Death Came Calling / A Web for Her Wedding Dress

Double Feature Day at THOIA with a couple of spooky kooky back-up quickies from the original supernatural 50's Ghost Rider comic series-- our first atmospheric entry comes from the August '52 issue of The Ghost Rider #8, followed by a hairy scary creeper from the May - June '53 issue of The Ghost Rider #12. All awesome artwork by Dick Ayers of course!















UP NEXT: THE GHOST RIDER!

Shadows of Death

As promised, here's another fright-filled fight against creepy, reekin' crime-- from the March 1954 issue of Fight Against Crime #18. The Poe-esque story concept and freaky deeky art by Jon D'Agostino is made only more bizarre by the occasional off-register coloring here which seems to somehow add to the spooky shenanigans! Maybe put on a pair of 3D glasses and see if anything extra eerie happens...

Dead Fish!

As we saw in our last post, the ladies have seriously had it with the men! I can't say I blame them-- we're all idiots!-- and todays post from the November 1953 issue of Fight Against Crime #16 is further validation of this fact. Superb art by Doug Wildey gives this story some extra added bite too, hee hee!













MORE CRIME HORROR ON THE WAY...

The Widow of Death

If you're feeling like THOIA hasn't been particularly vicious enough lately, then feast your eyes on this cat burnin', child killin', multiple meat cleaverin' blows to the head classic from the June - July 1948 issue of Underworld Vol. 1 #3! This story really does prove that 40's-50's crime comics could sometimes be even more horrific than the horror ones, and on top of that-- this tale is based on the TRUE story of Belle Gunness, aka The Lonely Hearts Killer!

(Click HERE after the story to read more about her.)



















*Extra big thanks to our good pal, Tommy "El Diablo" Stanziola for hooking us up with this one!

The Bleeding Platter

Here we go again with a mad artist tale that'll definitely leave you scratchin' your severed noggin', from the March 1953 issue of The Unseen #9 --and this one certainly begs the ultimate, unanswered, climactic question: "HOW DOES HE DO IT??!!" Oh, note the merged signature on the splash as well, "MIKEROSS" which could only mean the terrific team-up of Mike Esposito and Ross Andru. And finally, today's post is rounded out with a Creepy Scrapbook entry (believe 'em or don't) --plus some Eerie Puzzle fun!

Extraordinary! Mr. Karswell has found a third version of a theme explored in two previous stories here, "The Store at the Cemetery" and "Design for Death"! Makes one wonder if a writer tried selling the same script to different titles... -- Nequam

Death in Reflection

Haven't posted anything around here by the great Dick Briefer in awhile, and digging through the Frankenstein files we find a good 'n spooky back-up tale from the February - March 1954 issue of Frankenstein #29, efficiently written and illustrated as only the dynamic Dick could do 'em! I really love stories like this where an unwitting sap just keeps talking to himself and doing things that are slowly but surely sealing his fate, while we the reader just sit back and watch his awesomely predictable demise coming from a mile away...

The Tunnel of Horror

I'm always surprised that there aren't more precode horror stories about haunted dark rides or tunnels of love type spook house terror attractions. There are a few, of course, but still the subject matter alone seems like the perfect no-brainer setting for many a comic book tale or movie. Anyway, here's a somewhat short but sinisterly sweet one from the Summer 1952 debut issue of Nightmare #1.

The MC of Midnight Scare Theater!

Take it from me, being a horror host is hard work-- but sometimes it's downright MURDER! And you can take that tidbit from Jimmy Olsen! That's right, you groaners, today we have a Jimmy Olsen tale, but we're gonna put our own terror twist on this one because it's all about late night 50's TV horror hosts and monster movies... and yeah yeah, the meh-ending is dumb, but as most of these silly stories prove, without a doubt half the fun is getting there! (Also, Supe is barely even in this one so we have that going for us as well.) And I'll be the first to admit, if this yarn did have a better ending it might actually have made for a great William Castle movie because it really is a killer concept! So how about this-- everyone read the story and then let's all come up with a more THOIA-esque, appropriate ending, shall we? Make it downbeat and evil, extra gloomy, even suicidally sad. Or maybe keep it upbeat, but add a touch of deadly, icky irony! Or we can just bummeroo on the usual things associated with post code DC hero stuff, whaaaaatever ya's want. Personally, I think these bonkeroo Jimmy tales are a blast-- so let's have some fun with it! You guys like fun, right?! Afterwards, you can eat a big sandwich.

Originally presented in the July 1959 issue of Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #38.