Mystery in a Cemetery

I'm working feverishly on a larger post that will be coming midwee-eeek, --in the meantime, here's a two page, factually creepy, moving coffin mystery for ya, from the March 1942 issue of Bang-Up Comics #2. Uh, does anybody actually ever read these text tales? I know as a kid, if one had a wild header spot illustration it would make me break down and read one, absolutely. And this one benefits from a cool little, leering ghost host character at the very start of the first paragraph too! *Gasp! Man, that guy needs his own comic book series!

Killing Spree

Slaughterama time again with a pulse-poundin', shudder-shaken'-shiveroonie packed Comic Media classic illustrated by murderin' Max Elkin, and from the September 1954 issue of Weird Terror #13. Man, if this one doesn't contain enough ghastly gruesome business for your tastes, then stick around at the end and learn how to embalm a goddamn corpse-- it's fun for the whole freakin' family is what it is, I tell ya...

The Stone of the Dying Druid / Maid in the Morgue

Sprinkled among the macabre mix of assorted monsters, horrors, and mind numbing murder posts all this month, we've also been occasionally visiting the ominous, occult "Manhunt" case file adventures of Kirk of Scotland Yard, and this time it's a tale concerning a centuries spanning cursed object that could possibly spell doom for our 'ol crime bustin', pipe chompin' chap! From the March 1948 issue of Manhunt #6, and yesss, I am forced to post yet another great Ogden Whitney cover illustration too, one that ties in with the terrific text story inside the front and back cover-- and just like our last post is also written by Gardner Fox. And hey, after today's post, head over to AEET HERE for yet ANOTHER great tale from the pages of Manhunt! You won't be sorry...

The Avenging Axe

It's been ten years since I've posted a comic book text only story, and while some of you will probably feel cheated or scream bloody murder about it, let's first take a look at who the actual accomplished author of it is, as well as how it accompanies that rather spectacular cover illustration by Ogden Whitney. That's right, the cover art from the October 1947 issue of Manhunt! #1 follows the Gardner Fox TEXT STORY of this issue, --and not one of the illustrated tales! It's actually a pretty good yarn to boot, not to mention it's also a Kirk of Scotland Yard adventure which I promised more of this month (and any excuse to post that great cover is of course actually no excuse at all.) But FYI another illustrated Kirk tale will be up shortly for those of you still feeling cheated and / or still screaming bloody axe murder...

The Portrait of Death

Time for the last story from the Feb '55 issue of Amazing Ghost Stories #16, art by George Roussos, plus the remaining bonus one-pager and the 2 page text story (by request.) Check the last handful of Amazing Ghost Stories posts for the other tales in this issue.

The Girl Who Wasn't There

From the July 1954 issue of The Tormented #1, here's the last of the four stories from this frightening first issue (see our previous post for links to the other three) ...I also included the two-page text story so you pre-code completists don't start complaining. This is a nice sort of Twilight Zonie tale of witchcraft and the supernatural, with some fine work from Mike Sekowsky, in particular his lovely rendered young ladies, both good and evil!

The Torture Jar

One more tale for you from the August 1952 issue of Witches Tales #13, and this one in particular goes waaay off the screaming rails of the good 'ol Harvey goofball train, delivering deranged narrative with giant monsters and even a bit of bone-crushing "gorso" (that's gore and torso combined-- I made it up!)

Revenge of a Witch

Before we jump into some witchy revenge from the Dec. '52 issue of Witches Tales #16, I want to thank all of you who continue to stop by THOIA and leave comments, it really does help keep the heads rolling around here (now in our third year!) just knowing that people are indeed still interested in this blog... 667 followers can't be wrong, and speaking of, a Super-Satanic-Double-Horned salute to Funky Blondie Gurl who materialized out of nowhere to secure the treasured #666 spot-- HAIL! And of course thanks to each and every one of you 100% Pre-Code Followers as well!