Friday the 13th Frights HAND OF FATE "The Night of Friday 13"

For centuries, this date was 24 hours of sheer terror...

...amazingly, there are relatively few comic stories about it, and most of them are humor tales!
But not this one...

This bit of pre-Comics Code fun is from Hand of Fate #22 (1954), illustrated by Lou Cameron, who did over 200 stories and covers in every conceivable genre during his time in the comic book business!
His best-known work is a number of genre tales for Classics Illustrated including War of the Worlds, Time Machine, and Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde!
He gave up illustrating and became a Western novel and non-fiction writer.

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Christmas Creepiness WEB OF HORROR "Santa's Claws"

 Besides traversing the Earth distributing gifts, Kris Kringle  protects the innocent...

...from threats both real and imagined!

Story and art for this tale from Major Magazines' Web of Horror #3 (1970) were by Frank Brunner, who would go on to major successes in sf/fantasy including acclaimed runs on Dr Strange and Man-Thing comics, and character design work on the 1990s X-Men animated series.

BTW, the spider-like host of the book was named (what else?) "Webster"!

We'll be back in 2026 with more stuff your grandparents didn't want your parents to read...

Merry Christmas

and

Happy New Year!

Halloween Horror HORROR FROM THE TOMB "Bone Man"

This 1954 comic series was so gruesome, it lasted only a single issue...

...but what an issue it was!

In late 1953, Premier Magazines entered the comic book field with seven titles, each in a different genre (romance, Western, crime, etc.), including Horror from the Tomb.

Unfortunately, the comic book "witch hunt" was in full swing and, in little over a year, Premier (along with almost 2/3rds of the industry) had ceased operations.

Horror from the Tomb changed it's name to Mysterious Stories with #2 and ran for five more issues, but the end was inevitable...

The writer is unknown, but the artist is Mannie Banks, who has less than two dozen comic stories (mostly horror tales at Atlas Comics) to his credit.

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Ten-Cent Plague

The Great Comic Book Scare and How It Changed America

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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!

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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