Jenifer - Best Horror Comic Stories Ever

“Jenifer”
Originally Published (black and white): “Creepy”, issue 63, Warren Publishing, July 1974
Color Version: “Berni Wrightson, Master of the Macabre”, issue 2, Pacific Comics, August 1983
Writer: Bruce Jones
Art: Bernie Wrightson
Editor: Bill DuBay
Submitted by: E.M. Tonner
Preface
I consider Jones and Wrightson’s “Jenifer” the greatest horror comic story of all time. If
you can bring forth its better, you will have my undying gratitude. Originally published in
1974 deep inside Creepy issue 63, these ten pages were the darkest secret in horror
comics for years. It was never a huge sensation, just a story in a magazine that you
couldn’t forget. Reprinting the story in color nine years later (Pacific Comics) didn’t
make the artwork any better, but it did expose the tale to a whole new generation. Dario
Argento also brought a version to screen in 2005 for “Masters of Horror”.
Warning:
The following content is intended for mature readers. It may contain scenes of extreme
violence, obscenities, nudity, sexuality and adult situations.
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Afterword
If ‘Jenifer’ were to have a knock against it as the greatest horror comic story ever, an
argument could be that it was not of key significance to the industry. It didn’t launch any
congressional hearings or spark a revolution. It did catapult Bruce Jones’ career in comics
and provide the basis for a ‘Masters of Horror’ episode thirty years later, so it is
significant to some degree. It’s also an example of Bernie ‘Berni’ Wrightson at his peak.
As a man, I find this story especially frightening. There’s an element of seduction that
brings our instincts to their basest levels, directly into Jenifer’s clutches. From the neck
down, she’s stunning. But it’s from the neck up where she’s most dangerous and
terrifying. She uses men in a tragic cycle of mayhem and violence like her kin in
mythology, the lamia and succubae. She preys upon the vulnerability of male compassion
and passion for her own ends. This is the ‘damsel in distress’ formula as the trap. It is her
actions that tell us that she is not a deformed human, but truly a monster. And we are
powerless to stop her.
This is how ‘Jenifer’ strikes home. It is the tragedy of a hapless man trying to save a life.
By this good deed, he begins a downward spiral, trapped by the woman he tried to save,
used as a disposable pawn. I doubt this story hits the same notes of fear with women,
which may be its only true criticism.
"Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps."
- William Shakespeare,
“Much Ado About Nothing”
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