Corpses That Wouldn't Stay Dead!

And as the final day of September 2025 winds down, so does THOIA's lurid 'n lovin' look at superhero horror this month. And we're closing it out right where we started it all at the beginning of September-- with another Lash Lighting and Lightning Girl adventure! This one's a whopper at 16 pages, but it's fast paced and full of great dialog and action (though if you're tired of young men with firearms in our daily news, we've unfortunately got that covered as well.) And it's all credited to Harvey Kurtzman-- yep, you read that right-- story and art! Dig that splash, (and the cute cobra!), and then keep with it because the last half of this story goes underground and really picks up speed! And because I had some other hero horror stuff already pulled, (but not enough time to post it all), we might see a few more caped tales in October during our Halloween 2025 Horrorthon. I have some extra creepy cool stuff lined up, so please stay tombed as ever! From the December 1942 issue of Four Favorites #8.

Horror Beyond the Door

Despite the wonderfully striking, and intensely colorful cover designs by L.B. Cole, Star Comics still manages to top my list of least favorite Golden Age horror publications. The interior stories are always a mixed bag of bad art and poor writing (even worse printing), and for the money these days, just an overall dismal, overrated, bargain barrel affair. But a few stories contained within occasionally managed to rise to the, uhh occasion, as with this titanic struggle of unleashed ancient evil, from the July 1953 issue of Spook #25. No artist credit.

Picture of Evil

And now for something completely different! Yes, it's time to adjust those peepers of yours for a 3-D horror story-- but with the annoying 3-D effect removed! Heck, we lost the goggles for this issue anyway, so whatevz! From St. John's House of Terror #1 (October 1953, debut one-shot), this is some seriously excellent examples of joltin' Joe Kubert's awesome artwork (cover and story), plus inks by Les Zakarin. And FYI: I posted a colorized / updated variation of Kubert's cursed ghost story from this issue way back --over 15 years ago-- in December of 2008 HERE! --just for those of you who haven't been hangin' around here like a picture of evil for very long!

F-F-FROGS!

We were watching the 1972 drive-in film classic, FROGS the other night (click the title for a trailer), and about halfway through I remembered this silly send-up of it in the January 1973 issue of SPOOF #3. Lots of laugh out loud moments and highlighted with a Severin, Schwartzberg, and Trimpe three-way of awesome art --rivaling even the best era of MAD Magazine. This is one of the better examples of swampy 70's Silver Age Marvel madcappery, do enjoy! *ribbit!

The Adventure with the Corpse!

Who's ready for more heroic horrors? That's right-- you are! And here comes The Doll Man again (featured in the THOIA Archives HERE, HERE, and HERE), this time up against a shambling executed criminal with the terrifyin' touch of death at his fingertips! Page after page is visually jam-packed with Rudy Palais thrills 'n chills, plus a fun array of stiff victims and one very va-va-va-voom babe! And speaking of babes, though this story appeared in the March 1943 issue of Feature Comics #66, I'd freakin' swear that close-up illustration of Torchy's crying face on the middle left of page 8 is a photo reference of the legendary Bettie Page. But of course Bettie's prominent pin-up career occurred between 1950 through 1957, so maybe Palais had another talent we're unaware of-- the gift of fab future female model foresight!