ZOMBIE! / Aesop's Stables

After our last somber post, it's time to lighten the morbid mood and maybe even get a little crazy around here-- like, double header Atlas crazy, man! First up, a Bill Everett zombie kookball classic from the March ‘54 issue of Crazy #4, followed by even more MAD-esque poetic hilarity from Howie Post and the July ‘54 issue of Crazy #7. See ya's in July!



















And if this wasn't enough humorous Howie Post horror for ya, head over to AEET today too and go WILD! CLICK HERE!

R.I.P. Joe Sinnott / Talking Corpse

2020 claims another precode legend, all-time THOIA favorite, Joltin' Joe Sinnott has passed away at the age of 93. Boy, what a wild collection of awesome he leaves behind for future generations of comic book fans. His multitude of styles and vast array of talent for any genre continues to give everyone a little bit of something to marvel at (literally), and today at THOIA we will be marveling at just that. And maybe this story isn't the most appropriately titled tale to choose for an R.I.P. post, but it still showcases what Joe absolutely did best within the horror genre: incredible splash, terrifying monsters, superbly rendered faces / backgrounds, and supernatural inking! R.I.P Joe-- we miss ya already! From the April 1952 issue of Adventures into Terror #9.









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Find out more about Joe by CLICKING HERE! And dig around the THOIA Archive by using the search bar at the top of the page, or the sidebar tag for tons more Joe Sinnott classics!

The Death of Me

Gliding effortlessly on the wings of Death, and back to the 1950's with an astonishingly dark tale from the February 1954 issue of Astonishing #30. Okay, so how many of you actually feel sorry for these decrepit old miserly millionaires and their good for nothing heirs? The even older saying, "You can't take it with you," seems terrifically trapped in limbo on this one.

A Model Murder / The Collector!

Two things I love most in life: building monster model kits, and collecting comic books-- and awesomely enough there are two shivery stories on both subjects fondly found lurking in the frightening July 1979 issue of House of Mystery #270. If that isn't enough, this post also contains two more favorite things of mine: the Creature from the Black Lagoon-- and bikinis! 

Mr. Karswell Awarded the Silver Bolo!

Did anyone catch the final episode of the second season of The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs? Holy cow, I was as shocked as anyone to discover the Silver Bolo awarded to me, Mr. Karswell, and The Horrors of it All! What a mind-blowing honor to be recognized, and even mentioned by legendary joltin' Joe --as well as by ever dynamite, Darcy the Mail Girl! The Shudder Channel even tweeted about lil 'ol me!



And yeah, it seems like my last name will always be eternally misspelled and mispronounced (it's BANES, not BARNES), but no matter-- I'm still over the moon about it.

As soon as Shudder makes the episode available I will add the link here. Thanks again to Joe, Darcy, Shudder, and everyone involved with The Last Drive-In, as well as to whoever it was that nominated me in the first place --I guess that's how this thing works-- I'm still not exactly sure how it all happened, or how I even appeared on the Briggs radar, but I'm glad I did!

Hand of Glory / Demon Count

A few more of these ominously fun one page quickies from the original 50's Phantom Stranger series (see our previous post if you somehow missed it), and like said post, all of these are also eerily illustrated by Mort Drucker. Anyone in need of an additional hand at some gory glory need merely CLICK HERE and HERE! after today's post!

How to Spot a Witch!

Just to mix things up a little, here's a handful of superstitious silliness from the annals of "true" human history, aka: Phantom Stranger #3, 4, and 5 to be exact, with everything illustrated by marvelous mad man, Mort Drucker. I've always liked these single / half page filler bits in old horror comics, even if they're nothing but a complete load of tommyrot...

Lucifer's Lush

An insane back-up horror tale found, oddly enough, at the end of the December 1946 - January 1947 issue of Black Cat #3. Yes, once you've finished allowing lovely Linda Turner, (alias The Black Cat) to whoop your sorry ass, you could then take an additional beating from some good 'ol black magic...

The Beast from the Bog!

Keeping this tribute a bit light with a fun little sci-fi horror story written by Dennis O'Neil from the June 1970 issue of Chamber of Darkness #5. Some of you may find it cheesy, but I remember reading it sometime in the mid 70's when I was around 7 and thinking it was pretty neat. R.I.P. Dennis O'Neil.

R.I.P. Dennis O'Neil

R.I.P. Dennis O'Neil, writer and editor of some of the best era Marvel and DC stories, and author of some incredibly top notch sci-fi and horror too! I'll see what I can dig up for a proper tribute in our next post, stay tuned...

The Vampire of the Opera

Lou Cameron strikes again, (with Rocco Mastroserio on inks, possibly), and together they deliver a fast paced, very sexy, super fun vampire story, where not only is our blood suckin' babe attractive as Hell-- but she can sing too! Today's Ace Magazine classic from the March 1952 issue of The Beyond #9 stars Boris Karloff as Pepe, John Agar as Marcel, Barbara Payton as Colette, Fred Clark as Monsieur Romain, and Eleanor Parker as Madame Pourette.