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

A Sight for Sore Eyes / Let's Face It

Quick question: When in need of a special medical procedure, how many of you are willing to just go to some random dude in a cabin out in the middle of nowhere who maybe knows a thing or two about maybe being able to help you out? Let me see your hands... 1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 6?! ...oh, wow, a lot more of you than I expected! Okay then, you're gonna love this double feature, and both tales are also from the macabre March 1953 issue of Spellbound #13 --see our last post too!





















++++++++++++++++++++++++

And when you're done here, head on over to my other blog HERE for a very special "Halfway to Halloween" story, --because yes, today is indeed very much your lucky day!

Emily / The Unwanted!

Two sci-fi themed Atlas stories for you today, the first (by request) from the Nov. '54 issue of Marvel Tales #128, art by Pete Tumlinson, (apologies to those hoping for the foxy Emily as featured on the cover of this issue!) --and the second tale by Bill Walton from the July '54 issue of Marvel Tales #125.

The Specimen! / Lost!

Creature Double Feature Day, with two eerie horrors from the March 1953 issue of Mystery Tales #9. It's wet and slimy Joe Maneely creeps from the deep, vs. a fanged 'n hairy murderin' monstrosity by Jim Mooney (maybe?) [atlastales.com says Pete Tumlinson -- Nequam]--hold onto your money bags!

The Haunted House

I recently stumbled upon something called The Barker’s Blog containing a wealth of fascinating info about circus freaks, related art, pop culture stories, old comics, that sort of thing. The blog doesn’t appear to be active anymore though; the last entry was posted back in November of last year and was dedicated to the life of this awesome fellow:



But of interest to the THOIA gang is this: around Halloween ’07 The Barker posted 6 great pre-code horror stories, one of which I present to you here today (yes I swiped his scans, but I’m hoping he sees this and starts his great blog back in action!) It’s a really spooky Pete Tumlinson ghost story from Atlas, so if you like what you see then please visit The Barker’s Blog and check out the other various comic scans he posted, a few you’ve probably already seen here but also a few others you probably haven’t.

From the April 1954 issue of Journey into Unknown Worlds #26

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

“NAME THAT FILM” CONTEST WINNER: Doug Bentin of Bethany, Oklahoma. Congrats Doug! You win the Eerie #12 comic book. There are plenty more contests coming up this summer people, so hang in there!

ANSWER:

Seven Keys to Baldpate (1917)

Thanks again to everyone who entered! Special Mention “No Prizes” goes to all the other fine film freaks who also guessed correctly: Michael Specht of Suffern NY, Brian Riedel of Hollywood CA, and John Hegenberger.

Answer to clue #4: Remade many times in film, the latest re-titled adaptation being the "House of Long Shadows" (1983) starring Christopher Lee, Vincent Price, John Carradine, and Peter Cushing (as pictured on the right hand side of this blog in the “Recommended Movie” section--- and staring you right in the face!)

Answer to Clue #5: Hedda Hopper.

Horror on Channel 15

This week will feature a series of posts showing comic book’s reactions to the still relatively new, and possibly frightening concept of “the television” as it invaded homes and lifestyles in the 1940’s and 50’s. And just as pre-code horror then was also at it’s height of mass invasion and popularity, comic book publisher’s found a way to put their own terrifying twist on this most advanced modern technology of the day.

From the March 1952 issue of Mystery Tales #1