Comeback! / The Snake

I had a few requests for more scary snake stories, so let's finish out the month with a deadly double header of hissing horror. The first is an early Ditko dirge originally featured in the July - August 1954 issue of The Thing #15, (he also illustrated that fantastic cover), and like our previous post, it also takes place at a circus sideshow! Our second tale comes from Dracula Volume 1 #3 (October 1972), which is a New English Library translated reprint from Dracula #3 originating in Spain. Very cool Euro horror with an underground comic vibe-- and I think that we'll look at this stuff a bit more in the coming months ahead-- so stay tombed and come back!

Snake Charmer

Speakin' of snakes, let's take a slithery stroll down the circus scare-way, errrr, fairway, for some frighteningly fangy, sideshow fun, --all wonderfully wrapped in a skimpy, scaled bikini no less! Yes ladies and gentlemen, Madam Zhora definitely knows how to charm a snake or two, as well as put an end to any 'ol plumbin' problem you may be experiencin'! From the March 1978 issue of Monster Hunters #12.

No Tresspassing

Summer swamp swing time here at THOIA, --so find you some frightening fun on the run-- before it findssss you! From the December 1952 issue of Mystic #15, art by Vic Carrabotta.

The End of Madam Satan!

We now conclude our exciting month of Saturdays with Madam Satan (check the previous two weekend posts if you missed 'em!), and it's time for the two grand finale entries from Pep Comics #20 and #21 featuring 'ol faceless leggy at the climax of her brief Golden Age career. And yea, though she did waltz through the valleys of a variety of other later comic book series pages, it's her satanic stint in Pep that remains one of the more memorable, evil female characters from that glorious, war time capsule era. It's kind of sad to now read that final panel mentioning "America's most unique comic strip" and knowing that she would in fact not return. But you know what else time has revealed? Maybe sticking around too long and wearing out your welcome can be a bad thing-- like how a lot of comic book characters are boringly guilty of!

Z-Z-Z-P!

A fast 'n fun Atlas weirdie for ya today, one that goes hand in boney hand with the man who lost his honkin' head via voodoo schmoodoo from last week, with great art from good 'ol Russ Heath, and from the October 1952 issue of Spellbound #8.

Hatchet Hattie the Kid Hater!

I realize the last couple of posts have been pretty lengthy in content, so I'm giving you all a few days to play catch-up and today I'll just be posting a simple early 50's Luden's cough drop comic book ad, one that I've somehow never seen before, and yet still fits nicely into the theme of THOIA. So just remember kids, if you ever accidentally stumble upon a witch doing witch stuff inside a haunted house, quickly muffle that pesky hacking of yours with a wild cherry flavor Luden's cough drop, --or else lose your head via horrible hatchet hackery! 

Hard to believe this is a real ad, but it is, haha...

Madam Satan Continued...

Welcome back for another Double Feature Matinee style installment of Madam Satan Saturday! You thrilled last weekend to the first two astounding appearances of Lady Skullface, and now here we go with Parts 3 and 4 from the August 1941 issue of Pep Comics #18, followed by the September 1941 issue of Pep Comics #19! Lots more satanic shenanigans and gorgeous good girl artwork, some superb splash panels, and this time around we even have a vampiric frame-up! *GASP! But first, can Madam Satan be captured like a genie in a bottle? Read on, dear friends-- until your own eyes turn to bone, --errr stone! And then come back next Saturday for the final two tales... you know, before the Madam was cancelled and the Archies suddenly rolled into Pep Town!