Karswell's Night Gallery #3

ASYLUM by William Johnston / Cover Art by ???
(Bantam Books, 1972)

Book version of the 1972 Amicus film classic of the same name, based on stories originally written by Robert Bloch.

Ghost Town

Let’s stay put within the unsafe pages of Mysterious Adventures #18 for yet another story to neatly wrap up our weekend as well as the month of September. This is a seriously great issue from front cover to back, chock full of wildly excessive tales of terror, and our story here today is no exception... uh, that is unless you’ve read EC’s Midnight Mess which came out a year before with the same exact plot! Who was it that said “blatant plagerism is the sincerest form of flattery?” Oh yeah, it was one of the writers for Mysterious Adventures.

From the February 1954 issue of Mysterious Adventures #18

String ‘Em Up!

Yep, it’s two-for-one day here at The Horrors of It All, we’re featuring a double shot from Mysterious Adventures #18, so once again sit back and enjoy yourselves with today’s back-UP feature, it’s a killer little puppet show that won’t leave you hangin’...

Bottom’s Up

If yesterday’s story didn’t deliver enough blood soaked impaling panels and severed heads for you gore fiends then how about a skull splitting axe swung right upside your drunken noggin’ instead? (Thanks to Brian Hirsch for the scans on this one!)

From the February 1954 issue of Mysterious Adventures #18

Boris Karloff (PHOTO)

Found this neat photo on Jay Stephen's excellent MONSTERAMA blog, and thought it would make a good companion post with the Comic Book Confidential clip from yesterday. Not only does it feature Boris Karloff holding a cute little girl (I wonder if he threw her into a lake after this photo was taken?) but it also features a metal spin rack loaded with pre-code horror comics from EC, Atlas, and Fawcett. The easiest issue to completely identify is the Beware! Terror Tales #6 which would mean this photo was taken in 1953, but to me Boris looks much older in the photo than he actually was that year. Plus the display card on top of the spin rack clearly shows the Comics Code stamp though none of the comics in the rack have the code on their cover. Anyone know what's going on here?

POST UPDATED w/ COMPARISON PHOTO TRICKERY REVEALED:
MYSTERY SOLVED! My friend Dr. Phibes found the original version of this photo online which clearly shows someone out there is a wicked little photoshop devil!

Headless Horror!

Here’s a terrific terror tale from the same issue of Chamber of Chills as yesterday's post, featuring insanely brutal panels of extreme violence and bloodshed--- just the way we like it!

From the May 1952 issue of Chamber of Chills #8

Comic Book Confidential excerpt (VIDEO)

A highlight from Comic Book Confidential showing firsthand the affects of pre-code horror comics on a group of young boys! Be sure to rent or buy the DVD and see the rest. (Thanks to John Angelo for the link!)

Formula for Death

Time for another disgustingly putrid Rudy Palais classic! You gotta love how much slime and bubbly ooze this guy can pack into a crackin’ four page mad scientist fest like this.

From the May 1952 issue of Chamber of Chills #8

Don't Marry a Dead One!

Here’s one of the better Dark Mysteries tales I’ve read... it seems that most of the issues from this series have one or two well written / illustrated stories (like this one) while the other half of their issues are frustratingly bad, bottom barrel junk. This is also one of the more expensive golden age comics to buy these days (in any condition), which proves equally frustrating for a collector like myself. Live and learn, take the good with the bad, or let someone else with a pre-code horror blog and a scanner do it all for you.

From the Aug – Sept 1952 issue of Dark Mysteries #8

This Corpse is Mine

Another typically eerie Atlas horror tale... Stan Lee probably used this same plot a million and half different times, but I’ll be damned if I ever get tired of it no matter what the variation.

From the May 1952 issue of Mystery Tales #2

Surprise!

A spooky Jack Keller classic from the March 1953 issue of Adventures into Weird Worlds #16, this issue also has one of my all time favorite pre-code vampire girl covers!

Karswell's Night Gallery #2

WEIRD TALES, Leo Margulies, ed / Cover Art by Virgil Finley
(Pyramid Books, 1964)

Great paperback horror collection with a fantastic Virgil Finley cover, the inside features all the major pulp heroes of the 30's and 40's like Howard, Bloch, Derleth, Leiber, Lovecraft, Long etc...

Prey for the Vampire Horde

This wasn’t the story I had originally planned here, but since everyone appears to be in love with Lou Cameron art (and vampires) I dug this one out for you instead, and it wraps up our week-long tribute to Ace Comics nicely too. Tomorrow it’s back to the mad mix of pre-code horror from all the other shamelessly ignored publishers not named EC. But for now, let’s bring on the bloodsucker action and prey for the vampire horde! [Insert lightning sound FX here.]

From the September 1953 issue of The Beyond #22