HAUNTED HORROR #25 / Fiends from the Crypt

HAUNTED HORROR #25 is in stores this week, and as usual THOIA has a truly sickening FULL STORY sample preview for you-- and this one is guaranteed to tear your flesh off! For those still unaware, HH25 is also the start of a special 3 issue HORRORS OF IT ALL mini series of supernatural shockers (see also HH 26 and 27), as everyone's most loveably loathed horror host, Mr. Karswell, is in full control of the stories chosen from his awful archive of atrocities! So hold onto your shivering souls-- you know it's gonna get extra weird 'n creepy for the next few issues!

HAUNTED HORROR #16 / Black Death

Haunted Horror #16 is in stores NOW, and beyond that creepy-crawly insect cover awaits today's even creepier, crawlier insect tale to take a bite out of your senses! Originally presented in the November 1953 issue of Fantastic Fears #4, "Black Death" has been referred to by HH friend, Tom Stein as "one of the greatest pre-code horror stories ever told!" I do believe he's correct! *shivers!

And don't forget about our contest-- see the last post for details!

[The Eerie Publications remake of this story, "The Skin-Rippers", was posted to THOIA back in 2011. Read it here! --  Nequam]

Fiends from the Crypt

I had some other stuff planned for today's post, but I noticed Mykal at The Bloody Pulp had gone and served up an awesome Eerie Publication / Dick Ayers tale called "The Sewer Werewolves" (click HERE!) ...so here's an equally brilliant and very violent original Golden Age sewer monster story from the July 1953 issue of Fantastic Fears #8. [NOTE: This post corrected from an earlier blunderama of obvious extreme magnitude.]

Broom for a Witch

This is it, the last story from Fantastic Fears #9. And what the heck, since this one reminds me a bit of when Aunt Ada came to stay, let’s play the Casting Call game again too: Hazel Court as Alicia, Kenneth Tobey as Dan, Nigel Bruce as Dr. Sykes, and Margaret Hamilton as Tabitha (of course!)

Hope you enjoyed this entire Ajax issue, a full issue presentation from Atlas starts on Monday the 21st!

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Plus! Hairy Green Eyeball has a super-fun Munsters comic book story on display today, check it out HERE!

Deadly Wish

Moving along with our third tale from the Sept/Oct 1954 issue of Fantastic Fears #9, it’s a funny little “be careful what you wish for” type tale possessing a strange sense of humor with Satan targeting a lonely, innocent victim instead of a typically evil person. Hey, nobody ever said that ‘Old Scratch played fair!

If a Body Kill a Body…

I may have jumped the gun a bit by mentioning “necrophilia” yesterday. I mean, is it still “necrophilia” when BOTH people engaged in the act are from beyond the grave? What’s the rule here?

From the Sept/Oct 1954 issue of Fantastic Fears #9

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Strange and Stranger: The World of Steve DitkoThis week I'm featuring stories from Ajax’s Fantastic Fears series, a pre-code title where comic book legend Steve Ditko actually got his professional career start (in issue #5.) So it’s only appropriate that this week a new art book tracing Ditko's life and career should arrive in stores, showcasing his unparalleled stylistic innovations from the thousands of pages of comics he's drawn over the last 55 years.

For more info and/or to order click HERE!

Secret Coffin

To celebrate the One Year Anniversary of THOIA (which just occured on the 12th of this month last Saturday) I’m presenting a variety of comics in their entirety throughout July. We’ve already had one full issue on display at the beginning of the month, and now here’s the second, the Sept/Oct 1954 issue of Fantastic Fears #9. Chocked full of stories concerning iron maiden torture, rotting ghouls, necrophilia, witches, and satanic shenanigans, you’re going to absolutely adore every single page of this one... I know I do!