Creepy #7 – Review

By: Joe Lansdale, Keith Lansdale, Dan Braun, Bill Morrison, Martin Salvador & Archie Goodwin (writers), Guus Floor, Patric Reynolds, Wilfredo Torres, Steve Skeates & Steve Ditko (artists) and Nate Piekos (letters)

The Story: Uncle Creepy is back with three new tales of terror and two old reprints from the Creepy archives.

Review: This isn’t a “bad” issue of Creepy, but it does commit the cardinal sin of an anthology: It doesn’t have a singular story that sets your socks on fire.  Probably the closest to excellence that this issue comes is with the second story: “The Shroud” by Dan Braun and Patric Reynolds.  This snappy little story involves a young couple that visits an auction and acquires a creepy shroud with a demonic face on it.  It’s kind of an evil-looking Shroud of Turin.  That’s just not going to turn out well!  Reynolds’ art is crisp and the only thing holding this story back is that it ended kinda suddenly.  My two cents is that they could’ve ditched a panel or two of people nagging the guy to get rid of the shroud and had another couple panels at the end.

The other two new stories aren’t bad, but don’t do anything to stand out.  “Mud” was an interesting concept, but the art was too… well… muddy for me to really enjoy it that much.  “Bloodsuckers” was also just okay.

Dark Horse gives us TWO old reprint stories in this issue.  On one hand, it DOES expose readers to the excellence of those old Warren Publishing Creepy magazines.  Whether you collect the single issues (like me) or buy the archives that Dark Horse is publishing, those are MUST READS for any horror fan.  On the other hand, neither of these two stories are picked from the A-list of old Creepy material and it seems a little cheap to sell us a “new” comic that is 40% reprint material.

Sergio Aragones Funnies #1 – Review

By: Sergio Aragones (writer & artist), Tom Luth (colors), Karen Bates (letters) & Bill Morrison (editor)

The Story: A new series from the mind and pen of Sergio Aragones.

Review: This was really cute and adds some wonderful diversity to the comics industry.  Sergio Aragones needs little introduction to older comic fans who know him from his work in Mad Magazine and his creator-owned series Groo the Wanderer.  But, for those who haven’t been exposed to his work, you’re in for a treat because this issue will expose you to the work of a legendary cartoonist.

The format for this book is part of what makes it work so well.  It has two “main stories”.  One is a cartoony retelling of the story of the Trojan Horse.  It is complete with all sorts of tongue-in-cheek, PG-rated humor and has an ending that is funny as hell and not what I expected.  The other “main” story is a story of Sergio himself during his college days when he attempted to recruit fellow students to be extras in a film about the Alamo with disastrous results as his buddies are running around in sneakers, looking at the camera and otherwise ruining the filming.  Then, woven between these stories are a bunch of one-pagers where Aragones tells us a bunch quick and humorous stories.

Aragones is a cartoonist in the truest sense and he’s been doing this for a LONG time.  There isn’t a single panel in this issue where it is unclear what the characters are doing.  This is best exemplified by his one-pages that have no word balloons, but it holds true even in the main stories that feature plenty of dialog.  And, goodness the detail in these panels!  But, even with this detail, it looks effortless… Like he just cranks these pages out.  This is just the work of a super-experienced hand.

Conclusion: I really don’t need to go on and on about this issue.  It’s really good and this will be on my pull list for as long as Aragones wants to publish it.  Adults will chuckle at it, but then you should hand it to a kid, because they’ll love it just as much.

Grade: B

– Dean Stell

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Creepy #4 – Review

By: Dan Braun, Craig Haffner, Bill Morrison, Andrew Foley, Nicola Cuti & Otto Binder (writers) & Kevin Ferrara, Michael Kaluta, Rahsan Ekedal, Paul Komoda, Hilary Barta & Gray Morrow (art) & Nate Piekos (letters)

The Story: A set of six horror tales to get your ready for Halloween!

What’s Good: Take a second to look over that list of creative talent.  There are some new(er) names in there, but also some real heavy hitters too.  Just the presence of Mike Kaluta and Hilary Barta is reason to buy this book!

If you enjoyed short form, slightly campy horror TV shows like Tales from the Crypt, The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits (or old horror comics), this is going to be right up your alley.  Creepy is an anthology series and this issue features 6 black-and-white stories spread over 48 pages of comic goodness.  All of the stories make your skin crawl AND you chuckle uncomfortably as Uncle Creepy comes in to narrate the transition from one gruesome story to the next.

It is very hard to pick a “best story” from this anthology because all are very, very good.  However, the winner would probably be a very creepy Nazi themed story by Craig Haffner and Dan Braun and chillingly illustrated by Kevin Herrara.  And, if this story doesn’t make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, something else will.

Lady Robotika #1 – Review

By: Jane Wiedlin & Bill Morrison (co-writers), Morrison & Tone Rodridguez (pencils), Morrison & Davis (inks), Rachelle Rosenberg (colors) & Tony Fleecs (letters)

The Story: Jane Wiedlin is a rocker kidnapped by aliens obsessed with Earth pop-culture who want her to perform for their emperor.

What’s Good: I buy a lot of books on a “what the hell” kind of impulse.  That leads to reading a lot of C-R-A-P, but I also occasionally get a comic that is way better than I expected.  The main thrust of the plot is summarized above.  It is just that simple.  I generally avoid celebrity books like the plague, but where they go wrong is that they’re really trying their hands at world-building and they fail.  But, Ms. Wiedlin has success here because she is writing a story about herself.  At no point do you get the sense that this is a failed screenplay or that she is working out some angst because no one will finance her to direct a feature film.

And what a fun story it is…..The story was somewhat evocative of a movie I remember from my childhood called The Explorers where some kids met some silly aliens who had learned about Earth via our television and have become huge fans of pop culture.  While I was already grooving on the overall campiness of the story before, when she convinces the aliens to spare her friend by telling them he is Ace Frehley of KISS and the aliens get excited and tell them they will live in the lap of luxury drinking Rock Star energy drinks and feasting on seasonal McRibs…Well… I was hooked then.  I can’t wait to see their planet!

I also quite enjoyed the art in this issue.  It has a certain cheesecake-feel to it, but it’s appropriate to the book.  I’m also surprised that the art looks as good as it does given mix of inkers and pencilers.  I honestly didn’t notice until I was typing the credits for this review.