My dad was a printer. Thanks to him I had a constant supply of paper but also comics. Mum too ensured
I was never without something to read. I can’t for the life of me remember who
it was bought me that first, Carmine Infantino pencilled, DC Flash comic. I
think it was dad. I know it was 1961 and that I was seven. To this day that
first American comic book was one of the defining moments of my life. It led me to eventually desert DC comics and race, as everyone else was back then, to read Stan
Lee’s Marvel comics.
The world would suggest that Mravel was all Stan Lee's idea. That he created the whole sheebang. He didn't. Oh he was the man,
the engine room behind the whole ‘Marvel Universe’ but it was Jack Krby, Don
Heck, Dick Ayers and that virtual genius of comic book art, Steve Ditko that
made my juvenile life, much of it spent in hospital, not only bearable but
flipping wonderful.
DC and Marvel weren’t
the only ones though. James Warren incorporated Warren Publishing in 1957 as homage,
in many ways, to those victims of the ‘Comics Code Authority, E.C. Comics. The
first magazines published had little or no effect upon me; I can’t even recall
their names. It was with Creepy in 1964, Eerie in 1966 but, and for very
obvious reasons now, Vampirella in 1969 (well I was only fifteen and semi-clad
females, even fictional ones were part of my pubescent stirrings) was the other, the one
for me as it were.
Looking back it is with
a genuine fondness for Uncle Creepy and Cousin Eerie, the two characters,
hosts even, who often fronted their respective comics, that remains. I liked the
way those two sinister gents, much like something from ‘The Adam’s Family’ or ‘The
Munsters,’ were the guys who welcomed you in to the macabre worlds they
inhabited and of which we read with such enthusiasm.
James Warren said this about Uncle Creepy and Cousin Eerie: “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.” Or perhaps Cane and Able?
James Warren said this about Uncle Creepy and Cousin Eerie: “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.” Or perhaps Cane and Able?
The two comics were
anthologies and, unlike Marvel or DC, always in black and white much like the many
of the UK’s comics. I liked that gritty, grainy quality. It somehow seemed to
fit the subject matter.
Vapirella fitted into
my juvenile world like a soft, rubber doll. Not that we had things like that
then and even if we did my mum would have killed me had I secreted one away
under my bed. Vampy was sexy. At least I thought she was them but seeing a girl
in her gym knickers had the desired effect at fifteen. Seeing her now, and with
all due respects to her age, she is rather obvious; a little too tarty for my
mature tastes. But boy did she do it back then
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| "Boy does the string cut up your ass!" |
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Yes, there were other comic book publishers like Archie and Charlton but Warren, along with the big two, were my favourite of the American bunch. It was a sad day indeed when Warren went bust. Vampy is back, with a new publisher and a new deal no doubt, but the glory days have gone. I think I will go and dig my red G-string out of the attic. On second thoughts perhaps Iwon't. It does rather cut a chap in half if you know what I mean.
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all words and art are copyright © of Russell 'C.J' Duffy.
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