The Living Dead

Another top notch terror tale originally published in the April 1953 issue of Mysterious Adventures #13 (see our previous post HERE!) is this incredibly icky, super-smelly spooker by the always awesome, Art Gates. The superb splash, and almost alien final panel are really something, and I seriously regret not adding this to my Haunted Love mini-series. Later silver age reprint publications though, including the Eerie Pubs, brought it back from the dead in the 70's, and even Australia's Gredown resurrected it a few times too, most notably in Tales of Torment #2 (1978), all wrapped up in a rockin' rotten zombie cover design, --as you shall see below!

The Venus of Ille

As long as the sinister statues are rampaging this week (HERE), might we allow a fine female form of art to get in on the bone crushing action as well? This is a nicely told tale from the July - August 1951 issue of Weird Adventures #2, and is based on the classic short story by Prosper Merimee (read it HERE!) Art on this one is by the ever underrated, Bob Jenney, who started out his illustrative career way back in the late 30's working on pulps and young adult books. After the war, he continued steadily producing quality visuals for nearly every big name publisher in the biz, rounding out his career in the late 60's with Creepy and Eerie classics for Warren Publications. Longtime THOIA followers might remember his tremendous Dell adaptation of The Creature from the Black Lagoon that we featured HERE in 2010...

Insane

It recently occurred to me that I've never posted this whack-a-doodle tale in its original, July 1954 Weird Chills #1 color version here at THOIA. Sure, you can read the black 'n white repo version HERE in the 2012 Archive, and also believe to yourself that it's good enough-- but what are ya, CRAAAAZY?!! (Story art by Eugene Hughes, cover art by Bernard Baily.)

The Possessed

If our previous post HERE left you feeling a little repossessed, then maybe it's time to get re-repossessed! And while I'm not exactly sure if what I just said actually makes any sense, I do know this terrifically twisty tale of rotten romance, via the May 1975 issue of Ghostly Haunts #44, is absolutely loads of freak-deaky fun. Winnie the wanton Witch re-materializes once again to host the chillin' chain of horrific events, and ohhh my, how spooky is that superb Sanho Kim cover painting?! Plus: Blondes! Brunettes! A redhead! It's funny! It's frightening, --and every bit exciting! Did I mention that a distant cousin of The Creech even swims by for a creepy cameo? Damn, this crazy story really does have everything..

I Married a Teen-Age Fly

Sunday Fun Days are here again with a wild, satirical whack at horror comics from the 1950's, and it comes courtesy of a midcentury girlie magazine to boob-- errr, boot! Of course, this could also easily be whackin' it at sci-fi horror film classics like I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957),  The Fly (1958), and I Married a Monster from Outer Space (also 1958), but let's just stick with the blurb's intention from the back cover of the memorable, March 1959 issue of Fling #13. Some really nice, titillating artwork here by cartoonist, Don Magolis, and while the writing isn't quite up to a MAD or Cracked level of crazed, sight-gag filled hilarity, it's still worth the handful of chuckles and everyone's attention for the risque / mad monster mash-up freak factor alone!

Horripilate Host & The Prince of Evil: 19 Years of The Horrors of it All!

On this day 19 years ago (aka 2007), I cracked open the 'ol comic book long boxes and got to work scanning everything I had accumulated over my many decades of fiendish, fan boy collector existence. The point wasn't so much to just have everything backed-up on disc (which it is now, finally-- whew!), but to also begin something I had been mulling over in my horrible head for a few months prior-- and that was to not only start a big bad blog about horror comics, but to even turn my own dork ass self into the horrorest online host of 'em all. The initial game plan was to primarily focus on the Golden era of terrifyin' precode titles. Then over the years that concept changed a bit, and we "flashed forward" occasionally to check out Silver Age screams, as well as throwing Bronze Age bloodbaths upon our alter of evil too. 

The response in those early years of THOIA's existence was incredibly positive, and very rewarding too! And even though the fanbase of the blog has slowed down here a bit over the last decade, it's never ever stopped being a fun ride. As many of you know, THOIA helped me fulfill my dream of producing and publishing award winning hardcover books, including two separate, and critically acclaimed comic book series' with Yoe Books and IDW, --plus, a string of Rondo Nominations, as well as winning the highly honorable Last Drive-In Bolo Award in 2020 (thanks again to Joe Bob and Darcy!) A couple of terrific trips to participate in SDCC discussion panels, autograph sessions, and even gigs with a handful of other publishers as well, were all icing on the creep cake. 

So yeah, I guess I'm pretty proud of what I've created here over the years. But honestly, through it all the biggest perk for me has been meeting so many great, devoted horror comic fans who continue to follow this blog (as well as AEET), and these friendships created will undoubtably last for allll eternity. But the inevitable question persists: how long will THOIA last? I don't really have an answer for that, nor do I have plans of killing it off anytime soon --if that's where you suddenly thought this lengthy intro was heading! But as we all get older and the collection runs thinner of usable / worthy material, it's bound to happen eventually. Hopefully later than sooner! So in the meantime, happy birthday to us all, --and yes, you too! Please have yourselves a nice big slice of that creep cake because you're all an equally important mechanism of this functioning, monsterama machine too! 

Now, enough blab about Mr. Karswell, let's move on to what this blog is really all about, featuring two tales concerning a couple of other horror host chums o'mine. As you'll discover, neither are the sharpest blades in the 'ol sacrificial knife drawer though, so apologies in advance if this post hurts a bit! From the December '73 issue of Chilling Adventures in Sorcery #4, and the Dec '74 issue of Red Circle Sorcery #10.

The She-Monster

Who amongst you actually believed I would finish out June with a scary She-Beast? Ohhh, how little you know me... why, clearly the only way to truly seal the coffin lid on a month, (as well as a "Lurid Ladies" theme) is with a She-Monster! Dynamic Dick Briefer returns to THOIA now, delivering his own vicious version of the eternally flawed Bride of Frankenstein, via the January 1954 issue of Frankenstein #28. It's quite a beautiful work of art, honestly, all of this mad monster science at its most maddening! And THAT, my friends, is the way you close out a month of posts, and a terrifically terrifyin' theme! More jolts in July-- stay tombed!