RETRO REVIEW: Creepy Presents Richard Corben

Dark Horse Comics; $29.99

Guest Review: Here is a dream come true for Corben and Warren fans alike: Creepy Presents Richard Corben, from Dark Horse Books. This glorious hardcover compilation features over 300 pages of Richard Corben’s groundbreaking and influential work for Creepy and Eerie, along with some of the very best writers in the comics field, 40 stories in all. Beautifully reproduced in black and white, grey tones, and full color on sturdy glossy paper, this collection also stands as a superior achievement of excellence in restoration and overall presentation by master artist and colorist José Villarrubia, who along with assistance from Ryan Jorgensen lend a level of care in detail that brings the efforts of Scorsese’s devotion to film restoration to mind.

Villarrubia has also provided an informative and detailed introduction, giving some background to Corben’s career leading to his work at Warren, as well as the original publishing history of the material, plus a thorough analysis of the work, including some of the possible movie influences on both the artist and his host of writers, from The Wolf Man (1941) to Jaws (1975).

There’s also a cover gallery and a few pages of the spot illustrations of Uncle Creepy and Cousin Eerie. We even get to see his first appearance in Warren magazines, two panels of art which were featured in the letters pages of Eerie #16, two years before his first published story for the company, further testament to the level of detail to this collection.

Here’s the Richard Corben collection you’ve been waiting for, and certainly one of the premiere quality collections of this or any year, courtesy of José Villarrubia and Dark Horse Books.

– John K. Snyder III

Artist John K. Snyder III, known for his recent adaptation of Lawrence Block’s Eight Million Ways To Die, as well as Fashion In Action, Grendel, Doctor Mid-Nite, among many other projects, has long been outspoken in his praise for the horror work of artist Richard Corben.

“One of my favorite horror comic reading experiences was my first exposure to the work of Richard Corben in Creepy #54 (July 1973) ‘The Slipped Mickey Click Flip,’ written by Doug Moench, was unlike anything else I had seen up to that time, more fascinating than frightening, right away I wanted to see more of this style of horror story,” he said.

Snyder is also a big fan of the Creepy Archives and Eerie Archives hardcover series from Dark Horse. When those subjects came together in the recently released Creepy Presents Richard Corben hardcover, we asked him to give us his thoughts on the final product.