The Children's Vampire Hunting Brigade (KICKSTARTER)

David Blake Lucarelli writes in to let us know there is currently a KICKSTARTER under way for The Children's Vampire Hunting Brigade, a new 4-issue mini series comic inspired by the true life events of The Gorbal's Vampire legend from Scotland. This may ring some bells with long time THOIA followers as this half century old+ urban legend from Glasgow is hauntingly tied to a precode horror tale we've featured here twice already (and now a third time for you newbies!) If you're unfamiliar with the legend, click this link HERE for full backstory from the BBC, then click HERE for more info about the new Kickstarter comic project and how to help. And below (again) is an encore presentation of Hy Fleischman's bloodsuckin classic-- The Vampire with the Iron Teeth, from the December 1953 issue of Dark Mysteries #15. Best of luck to David and company with this project!

The Re-Post with Iron Teeth: The Gorbals Vampire Myth

There's an endless amount of confusion swirling around in the news lately about The Gorbals Vampire origin (thanks BBC), as well as recent misinformation on a couple of worthy comic book related blogs. Wading through it all it became obvious to me: time to drag out the Hy Fleishman tale "The Vampire with Iron Teeth" again.

I originally posted the scans below here at THOIA last year (CLICK HERE for that post), yet somehow over 6 months later this still isn't enough proof that a bunch of comic book spooked school kids in 1954 started The Gorbals Vampire legend (?!) People for years have blamed horror comics on this now famous incident, the same incident that sparked the enforcement of new comic book censorship laws in Scotland. But equally lame are the conspiracy kooks who for decades have claimed that "vampires are real" and that no such comic book story about a "vampire with iron teeth" ever existed, so this lingering doubt in Glasgow persisted, only adding more fuel to the vampire myth. It seems wild to me that until I posted this story back in Sept '09, no one up to that point in 60+ years had ever managed to find a copy of this comic book or come forth with it as proof--- I even have the thanks of one John Maclean of the Glasgow Press who says THOIA's post officially puts an end to all the theories that have plagued Glasgow for over half a century!

So if you're unaware of the full, fascinating story, CLICK HERE first, and then check out the scans. Seriously people, there are no such things as vampires. And this did not originate from a horror movie, or an EC story... though it could have possibly come from the bible, right?

Nah. It came from the 1953 issue of Dark Mysteries #15.








UPDATE: Artist Hy Fleishman's daughter Roberta has left a comment at the BBC Radio Scotland Blog:

At 12:27pm on 25 Mar 2010, Roberta Fleishman wrote:

I was first informed of this 1954 story last fall. I was in contact with John Maclean of the Glasgow Press who was convinced that a comic book story for which my father was the artist - "The Vampire With Iron Teeth", Dark Mysteries #15, 1953 - was the source for the hysteria that day. Whether or not the comic book story was the impetus for the response by the school children, the reaction to censor comic books was no different than the same response in America during the 1954 Kefauver hearings in the United States Senate. Also Steve Banes in his blog http://thehorrorsofitall.blogspot.com/ comments about the connection between the gorbals vampire and the 1953 Dark Mysteries story. I think there is more to the connection between the comic book and the September 1954 reaction in Glasgow than previous investigators have realized. Roberta Fleishman
Find out more on April 12th when BBC Radio Scotland airs The Gorbals Vampire story, or leave your own thoughts and comments at the BBC by clicking HERE!

Additional links about The Gorbals Vampire:
http://www.southernnecropolis.co.uk/page71.html

http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=1905211627

http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/the-gorbals-vampire-hunt-1.623152

Vampire With the Iron Teeth

As you may have figured out by now, Dark Mysteries #15 (1953) is a damn good issue… well, 3 out of 4 ain’t bad anyway. And what do you know--- I haven’t posted a Hy Fleishman tale since October, so now is the perfect time to unleash this terrifically oddball terror tale by one of my favorite Golden Age artists... AIEEEE!

NEXT: The Crimes of it All!

A THOIA reader requested that I print out the lyrics to The Horror of it All movie / theme song, so here ya go, Den! If anyone hasn't heard it yet then be sure to check it out, located in my jukebox on the righthand sidebar, up towards the top.

The Horror of it All (sung by Pat Boone)

When the bats fly free through the belfry
And I hear quick steps, soft and stealthy
Through a clammy fog, so unhealthy
I feel the horror of it all.

Add a doctor mad, (I mean ingenious)
With his fresh made lab (Frankenstein, yes)
Vampires eating lunch (intravenous)
I feel the horror of it all.

When the spiders crawl swift and hairy
Through the shadows tall, dark and scary
Just one bite and Obituary
I feel the horror of it all.

Still it’s been said
The best things in life are dead
I hear even monsters have their charm
So, what the heck?
Just a nip in the neck
And I’m back in my Mummy’s arms

Though there’s just one thing that can chill me
Nights without your sweet kiss could thrill me
Life without your love that could kill me
That would be the horror of it all.
That would be the real horror
That would be the blank terror!
That would be the stark raving---
Horror of it all…

Iron Lady

We hear endless praise for greats like Heath, Wolverton, Brodsky, Tuska, Burgos, Baker, etc… and deservedly so. But one name to me seems to continually and unjustly slip through the cracks, and it’s time this error was corrected. Enter: Al Luster, a very unique artist with a slick, dynamic style all his own. His wide range of characters, no matter how dark and diabolical, are just loads of wicked fun. A definitive “Luster” trademark being his villains always tend to have jagged pointy teeth! So here now is the first of 3 stories spotlighting one of my favorite, underrated pre-code artists of the 50’s… (drum roll!) ladies and gentlemen, Al Luster!

From the April 1953 issue of Marvel Tales #113