Horror Comics – Johnny Craig
Posted in Comics on July 27th, 2011 by admin
I’m not sure why I overlooked this from the start, since I have been a fan since I was a kid, but I’ve decided to focus some attention in the blog on Horror Comics. Naturally, I will focus more on the art and artists than anything else.
Where better to start than with ground zero for horror comics: EC Comics? And when most people think of EC horror comics, chances are you recall one of Johnny Craig’s unforgettable covers. Dear God, here was a man who knew how to sell a comic book. EC Comics came under fire in the 1950s for the violence, sex, and horror they peddled to impressionable young minds. All you have to do is look at some of the covers Johnny Craig did for Shock Suspensestories or Crime Suspensestories and you might think, “maybe the critics had a point.” There was no shortage of lurid comic book covers in the era, but Johnny Craig, a meticulous draftsman, elevated lurid to an art form.
But for me, what I loved most about Johnny Craig, were his women. Oh sure, Wally Wood and Frank Frazetta delivered more voluptuous maidens, but only Johnny Craig could perfectly render that particular type of seductively poisonous noir temptress. Not even Hollywood in the golden age of Film Noir could top Johnny Craig’s vicious vixens.
