Just in time for the warm summer weather, a new installment of Creepy is here to give you the chills. If, like me, you’re new to the series, you might not know that the first volume of Creepy ran from 1964 to 1983. The current series continues it’s predecessor’s tradition of having a narrator, Uncle Creepy, introduce each segment. His family also appears in shorter, more humorous strips throughout the book. Here’s the official description of Creepy #12 from Dark Horse:

New terror from legendary artist Richard Corben reveals that six feet of soil can’t keep a good man down! John Arcudi (B.P.R.D.) and Julian Totino Tedesco (Uncanny X-Force) explore the aftermath of a deadly plane crash in the ghastly “Pack Leader.” And join Ron Marz and Richard P. Clark for a delightfully twisted fairytale!

* New story written and drawn by Richard Corben (Ragemoor)!

* Creepy Family strips from Peter Bagge (Hate)!

We also get “Local Talent,” by Matthew Allison and “The Spirit of the Thing,” by Archie Goodwin and Steve Ditko.

The standout story is definitely Arcudi and Tedesco’s “Pack Leader.” It’s a quiet one, which makes it unique in this issue and among today’s horror stories in general. That soft-spoken quality is further enhanced by the less-is-more nature of Tedesco’s art. He calls his figures out of an icy desolation that suggests they’re the only things in the whole white world.

Richard Corben’s “Uncle Mangus” has a Southern Gothic feel. The finer shading on the characters makes them seem more real than their surroundings, a feeling that’s reinforced by the writing.

Ron Marz and Richard P. Clark’s “Fishing” has a similar country quality, but with a fairy tale twist. The solid inks and stark, flat faces remind me of Japanese horror manga, specifically Junji Ito‘s Uzumaki. There are a few odd choices in the layouts that it seems could have been easily improved.

“Local Talent,” by Matthew Allison, is a slightly meta story about a B horror  movie filming in the Philippines in 1970. The people are every bit as monstrous as the creature they completely fail to notice in their midst. (He blends in.) The story’s a bit predictable, which is fine, in this case, but some of the art is so odd as to take one out of the narrative completely.

“The Spirit of the Thing,” by Archie Goodwin and Steve Ditko, was originally published in Creepy Vol. 1 in 1966. It’s a quintessential story for that era, with a wonderfully ridiculous plot, and claustrophobic, melodramatic art.

There are some great stories in Creepy #12, but, with the exception of “Pack Leader,” they’re a bit too similar in tone. A bit more variety could do a lot for this book.

4/5

Zac Boone is at risk of becoming a slave to nostalgia. Follow him on twitter.