Creepy Comics #6 – Review

By: Joe R. Lansdale, Christopher A. Taylor, Alice Henderson, Dan Braun, Craig Haffnet, Archie Goodwin (writers), Nathan Fox, Jason Shawn Alexander, Kevin Ferrara, Garry Brown, Neal Adams (artists), Nate Piekos (letters) & Shawna Gore (editor)

The Story: Another issue of the reborn horror anthology from Dark Horse.

What’s Good: If you’re not getting Creepy, you’re doing comics wrong.  This issue nails the formula again by giving us 5 short-stories of horror goodness with excellent black-and-white art.

With anthologies, the overall grade is mostly related to (a) how good the “good” stories were and (b) how sucky were the “bad” stories.  The weakest of this issue’s stories (“Mine”) was still pretty cool and had great art and the high points (“Commedia Del Morte” & “Fair Exchange”) were really awesome.  Perhaps Dark Horse shouldn’t get full credit for Full Exchange by Archie Goodwin and Neal Adams since this is reprint material from the original 1960’s Creepy Magazine, but Commedia Del Morte was a real tour de force.  After reading Commedia Del Morte, you’ll see clowns as both scarier and more heroic than you ever did before.

Another thing that is precious about Creepy is that no one is trying to launch a new creator-owned series off any of these tales.  Even though I generally enjoy anthologies like Dark Horse Presents or Strange Tales from Vertigo, you know that those stories are usually pitches for ongoing series OR they are pitches that no one liked quite enough to turn into an ongoing series.  That’s never a problem with Creepy, there are just outstanding short stories with a definite ending.  Even when the concept is cool, the story has an ending.  Someone could easily turn the concept for Commedia Del Morte into a miniseries, but I strongly doubt we’ll ever see that.  Even though I enjoy continuity based superheroes as much as anyone, there is something special and powerful about these Creepy stories’ ephemeral nature.  And, these stories are basically timeless.  Go read the 60’s Creepys if you doubt me and compare how fresh they seem compared to Batman of that same era.

Creepy #5 – Review

By: Timothy Truman, Benjamin Truman, David Lapham, Dan Braun & Doug Moench (writers), T. Truman, Lapham, Lucas Marangon & Mike Vosburg (artists), Nate Piekos (letters), Shawna Gore & Dave Land (editors)

The Story: Uncle Creepy is back with 4 new black and white tales of horror.

What’s Good: There is just something about B&W horror comics.  Because Creepy is an anthology that comes out quarterly, it never has rushed looking art and there is almost never a need for separate inkers.  That means that the art for each story is nothing but the vision of the artist creating the story.  Further, B&W allows the linework to shine through in a pure manner that is not possible with colored comics.  If these artists want a shadow, they damn well better get out the fine nibs and some ink rather than just letting the colorist render a dark spot on the characters.  Creepy is a complete throwback and really makes me wish we had more B&W comics on the shelf.

All the stories in this issue are somewhere between “solid” and “quite good.”  First, Benjamin and Timothy Truman team-up on a story of a tribal shaman who must venture to the underworld to fight a demon and save her child.  This story is probably the artistic star of the issue as the linework is just wonderfully nuanced and Buscema-like.  Next up is the best story of the issue: a tale by David Lapham of how some farmers will go to any length to have a prize winning crop.  Third is a very short interlude-type story about cults in the United States.  And, we wrap up with a Doug Moench & Mike Vosburg story about a man who gets what was coming to him.  All in all, this is a pretty solid batch of stories for a horror anthology.

Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth #1 – Review

By: Malachai Nicolle (writer), Ethan Nicolle (art, letters), Dirk Erik Schulz (colors) & Shawna Gore (editor)

The Story: Very roughly… Axe Cop and Dinosaur Soldier have to stop a nefarious plot.

What’s Good: I wish we could have more comics like this.  If you aren’t familiar with the Axe Cop webcomic, (a) you should check it out asap and (b) you are in for a TREAT.  The hook with Axe Cop is that the writer, Malachai Nicolle, is 6 years old.  If you’ve ever heard a young child tell a story, you know that they can come up with some zany things.  Some of this is due to the fact that their story-telling is completely uninhibited and some is due to the fact that they lose track of the story as they unload on you with a stream of consciousness.

Of course, the other half of the magic is Malachai’s artist brother Ethan (30 years old).  Ethan is a terrific artist and brings his little brother’s words to the page with great gusto.  I think the reason it works is that Ethan is playing it 100% straight.  Even on the opening page when Axe Cop takes a drink of water and is accused by a talking hammer of drinking his friend’s (the cup’s) brain, the art never has even an ounce of silliness.  It is 100% hardcore serious stuff down to Axe Cop’s character design (pushbroom mustache + mirrored aviator sunglasses) to the anger lines emanating from the hammer as he yells at Axe Cop.  It is such a smart art choice by Ethan for a couple of reasons.  First, you can “sell” just about any outlandish idea as long as you treat it 100% seriously.  Second, I’m sure when Malachai is telling his brother the story, it is 100% serious to Malachai.  He doesn’t think it is amusing. To him it is a hardcore action story.