"The Neat Trick"

We've been looking at old time stage magic over at AEET this month HERE, so how about we bring a little bit of the 'ol slight of head-- errr, HAND-- over here to THOIA as well, eh? This is a fun, Atlas quickie from the June 1952 issue of Journey into Unknown Worlds #11, with Harry Lazarus and George Klein teaming up on art duties... and fyi: there's nothing up my sleeve (or inside my collar), but we might just lose our heads in the next post as well, so stay tombed for that coming up next-- I swear, it's gonna be a seriously wild weekend Double Header that you know you won't wanna miss out on!

Mary and the Witch!

We now conclude our Bernie Krigstein Fest with a black magically macabre entry from the February 1953 issue of Strange Tales #15. Lots of great panels here, and yeah, the ending will leave you with a lot of big buts, BUT it's still a ton of fun anyway. Hope everyone enjoyed this extended look into one of the more unique and original Atlas masters. And if you missed our magically moronic Dumminger post over at AEET, grab a tube of lipstick and CLICK HERE when you're all finished up with Bernie today. Stay tombed for lots rots more Atlas classics coming up next, as well as all month-- I've got a full line-up of the biggest, baddest hitters on deck!

Begin to Live!

Beginning a whole new madcap month of posts here at THOIA, so let's really live it up right out of the gate with this oddball, Ed Smalle, sci-fi horror mash-up from the August - September 1953 issue of Weird Mysteries #6. And to be honest, this feels like something goofy 'ol Ed Wood would've concocted, --and that is certainly not a bad thing! Also not bad at all is that murderously magical, brutal Bernard Bailey cover illustration!

Cagliostro Cursed Thee

I know that some of you are still trying to catch-up with our previous April Fool's Day post, but I wanted to get in this goofy great tale from Fiction House's "The Ghost Gallery", aka the September 1952 issue of Jumbo Comics #163 --you know, for a long awaited Werewolfery Wednesdayery installment, 'natch! Packed with loads of luridly beautiful Bob Webb artwork, this time our lycanthropy problem feels a bit weirder than usual, and when the wild mad science angle finally runs amok in the final pages, you'll be wondering when Santo or the Blue Demon will bust through the walls to save the B-movie day. Fantastic cover illustration as well, we even have a freaky lookin' Gomez-esque doctor that certainly seems inspired by the famous Charles Addams character. So fire up the serpent skull incense burner and dive into one heckuva chaotic monster mish-mashin' spook-a-rama!

Zandini Did It!

Angry spirits from the dead just never rest easy, and two ding-dongs learn about it the hard way from a seriously mad magician! From the Spring 1953 issue of Ghost Comics #6, and highlighted by some really super(natural) moments from artist A. Albert on every single page-- in particular, that maniacally macabre, laughing skeleton near the climax.

The Haunted Castle

Here's another forgotten Golden Age horror hero leftover from a few months back, Yarko the Great Master of Magic battling gangster goons in a haunted castle. As Yarko's descriptive blurb in the splash indicates, he achieved his mighty mystical Eastern powers in sort of the same way that Dr. Strange would a couple of decades later. These are total kiddie matinee adventures with fun low-fi art and a cut-to-the-chase grade school level of writing, but I totally dig on moments where Yarko perplexes guys wearing sheets into really thinking they're skeletal ghosts, or when he actually calls upon true demons from Hell for an awesome assist. From the February 1941 issue of Wonderworld Comics #22.

Sawing a Woman in Half in the Haunted Theatre!

After a brief hiatus we return with a fun tale of magic and mystery from the November 1945 issue of Super Magician V4 #7, featuring Blackstone the Magician and his lovely, leggy assistant Rhoda, as they encounter all kinds of criminally macabre mayhem in a haunted theatre! (FYI: THOIA and AEET will likely continue to take on a more random schedule as we progress into the spring and summer months ahead. I'm currently very busy on a variety of personal projects, --but never fear, when I have anything of quality to share it will definitely be posted! Thank you all, and as always, stay totally tombed for more...)