I love horror. Horror anything. It puts happiness in my soul. So, recently when I entered the world of comics through my Graphic Novel class I immediately began my search for horror comics.
It seems by now everyone and their brother knows about The Walking Dead. A wondrous show that I have been committed to for years now. But, what other horror comics are out there? So very many.
On my horror comic journey I came across the words Stephen King and Creepshow. I was all about it. I’ve loved Stephen King for so long it seems. Ever since my sister showed me the movie IT and I cracked open that monster of a book ten years ago.
In 1982 Creepshow was released. It was an “American black comedy horror anthology film.” Good Lordy, what a title. Anyways, the film was written by the great Stephen King. It was not only his screenwriting debut, but it was his acting debut as well. His son also acted for the first time in the movie with him. Lots of firsts for Stephen King when it comes to this film.
Stephen King looking crazy in Creepshow. Source: The Frida Cinema
The film was written to be a homage to the EC and DC horror comics from the 1950s. King was inspired by comics like House of Secrets, The Vault of Horror, and Tales from the Crypt. Director George A. Romero even hired effects specialist Tom Savini to make comic-like effects in the film, as to give the viewers a comic book feel to it. So, it made sense to make the film based on comics into a comic itself. Kind of backwards I guess, considering now a days you mostly see comics turning into film/television productions, not the other way around.
After reading reviews and background on the movie itself, I tracked down the graphic novel. I was all too pleased with what I found. Creepshow in comic form took me back to my days of sweet childhood bliss. Being a kid, sitting around my grandma’s house eating Cheez-Its and watching Goosebumps. That’s the exact vibe I got from that book.
A mean dead guy coming back as a zombie. Source: The RPF
The graphic novel, exactly like the film, consists of five short stories. These include: “Father’s Day,” “The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill,” “Something to Tide You Over,” “The Crate” and “They’re Creeping Up on You!” Our narrator throughout the novel is Creep. He’s this melting face, no nose person that guides us through the stories. I love his weird commentary on every page. Creep seems to get a lot of enjoyment out of the bad things that go on in the stories. He laughs way too much and foreshadows all the crazy stuff that inevitably comes. He definitely adds to the experience.
Basically, if you love cheesy 80’s horror like I do, then you’ll probably get a kick out of this graphic novel. It’s worth a read. And that’s the point of this whole blog post. If you have never seen the Creepshow film or read the graphic novel, go check it out. It’s fun and weird. You might like it, you might hate it, like most things in life. Either way it’s worth checking out, it’ll make you fully appreciate Stephen King’s love for all horror.
I’ve been thinking about this movie a lot lately. It’s great to see someone did a blog post on it.