Creepy was an American horror comics magazine launched by Warren Publishing in 1964. Like Mad, it was a black-and-white newsstand publication in a magazine format and did not carry the seal of the Comics Code Authority. An anthology magazine, it initially was published quarterly but later went bimonthly. Each issue's stories were introduced by the host character, Uncle Creepy. Its sister publications were Eerie and Vampirella.
Creepy #1 (late 1964), edited by Russ Jones, cover art by Jack Davis
Editor Dan Braun signs a collected edition of Creepy next to a model dressed as Uncle Creepy at the Dark Horse Comics booth at the 2011 New York Comic Con.
Horror comics are comic books, graphic novels, black-and-white comics magazines, and manga focusing on horror fiction. In the US market, horror comic books reached a peak in the late 1940s through the mid-1950s, when concern over content and the imposition of the self-censorship Comics Code Authority contributed to the demise of many titles and the toning down of others. Black-and-white horror-comics magazines, which did not fall under the Code, flourished from the mid-1960s through the early 1980s from a variety of publishers. Mainstream American color comic books experienced a horror resurgence in the 1970s, following a loosening of the Code. While the genre has had greater and lesser periods of popularity, it occupies a firm niche in comics as of the 2010s.
EC Comics' Tales from the Crypt #24 (July 1951) Cover art by Al Feldstein
Gilberton Publications' Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (August 1943), possibly the first full-length comic-book horror story
Avon Publications' Eerie Comics #1 (January 1947). Cover artist unknown.
Beware: Chilling Tales of Horror number 10 (July 1954). Artwork by Frank Frazetta.