Don't Dance w/ Me When I'm Dead!

Did you come to THOIA today looking for something hilariously grim to totally grime up your Saturday afternoon with? Well good, cuz here's a perfect example of how precode horror occasionally went to batty bat with a truly preposterous concept, and with the help of some very uneven, but totally likable Sokoli art, still manages to hit an oddly surreal home run like no other. Actually, pop culture took this "carry the corpse" concept and went wild with it over the last century, --you've all seen Weekend At Bernies for example by now, right? From the October 1952 issue of Beware #12.

The Last of its Kind

Time for a fur 'n fang feast of fearsome delight from the October 1978 issue of Haunted #38 --though this story originally appeared in the December 1972 issue of Midnight Tales #1, (both from Charlton.) And if you missed it earlier this month, CLICK HERE to head over to AEET and read another devilishly great story from this same, eerie issue!

Two is a Crowd!

Another mean-spirited Atlas tale on deck today, this time from the awesome April 1952 issue of Marvel Tales #106. If you've ever wanted to see a nice time-lapse of a corpse being entombed behind a wall, well, you've absolutely come to the right place! For some reason the Atlas Tales website notes: "Buried Alive" even though our victim is clearly seen being choked to death on the previous page-- did I miss something?

The Little Pests

Here's a little 4 page reminder from the October 1952 issue of Adventures into Terror #12 that even your most water-logged idea of brutalized body disposal could potentially backfire on you if you simply overlook the smaller things in life. *SLAP! Yep, we're keepin' the mean-spirited, rancid romance alive all this month here at THOIA with eerie excursions into the most awful, wedded lifestyles. And don't forget the DDT!

VAMPIRES #1 (Asylum Press)

 VAMPIRES #1 is in stores everywhere today! Mr. Karswell (editor) returns to print with 30+ pages of blood draining tales of Golden Age, vintage vampire terror! Available with multiple cover variants too! Get your copy --before it gets you!

CLICK HERE for more info!

"The Haunted Love!"

A fun terror tale to spook up your Valentine's, and from the early days of precode Atlas horror too, aka the November 1949 issue of Marvel Tales #94 to be exact, (hence the wonderfully old fashionable look and tone to everything here.) Pencils on this one are attributed to the great, Gene Colan, and if the story title rings a little bell deep inside your lovely heads, I'll go ahead and make this a fine time to remind you that even though my 3 issue mini-series of the same name is long out of print, you can still occasionally find used hardcover collection copies online HERE at reasonable prices. Happy Horriday!

The Collector

Are the Febru-scary love stories this month ticklin' your lil goose-pimpled fancies so far? If not, here's one that will surely drive you to drink! Ahhh, so how about a toast to true love? May it forever warm the cockles of your blackened, beating libidos. From the September 1974 issue of The Many Ghosts of Dr. Graves #47, and terrifically atmospheric art by the always awesome, Tom Sutton (cover art by Joe Staton.)

Beware the Sea Hag / The Old Hag!

It sure wouldn't be a Valentine's Massacre at The Horrors of it All without a couple of horrible old hags hangin' around here and lousin' up all the hearts 'n huggin' action. Take for example this horrendous Atlas tale of bad lovin' gone extra hilariously hideous, from the December 1952 issue of Mystery Tales #6. But first up, we'll take a lovely little boat ride out to sea, --to see how luridly love sick our sea sickness can be! From the May 1981 issue of Secrets of Haunted House #36, and yep, it's a double beheader today, one golden, and one silver --and trust me on this one, folks, it doesn't get much juicer than this! And fyi, both tales were written by Carl Wessler! Neat to see him spanning nearly 3 decades with high quality, haggish horrors!