Creepy Presents Richard Corben (Creepy Archives) Hardcover – July 24, 2012

... or the importance of being Corben.Long before Richard Corben arrived on the scene, comic books were produced following the following pattern: once the artist finished inking his work (which was done either by brush or pen, and sometimes both), his work was shot and colored, and then coded according to a color chart. Each of the four colors used for printing had three or four variants, which when mixed with each other, would total from 62 to 122 different colors. These colors, however, had to be "seperated" at the printers. The method for doing this was by applying a variant of a chosen color on an acetate (a sort of transparent sheet or film) corresponding to one of the four colors. This was done with an opaque red-brownish color, through which no light could pass through. These acetates where then shot through a coarse dot screen, which when printed gave those tiny dots we see in the old comic books wherever color was printed on. And this was the norm for coloring comic books for many years. Actually this method, or rather the printing, gave artist Roy Lichtenstein an idea for reproducing comic book panels on large canvasses and making a fortune out of it (while comic book artists continued to starve).During the sixties Corben was working as an artist/animator/cameraman for a Kansas City industrial film company, where he had also experimented with this four color process by using acetates. Wouldn't it be great if instead of applying the brown opaque color on the acetates with a brush, he could use an airbrush instead to obtain a more photo-realistic rendering? At the time, Corben was also moonlighting by selling some of his work to the underground comics, even if he was some sort of anomaly there, as he didn't do drugs, have long hair or was even anti-establishment. Underground comic books, though, gave him total sexual freedom, which he couldn't get from any of the other major companies. And it was around then that he discovered the Warren magazines, which didn't have to adhere to any comics code (though they weren't really as free or extreme as the undergrounds; they were caught somewhere in the middle between underground and major comics, or let's say, were more adult-oriented than your average kiddie superhero comic book). Corben began contributing with black and white work, which were the norm at the Warren magazines. He used every conceivable method to render his work more exciting, from zipatones, craftint, washes, crayons and even some airbrush onto his already inked work. But Corben's dream was to use color, but not as it was normally used, but by working directly on the acetates that were used for the printing. So he asked and pleaded Warren to let him use color, something Warren was hesitant about, as using color meant more expenses for a company he was barely keeping afloat.Eventually Warren, or someone over there, gave Corben a chance to do a color story. I would have loved seeing their faces when Corben arrived with some brown-toned acetates and told them that was his "color" work. However, once the story was shot and printed, the results were astonishing. The figures seemed to leap off the page, and the rendering was quasi-photographic, making the artwork look as if it came from a slick magazine and not from a cheap four-color comic book. Actually his method proved so revolutionary, that color was added for a while on all the Warren magazines, though none seemed capable of doing it the Corben way (and some of the other colorists' results were rather apalling and ghastly).Simply put, Corben had completely changed the way comic books should be colored. And his work at Warren didn't go unnoticed. When a bunch of French comic book artists, dissatisfied with working for a youth-oriented magazine, decided to start their own science-fiction adult-oriented magazine, its editor, already a big fan of the Warren magazines, decided to contact Corben. And that's how Corben published his series "Den" (which had actually first started as an animated film) in the ground-breaking magazine Metal Hurlant. The impact it made over in Europe was unbelievable. It seems there couldn't be any adult-oriented comic magazine published over there without having some Corben art inside. After all, hadn't Jean Giraud aka Moebius said at the time that Corben was his favorite artist? Incidently, Toutain, the Spaniard who had started the invasion of Spanish comic book artists at Warren, would be Corben's agent in Europe.Corben's work would open doors for comic book artists all over the world, artists who could finally see the potential and possibilities of producing comic books with richer and fuller colors. Though few followed Corben's actual intricate coloring method; a lot simply rendered their work directly in full color, using anything from watercolors to oils. Actually many of today's comic books, rendered with a computer, look very similar to Corben's work when he was at Warren and Heavy Metal, though he did everything by hand. That just shows how much the industry owes to Corben, a fact that seems to be ignored nowadays.Concerning this book, it collects all the work he did for Eerie and Creepy (though missing are the stories he did for another Warren magazine, that is now owned by another publisher). Here you'll see what I've been talking about; from his first black and white stories, to those color pages that seem to have been done with a computer. I have to say, looking at this book now, that some of the colors are quite harsh and sometimes too pale, which I guess was from Corben experimenting with various coloring methods. Many of these Warren stories have become classics, and some of Corben's best were the ones he illustrated from Bruce Jones' scripts, as "In deep" (when I first read that story in the old Warren magazines, I thought they were actually photographs and not drawings), to the time-travelling dinosaur saga (which by the way is reprinted completely uncensored in this book, as opposed to the previous reprint by HM). Also note that the stories have been restored and the reprinting is actually flawless, looking sharper and better than ever before (some actually shot from Corben's original boards). I only wish someone would reprint his Den series, and the other work he did in the eighties, as it was there that Corben really shined and was at his very best, having total control of his coloring method.For those of you who don't know Corben, or only know him from the inferior work he's doing nowadays for the majors, this book represents a view of a true innovator, who for nearly two decades was considered the best comic book artist in the world. Nevertheless, his work at Warren was only the tip of the iceberg (and by the way, how prolific he was, not taking into account that most of the work he did for Warren was in color).Though I was partial to Dark Horse doing these offshoots (as I'm buying the Archives already), Corben is one of the few artists who deserves a book devoted solely to his work.This gets my highest recommendation!

I just got mine this week and I was amazed by the quality of this book. Ive been collecting Corben artwork since the late 70s so im a huge fan of the artist...but I was skeptical that a really good collection of the Warren stories could be produced. I know that most of the original artwork is gone and the color films are also missing so the collection would need to be produced from scans of second generation sources (the magazines themselves). Heavy Metal tried to do this a number of years ago and the results were poor.. so I had my doubts. I was wrong! These reproductions are brilliant! I own all the original Warren stories and I went back and compared the artwork panel by panel. In most cases they are indistinguishable- and in lots of cases the Dark Horse reproductions are BETTER. Some stories (like Judas) had printed so dark in the original Warren magazine that entire areas of detail were lost- the Dark Horse version is much better and I felt like I was able to really see this story for the first time. Stories like Hilton Hotel which were scanned directly from Corbens originals have also never looked better. In just a few places I would say the original Warren reproductions were slightly better..The Raven lost a little detail in the darks here and there- but still an amazing job based on the limitations of reproducing from second generation sources.I missed the Vampirelle stories- As Though They Were Living and The Woodlik Inheritance! Too bad they had to be left out, but I understand the reproduction rights reside elsewhere.All and all one of the most beautiful art books ive ever owned. The color, paper quality, binding is as good as it gets (and its about 350 pgs, not 320). Im especially grateful to Jose Villarrubia and Ryan Jorgensen who oversaw the restoration. Its obvious these guys get it- they love Corben and gave him the treatment here his fans can appreciate. Im especially happy to finally get these stories onto archival paper- My Warren magazines are gradually yellowing and falling apart. Dark Horse has preserved these classics in the definitive form here and I am thrilled about it. I would love to see this team move on to a collection of Corbens underground work next?

I got the online version so I could read it on my tablet, (highly recommended) and to be honest, I savored the entire book, it brought back many memories of when I read most of these the first time, years ago. I grew up on EC comics, my older brother and I read them back in the 50's, so the next step for me was "underground comics" in the early 70's, where I found out about Richard Corben. After that I started to read Creepy, Eerie, and that type of magazine. These stories never get old, I don't know how these type comic book style stories and art compare to today, but for me, you cannot beat this. Corben's artwork makes this, although the stories may lack certain qualities, his art doesn't. The facial expressions of the people in the art makes whatever he does come to life, so it's not ALL about the story. He could do art for the phone book and make it interesting.Now, I'm left without this to read, hopefully I can find something else that will give me a 'good read' that this particular Corben's book did for me.I read mine on a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 Tablet 2014 Edition, the (super)high resolution of the screen made it to where I had zero problems reading this, (as mentioned by another reviewer) so it would all depend on what tablet you have, as to how it looks. I am not sure what it would look like on any other, but the decision to get the online version over the hard copy was a good one, at least for me. (If I did have any problems, I just 'enlarge' the page to see whatever I needed on things that are not that legible, as in other things I have read/seen)You won't regret getting this, it's a whole lot of fun for a little bit of money!

As a Brit, and fan of American underground comix of the sixties and seventies, I was an admirer of what Richard Corben stories and illustrations I had come across, those mainly from publishers Last Gasp and Corben's own Fantagor. The story When Dreams Collide being a particular favourite.Then somehow I stumbled on this book among those Amazon recommendations and decided to buy it. The book reprints stories from American horror comics Creepy and Eerie, not a series familiar to most on this side of the pond I suspect.The publisher, Warren, have produced a book that feels like a labour of love. For once, almost all Corben's entire contributions of the 1970's have been collected together, printed on good quality paper in the best reproduction possible. About 300 pages of top notch horror and fantasy, colour and B&W. For someone like me who has seen few of these in the past, it is a real treasure.Having now checked the prices of Corben's other trade paperbacks on the second-hand market, it is an absolute bargain.

Corben work collected from over the yearsA legend that will be sorely missed.

I am a regular reader of the Warren comics franchise and all I can say is this is a must for horror fans.The short stories and artwork(many in colour) are some of the best I’ve seen.With well over 300 pages it is also great value.

Very nice edition. A must for any Richard Corben fan.

I always liked Richard Corben's work. It's great to see his Creepy work in one quality volume. They did a good job on the coloured stories.