each section. I think the old hero books pre-80's were more self-contained and had more value. CREEPY (1964 to 1983),EERIE (1966 to 1983), VAMPIRELLA (1969 to 1983) were always in mind because I always bought the flagship "mag" FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND (1958 to 1983). I think the Frazetta stuff and peers like him is one of the things that made them so prestigious compared to lets say reading a Charlton Comic horror anthology. Although I get a kick out of all the horror comics.

[Scott]

I never read Eerie or Vampirella. I always meant to, but always got sidetracked. I didn't look to see if they were available in the same format as the Creepy books.
The Creepy books have been available for a while, but they were expensive. The price just went way down. I couldn't pass it up for less than $4.
Famous Monsters was another one I collected as a kid.
I have some fond memories of some 80s hero stuff. Maybe I don't want to read them so the memories stay positive.

[geneweigel]

yeah, the shameless Superman/Spiderman plug-ins are more negative in retrospect than they were when they came out for sure. I think that I was so trusting of those big brands that I needed to "collect" everything. Overall stories are still stories but certain instances that felt crappy back then feel just as crappy.

I think one comic book instance of absolute shifted opinion of actual content on rereading would be the French artist Morbius. He is just a writer of babble. I see it now but I thought that back then I was missing something in translation.

[Scott]

Oh yeah. There was Moebius-mania for a while. I was never a fan.

[Scott]

I was never much of a DC hero reader, but I did love Weird War Tales. I wonder if they're available.

[GRWelsh]

You mentioned Weird War Tales, and that made me think of G.I. Combat with "The Haunted Tank," which I liked as a kid. I don't think I had any of the Creepy or Eerie books. Although I do vaguely remember reading some horror comics. One story that sticks in my mind is the one about Kali mentioned in this index below:

13. Tales From the Tomb v3n5, Oct 1971, 52pp, $0.60
Cover: Fernando Fernandez

Tomb of Horror (6p, Antonio Reynoso)
Rework of The House Where Horror Lived, Web of Evil #6 (Quality, Sep 1953)
A jealous assistant tries to scare a fearless daredevil with a bogus haunted house.
The Blood Goddess (7p, Larry Woromay, script: Jack Cole)
Rework of Goddess of Murder, Web of Evil #3 (Quality, Mar 1953)
A collector resorts to murder to get what he wants when a Hindu priest refuses to sell him a statue of Kali - but he soon wishes he hadn’t.
The Hairy Humanoids TEXT ARTICLE (3p, Desmond Martin, Illustrations: Ezra Jackson)
Reprint of Sasquatch - the Hairy Humanoid, Exploring the Unknown #56, Mar 1970
The Weird House (6p, Oscar Novelle)
Rework of The Desert Castle, Weird Tales of the Future #3 (Gillmor, Sep 1952)
A scientists creates a fluid that brings inanimate matter to life and accidentally spills it on a suit of armor.
The Slimy Mummy - Reprinted from Weird v3n5
The Ghosts TEXT ARTICLE (4p, Doug Edson, Illustrations: Ezra Jackson)
Reprint of A Night of Tahitian Ghosts, Exploring the Unknown #6, Apr 1971
And Death Makes Three - Reprinted from Weird v2n9
Blood and Old Bones - Reprinted from Tales From the Crypt v1n10

I found the index here.

I read Moebius in some issues of HEAVY METAL. The art was good, but the stories were quirky and brutal and IMO hit or miss.

[Scott]

The first Creepy I read had a story called "Orem Ain't Got No Head Cheese". Here's a synopsis I just found:

Dismemberment, cannibalism, psychosis, hillbilly cousin-cest, monsters made of malignant brain tumours and entrails... all in wonderfully gnarly black and white with perfect pacing and composition. Warren horror comics really rocked the hizbah like the hizbah hasn't been rocked since. And some people say webcomics get a bit too raucous?

I was hooked.
It was a great issue. There were memorable yeti and vampire stories in there too.

[Scott]

I liked G.I. Combat/The Haunted Tank too.