STRANGE TALES OF THE UNUSUAL "Five Sinister Statues"

Does "madness" lie within a tale...

...where the kool Bill Everett-rendered cover illustration doesn't match the interior art by Richard Doxsee?

The statues in this never-reprinted tale from Atlas' Strange Tales of the Unusual #11 (1957) resemble Indo-Chinese (Siamese or Laotian) sculptures, unlike the ones on the cover, which look decidedly-Chinese!

Makes you wonder which came first, and how long it was between the cover and the story actually being drawn!

Sadly, we'll never know the answer, since none of the creatives involved are still alive!

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MENACE "Walking Dead!"

"Walking Dead" didn't always refer to zombies...

...but it sure does here!

This cover-featured story from Atlas' Menace #9 (1954) came at the tail-end of the horror comic craze.
Dr. Wertham's crusade against those magazines had already taken it's toll as entire comic companies folded due to falling sales and public outcry.
Menace itself only lasted two more issues.
Luckily, Atlas (which already had a predilection for jumping onto whatever current fad was selling) had such a diverse line, that it was easy for Stan Lee and company to simply "switch gears" and replace the disgraced horror genre with other types of books.
For example, When MAD comics took off in the mid-1950s, Atlas had four MAD-clone comics; RIOT!, CRAZY!, WILD!, and SNAFU!!
None lasted more than five issues!
With the Silver Age dawning only a couple of years later, Atlas hung on long enough to become Marvel, and the rest is history...
Illustrated by John Forte with a cover by Gene Colan, the story's writer is unknown.

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HeartBreak Horror MENACE "Fake!"

Remember the old adage "Don't judge a book by it's cover"?

 Here's the codicil; "It goes both ways"!

Illustrated by Al Eadeh, this tale from Atlas' Menace #10 (1954) follows the classic trope of golddigger tripped up, not by her own greed, but by the fact her husband (who still loves her) is not even human!

Remember, the target audience for horror (as opposed to romance) comics was 8-14 year old boys, to whom girls were "yukky".

They were also the audience for whom Lois Lane , the nosy reporter who was always trying to either expose Superman's secret identity or trick the Man of Steel into marrying her, was the typical woman!

Christmas Creepyness MARVEL TALES "Third Ghost"

This is basically Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol"...

...but with a plot twist you'll never see coming!

Written by Carl Wessler and illustrated by Larry Woromay, this never-reprinted tale from Atlas' Marvel Tales #112 (1953) turns the classic Yuletide ghost story on it's ear with the Scrooge surrogate triumphing over the specters!

Humor in a Jugular Vein CRAZY "Tales from Aesop's Stables"

Here's a Halloween treat: a never-reprinted example of horror humor...

...from one of Atlas' numerous MAD clones, Crazy V1N7 (1954)!

Despite the title, this piece written and illustrated by Howie Post was not part of a series!

Well, perhaps it was intended to be the premiere installment for one, but since this was the last issue of one of Atlas' three simultaneous MAD rip-offs, no other installments were ever seen!

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Humor in a Jugular Vein: CRAZY "Wolf Man"

It's almost Halloween

Is it gonna be trick or treat for...

...in this never-reprinted story from one of Atlas' numerous MAD-clones, Crazy #5 (1954)

Dick Ayers rendered this tale in a style quite dissimilar from his usual Western or horror material.
The writer, though, is unknown, but may be Stan Lee, who was the editor of the line, and wrote a lot of the stories...

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Humor in a Jugular Vein: CRAZY "Drag-ula!"

As Halloween draws ever closer, let's look in on the original "bat man"...

...in this...unusual...tale from Atlas' CRAZY #2 (1954)

As was usual with the lead tale in CRAZY, it's lovingly-rendered by the amazing Bill Everett!

Heck, Bill might even have written it, since he already had a number of scripting credits!

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