Saturday, June 29, 2013
The Store at the Cemetery
Another one of my all time favorite pre code tales (originally featured here at THOIA waaay back in 2008) is this highly atmospheric and very unsettling 5 pager from the August 1953 issue of This Magazine is Haunted #12. They don't come much weirder or creepier than this, folks... any eagle eye experts out there know who the artist is?
No doubt, Martha will keep a very close watch on everything at her parties now.
ReplyDeleteMartha's decorating was always a-head of its time...
ReplyDeleteMartha's party really went to her head...
Martha should've realized she'd beheaded for trouble...
Martha always wanted to be a real dish...
It's certainly a creepy little story, but maybe it's best we don't find the artist. He or she is not very good, and dare I'd say pretty amateur, and the especially bad coloring isn't helping at all.
ReplyDeleteHow did Martha's entombed body get back to the party?
This one would have been perfect for Eerie pubs, except at the end the guests would have pulled back the table cloth and there would have been Martha's body, bones sticking out, body bent in weird positions, and big inky globs of blood!
Completely disagree on the art... I like it a lot and think its wonderfully loose, unpolished, and eerie.
ReplyDeleteI agree. The story is weird and surreal, and the art compliments the story.
ReplyDeleteThis is by far, the best horror blog on the internet. What I find really helpful is that every story is annotated, so source material is readily available for research purposes.
Having said that, i have a problem. I am trying to locate a pre-code story. The scenario: a thief steals a shrinking formula and uses it on himself to hide from the cops in a department store. He goes to the toy department, and is eventually killed by a toy train. Would any be able to locate this story? Thanks in advance.
On another topic, I would appreciate it if more Atlas stories were presented here. When I see all those fantastic covers at the Atlas Tales website, I'm always so curious to see the contents of these magazines. I think Atlas had the best covers in the business.
@ Anonymous
ReplyDeleteI think the story is from one of the "Superior" series, but I don't remember which one. And I think, at the end of the story, the main character fights with another gangster who was also shrinked.
thanks for all your recent posts I still have much to read on here. I got a question about haunted horror comic is it bi-monthly published 6 times a year or is it monthly?
ReplyDeleteWow! That story that Anonymous talked about sounds fascinating in extremis! I can visualize it as a perfect story for Ditko and even imagine certain classic Ditko poses and expressions as the gangster swallows the shrinko brew and hides in the mini-town.
ReplyDeleteThe threat of the second gangster deepens the allure of the fascinating plot....there is a lot to be understood from such a story.
Oy vay, if you can find it, yes! Please post it!
>a thief steals a shrinking formula and uses it on himself to hide from the cops in a department store. He goes to the toy department, and is
ReplyDeleteThe story is called "Shrinking Horror" and can be found in the Sept 1953 issue of Mysteries Weird and Strange #3... I'll post it next.
>I got a question about haunted horror comic is it bi-monthly published 6 times a year or is it monthly?
Bi-monthly... our next issue will be out in August.
Thanks for the comments!
It's too bad she didn't think of just using some wet corpse hair as the centerpiece. I've heard wet corpse hair really livens up a party.
ReplyDelete