Phantom of the Films

For many of us, classic horror movies are as much a part of October as all the fun, spooky comics regularly presented here! And whoever your idea of a scary, Silver Screen star is, you can be sure that Boris Karloff tops the lists of many people's favorites. But what about Allen Grimm, aka El Specter? Oh, not familiar? Then let BK fill ya in, as Grimm's tale is one perfectly fraught-filled with terror and tragedy! You know what they say about the film industry... from the June 1965 issue of Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery #10.

Murder in Wax "Starring: A Corpse"

It's Midweek Murder-thon time again, so lets crack open another perfect pair-up of crime horror mystery cases guaranteed to knock your nylons off and well into next week! Hollywood dick, Dan Turner has himself a heckuva of handful trying to straighten out a murderous screwy angle or two while on a macabre movie set in, "Murder in Wax", from the July 1953 issue of Crime Mysteries #8. But first, Hollywood glamor girl, Queenie Starr starrs in the new Sam Wilde horror picture over at Paragram Studios, (via the July 1952 issue of Crime Mysteries #2), and if she's not careful, she too could find herself playing the lead corpse! Heater bangs, head bops, horror chops, and heavenly babes a'plenty-- what more could you ask for in a THOIA Double Feature, anyway?

Son of Frankenstein

I promised you something cinematically different for today's post, and here it comes, via the April 1939 debut issue of DC's Movie Comics #1-- Basil Rathbone! Boris Karloff! Bela Lugosi! Lionel Atwill! And Josephine Hutchinson in-- SON OF FRANKENSTEIN! This is a fun, condensed photo comic adaptation of the Universal monster classic from the same year, featuring modified black 'n white film stills from the movie, astoundingly airbrushed into lurid, living comic book color, and in some cases even highlighted with all new illustrated panels, most notably on the final page. This unique DC series only lasted 6 issues, but it did delve into the darker side of Hollywood horror and mystery cinema a few more times too, and we'll take a look at another entry in our next post coming this weekend, please stay tombed...