UNCANNY TALES "Horror of Sleepy Hollow"

Our brother blog just presented a never-reprinted tale of the Headless Horseman from 41 years ago...

 ...but we have its' 1954 predecessor which was reprinted the same month in 1973 the new tale appeared!

Illustrated by Dick Ayers and Ernie Bache, this sinister story from Atlas' Uncanny Tales #22 (1954) was reprinted in Marvel's Crypt of Shadows #9 (1973) with a modified title (due to Comics Code restrictions about the word "horror" in titles) and a new note in the first panel...

Note: there was no attempt to link the1954 and 1973 stories either to each other or to the Marvel Universe in general as the continuity fiends at Marvel tended to do...

Happy Halloween

TOMB OF TERROR "Rose is a Rose"

Though EC is considered the "gold standard" of horror comics...

...Harvey Comics (yes, the guys who did Richie Rich and Casper) gave them a run for their money.

Penciled by Al Eadeh, and probably inked by both Eadeh and John Prentice, this tale of gruesome gardening from Tomb of Terror #10 (1953) is a classic example of tasteless irony.

And, isn't that exactly what you'd want from a horror comic story?

CHILLING ADVENTURES IN SORCERY AS TOLD BY SABRINA "Boy Who Cried Vampire"

The new series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is not the first time the "Teenage Witch" did horror...

... in 1972, she hosted her own series of horror stories told in the Archie "vein" as you can see in this never-reprinted terror-tale...

Now there's an ambiguous ending if ever I heard one...

In 1971, the Comics Code Authority loosened its' regulations regarding monsters, allowing limited use of "classic" creatures including vampires, werewolves, and zombies.

While DC and Marvel went monster-happy, unleashing new strips and several new titles, Archie Comics' response was this book with an unsual combination of horror writing, but Archie house-style art, which tended to conflict with the theme of the stories!

To be fair, writer Frank Doyle, penciler Dan DeCarlo, and inker Rudy Lapick tried their best with this tale from Chilling Adventures in Sorcery as Told by Sabrina #1 (1972), but it just doesn't work.

After two issues, the series was revamped (pun intended) into a more traditional title with non-cartoony art by Gray Morrow and associates, dropping Sabrina as the hostess.

It survived nine more issues.

GHOST COMICS "Face in the Shroud"

It's been a while, boy fiends and ghoul friends...

..but during the season when ghouls and goblins dominate pop culture, we felt it was time to rise up out of the coffin and tell a few sordid stories!

As horror stories go, this tale from Fiction House's Ghost Comics #8 (1953) is fairly mild, but the art by the underrated Bill Benulis and Jack Abel has a couple of kool "camera angles" and storytelling tricks that other artists of the period like Alex Toth and Ross Andru were also experimenting with.

The writer's name has been lost to the mists of time.

BTW, this tale was just reprinted (for the first time in over 60 years) in IDW's Haunted Horror, but was oddly attributed to Don Heck, even though the story is signed by Benulis and Abel in the first panel!