CoronaVirus Comics CHAMBER OF CHILLS "Nightmare of Doom!" / TALES OF VOODOO "Flesh Eaters!"

A disease that turns sentient...

...a true nightmare, courtesy of Harvey's Chamber of Chills #15 (1953)

This tale of bacteria and betrayal, illustrated by Al Avison, wasn't reprinted by Harvey, (as many of the stories of the period were) probably because redrawing it to conform to the Comics Code would require too much work!

A couple of decades later, after Harvey stopped doing horror (or sci-fi, or romance, or anything non-Richie Rich or Casper-related) Eerie Publications took the script and had the story redrawn for b/w publication (since the Code didn't cover magazines) by Ruben Marchionne for Tales of Voodoo V5N5 (1972)...

Eerie reprinted this reworked version at least once a year in their various titles until the company left the horror business.

The original version finally saw the light of day again after 65 years in IDW's Haunted Horror!

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Haunted Horror

Volume 6
Nightmare of Doom and Much More
(which reprints "Nightmare of Doom"!)

When "Disc Jockey" Didn't Mean "Flying Saucer Pilot"...or Did It?

With the US announcing a test of flying saucer-style tech...

...we thought we'd look back to an era when "disc" could mean "flying saucer" and/or "lp record (presuming you know what an "lp record" is), in a Case of Curious Censorship by the Comics Code Authority!

First, the original version of the story, as it appeared in Harvey Comics' Black Cat Mystery #46 (1947)...

OK, a straightforward tale of just desserts illustrated by comics legend Bob Powell.

Nothing too gory or gross.

But the Comics Code Authority thought otherwise!

When the tale was reprinted in Harvey Comics' Race for the Moon #1 (1958), there were some odd art changes to the aliens...

As we said, some odd art changes to make the aliens less-insectoid...which really made no sense!

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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?

CHAMBER OF CHILLS "HeartLine"

Next time you hear someone say "you're breaking my heart", it might be literal...

...as this tale from near the end of the reign of horror comics aptly demonstrates!

Oddly, though most listings describe "HeartLine" as the "cover" story for this issue, the cover by Lee Elias doesn't show any elements or characters from the tale!

Though the caption refers to the story,  there's no blonde, and both the woman and the man are decomposing!

(It's still a cool-ghoul cover, though!)

While the scripter of this truly heart-rending story from Harvey's Chamber of Chills #23(1954) is unknown, pencils are by Manny Stallman and inks by John Giunta.

It's never been reprinted...until now, in the pages of IDW's horror anthology Haunted Horror #2, now at your local comic book shop.

Join us next time as we present another tale your grandparents didn't want your parents to see!

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BLACK CAT MYSTERY "Dial REgent 3-"

In the days of rotary phones, the first two digits of a phone number were part of a name...

...which clever writers could use in titles like "Dial M for Murder" or, like this somewhat unique take on telephonic terror.

This credits for this never-reprinted tale from Harvey's Black Cat Mystery Comics #47 (1953) are incomplete.

The Grand Comics Database lists Joe Certa as the penciler, but without an inker, since the inking is clearly not Certa's style and neither they nor I can figure out who did it.

And the writer is unknown.

Join us next week as we present another tale your grandparents didn't want your parents to see!

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BLACK CAT MYSTERY "Colorama" Before and After the Comics Code!

One of the most notorious stories in 1950s comics went thru some changes...

Art by Howard Nostrand

 ...when it was reprinted after the Comics Code Authority came into existence!

Actually, the theory that "Black" has all the colors together is true only in printing!

It's called "subtractive color", and when you combine all the inks in four-color printing (CYAN, MAGENTA, and YELLOW) as solid colors, they DO produce a BLACK effect on the printed page!

However, the effect that light produces when it's reflected from objects around you (or generated from a tv or computer screen) is called "additive color" and when all the colors are added together, they produce WHITE!
But, at the point where this story appeared in Black Cat Mystery #45 (1953), there were no computer screens and what little commercial tv existed was almost totally b/w!

When the story was reprinted in Black Cat Mystery #61 (1958), the Comics Code insisted on some alterations, beginning with the cover...

Art by Bob Powell from Page 1 with additional art by Howard Nostrand

...adapted from the first panel on Page 1, but featuring a character not seen in the story itself, and with the protagonist shown in the rear-view mirror wearing glasses he doesn't wear until the end of the story!
Quite frankly, there's nothing too gross or disgusting about the original cover, so why it wasn't used is unknown...

Page 1 in the reprint is unaltered.

Page 2 has only one minor change; the policeman's less-snarling expression in Panel 5...

There are no changes on Page 3

Page 4, on the other hand, has a major change...the optometrist survives!

 

And the final page is unchanged.
Script and art are by Golden Age great Bob Powell.

Join us next week as we present another tale your grandparents didn't want your parents to see!

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