Dark Horse revives Eeriefor summer launch Almost half a century after it helped stitch together an entire generation
of Monster Kids, seminal horror comics magazine Eerie will soon be re- joining its twisted sister, Creepy, on comics stands. Scheduled for a July debut, the new Eerie, published by Dark Horse, will feature a mix of original science fiction-tinged horror stories and reprints of tales from the maga- zine’s heyday. According to editor Dan Braun, Eerie will test the waters with old-school,
black and white interior art and a quarterly publishing schedule. “We’ll do the first four issues and see what the response is,” he says. “If it goes well, we’re discussing the idea of going full-colour. That might be a shock for the traditionalists, but in later issues of the original run of Eerie, there were astounding colour sections by Richard Corben, so it’s not without precedent.” The original Eerie launched in 1966 and ran for 139 issues. Since it was
technically a magazine and not a comic book, the Warren Publications title didn’t fall under the constraints of the Comics Code Authority. Along with Warren’s similarly formatted Creepy and Vampirella, Eerie is often credited with keeping horror comics alive during the years of heavy censorship that followed 1954’s Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency. All three titles folded in 1983, when Warren filed for bankruptcy. For years afterward, rights to the titles were mired in complex legal dis-
putes. Braun says that he and his partners, who include his twin brother Josh, first flirted with the idea of acquiring rights to Eerie and Creepy in 2000. It took seven years of false starts and gruelling negotiations with James Warren himself to finally gain con- trol of the titles, and the vast library of material from their original runs, which are being reprinted in Dark Horse’s award-winning Creepy and Eerie Archives series. “There are so many legends and myths about
this man, but I can tell you that he is someone I respect deeply and I’m quite fond of him,” Braun says of Warren. “That said, he did put me through some hell over those seven years, but I have to believe that a certain part of his moti- vation was legacy. When the first hardcover archive came out [Creepy Archives Vol. 1], I got an amazing message from Jim saying that the volume brought tears to his eyes and that he didn’t know how it could be done any better. That affirmation was enough for me to feel validated for that seven-year struggle. And the Eisner Award I won for best archival reissue in 2009 didn’t hurt, either.” The first issue of Eerie will feature a robot story by David Lapham, along
with what Braun describes as a “traditional but twisted, EC-style sci-fi” story penned by Christopher Taylor, who scripted the disturbing clown yarn “Commedia dell’Morte” for Creepy #6. While the original Eerie was known as a vehicle for multi-part stories and reappearing characters, Braun and Dark Horse are taking a different tack with the revamp. “With a quarterly schedule, we didn’t want to focus on introducing char- acters,” Braun explains. “But that’s not to say we might not do it in some
Twisted Sister: Jim Pavelec’s illustration for the first issue of the relaunched Eerie, and (inset) interior art by David Lapham.
form later. If the book does well this year, then next year we would consider expanding the page count, increasing the frequency and using the title for characters and serials again, but even with those ideas, it would still be focused
on sci-fi horror.” If all goes well, you could be seeing the Eerie and Creepy brands in places
other than your local comics shop, too. Braun and his associates are working with director Chris Columbus to develop a Creepy anthology film that will fea- ture segments by four filmmakers, including Columbus himself. Braun says that Adam Green is also involved, but details are still under wraps. “The idea will be to bring in two other big directors on Chris’ level, and
then one independent or up-and-coming director. There’s a lot of excite- ment to see how stories and characters from the pages of Creepy and Eerie might [translate to] film.”