Mad as the Devil!

It's 100 days until Halloween, and while scouring the Karswell Kollection for something appropriate to post, I stumbled upon this fun costume party devil encounter by MAD Magazine hero, Sergio Aragones, and thought, yes, sometimes it really doesn't get better than three perfect panels by one of the funniest men in the funny books today. (And you guys know how much we adore the Devil around here already anyway too, right?) Devilish artwork on the front and back covers as well-- this is a seriously hot little paperback collection of some of Sergio's best gags from 1975.

So who's already working on their costume for October 31st?

Blind Fury

Haven't posted any murderous medical mayhem in quite some time, so here's an incredibly oddball entry that feels as drunkenly written and illustrated as the main character (seriously, how hard is it to get the borders of the pages straight??!!) From the same issue as our last screwball story post, the Oct '52 issue of Mysterious Adventures #10, with artwork signed by someone named Doyle Cohen.

R.I.P George Romero (1940 - 2017)

Terror of the Speedy Goat!

Of all the ridiculous, kookball stories I've posted here over the last decade of this blog's existence, this one is sure to find a rightful place waaaay up there on top with the kookiest of 'em! Have fun with this one, fiends-- Mr. Karswell's positive that you're gonna eat it up! From the October 1952 issue of Mysterious Adventures #10.















And thanks again to one of my bestest bloggin' chums, Mr. Cavin for the wonderful package of books and his excellent illustration of me in the early 80's beating the Williams arcade classic, JOUST game late one night at a Showbiz Pizza Place-- the only arcade game I ever defeated! Yep, true story!

Behaving Madly CONTEST!

***CONTEST WINNER: Jonathan Thompson - please email your mailing address to karswell@hotmail.com and I will get your prize copy of Behaving Madly sent out to you later this week. Thanks again to you, and everyone else who played... I'll have more contests later this year so keep coming back and participating-- THANK YOU!!!***

New from IDW / Yoe Books, Behaving Madly, a very funny, 200 page hardcover "best of" collection featuring material from competitive 50's mags that seriously wanted to be just like MAD! Magazines with titles like ZANY, PANIC, THIMK, CRAZY MAN CRAZY, FRANTIC!, FRENZY, etc... and featuring artists you've never heard of like Jack Davis, Bill Elder, John Severin, Al Jaffee, Jack Kirby, Basil Wolverton, Steve Ditko, and many many more! And now's your chance to win a FREE copy-- all you have to do is comment on this post to enter. I'll fish bowl everyone's names (please include your email address in the comment) and I'll draw one lucky winner on Sunday evening (July 9th.) You can comment / enter as many times as you want, also enter at my other blog HERE! And below is a brief example of the type of thing you'll find in this super kooky book!

Curse of the Horrible Hangman

Some horror chums and I were talking about the good 'ol Ace WoM horror series in a Facebook group earlier today, and I thought I'd pull out some issues to share, as well as deliver a swingin' cover story from the Dec '52 issue of Web of Mystery #16, featuring art by Charles Nicholas. And please don't judge me by the condition of this cover, it's as water damaged and brittle as ancient hangman's bones as you can get-- I seriously will take whatever I can find on these old 50's books!

HAUNTED HORROR #28: Black Knights of Evil! vs. The Avenging Corpse

In stores this week-- ugh!-- HAUNTED HORROR #28 creeps into comic shops on the 28th with a toxic dose of ghastly grim tales to leave you glowing and blowing chunks! Guest issue host, Toxic Tommy, picks a few so-called "classics" from the dreariest sludge drench of all, and today THOIA has two FULL STORY previews to curdle your sour lil stomaches into submission! Pick up HH#28 for even more tales of ghosts, blood suckers, catastrophic experiments, etc! FYI: Todays tales originally appeared in Chamber of Chills #6 (March '52), and Mysteries Weird and Strange #3 (Sept '53.)