Trick or Treat

Whenever it's Mr. Karswell's birthday, you can safely scream "May Day! May Day!" while also knowing deep down in your evil little black hearts that we're at the half-way point in the year to Halloween! And if you're not too exhausted from unsafely Walpurgising your brains out last night, let us now further celebrate all ominous occasions mentioned (because every day is Halloween around here) with an overlooked Sterling Comics gem by Mike Sekowsky, from the May 1955 issue of Surprise Adventures #4.

The Face on the Floor

Time now to finish up with the last, but most certainly not least, of the stories from the September 1952 issue of The Tormented #2. You've seen THOIA post some crazy ass tales here over the last three years, but what in the world could possibly prepare you for a story about a killer mop? Well, there's a little more to it than just that, but here ya go... (and once again, thanks to Brian Hirsch for the scans of this entirely great issue!)

Design for Death / Honeymoon Horror

Double Header Day at THOIA, with two more tales from the September 1952 issue of The Tormented #2. "Design for Death" is a typically insane pre-code story with nice art from Bill Ely... this one really reaches hard for the big twist ending but I'll leave it to you on whether it succeeds or not. Followed by Mike Sekowsky's second story in this issue "Honeymoon Horror", yet another re-telling of the classic Samuel Blas revenge tale, as previously told by EC (of course) and also as the very first fantastic episode of the Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955) television
series called "Revenge."

[While working through the archives, I was surprised to find that a story posted about 3 years earlier, "The Store by the Cemetery", appears to be a close remake of "Design for Death"-- they definitely share the same central premise, and "The Store..." was published roughly a year after "Design..."! Coincidence? Deliberate swipe? Read it here and let us know what you think! -- Nequam]

The Devil's Circus

After recently posting some stories from The Tormented #1 issue, I had an inquiry / request for something from the September 1952 issue of The Tormented #2, and with that we kick off a new month with another FULL ISSUE PRESENTATION! And, because the cover demands that "You Must Read The Devil's Carnival", we'll start it off with this screwball classic (pencils by Mike Sekowsky.) And don't forget-- more Tormented tales all week... thanks again to Brian Hirsch for the scans!

The Girl Who Wasn't There

From the July 1954 issue of The Tormented #1, here's the last of the four stories from this frightening first issue (see our previous post for links to the other three) ...I also included the two-page text story so you pre-code completists don't start complaining. This is a nice sort of Twilight Zonie tale of witchcraft and the supernatural, with some fine work from Mike Sekowsky, in particular his lovely rendered young ladies, both good and evil!

The Bird Sanctuary

In case some of you are starting to think that THOIA is for the birds, well-- you're right! We ended 2010 with our bloody beaks 'n talons dripping, now we do the same to ring in the new year! The July '54 issue of The Tormented #1 features 4 gorgeously illustrated horror stories, two from Mike Sekowsky and two (including this post) from Mike Roy. There are a couple more from this ish in the THOIA Archive, check out the super creepy "Caterpillar House" and the bone chilling "Dinner for One" when you're finished...

Dinner For One

Here’s another great story from Sterling Comic’s issue of The Tormented #1 (see yesterday’s post too), and gorgeously penciled by legendary all-pro Mike Sekowsky!