Lure of the Snake Goddess

Back in July, we had ourselvesss a ssslitheringly sssexy sssnake girl fessst of storiesss, and longtime THOIA chum, Brian Barnessss --ok, I'm gonna stop doing that now-- was super bummed to see it end, he even requested more. And it doesn't get much more weird and adventurous than this wild tale about Brian's own relatives, one that starts out in the deepest jungles of India, and takes the action all the way to the big city Broadway stage! This would've made for a fun 1940's RKO creature feature, with its increasing body count, mysterious museum moment, and yes, the Medusa-like monster that'll stop at nothing to achieve her gorgeously gruesome goal! And since we haven't had ourselves a casting call around here in a while, I'm going with Dana Andrews as Dan, Joi Lansing as Pat, and magnificent Mara Corday as Mahrana. From the April 1953 issue of Forbidden Worlds #16.

The Heart of Horror

Another full issue accomplished here at THOIA with the final tale for Valentine's Day 2012 from the April-May 1952 issue of Out of the Night #2 (also see "The Vampire's Fate", "Drum of Doom", and Scorpion from the Stars.") This is a fun tale today, full of um, moments, like the indestructable evil conveniently revealing in detail the "never would've figured it out on their own" process of how it can be destroyed. But most memorable of all being the incredibly cornball closing line from our lovely heroine.

XOXO!

The Fiend in Fur

Time to head to the timberland burial grounds for a weird 'n wild werewolf / ghost tale, this time from the Jan-Feb '51-52 issue of Forbidden Worlds #4. George Wilhelms is one of my favorite ACG artists, furfectly setting the mood with his atmospheric art... and though this one of course contains the typically hopeless goofball romantics we've come to know from the ACG writers (the final panel is downright horny), they still manage to squeeze in as many chills 'n thrills and rollickin' sound effects to make the journey worth it--- YAANGH! WAM! SPLANG! CRASH! OHH! GARRRGH! AAOOOO! YAANGH!

Plus a nice Lon Chaney Jr. swipe on the cover of this issue too!

(It's almost as if he's saying "YAANGH!")

The Winged Terror

From the March 1953 issue of Forbidden Worlds #15, descends this bizarre George Wilhelms Creature Feature containing a moment or two that will surely put a shivery smile (in particular) on the faces of you Alien fans.

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Journey into Mystery Vol. 2 "Atlas Era" Masterwork

A million years into the future (May 2009 to be exact) comes the second Marvel Masterworks “Atlas Era” edition of Journey into Mystery. Volume 2 collects issues #11 – 20 in their entirety (sorry, no Thor though) and features all the usual greats like Heath, Everett, Tuska etc… check Marvel.com for more info as it becomes available.

Other interesting collections scheduled for release in Spring 2009:

Creepy Vol. 3 (DARK HORSE)

Humbug (FANTAGRAPHICS)

Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery Archive Vol. 1 (DARK HORSE)Melvin Monster Vol. 1 (John Stanley Library / DRAWN & QUARTERLY)
Alex Toth Goes Hollywood / Wally Wood: Edge of Genius (PURE IMAGINATION)

The Vampires Strike

And so begins THOIA’s Halloween 2008 Vampire & Witch Assault (if you missed the memo please check yesterday’s post for the details.) And we kick off the final week of October with a blood suckin’ George Wilhelm classic from the July 1952 issue of Forbidden Worlds #7 (the print job here rather sucks too, but messy spills of red somehow strangely improve a horror story, especially one about vampires!)

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Two somewhat underrated 70’s horror films find their way to DVD tomorrow in spiffy new “SPECIAL EDITION” versions from Synapse Films. I actually like THIRST quite a bit, PATRICK I need to see again but I remember it being pretty decent too.

(Click images below for more info!)

Dolls of Doom

Today’s ACG post is a bit reminiscent of the great M. R. James short story classic Casting the Runes, only this time it’s not a parchment curse gone to blazes, but instead a voodoo doll that uniquely unleashes the demonic force of death and destruction. For obvious reasons this tale gets Karswell’s highest “Seal of Approval”, and to those of you who don’t know why, your time allowed is 2 weeks…

From the Jan 1952 issue of Adventures into the Unknown #27

Read Casting the Runes, as well as other M. R. James horror classics online by clicking HERE!