The Avenging Hand!

Goin' waaaay back to the January 1946 issue of Yellowjacket Comics #7, to find this goofball Golden Age superhero series actually contains a few fright-filled / filler spook yarns under a "Famous Tales of Terror" title. Not only that, it features a truly horrible horror host called "The Ancient Witch." The artwork here by Alan Mandel is so hilariously amateurish that the whole Z grade production (like the avenging hand itself) practically takes on an entirely new awesome life of its own-- like lovably bad underground indie art of the 70's and 80's, —and the tough guy gangster talk highlighted with some splashes of blood give it all a little extra poverty row punch. Enjoy!

Where Zombies Walk!

The December 1952 - January 1953 issue of Witchcraft #5 is a wild collection of stories, and sports one of the greatest precode horror covers of all time, masterfully created by King Kelly Freas. And with this final A.C. Hollingsworth zombie tale post (boy, did someone seriously drop the ball with that splash page title treatment-- PU!), I do believe we have now posted the entire issue here at THOIA. A lovely Everett Raymond Kinstler illustration on the inside front cover is the icing on the cake! Check the archive for "The Witch of Shadow Glen", "The Warlock of Manescue Manse", and "The Witch of Death!" for more!

The Monster Kits / A Game of Squirt

It's kind of fun to find horror stories that clearly attempted a spooky spin and capitalize on popular fads of the time, like Monster Model Kits and Silly String, for example. And here are two interesting tales to prove my point: Frank Thorne's "The Monster Kits" from the March 1965 issue of Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery #9, and "A Game of Squirt" illustrated by Giorgio Cambiotti, from the February 1972 issue of Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery #39. And the cool thing about some fads is that they're actually still alive and lurking around too!

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Possessed

Very appreciative to the commenter from earlier this week who supplied an answer regarding another possible Ouija board themed comic story. And like our previous post, this one is also from the same weird Western series, the October 1963 issue of Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery #5 to be exact. It's an eerie Peppe / Toth team-up with very nice art, though with a title like "Possessed" it's kind of a shame it's not just a wee bit more scary. Still, it's a fun look at adult party games gone wrong, or is it really a blistering expose about sexual 60's pent-up housewife frustrations? Hmmm...

Mr. Fife's Lively Sketch

Someone wrote in asking about this one after seeing a random panel floating around Tumblr... and no, this story isn't about Mayberry's most deadly deputy either! Monstery fun art by Golden Age legend, Jack Sparling, who was of course still doing some great work well into the Silver Age. From the August 1970 issue of Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery #31.

Tomorrow is Today

I've been posting stories here at THOIA since 2007, and aside from one text page entry from 2009 HERE, I believe this is actually the very first Ouija board related comic tale I've ever featured (someone please correct me if I'm wrong.) It's weird though, right? Ouija, or "spirit" boards have been popular since the late 1800's, so you'd think there'd be a bunch of related comic tales. Can anyone think of any others to recommend for future posts here? This also concludes our frightfully fun Fawcett precode series fest of B!TTs... from the July 1953 issue of Beware! Terror Tales #8, with art possibly by Sheldon Moldoff (again), and / or maybe Ed Moline. Now, does anyone know who created that sinsational witch cover?