THE WEIRD WORLD OF EERIE PUBLICATIONS: The Siren Song Of Trashy Tabloid Horror
From 1954 to the early '70s, comics publishers kept atight rein on the horror genre to avoid the kind of Senateinvestigation-inspiring trouble that horror comics got into during the early'50s glory days of E.C. Comics and their many imitators. However, the early'70s saw a loosening of the comics code that allowed for a return of macabrecreatures and themes to the world of comic books. Magazine-size publicationswere free from such restrictions but they took advantage of the newpermissiveness in comics to do what their four-color cousins couldn't get awaywith.
The Warren Publications trilogy of Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella are the best-known and mostsuccessful of magazine-sized horror comics but they experienced a burst ofcompetition during that early-to-mid '70s horror comics boom. The mostnotorious of these competitors was Eerie Publications, an outfit devised byinfamous fly-by-night magazine publisher Myron Fass. They published a string oftitles - Weird, Horror Tales and Tales FromThe Tomb among them - that were awash in gore and bad attitudes thatlaunched a synapse-melting assault on many a budding young horror fan.
Given the erratic nature of these magazines -inconsistent publishing schedules and numbering systems, sparse and oftenmisleading credits - many horror comics buffs spent decades wondering wherethese oddities came from and whose sick minds put them together. Thankfully,those questions have been laid to rest by TheWeird World Of Eerie Publications, an excellent book by Mike Howlett.
Howlett has multiple aims with this book but hesuccessfully integrates them into an engaging read full of surprises and color(both literal and figurative). After a pair of introductions - one by Howlettand one by famous comics/film scribe Stephen Bissette - that do a good job ofsetting up the sleazeball allure of Eerie's cheap horror comics, the book divesinto the history of Myron Fass. He started as a comic book artist during thisfield's original boom period, developing a feel for horror before the genrebecame too controversial circa SeductionOf The Innocent and the subsequent Senate investigation.
From there, Fass moved into publishing, doing everythingfrom humor to men's magazines before the attention-getting success of WarrenPublications led him to return to the horror genre. He developed a gleefullyquick-and-cheap approach to the format that started with reprints of '50spre-code horror, mutated into reprints with artists adding touch-ups for extragore and cheesecake content and finally became redraw/rewrite takes on thoseclassic stories. The final cheaply-published but often nicely-drawn resultbecame a newsstand staple and a cult fave for a certain type of trash-lovinghorror fan.
Howlett gives you the lowdown on how these magazineswere published, who was actually involved behind those kooky faux-credits, thewild magazines that Fass's group published outside the comics world and the evenwilder nature of life in the Fass office (note: he was a gun enthusiast who wasknown to prowl his office with a pistol). You also get biographical profilesfor the editorial staff, who reveal themselves to be a real rogues' gallery ofthe publishing world, and bios for the artists who worked on these magazines.The latter set of bios is really fascinating because the artists included a mixof golden ages comics vets, artists from the ad world and, most intriguingly, agroup of Argentinean artists who provided some of the most striking work inthese magazines.
If that's not enough for you, The Weird World Of Eerie Publications still has some gas in itstank. Other features include a gallery of the eye-popping artwork used forEerie's horror magazines, a newly-drawn version of a classic story by comicslegend Dick Ayers and a series of appendices that cover an array of fascinatingtangents. Said appendices include material on Fass's ventures into superheroand teen comics, sources for lifted cover art, info on where the magazines'text stories came from and more.
As the last few paragraphs suggest, you get all theavailable info about the strange history of Eerie Publications. However, thething that puts it all across the plate is Howlett's authorial voice. He candeploy some playful, tongue-in-cheek humor when the moment is right but he shows respect for hissubject matter by doing quality journalism about its origins. He also displaysa nice knack for artistic commentary when discussing the styles of thedifferent artists. His nimble approachcarries the reader nicely through the various topics covered by the book andthe book's appeal is completed by a slick, colorful layout that makes excellentuse of art from the Eerie's different publications.
In short, if you have a serious interest in horror comics, The Weird World Of Eerie Publications will fill in an oft-overlooked piece of the genre's history. This book is proof you can educate yourself and have lots of trashy fun at the same time.
For more info on the book and a free 36 page sample, click here.