We have kicked open the crypt door with the archival hardcover collections of macabre and unusual stories from Creepy, where the only “shaggy dog tale” to be found involves a werewolf or two.

Long esteemed by comics and horror fans for their deft art and twist endings, perhaps the single most stunning element of any issue of Creepy was its cover. Starting out with a memorable first-issue cover by Jack Davis, the magazine quickly found itself with none other than Frank Frazetta as its main cover artist, which was a move everyone found exciting. But Frazetta wasn’t the only great cover painter — he was followed by a host of others, such as Richard Corben and Ken Kelly, to name just two.

Another fun component to any issue of Creepy was the mail-order ads for odd merchandise from a variety of sources. These goofy ads still give one a nostalgic chuckle.