Creepshow #1

In honor of the 40th anniversary of the horror anthology film by George Romero and Stephen King, Image Comics released this 5-issue miniseries. It also helped that Creepshow is also currently a TV show on Shudder. I've been a fan of Creepshow since I was a kid. Probably not the best thing for a 6 year old to be watching. But I was a much bigger horror and gore fan than I am now. Though I can't pass up a good horror comic especially if it's in the vein of those old EC Comics. 

The 1982 film was a love letter to the works of William Gaines, Wally Wood, Johnny Craig and countless other legends. Instead of a prose novel, Stephen King crafted an over-sized graphic novel with artwork by Bernie Wrightson (Swamp Thing). And the movie itself was done up as a video comic book with the Creeper horror host, animated panels and dynamic close-ups. I'm not sure about the TV show. Never seen it. But I couldn't pass up a chance to collect and read this book. 

There are 3 story segments in this debut issue. The first story is set at Halloween with 3 brats terrorizing their neighborhood. The terrible trio comes across a bowl of candy with a sign asking trick-or-treaters to only take 1 piece. But these creeps take all the treats. It'll be the last mistake these holy terrors ever make, though I'm not really sure if the punishment really fit the crime...

Story number 2 was completely insane. A young girl is having a birthday party and dad has dropped the ball in arranging the entertainment. Enter the mysterious Shingo! His big party trick is eating the party goers and the more he eats, the crazier he gets!

Lastly is a black and white 3-pager. I don't think it's a full story since there aren't any title or artist credits. I think it might be a preview of the next issue. But there isn't a 'to be continued' label or anything like that. Plus, I know that this isn't a printing error as there aren't any missing segments at the first of the book. If it is a short story, it ends really abruptly. Man, did it confuse me. 

Since the first issue has the awkward ending, maybe waiting until I had all 5 issues of this series collected isn't such a bad thing. Especially if the last story picks up in the middle of the tale in issue #2 without any sort of recap. I'm going to wait until Halloween to read the rest of this series. If the second issue doesn't have those last 3 pages, I may have re-read this book. We'll just have to wait and see. 

A fun romp with a lot of gore (even more than the first film and the forgettable sequel) and not very much in terms of mercy towards some of the recipients of their just desserts. I think I might like this book more once I figure out the format a little better. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.