Skin-Deep

A very funny Atlas terror tale from the August 1952 issue of Uncanny Tales #2, with Fred Kida's atmospheric art complimenting Hank Chapman's sardonic script. Yes, to be a mad scientist while your better half only wants to help out and make things... umm, "better." Haha, this is the kind of precode story that inspired me to start this blog over 17 years ago, with humor and horror perfectly balanced into one.

Murder at Midnight!

Here's a Hank Chapman horror hit from the terrific April 1951 issue of Adventures into Terror #3, and aside from the spooky fun illustrations, the tough guy dialog here is especially hysterical. I honestly can't think of another story that I've ever posted where the main guy was such an unmitigated a-hole...

Norman's Nightmare

Here's a fun little nightmarish quickie by the always magnificent, Mean Gene Colan, and from the July 1951 issue of Suspense #9, (script by Hank Chapman.) And wowzers, I can't believe that April is already almost over, which equally means we're already halfway to Halloween! Must start planning the upcoming posts accordingly...

In the Dead of Night

"...this is probably one of the worst offsets I've seen in a while." said Brian Barnes in the comments section of our previous story post. "I'll take that as a challenge." replied Mr. Karswell, who then proceeded to dig out a tale from the November 1951 issue of Suspense #11, one that he has wanted to post a million times before but always thought the overly primary bright, shabby blob coloring, and off register red just ruined what is clearly one of the better Atlas vampire tales of the precode era. "Maybe there are copies out there that look better?" he often pondered. But no. All the pondering and back issue bin digging in the world would unfortunately never unearth a better looking copy. And thus, THOIA ends out the month of August 2020 and sadly presents:













PS: I actually spent a small amount of time and cleaned up a lot of this, thusly 2, so it doesn't look quite as bad as it originally did. Enjoy! --Mr. K

The Spider!

It's been spider overload here lately in my neck of the woods this summer, so I thought I'd share the frighteningly fuzzy fun and give everyone else the creepy crawlies as well. And wallopin' web snappers, it sure is nice to see some early work from Larry Woromay around here too, even though his sinister spider looks more like a bloated blood tick about to pop. And I'm not sure if I've ever seen laudatory editor blurbs in an Atlas splash like this before, it's pretty funny when you think about it because, well... nuff said. No wait,  --one more thing, if you have a thing about innocent animal death 'n torture you may want to just entirely skip this post today. Fair warning. From the juicy June 1951 issue of Marvel Tales #101.

The Dirty Dog

Keeping with the theme of dirty dogs (see previous post), here's a fun one from the August 1952 issue of Spellbound #6. And while it's not quite as dirty as the aforementioned previous post, it is definitely miles more entertaining, and contains much clearer direction and intent.

The Flat Man / Crazy Glass

A couple of flatso fright tales for you today, both from the May 1952 issue of Spellbound #3 --and if you check the Atlas Tales link a few words back with the THOIA Archive, you'll discover that like our last post, this is also another FULL ISSUE PRESENTATION! Okay, some of you might remember the other much more hilariously violent "Flat Man" story I posted way back in 2007 (CLICK HERE), but I believe you will find this one smashing too-- just pay close attention to what he says in the 5th panel on page 3 so you're not dwelling on what seems like a giant stupid plot hole-- PLUS, rounding everything out with the confusingly kooky "Crazy Glass" quickie.









SLIMMER! NOT FLATTER!!

No Escape!

We're still wandering around inside the August 1952 issue of Suspense #21, and while there actually is "NO ESCAPE!" here, there also isn't any until the final story-- uhhh what??? --yep, two more to go, (I've decided to do another full issue presentation!) --and my oh my, none of these tales in this stellar issue will have you screaming "deja vu!" more than this one either! Okay, this is definitely the goofiest intro I've ever written...derrrr...

He Dwells in a Dungeon! / My Brother... The Ghoul

As we iron-out the details of the huge upcoming YOE BOOKS contest giveaway (as promised in the last post) let's take a quick look at two tales from the May '52 issue of Adventures into Weird Worlds #6, --an interesting inking style on the first tale, and Hank Chapman signature on the second... both stories are excellent examples of the menacing mood and atmosphere that Atlas excelled in.