The Smell of Death

Halloween is so close now you can almost smell it! And oooo doggy, can someone crack open a window or something, because seriously now, wow-- WTF is this?! From the February 1953 issue of Chilling Tales #14 comes a story so magically messed-up and downright disturbing, that I almost can't blame Wertham for trying. Maybe some of you thanatophiles can relate, --and ohhh, I'm not forgetting the olfactory obsessors out there as well! So hold on to your hairy scary nostrils, cuz this one might just reek up your week something fierce! Boy, I do believe I just ruined Halloween, hahaha...

Web of Horror

The world wide web can be a horrible place for sure, --but so can a cemetery! And that's why today it's time to oopsie-daisy on the old "bury 'em now / dig 'em up later for money" routine. And as usual, we archival specialists of THOIA trickster atrocities discover (yet again, sigh) that this fatally flawed "fast one" rarely ever actually works. From the same revolting, jolting, July - August 1951 issue of Weird Adventures #2 as our previous post. GCD believes the art here is by eerie Ed Moline, unfortunately, nobody has a clue about that great flaming dungeon cover design. We'll be back shortly tho because OMG it's already almost September again! Where does the time go as we lay here pondering what comes next? Under 6 feet of dirt. Air growing thinner. The sound of worms churning. So dark. Are my eyes open, or closed? When did I last clear my web browser history cache? Stay. Tombed.

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...

"Ghostly Killer" / "Death on Display"

Gale forces are still blowin' strong here at THOIA, as we re-enter Earth's atmosphere, leaving behind Gale Allen and her space-age Girl Squadron (see our previous post HERE), thus, landing once more back on solid, blood-soaked soil to find not one, but TWO great, horror-tinged, Gail Ford murder mysteries awaiting us! Yep, someone's dumped a dead dame amongst the dummies in a department store window display. Now it's up to Gail (and her Bettie Page bangs 'n legs) to bring the baddie to justice! From the October 1950 debut issue of Crime Smashers #1, plus fun art and fast paced script from Gene Leslie! But first, Gail gasps it up in a graveyard at midnight as someone has once again turned a gal into a ghost! Gene Leslie delivers another daring, detective doozy, this time via the December 1950 issue of Crime Smashers #2! And just because it's been awhile, it's casting call time again: Starring Broderick Crawford as Inspector Madson, and Jean Brooks as beautiful, bad ass-- Gail "Girl Friday" Ford!

Greyble to the Grave / Haunted One

THOIA delivers our Valentine's Massacre post one day early because hey-- it's also Friday the 13th! And like we do on most holidays, it's a double fab fear-ture. Let's start off the festivities with a grave tale by Angelo Torres from the November 1959 issue of Eerie Tales #1, and featuring a really gorgeous cover painting from good 'ol George Tuska, too! Then we crack open another rare debut #1 issue, the May 1952 issue of Voodoo #1, in fact! It's a leggy crime horror reworking of a Bomber Comic's Grimm Ghost Detective story-- they simply changed Grimm's name to "Trimm!" Ha, hope everyone gets a little trim as well on Valentine's Day-- and stay tombed, cuz this February freak-out is far from over!