Warren Publishing
Encyclopedia
Warren Publishing was an American
magazine
company founded by James Warren
, who published his first magazines in 1957 and continued in the business for decades. Magazines published by Warren include After Hours, Creepy
, Eerie
, Famous Monsters of Filmland
, Help!
, and Vampirella
.
Initially based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
, the company relocated by 1965 to New York City
.
Begun by James Warren, Warren Publishing's initial publications were the horror
-fantasy
--science fiction
movie magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland and Monster World, both edited by Forrest J Ackerman
. Warren soon published Spacemen magazine and in 1960 Help!
magazine with the first employee of the magazine being Gloria Steinem
.
After first introducing what he called "Monster Comics" in Monster World, Warren expanded in 1964 with horror-comics
stories in the sister magazines Creepy and Eerie — black-and-white publications in a standard magazine format, rather that comic-book size, and selling for 35 cents as opposed to the standard comic-book price of 12 cents. Such a format, Warren explained, averted the restrictions of the Comics Code Authority
, the comic-book industry's self-censorship body:
By publishing graphic stories in a magazine format to which the Code did not apply, Warren paved the way for such later graphic-story magazines as the American
version of Heavy Metal
; Marvel Comics
' Epic Illustrated
; Psycho and other "horror-mood" series from Skywald Publications
; and Warren's own line of magazines.
Russ Jones
was the founding editor of Creepy in 1964. A year later, Archie Goodwin
succeeded him, with Joe Orlando
acting as a behind-the-scenes story editor. Goodwin, who would become one of comics' foremost and most influential writers, helped to establish the company as a major force in its field. From 1965 to 1966, Warren also published the four-issue Blazing Combat
, a war-comics magazine with anti-war themes, highly controversial at the time.
and Rocke Mastroserio
(who soon died) departed the company.
During the next two-and-a-half years, Warren's publications consisted primarily of reprints from the early issues. During this period, a variety of editors ran the magazines including Bill Parente, Nicola Cuti, and Warren himself. Things started picking up again for Warren in 1969 with the premiere of its third horror magazine, Vampirella
. Many of Warren's original artists returned during this period, as would Goodwin for a period of time in 1970 and 1971. After Goodwin's second departure, editors would J.R. Cochran. The art director was Billy Graham
.
In 1971, Warren began using artists from the Barcelona studio of Spanish
agency Selecciones Illustrada
. Over the next few years, Spanish artists would dominate the magazines. Additional Spanish artists from S.I.'s Valencia studio began freelancing for Warren in 1974.
In 1973, new editor Bill DuBay
, who had originally joined the company as an artist early in 1970, transformed Warren's magazines to create a uniform style. The following year, Warren Publishing was dissolved and replaced by Warren Communications, a sister company James Warren had founded in 1972. Dubay was editor for all three of Warren's horror magazines until 1976, except for a short period of time in 1974 where Goodwin returned to edit four issues of Creepy and two of Vampirella. During this time the frequency of Warren's magazines was upped to nine issues a year.
, which revived acclaimed writer-artist Will Eisner
's masked detective of 1940s and early-1950s newspaper
Sunday supplements, reprinting the character's seven-page, semi-anthological stories for a new generation. The magazine featured new covers by Eisner and an occasional reprint in color. It would later move to Kitchen Sink Press
. The same year, Warren debuted Comix International, a color magazine reprinting earlier Warren stories.
After Dubay's departure, Louise Jones
, his former assistant, headed the editorial staff from 1976 to 1980. Toward the end of Dubay's period of editorship many American artists had returned to the magazines, including John Severin
, Alex Toth
, and Russ Heath
and they contributed many stories during Jones' time as editor. Former DC Comics
publisher Carmine Infantino
would also join the company during this period and pencil over 50 stories. Much like the wave of Spanish artists that dominated throughout the mid-1970s, a number of artists from the Philippines
would begin contributing during this period. Dubay returned as editor after Jones' departure, using the alias "Will Richardson".
Toward the end of the 1970s, Warren published two new magazines edited by Dubay: the science-fiction anthology 1984
, in 1978 (which would change its name to 1994 two years later); and, in 1979, The Rook, starring a time-traveling adventurer whose stories had appeared in Eerie since 1977.
acquired company assets at auction, although legal murkiness and a 1998 lawsuit by James Warren resulted in his reacquisition of the rights to Creepy and Eerie, though no new material since has been published as of 2007.
Illustrators included such established artists as Orlando, Neal Adams
, Gene Colan
, Frank Frazetta
, Angelo Torres
, Roy G. Krenkel, Gray Morrow
, Al Williamson
, Johnny Craig, Reed Crandall
, Alex Toth
, John Severin
, Russ Heath
and Wally Wood
, plus a newer group of talents, including Dan Adkins
, Richard Bassford
, Roger Brand, Frank Brunner
, Rich Buckler
, Dave Cockrum
, Nicola Cuti, Richard Corben
, Al Hewetson
, Ken Kelly, Pepe Moreno
, Mike Royer, Tom Sutton
, and Berni Wrightson.
The Spanish artists from Selecciones Ilustradas included Esteban Maroto
, José Ortiz
, Luis Bermejo
, Rafael Aura Leon
, Luis Garcia
, Jose Gonzalez
, Isidro Mones
, Martin Salvador, Fernando Fernandez
, Leopold Sanchez
, Ramon Torrents
, Jose Bea
, Vicente Alcazar
, Jose Gual, Felix Mas and Jaime Brocal. Artists from the Philippines
included Alex Niño
, Rudy Nebres, Alfredo Alcala
and Abel Laxamana. Other international artists who worked for Warren include Gonzalo Mayo (Peru
), Pablo Marcos
(Peru), Leo Duranona (Argentina
) and Paul Neary (U.K.).
Cover artists for Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella included Adkins, Frazetta, Kelly, Morrow, Sutton, Ken Barr, Vaughn Bodé
, Pat Boyette
, Ron Cobb, Richard Conway, Jack Davis
, H.R. Giger, Basil Gogos
, Bill Hughes, Terrance Lindall
, Gutenberg Monteiro, Albert Nuetzell, Vic Prezo, Sanjulián
, Vincente Segrelles, Kenneth Smith, Enrich Torres and Boris Vallejo
.
Writers included Goodwin, Cuti, Dubay, Bruce Jones
, Doug Moench
, Budd Lewis, Gerry Boudreau, Rich Margopoulos, Don McGregor
, Steve Skeates
, Jim Stenstrum, and T. Casey Brennan
.
) occurred in Warren's Creepy
#43 (Jan. 1972), in "The Men Who Called Him Monster" by writer Don McGregor
and artist Luis Garcia
. McGregor said in 2001 that the kiss was actually due to the artist misunderstanding the line "This is the clincher" in the script. McGregor would later script color comic books' first known interracial kiss, in the "Killraven: Warrior of the Worlds
" feature in Amazing Adventures
#31 (July 1975).
(1958) Wildest Westerns (1959- formerly Favorite Westerns Of Filmland) Help!
Spacemen (1961) (nine issues) Screen Thrills Illustrated (1963) (ten issues)Monster World (1964)
Famous Films (1964)
Creepy
(1964)
Blazing Combat
(1965) (four issues)
Eerie
(1966)
Freak Out USA (1967)
Teen Love Stories (1967)
Vampirella
(1969) The Spirit
(1974)Comix International (1974)
1984 (1978; retitled 1994 in 1980)
The Rook (1979)
Warren Presents (1979)
The Goblin (1982)
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
company founded by James Warren
James Warren (publisher)
James Warren is a magazine publisher and founder of Warren Publishing.Magazines published by Warren include Creepy, Vampirella and Famous Monsters of Filmland...
, who published his first magazines in 1957 and continued in the business for decades. Magazines published by Warren include After Hours, Creepy
Creepy
Creepy was an American horror-comics magazine launched by Warren Publishing in 1964. Like Mad, it was a black-and-white newsstand publication in a magazine format and thus did not require the approval or seal of the Comics Code Authority. The anthology magazine was initially published quarterly but...
, Eerie
Eerie
Eerie was an American magazine of horror comics introduced in 1966 by Warren Publishing. Like Mad, it was a black-and-white newsstand publication in a magazine format and thus did not require the approval or seal of the Comics Code Authority. Each issue's stories were introduced by the host...
, Famous Monsters of Filmland
Famous Monsters of Filmland
Famous Monsters of Filmland is a genre-specific film magazine started in 1958 by publisher James Warren and editor Forrest J Ackerman.-Magazine history :...
, Help!
Help! (magazine)
Help! was an American magazine published by James Warren. It wasHarvey Kurtzman's longest-running magazine project after leaving Mad and EC Publications, and during its five years of operation it was always chronically underfunded, yet innovative...
, and Vampirella
Vampirella
Vampirella is a fictional character, a comic book vampire heroine created by Forrest J Ackerman and costume designer Trina Robbins in Warren Publishing's black-and-white horror comics magazine Vampirella #1 . Writer-editor Archie Goodwin later developed the character from horror-story hostess, in...
.
Initially based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, the company relocated by 1965 to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Founding
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
-fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
--science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
movie magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland and Monster World, both edited by Forrest J Ackerman
Forrest J Ackerman
Forrest J Ackerman was an American collector of science fiction books and movie memorabilia and a science fiction fan...
. Warren soon published Spacemen magazine and in 1960 Help!
Help! (magazine)
Help! was an American magazine published by James Warren. It wasHarvey Kurtzman's longest-running magazine project after leaving Mad and EC Publications, and during its five years of operation it was always chronically underfunded, yet innovative...
magazine with the first employee of the magazine being Gloria Steinem
Gloria Steinem
Gloria Marie Steinem is an American feminist, journalist, and social and political activist who became nationally recognized as a leader of, and media spokeswoman for, the women's liberation movement in the late 1960s and 1970s...
.
After first introducing what he called "Monster Comics" in Monster World, Warren expanded in 1964 with horror-comics
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
stories in the sister magazines Creepy and Eerie — black-and-white publications in a standard magazine format, rather that comic-book size, and selling for 35 cents as opposed to the standard comic-book price of 12 cents. Such a format, Warren explained, averted the restrictions of the Comics Code Authority
Comics Code Authority
The Comics Code Authority was a body created as part of the Comics Magazine Association of America, as a tool for the comics-publishing industry to self-regulate the content of comic books in the United States. Member publishers submitted comic books to the CCA, which screened them for adherence to...
, the comic-book industry's self-censorship body:
"The Comics Code saved the industry from turmoil, but at the same time, it had a cleansing kind of effect on comics, making them 'clean, proper and family-oriented'. [...] We would overcome this by saying to the Code Authority, the industry, the printers, and the distributors: 'We are not a comic book; we are a magazine. Creepy is magazine-sized and will be sold on magazine racks, not comic book racks'. Creepys manifesto was brief and direct: First, it was to be a magazine format, 8½" × 11", going to an older audience not subject to the Code Authority."
By publishing graphic stories in a magazine format to which the Code did not apply, Warren paved the way for such later graphic-story magazines as the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
version of Heavy Metal
Heavy Metal (magazine)
Heavy Metal is an American science fiction and fantasy comics magazine, known primarily for its blend of dark fantasy/science fiction and erotica. In the mid-1970s, while publisher Leonard Mogel was in Paris to jump-start the French edition of National Lampoon, he discovered the French...
; Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
' Epic Illustrated
Epic Illustrated
Epic Illustrated was a comics anthology in magazine format published in the United States by Marvel Comics. The series lasted for 34 issues, from Spring 1980 to February 1986....
; Psycho and other "horror-mood" series from Skywald Publications
Skywald Publications
Skywald Publications is a 1970s publisher of black-and-white comics magazines, primarily the horror anthologies Nightmare, Psycho, and Scream. It also published a small line of comic books and other magazines....
; and Warren's own line of magazines.
Russ Jones
Russ Jones
Russ Jones is a Canadian novelist, illustrator, and magazine editor, active in the publishing and entertainment industries over a half-century, best known as the creator of the magazine Creepy for Warren Publishing...
was the founding editor of Creepy in 1964. A year later, Archie Goodwin
Archie Goodwin (comics)
Archie Goodwin was an American comic book writer, editor, and artist. He worked on a number of comic strips in addition to comic books, and is best known for his Warren and Marvel Comics work...
succeeded him, with Joe Orlando
Joe Orlando
Joseph Orlando was a prolific illustrator, writer, editor and cartoonist during a lengthy career spanning six decades...
acting as a behind-the-scenes story editor. Goodwin, who would become one of comics' foremost and most influential writers, helped to establish the company as a major force in its field. From 1965 to 1966, Warren also published the four-issue Blazing Combat
Blazing Combat
Blazing Combat was an American war-comics magazine published by Warren Publishing from 1965 to 1966. Written and edited by Archie Goodwin, with artwork by such industry notables as Gene Colan, Frank Frazetta, John Severin, Alex Toth, and Wally Wood, it featured war stories in both contemporary and...
, a war-comics magazine with anti-war themes, highly controversial at the time.
Vampirella and international artists
After 17 issues of Creepy and 11 of Eerie, Goodwin resigned as editor in 1967. The movement of Warren's operations from Philadelphia to New York City, combined with a change in distributors and a downturn in the market imposed a cash flow problem on Warren, and Goodwin along with all of the artists except for Tom SuttonTom Sutton
Tom Sutton was an American comic book artist who sometimes used the pseudonyms Sean Todd and Dementia...
and Rocke Mastroserio
Rocke Mastroserio
Rocco "Rocke" Mastroserio , who sometimes signed his work "Rocke M.", "RM", "Rocke" or "RAM", was an American comic book artist best known as a penciler and inker for Charlton Comics.-Early career:...
(who soon died) departed the company.
During the next two-and-a-half years, Warren's publications consisted primarily of reprints from the early issues. During this period, a variety of editors ran the magazines including Bill Parente, Nicola Cuti, and Warren himself. Things started picking up again for Warren in 1969 with the premiere of its third horror magazine, Vampirella
Vampirella
Vampirella is a fictional character, a comic book vampire heroine created by Forrest J Ackerman and costume designer Trina Robbins in Warren Publishing's black-and-white horror comics magazine Vampirella #1 . Writer-editor Archie Goodwin later developed the character from horror-story hostess, in...
. Many of Warren's original artists returned during this period, as would Goodwin for a period of time in 1970 and 1971. After Goodwin's second departure, editors would J.R. Cochran. The art director was Billy Graham
Billy Graham (comics)
Billy Graham was an African-American comic-book artist best known for his work on the Marvel Comics series Luke Cage, Hero for Hire, and Jungle Action feature, "Black Panther", considered the first modern black superhero....
.
In 1971, Warren began using artists from the Barcelona studio of Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
agency Selecciones Illustrada
Selecciones Illustrada
Selecciones Ilustradas is a Spanish art agency founded by Josep Toutain.-Warren Publishing:Selecciones Ilustradas is probably most well known in America due to its connections with Warren Publishing, where S.I.'s artists drew hundreds of stories between 1971 through 1983. The deal with Warren and...
. Over the next few years, Spanish artists would dominate the magazines. Additional Spanish artists from S.I.'s Valencia studio began freelancing for Warren in 1974.
In 1973, new editor Bill DuBay
Bill DuBay (comics)
William Bryan "Bill" DuBay , whose work sometimes appeared under the pseudonyms Will Richardson and Dube, was an American, comic-book editor, writer and artist best-known as editor and writer for Warren Publishing, including that company's horror-comics magazines Creepy, Eerie and...
, who had originally joined the company as an artist early in 1970, transformed Warren's magazines to create a uniform style. The following year, Warren Publishing was dissolved and replaced by Warren Communications, a sister company James Warren had founded in 1972. Dubay was editor for all three of Warren's horror magazines until 1976, except for a short period of time in 1974 where Goodwin returned to edit four issues of Creepy and two of Vampirella. During this time the frequency of Warren's magazines was upped to nine issues a year.
Line expansion in the 1970s
In 1974, DuBay oversaw a new black-and-white magazine, The SpiritThe Spirit
The Spirit is a crime-fighting fictional character created by writer-artist Will Eisner. He first appeared June 2, 1940 in "The Spirit Section", the colloquial name given to a 16-page Sunday supplement, distributed to 20 newspapers by the Register and Tribune Syndicate and reaching five million...
, which revived acclaimed writer-artist Will Eisner
Will Eisner
William Erwin "Will" Eisner was an American comics writer, artist and entrepreneur. He is considered one of the most important contributors to the development of the medium and is known for the cartooning studio he founded; for his highly influential series The Spirit; for his use of comics as an...
's masked detective of 1940s and early-1950s newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
Sunday supplements, reprinting the character's seven-page, semi-anthological stories for a new generation. The magazine featured new covers by Eisner and an occasional reprint in color. It would later move to Kitchen Sink Press
Kitchen Sink Press
Kitchen Sink Press was a comic book publishing company founded by Denis Kitchen in 1970. Kitchen owned and operated Kitchen Sink Press until 1999. Kitchen Sink Press was a pioneering publisher of underground comics, and was also responsible for numerous republications of classic comic strips in...
. The same year, Warren debuted Comix International, a color magazine reprinting earlier Warren stories.
After Dubay's departure, Louise Jones
Louise Simonson
Louise Simonson, born Mary Louise Alexander , is an American comic book writer and editor. She is best known for her work on comic book titles such as Power Pack, X-Factor, New Mutants, Superman: The Man of Steel, and Steel...
, his former assistant, headed the editorial staff from 1976 to 1980. Toward the end of Dubay's period of editorship many American artists had returned to the magazines, including John Severin
John Severin
John Powers Severin is an American comic book artist noted for his distinctive work with EC Comics, primarily on the war comics Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat; for Marvel Comics, primarily on its war and Western comics; and for the satiric magazine Cracked...
, Alex Toth
Alex Toth
Alexander Toth was an American professional cartoonist active from the 1940s through the 1980s. Toth's work began in the American comic book industry, but is known for his animation designs for Hanna-Barbera throughout the 1960s and 1970s. His work included Super Friends, Space Ghost, The...
, and Russ Heath
Russ Heath
Russell Heath, Jr. is an American artist best known for his comic book work — particularly his DC Comics war stories for several decades and his 1960s art for Playboy magazine's Little Annie Fanny featurettes — and for his commercial art, two pieces of which, depicting Roman and...
and they contributed many stories during Jones' time as editor. Former DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
publisher Carmine Infantino
Carmine Infantino
Carmine Infantino Carmine Infantino Carmine Infantino (born May 24, 1925, in Brooklyn, New York is an American comic book artist and editor who was a major force in the Silver Age of Comic Books...
would also join the company during this period and pencil over 50 stories. Much like the wave of Spanish artists that dominated throughout the mid-1970s, a number of artists from the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
would begin contributing during this period. Dubay returned as editor after Jones' departure, using the alias "Will Richardson".
Toward the end of the 1970s, Warren published two new magazines edited by Dubay: the science-fiction anthology 1984
1984 (magazine)
1984 was a black and white science-fiction comic magazine published by Warren Publishing from 1978 to 1983. 1984 was edited by Bill Dubay. The title of the magazine was changed to 1994 starting with issue 11 in February, 1980 based on a request by the estate of George Orwell...
, in 1978 (which would change its name to 1994 two years later); and, in 1979, The Rook, starring a time-traveling adventurer whose stories had appeared in Eerie since 1977.
Decline and bankruptcy
James Warren's bad health, combined with changing tastes and business problems, led to internal turmoil and editorial turnover. The company suspended publishing in late 1981, editor Bill Dubay left in 1982, and Warren declared bankruptcy in 1983. In August 1983, Harris PublicationsHarris Publications
Harris Publications Inc. is an American consumer-magazine publisher in New York City, New York, that publishes over 75 titles, including Juicy, XXL, King, Dog News, 0-60, Guns & Weapons for Law Enforcement, Small Business Opportunities, Men's Workout, Exercise & Health, Celebrity Hairstyles, and...
acquired company assets at auction, although legal murkiness and a 1998 lawsuit by James Warren resulted in his reacquisition of the rights to Creepy and Eerie, though no new material since has been published as of 2007.
Artists and writers
Neal Adams
Neal Adams is an American comic book and commercial artist known for helping to create some of the definitive modern imagery of the DC Comics characters Superman, Batman, and Green Arrow; as the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates; and as a creators-rights advocate who...
, Gene Colan
Gene Colan
Eugene Jules "Gene" Colan was an American comic book artist best known for his work for Marvel Comics, where his signature titles include the superhero series, Daredevil, the cult-hit satiric series Howard the Duck, and The Tomb of Dracula, considered one of comics' classic horror series...
, Frank Frazetta
Frank Frazetta
Frank Frazetta was an American fantasy and science fiction artist, noted for work in comic books, paperback book covers, paintings, posters, LP record album covers and other media...
, Angelo Torres
Angelo Torres
Angelo Torres is an American cartoonist and caricaturist whose work has appeared in many comic books, as well as a long-running regular slot in Mad magazine, typically film or television parodies.-Biography:...
, Roy G. Krenkel, Gray Morrow
Gray Morrow
Dwight Graydon "Gray" Morrow was an American illustrator of paperback books and comics.-Biography:Born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Morrow is best known as art director of Spider-Man between 1967 and 1970 and as illustrator of the syndicated Tarzan, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon and Prince Valiant comic...
, Al Williamson
Al Williamson
Alfonso "Al" Williamson was an American cartoonist, comic book artist and illustrator specializing in adventure, Western and science-fiction/fantasy...
, Johnny Craig, Reed Crandall
Reed Crandall
Reed Crandall was an American illustrator and penciller of comic books and magazines. He was best known for the Quality Comics character Blackhawk and for stories in the critically acclaimed EC Comics of the 1950s.Crandall was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2009.-Early...
, Alex Toth
Alex Toth
Alexander Toth was an American professional cartoonist active from the 1940s through the 1980s. Toth's work began in the American comic book industry, but is known for his animation designs for Hanna-Barbera throughout the 1960s and 1970s. His work included Super Friends, Space Ghost, The...
, John Severin
John Severin
John Powers Severin is an American comic book artist noted for his distinctive work with EC Comics, primarily on the war comics Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat; for Marvel Comics, primarily on its war and Western comics; and for the satiric magazine Cracked...
, Russ Heath
Russ Heath
Russell Heath, Jr. is an American artist best known for his comic book work — particularly his DC Comics war stories for several decades and his 1960s art for Playboy magazine's Little Annie Fanny featurettes — and for his commercial art, two pieces of which, depicting Roman and...
and Wally Wood
Wally Wood
Wallace Allan Wood was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, best known for his work in EC Comics and Mad. He was one of Mads founding cartoonists in 1952. Although much of his early professional artwork is signed Wallace Wood, he became known as Wally Wood, a name he...
, plus a newer group of talents, including Dan Adkins
Dan Adkins
Dan Adkins is an American illustrator who worked mainly for comic books and science-fiction magazines.-Early life and career:...
, Richard Bassford
Richard Bassford
Richard Bassford is an American illustrator who has worked in both advertising and comic books.- Biography :Raised in the New York City borough of Queens from age three, he lived successively in the neighborhoods of Maspeth, Corona and Whitestone until his marriage in 1961, when he moved to Flushing...
, Roger Brand, Frank Brunner
Frank Brunner
Frank Brunner is an American comic book artist and illustrator best known for his work at Marvel Comics in the 1970s.-Comics:...
, Rich Buckler
Rich Buckler
Rich Buckler is an American comic book artist and penciller, best known for his work on Marvel Comics' The Fantastic Four in the mid-1970s and, with writer Doug Moench, co-creating the character Deathlok in Astonishing Tales #25...
, Dave Cockrum
Dave Cockrum
David Emmett Cockrum was an American comic book artist known for his co-creation of the new X-Men characters Nightcrawler, Storm, and Colossus...
, Nicola Cuti, Richard Corben
Richard Corben
Richard Corben is an American illustrator and comic book artist best known for his comics featured in Heavy Metal magazine...
, Al Hewetson
Al Hewetson
Al Hewetson was a Scottish-Canadian writer and editor of American horror-comics magazines, best known for his work with the 1970s publisher Skywald Publications, where he created what he termed the magazines' "Horror-Mood" sensibility...
, Ken Kelly, Pepe Moreno
Pepe Moreno
Pepe Moreno is a Spanish comic book artist, writer and video game developer who has been drawing professionally in Spain, other countries in Europe and in the US since the 1970s. He is best known in the United States for his 1990 digital graphic novel, Batman: Digital Justice, published by DC Comics...
, Mike Royer, Tom Sutton
Tom Sutton
Tom Sutton was an American comic book artist who sometimes used the pseudonyms Sean Todd and Dementia...
, and Berni Wrightson.
The Spanish artists from Selecciones Ilustradas included Esteban Maroto
Esteban Maroto
- Career :Born in Madrid, he began his career in the 1960s with series like Cinco por infinito, published in English by Continuity Comics as "Zero Patrol" ....
, José Ortiz
José Ortiz (comics)
José Ortiz Moya is a Spanish comics artist, best known for several collaborations with Antonio Segura, such as the series Hombre.-Biography:...
, Luis Bermejo
Luis Bermejo
Luis Bermejo , is a Spanish illustrator and comics artist known for his work published in Spain, Italy, Great Britain, and the United States...
, Rafael Aura Leon
Rafael Aura León
- Career :The artist was known primarily as Auraleón, which is how he signed his work. Auraleón's career began in 1959 when he joined the Spanish agency Selecciones Illustrada, drawing the comic strip Flash for Space Ace and Lone Star...
, Luis Garcia
Luis García Mozos
-Career:More widely known in English as just Luis García, he was born in Puertollano, Spain in 1946. García began his career drawing European romance comics for Fleetway. In the 1960s, he joined the well known Spanish agency Selecciones Illustradas. In 1971 García joined Warren Publishing, where...
, Jose Gonzalez
Jose Gonzalez (artist)
José "Pepe" Gonzalez was a Spanish comic book artist.- Early career :José Gonzalez started his career at the age of 17 working on Rosas Blancas and Brigitte for the company Editorial Toray. He joined the agency Selecciones Illustrada in 1960 and drew romance comics for Fleetway...
, Isidro Mones
Isidro Mones
- Career :Isidro Mones was born in Barcelona, Spain in 1947. Mones started his career as an artist doing children's books, covers and trading cards. He joined the agency Selecciones Illustrada in the early 1970s and started drawing for Warren Publishing in 1973. He was miscredited as 'Munes' in...
, Martin Salvador, Fernando Fernandez
Fernando Fernandez (comics)
Fernando Fernández was a Spanish comic book artist.- Biography :Fernández was born in Barcelona in 1940. In 1956 Fernández joined the well known Spanish agency Selecciones Illustradas, at the age of 16...
, Leopold Sanchez
Leopold Sánchez
-Career:Sánchez was born in 1948 in Spain. Sánchez started his career in the comic book industry at the age of 14, as an assistant for the artist Gines Garcia. Throughout the 1960s he assisted the artists José Ortiz and Leopold Ortiz. He eventually started working on his own in Britain and France...
, Ramon Torrents
Ramon Torrents
Ramon Torrents is a Spanish comic book artist.- Career :Ramon Torrents was born in Barcelona, Spain in 1937. He began his career drawing for the comic Space Ace. He later worked on Fleetway romance comics like Marilyn and True Life Library. He worked with Esteban Maroto on Cinco x Infinito in the...
, Jose Bea
Jose Bea
Jose Bea is a Spanish comic book artist, born in 1942.-Career:Jose Bea started his comic book career in the late 1950s when he worked for Fleetway in Britain. He also worked on Miller's TV Heroes during this period. In the early 1960s he worked on Space Ace for Atlas, as well as Lone Star...
, Vicente Alcazar
Vicente Alcazar
Vicente Alcazar a.k.a. Vicente Alcazar-Serrano is a Spanish comics artist best known for his work for the American comic-book publishers DC Comics and Marvel Comics, including a 1970s run on the DC Western character Jonah Hex....
, Jose Gual, Felix Mas and Jaime Brocal. Artists from the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
included Alex Niño
Alex Niño
Alex Niño is a Filipino comic book artist best known for his work for the American publishers DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and Warren Publishing, and in Heavy Metal magazine.-Early life and career:...
, Rudy Nebres, Alfredo Alcala
Alfredo Alcala
Alfredo P. Alcala was a Filipino comic book artist, born in Talisay, Negros Occidental in the Philippines. Alcala was an established illustrator whose works appeared in the Alcala Komix Magazine. His 1963 creation Voltar introduced him to an international audience, particularly in the United...
and Abel Laxamana. Other international artists who worked for Warren include Gonzalo Mayo (Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
), Pablo Marcos
Pablo Marcos
Pablo Marcos Ortega, known professionally as Pablo Marcos is a comic book artist and commercial illustrator best known as one of his home country's leading cartoonists and for his work on such popular American comics characters as Batman and Conan the Barbarian, particularly during the 1970s...
(Peru), Leo Duranona (Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
) and Paul Neary (U.K.).
Cover artists for Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella included Adkins, Frazetta, Kelly, Morrow, Sutton, Ken Barr, Vaughn Bodé
Vaughn Bodé
Vaughn Bodē was an artist involved in underground comics, graphic design and graffiti. He is perhaps best known for his comic strip character Cheech Wizard and artwork depicting voluptuous women. His works are noted for their psychedelic look and feel...
, Pat Boyette
Pat Boyette
Pat Boyette Pat Boyette Pat Boyette (July 27, 1923, San Antonio, Texas – January 14, 2000, was an American broadcasting personality and news producer, and later a comic book artist best known for two decades of work for Charlton Comics, where he co-created the character The Peacemaker...
, Ron Cobb, Richard Conway, Jack Davis
Jack Davis (cartoonist)
Jack Davis is an American cartoonist and illustrator, known for his advertising art, magazine covers, film posters, record album art and numerous comic book stories...
, H.R. Giger, Basil Gogos
Basil Gogos
Basil Gogos is an American illustrator best known for his striking portraits of movie monsters which appeared on the covers of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine in the 1960s and 70s.-Early life and education:...
, Bill Hughes, Terrance Lindall
Terrance Lindall
Terrance Lindall is an American artist who was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1944. Lindall attended the University of Minnesota and graduated magna cum laude from Hunter College in New York City in 1970, with a double major in Philosophy and English and a double minor in Psychology and Physical...
, Gutenberg Monteiro, Albert Nuetzell, Vic Prezo, Sanjulián
Sanjulián
Manuel Pérez Clemente is a Spanish painter, most notable for his magazine and novel covers. He was born 24 June 1941 in Barcelona, and studied at Belles Arts of Sant Jordi....
, Vincente Segrelles, Kenneth Smith, Enrich Torres and Boris Vallejo
Boris Vallejo
Boris Vallejo is a Peruvian-born American painter. He immigrated to the United States in 1964, and he currently resides in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He frequently works with Julie Bell, his wife, painter, and model....
.
Writers included Goodwin, Cuti, Dubay, Bruce Jones
Bruce Jones
Ian Roy Jones is an English actor, best known for his role as cab driver Les Battersby-Brown in Coronation Street. He left the role in 2007. His real name is Ian Roy Jones, but he took the name of his father for professional purposes.-Early life:Jones was born to Bruce and Irene Jones in...
, Doug Moench
Doug Moench
Douglas Moench , better known as Doug Moench, is an American comic book writer notable for his Batman work and as the creator of Black Mask, Moon Knight and Deathlok.-Biography:...
, Budd Lewis, Gerry Boudreau, Rich Margopoulos, Don McGregor
Don McGregor
Donald Francis McGregor is an American comic book writer best known for his work for Marvel Comics, and the author of one of the first graphic novels.-Early life and career:...
, Steve Skeates
Steve Skeates
Steve Skeates is an American comic book creator known for his work on books such as Spectre, Hawk and Dove, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, Aquaman, and Namor the Sub-Mariner.-Career:...
, Jim Stenstrum, and T. Casey Brennan
T. Casey Brennan
Terrance Casey Brennan is an American comic book writer.During the 1970s, he wrote for Warren Publishing's black-and-white horror-comics anthologies Creepy and Eerie, and Vampirella...
.
Milestones
The first known interracial kiss in mainstream comics (as opposed to underground comixUnderground comix
Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books which are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, including explicit drug use, sexuality and violence...
) occurred in Warren's Creepy
Creepy
Creepy was an American horror-comics magazine launched by Warren Publishing in 1964. Like Mad, it was a black-and-white newsstand publication in a magazine format and thus did not require the approval or seal of the Comics Code Authority. The anthology magazine was initially published quarterly but...
#43 (Jan. 1972), in "The Men Who Called Him Monster" by writer Don McGregor
Don McGregor
Donald Francis McGregor is an American comic book writer best known for his work for Marvel Comics, and the author of one of the first graphic novels.-Early life and career:...
and artist Luis Garcia
Luis García Mozos
-Career:More widely known in English as just Luis García, he was born in Puertollano, Spain in 1946. García began his career drawing European romance comics for Fleetway. In the 1960s, he joined the well known Spanish agency Selecciones Illustradas. In 1971 García joined Warren Publishing, where...
. McGregor said in 2001 that the kiss was actually due to the artist misunderstanding the line "This is the clincher" in the script. McGregor would later script color comic books' first known interracial kiss, in the "Killraven: Warrior of the Worlds
Killraven
Killraven is a fictional freedom fighter in several post-apocalyptic alternate futures of the Marvel Comics universe. He first appeared in Amazing Adventures #18 , created by co-plotters Roy Thomas and Neal Adams, scripter Gerry Conway, and penciller Adams...
" feature in Amazing Adventures
Amazing Adventures
Amazing Adventures is the name of several anthology comic book series, all but one published by Marvel Comics.The earliest Marvel series of that name introduced the company's first superhero of the late-1950s to early-1960s period fans and historians call the Silver Age of Comic Books...
#31 (July 1975).
Chronological list of magazines
Ongoing publications; one-shots not listedFamous Monsters of Filmland
Famous Monsters of Filmland is a genre-specific film magazine started in 1958 by publisher James Warren and editor Forrest J Ackerman.-Magazine history :...
(1958) Wildest Westerns (1959- formerly Favorite Westerns Of Filmland) Help!
Help! (magazine)
Help! was an American magazine published by James Warren. It wasHarvey Kurtzman's longest-running magazine project after leaving Mad and EC Publications, and during its five years of operation it was always chronically underfunded, yet innovative...
Spacemen (1961) (nine issues) Screen Thrills Illustrated (1963) (ten issues)
Creepy
Creepy was an American horror-comics magazine launched by Warren Publishing in 1964. Like Mad, it was a black-and-white newsstand publication in a magazine format and thus did not require the approval or seal of the Comics Code Authority. The anthology magazine was initially published quarterly but...
(1964)
Blazing Combat
Blazing Combat was an American war-comics magazine published by Warren Publishing from 1965 to 1966. Written and edited by Archie Goodwin, with artwork by such industry notables as Gene Colan, Frank Frazetta, John Severin, Alex Toth, and Wally Wood, it featured war stories in both contemporary and...
(1965) (four issues)
Eerie
Eerie was an American magazine of horror comics introduced in 1966 by Warren Publishing. Like Mad, it was a black-and-white newsstand publication in a magazine format and thus did not require the approval or seal of the Comics Code Authority. Each issue's stories were introduced by the host...
(1966)
Vampirella
Vampirella is a fictional character, a comic book vampire heroine created by Forrest J Ackerman and costume designer Trina Robbins in Warren Publishing's black-and-white horror comics magazine Vampirella #1 . Writer-editor Archie Goodwin later developed the character from horror-story hostess, in...
(1969) The Spirit
The Spirit
The Spirit is a crime-fighting fictional character created by writer-artist Will Eisner. He first appeared June 2, 1940 in "The Spirit Section", the colloquial name given to a 16-page Sunday supplement, distributed to 20 newspapers by the Register and Tribune Syndicate and reaching five million...
(1974)