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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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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Marvel Masterworks

Atlas Era

Menace
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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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Sincerest Form of Parody

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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Sincerest Form of Parody

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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Sincerest Form of Parody

Humor in a Jugular Vein: CRAZY "Zombie!"

After Frank N Stein, you'd probably expect us to post Drag-Ula!

Nope!

I'm in a "shambling undead" mood, so here's a tawdry tale about...you know...

Veteran Bill Everett seemed to enjoy going from his usual realistic style to a more-detailed variation of Bill Elder's work on EC's MAD and Panic, as this story from Atlas' Crazy V1 N4 (1954) shows.

Heck, Bill might even have written it, since he had a number of scripting credits already!
Next up...Drag-Ula!

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Sincerest Form of Parody

Humor in a Jugular Vein: CRAZY "Frank N Stein"

For the Halloween season, we're gonna tickle your funny bone...

...with a bunch of rarely (if ever) reprinted horror-themed humor strips from the 1950s!

If imitation is truly "the sincerest form of flattery", then Atlas Comics was easily the most sincere company in comics with no less than four MAD / PANIC imitations; Crazy, Riot, Snafu, and Wild between 1953 and 1956!

Besides humor specialists like Dan DeCarlo, the sheer volume of Atlas humor titles gave the opportunity for artists who usually did Westerns or horror or romance or sci-fi to expand their range, like this tale illustrated (and possibly written) by veteran Bill Everett, who proved more than up to the task with this spoof from Crazy V1 N1 (1953).

Note: Marvel's reincarnated the title several times including a long-run b/w magazine in the 70s-80s.

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Sincerest Form of Parody

HeartBreak Horror / Tell a Tale of Terror Thrice WORLD OF FANTASY "If...!"

Ever think men and women are from totally-different worlds?

This reworking of last week's story proves you right!

Writer Carl Wessler had already used the basic plot for this story twice before:

1. "If!" in Atlas' Suspense #27 (1953), with the girl and her family being werewolves and vampires (talk about a blended family) as you saw last week!
2. "Out Cold" in EC's Haunt of Fear #25 (1954), with the girl and family shown to be ghouls!

But, by the time this never-reprinted story in Atlas' World of Fantasy #2 (1956) was published, the Comics Code had been implemented, banning "creatures of the night", except in humor titles.

So Wessler went with aliens.

Sci-fi was experiencing a resurgence, so it was the logical way to go.

The illustrator was Jay Scott Pike who ended up specializing in romance comics.

Look for the final version of this terrifying tale in baleful black-and-white from Pastime Publishing's Weird Mysteries #1 (1959)...

Next Tuesday!

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Gothic Tales of Haunted Love