If you didn't giggle hard enough at our last post, --and if the smell of burnt hot dog made you completely lose your appetite from the same entry, --let's quickly turn now to the May - June 1954 issue of Bughouse #2 for something a bit more silly and madcap, and maybe even a little macabre in the most moronic manner possible. And Happy Werewolf Wednesday as well!
As we've seen on this blog many times over the years, truth can be more terrifying than fiction, and sometimes the human criminal is much more monstrous than any bloody vampire or werewolf. Take for example the brutally inhuman, true case of the "giggling killer" from the May - June 1948 issue of Exposed #2... it certainly doesn't get much more horrific than this, folks. Nice work from Joe Orlando on pencils though.
Time once again to scream out for an assist with some spooky supernatural shenanigans, and who better to aim that call at than the ever dynamic, Dr. Drew! I guess it's been awhile since we've seen him around these parts, (check the THOIA archive for more!), and this is absolutely one of his more lively "secret file" entries, loaded with both macabre and murderously madcap moments. Just don't be thrown off by the story title now, because (spoiler alert) it is Wednesday after all (hint hint!) From the October 1950 issue of Ranger Comics #55, and featuring the always amazing, Spirited art (get it?) of Jerry Grandenetti. [Also fyi: I actually already posted this story back in 2016 HERE, but it was the not so nicely recolored 80's Eclipse Mr. Monster reprint version and blech-- these things always bug me when I go through my backlog and see 'em, especially considering Melani Mandible is actually a rockin' redhead and not a blonde!]
THOIA celebrates Father's Day today with an appropriately themed time-travelin' tale o'terror, illustrated by Dick Ayers and Ernie Bache and from the March 1953 issue of Astonishing #23. I have a few other things lined up on our schedule first, but now that I have this eerie issue pulled out, we might take a look at a couple more stories from it later this month too, (no secrets!) --so stay tombed...
Summer temperatures here in the midwest have been brutal for over a week now, so let's cool things down a bit with a creepy chiller (artist unknown) from the October 1949 issue of Captain America's Weird Tales #74. Now don't be thrown off by Cap's name in the series title, this is not a superhero story (though the first 6-page tale in this issue is a Cap vs. Red Skull adventure.) So okay, hands up, how many of you even knew that Cap had his very own, but very short-lived horror anthology series, anyway?
I had this witchcrafty Black Angel story saved for later in the week, but since it also contains some wonderfully weird lycanthropy war action, I figured we might as well howl up an extra wild 'n rollickin' edition for Werewolf Wednesday! And like our previous Black Angel post, John Cassone really shines on art duty, deliverin' fistfuls of awesome, pummelingly pretty, sexy Sylvia Manners poses, as she turns up the heat and pounds her way across the foul faces of WW2 evil. From the February 1943 issue of Air Fighters Comics #5.
Speaking of black angels, let's take a look at another type of angel, the dirty, vicious, 70's motorcyclin' type monikered after someone who, it seems, is actually not too fond of their particular brand of pointless evil. At all. Yep, a story like this could have only come from a time era such as this, and I was seven years old when it first hit newsstands, I remember reading it and crushing hard on Amy, (the hapless redhead victim of this story.) Cutely drawn as only Tom Sutton could-- and having grown up in a house surrounded by similar chopper buildin', bad ass biker types, I also remember thinking this was just about the coolest comic book story I had ever read at that point in my life, haha... from the November 1974 issue of The Many Ghosts of Dr. Graves #48.
I hinted earlier in the month that we'd look at more weird war horror here in June, so let's do this now with a super sexy action / adventure tale, literally exploding with curvy thrills 'n chills, and featuring one of my favorite WW2 era super heroines, "The Black Angel" as she bashes it out against a battalion of boner-pulling, ratzi nazi bat men from Berlin! If you've never read a Black Angel story before, this could very well be the best place to start! From the March 1943 issue of Air Fighters #6, with very good girl art by jolly John Cassone.
