Meet Cousin Eerie
In part one of our series on the Warren Magazine trifecta of anthology based horror tales, we talked about Creepy Magazine. For part two, we will explore the “cousin” of Creepy, which is Eerie Magazine. First published in 1966, Eerie was hosted by a different character called “Cousin Eerie.” He was meant to be a foil for Creepy’s own Uncle Creepy. Publisher James Warren described their intention as thus:
We launched Eerie because we thought Creepy ought to have an adversary. The Laurel and Hardy syndrome always appealed to me. Creepy and Eerie are like Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre.
The other similarity between the two “hosts” is their appearance was created by the same man, Mad Magazine’s Jack Davis. The difference between the two books were that while Creepy generally kept to anthology style single stories, Eerie sometimes contained mini series. Series such as Dax the Warrior, The Mummy Walks, Dracula, Dr. Archaeus, The Rook, and more.
These placed the magazine closer to the comics version while still maintaining that they were unencumbered by the dreaded Comics Code Authority. That claim of being a Magazine and not a Comic covers a great deal of content it seems. While I enjoyed some of the series in Eerie, especially The Rook, I preferred the single story anthology style tales. Til this day, however, the covers for the Warren Publication Magazines are some of the greatest covers done during any time.
Issue Number One
And speaking of covers… you may wonder about the first issue’s cover (as seen in the slideshow below). It was black and white and comparatively sparse. Truth was that the first issue of Eerie was put out very quickly. It was what was called an “ashcan” edition that only had 200 issues printed. Mainly just to get Warren Publishing’s name attached to the character and the series. In issue two they cranked up the production, having access to the same writers and artists that Creepy had. There were Frank Franzetta covers, Gene Colan Art and Archie Goodwin stories that were of equal quality to their Creepy forbears.
Of course, being attached to Warren Publishing not only gave it access to the same writing and artists pools, it also was attached to the same financial struggles of the publisher. Editors, artists, and writers all came and went, and reprints of various stories were common during its run. Also, just like Creepy’s fate, Eerie‘s last issue published would be issue #139 in February 1983 when Warren went bankrupt.
Thankfully for those who liked the magazine, it was given the same archival love through Dark Horse Comics. The first archival volume of Eerie was released on March 15, 2009, with additional releases every four months. Just like the Creepy Archives, they can be purchased through ComiXology or on Amazon for the hard cover editions. I may have to pick up these archives. Brings back fond memories of laying in my bed when I was young and reading these magazines. Good times, good times.
But while, Creepy and Eerie captured my imagination with their tales of horror and suspense, the third member of the Warren Publishing trifecta captured something else. My young, testosterone driven soul. Up next, Vampirella.
Eerie Covers
Senior Writer at GeekVibesNation – I am a 50 something child of the 70’s who admits to being a Star Trek/Star Wars/Comic Book junkie who once dove head first over a cliff (Ok, it was a small hill) to try to rescue his Fantastic Four comic from a watery grave. I am married to a lovely woman who is as crazy as I am and the proud parent of a 18 year old boy with autism. My wife and son are my real heroes.
