The Bleeding Platter

Here we go again with a mad artist tale that'll definitely leave you scratchin' your severed noggin', from the March 1953 issue of The Unseen #9 --and this one certainly begs the ultimate, unanswered, climactic question: "HOW DOES HE DO IT??!!" Oh, note the merged signature on the splash as well, "MIKEROSS" which could only mean the terrific team-up of Mike Esposito and Ross Andru. And finally, today's post is rounded out with a Creepy Scrapbook entry (believe 'em or don't) --plus some Eerie Puzzle fun!

Extraordinary! Mr. Karswell has found a third version of a theme explored in two previous stories here, "The Store at the Cemetery" and "Design for Death"! Makes one wonder if a writer tried selling the same script to different titles... -- Nequam

The Store at the Cemetery

Another one of my all time favorite pre code tales (originally featured here at THOIA waaay back in 2008) is this highly atmospheric and very unsettling 5 pager from the August 1953 issue of This Magazine is Haunted #12. They don't come much weirder or creepier than this, folks... any eagle eye experts out there know who the artist is?

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]