Posts Tagged ‘Doing Research’

Hello kiddies. Today I have an announcement to make. Remember when I said I didn’t really want to talk about Creepy anymore, because I felt it was like beating a dead horse? Well it turns out, this is a horse that needs a beating.

Let me explain. Not surprisingly I keep an eye out for news and weather in the horror comics field. I found quite a few reviews about Dark Horse’s Creepy issue #1. Some of them (like Zombo’s) were fairly neutral. They tend to ramble on about the history of comics or the genre as a whole. Very few of them really analyze the single work at hand. But the one that I found that did, almost completely opposed my direct experience with this magazine.

My first thought was–Is this guy nuts? Then I changed that to–Is this guy 12 (years old)? And then finally thought (as I should have from the beginning) –Did I miss something?

So, I went back and looked at my review again. I still don’t really like it, but I narrowed down why. It’s because I don’t say anything beyond–Hey I liked this, and Hey I didn’t like that.

Not a lot of meat there, you must agree. (I agree) So the time has come to put my money where my fingers are. I will now write the real review of Creepy #1. I take this very seriously (I don’t know why). I am actually doing research (OMG!) and thinking (Holy crap!) to create a self contained article that I will never need to further comment on or explain why I said the things that I said in it. Let’s begin.

Down the rabbit hole…

The current Creepy issue is 48 pages of entirely B&W printing on coated paper. I keep coming back to this topic because it seems so strange to me. The graphics in the mag in no way warrant the use of coated stock and the glossiness of the pages actually detracts from whatever mood the art night be able to create, assuming the art was any good at all. The only hypothesis I’ve got about the paper choice is that it must be standard for their printers to use it and it would either cost more or be a special order for them to use the optical white plain paper that they should be using. (like the pages of the new Lenore)

This article will be in at least six parts, of which, this one is merely the introduction. The magazine has six stories in it and I intend to analyze each one. As well as talk about the people involved in their creation. If a story or the art for one, or both, are good or bad I will not only say so, but I will say why, exactly.

The stories are:

The Curse, Hell Hound Blues, Chemical 13, All The Help You Need, Loathsome Lore: Faustian Deals and finally Daddy And The Pie. (Not to be confused with Daddy and My Mom, which could be called the same thing)(Cheap? Yes, but if I hadn’t said it I would regret it. Maybe not now, but soon and for the rest of my life.).

So join me next time kiddies, for part ONE of Creepy Or Crappy. Where I will cast The Curse under a new light.