Creepy lives again -- Wha??? And Dube tried to resurrect The Rook recently?

Creepy #1 by Dark Horse comics

Via this link you'll find a preview on the Dark Horse site where you can see the 1st 3 pages, drawn by Jason Shawn Alexander. Interesting. Harris bought the rights to the Vampirella franchise at liquidation prices when Warren publishing suddenly and unexpectedly collapsed in the 80's and has been publishing  completely different version of Vampi than the large-format black and white horror comic it used to be with amazing artwork by the likes of Jose Gonzalez. Their version is full color and comic book sized, with art that looks like standard modern superhero stuff to me. I think they also spawned an Anime/Manga inspired version as well? Anyway, nothing that caught my interest.

But this is a bit more intriguing. It's black and white, and it seems they're really trying to duplicate the atmospheric feel of the old Warren horror publications. Though some of the artists seem ill0suited to it (as many of the Warren artists did), as if they should be drawing for Mad magazine instead, and some seem more suited to modern or slightly caricatured superhero type stuff. This always seems to have been the case with horror comics though.

I noticed the price for the 1st issue on the Dark Horse site is only 99¢, so I made an account and bought it as a digital version. They also have digital versions of all the Creepy and Eerie archive reprints, which are being published currently and sold in hardcopy form for between 35 and 45 bucks a pop, but the digital versions of those are $20. I know it's not the same as having a paper copy in your hands, but it does save you a pretty penny.

I got so excited about this I found myself pacing all around my house - something that only profoundly life-altering news can usually accomplish. In a way, it's almost like a forever lost period of my youth has been resurrected, quietly and with no fanfare that I managed to hear until now. Who knows, it might peter out and die just as quietly, like the digital download new Rook series Bill Dubay tried to launch in 2009, that filled me with great anticipation when I found an interview about it, but crashed me into dark despair when I clicked the link to the site and found only a Japanese site that obviously had nothing to do with it. Guess that one failed miserably unfortunately, though I don't know if I could tolerate new Rook stories with an artist other than Luis Bermejo. Think I'd rather see new artists doing new stuff instead. It would be sort of like if a modern movie studio got the rights to do new installments in the Clint Eastwood Dollars trilogy but with all new actors and using extensive CGI special effects. Just wrong, you know?

Anyway, the new Creepy seems to be up to issue 18 - I might buy the bundles which save a bit off the 2.99 cover price for individual issues (aside from #1). Probably one bundle at a time - not sure yet how I feel about this.