Kiss of the Vampires!

After last Friday's feast of flesh appetizer, I'm guessing some of you might still need a little liquid refreshment to wash it all down! So today thy cups be runnethin' over a'plenty with a brutal vampire saga from the April 1973 issue of Nightmare #12. Chic Stone unleashes all kinds of head loppin', stake stabbin', sinister blood slurpin' sexiness, --where even the vampire hunter himself realizes too late that even he's bitten off just a bit more than he can chew! This is definitely one of the best ever Skywald entries in my opinion, and it contains quite a few panels I've seen taken out of context / tumblr'd endlessly over the last decade or so. And stay tombed-- the actual main encore corpse chow-down is up next!

Cadavers

If our last post didn't deliver enough chopped body parts for ya (well, real ones anyway), then today's cannibalistic cadaver corpse feast from the May 1953 issue of Weird Terror #5 should certainly whet your atrocious appetites! This one's pretty gruesome, I mean, "mortician's gone wild" should be a THOIA theme someday-- and also features a truly horrific hammer to the face panel that'll likely loosen more than just a few teeth, IYKWIM! And since two cadavers are always better than one, I've added a Skywald bonus from the October 1974 issue of Psycho #21 since its been a while for you text tale lovers. Plus, a funny Mel Millar gag! Forget from where though. And speaking of, a really nightmarish, sexy Skywald screamer is up next-- stay tombed!

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!

The Madhouse Murder Mystery

A few of you seemed on the fence about the hot pink horrors of our previous post, so I thought maybe we'd take another stab at it with a fun, old-time oddity from the March 1939 issue of Amazing Mystery Funnies V2 #3. Of the 7 pages, 3 of them are overlayed with a variety of perplexing pink hues, while the other 4 pages are in black and white. Not sure why they did it like this exactly, but I think it adds a screaming surrealness to the sinister setting, as well as to the masked murderer and their spooky dungeon of brain swappin', scientific madcappery. GCD notes that artist/writer, E.F. Webster was actually Ethel Felder Webster, and she was rockin' the Richard Sala-esque murder mystery style tale a few decades before he was even born. Man I miss that guy...

The Flies!

Flyday Fridays are back at THOIA! And wowzers, I'm not sure we've partaken a tale from Marvel's legendary Legion of Monsters #1 one-shot (September 1975) before, so I guess it's finally time to hear what all the buzzzz is about! The titanic, three-way team-up of Gerry Conway, Paul Kirchner, and Ralph Reese do a pretty consistent job of plopping real life side show actor / performer, Schlitzie into the horrible, humiliatin' action, though of course underground comix legend, Bill Griffith first popularized Schlitzie's likeness as Zippy the Pin Head in both comic books and syndicated strips just a few years earlier. This all coming about, of course, in large part thanks to the rediscovery of Todd Browning's 1932 cult classic, FREAKS, as it made it's grand revival through the 60's midnight movie circuit, and late-nite horror host show airings on the 'ol boob tube. Okay, with all of that out of the way, let's not forget to gaze longingly at the glorious cover painting by Neal Adams-- Yow! I guess I could've mentioned The Ramones here too...

Vampirella of Draculon Mountain

Last year I had a few requests for more wicked Warren posts, and since nothing specific was mentioned title-wise, I guess that leaves it up to old Mr. Karswell to continue with my-- errr, his own choice process of creepy curation! And okay, since half of the country is currently chilled to the bone under mountains of snow and extremely frigid, icy temps, let's see what happens to one lovely young lady in a similar, shivery predicament-- only trapped with a rather unpleasant fellow, to boot! Beautiful, sketch-style artwork from "Jay Taycee", aka legendary Johnny Craig who also wrote the script, from the April 1966 issue of Creepy #8, and highlighted with a terrific Gray Marrow vampire cover painting! But first up, and since we're stalkin' / talkin' vampires, let's see where it all began with one bloodthirsty lil babe from Planet Draculon-- va-va-va-voom it's awesome Vampirella in her September 1966 debut collector's edition issue appearance via Vampirella #1! Forrest J. Ackerman script. Tom Sutton story art. And freakin' Frank Frazetta cover and ad art, all adding up to one helluva great origin issue, as well as THOIA double fear-ture post! Sink in...