'Creepy' #18 Celebrates 50 Years Of The Macabre

About a decade after the formation of the Comics Code Authority in 1954 effectively killed off EC Comics' popular line of horror comics, Warren Publishing aimed to bring back some of that malevolent magic. The result was the anthology series Creepy (and later, its sister book, Eerie). Published as a black-and-white magazine, the series didn't have to adhere to the Comics Code's strict content standards, and as such, was able to push the envelope in ways comics in the mid-1960s generally couldn't.

Now, the book's current publisher, Dark Horse, is celebrating the magazine's 50th anniversary with a big, blowout issue featuring work by Fred Van Lente, Corinna Bechko, Dustin Nguyen, Peter Bagge, Alison Sampson, and Art Baltazar, among others.

The magazine was dormant for nearly three decades, publishing what was seemingly its last issue around the time Warren went bankrupt in 1983. Harris Publications, which bought the rights to the Warren properties, published one issue in 1985. After that, the magazine didn't see print again until 2009, when Dark Horse revived it.

Creepy and Eerie really were the spiritual successors to the EC Comics of the '50s. Many of the artists of the EC horror books found work at Warren's Creepy, and the comic was hosted by Uncle Creepy, a ghoulish character in the vein of the Crypt-Keeper and The Old Witch.

The Dark Horse version of the magazine has been coming out quarterly or bimonthly for about five years now, with the anniversary issue set to hit October 8. Check some promo art for the issue below.