The Final Horror

Appropriately enough, today’s story is called The Final Horror, and it marks the final Purple Claw mystery of August. Hope you enjoyed the brain hurting exploits of one of pre-code comic’s earliest ongoing enemies of the supernatural. Next month you can expect another Lance Storm classic, maybe even a chilly appearance by Sergeant Spook, and some more creepy fun from Bob Brant and the Trouble Shooters. Have a great weekend everyone… and wow, Monday is already September!

From the May 1953 issue of The Purple Claw #3

Tour of Horror / Rivals unto Death!

TGIF peeps, and what a week! So let's top it all off today with two ACG tales for the price of one. Both of these shock spookers come from the May 1954 issue of Forbidden Worlds #29. Our first atmospheric story, Tour of Horror, is by Al Camy and George Klein, while our shorter, second tale, Rivals unto Death, is a nice bit o' great Bob Forgione filler.

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Guillotine!

One of my all-time favorite pre-code horror splashes ever, and so nicely summed up on the Atlas site by stating this one simple fact: “Eisnerish art by (Larry) Woromay.” A few panels also remind me a lot of Jack Cole’s top notch brand of violent, dynamically angled visual storytelling too. Enjoy!

From the November 1952 issue of Mystic #14

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Vintage AD

A wonderful kit for do-it-yourself decapitation. Harmless fun. Go on! Lop off a head NOW!

The Beast from the Deep!

In June 1951, The Saturday Evening Post published the short story The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (aka The Fog Horn) written by sci-fi master Ray Bradbury. Two years later in the summer of ‘53 the story became the inspiration for the very loosely based, though none the less fantastic big screen film of the same name, featuring jaw dropping stop-motion FX by master animator Ray Harryhausen. It didn’t take long after the film’s release for Toby Press to jump on the source material the same year, as the October 1953 issue of Tales of Horror #7 hit comic book stands with it’s own excellent, uncredited, though much closer adaptation of Bradbury’s original tale, and drawn by ACG / DC legend John Rosenberger.

(Reprinted / recolored in Seduction of the Innocent #4.)

UPDATE: Mr. Cavin requested a page from the original Toby Press version so here it is, as mentioned I opted for the recolored Eclipse reprint for today's post because as you can see the print job here is practically a quarter inch off target. Other pages look even worse!

The Green Witch

Okay, straight up time… you’re not going to learn anything new from this one. And while it is most definitely a humdinger of a yarn about possession and bitchcraft, if anything, what you should really take away from THOIA today is this: Proper Harpoon Storage = vertical. Not horizontal. Seriously folks. Safety first!

From the July 1953 issue of Journey into Fear #14

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Vintage Ad

Thanks Brian Hirsch for this scan!

Where Mummies Prowl

It’s the final day of Mummy Mondays for August 2008, and today’s madcap museum mystery is simply loads of 50's fun. As you can probably already tell before even reading a single line this one is full of golly gee willicker boys vs. dirty crooks in deadly disguise (no real spoiler there.) So if you’re like me and love the classic, spooky themed antics of stuff from Abbott & Costello, Three Stooges, Bowery Boys, and especially The Little Rascals then you’re going to love this one. (NOTE: Special cameo by Stan Lee as “Daddy Brant.”)
From the September 1953 issue of Man Comics #28

FYI: Bob Brant and the Trouble Shooters appeared in the final three issues of Man Comics, for a grand total of 6 Atlas adventures, all created by Carl Hubbell. If you like this one let me know, and maybe I’ll post another Bob Brant tale next month too.

And for another great mummy tale head on over to Pappy's today by clicking HERE! And don't miss the cool Dick Briefer "Yankee Longago" story he posted yesterday too.

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Vintage SUPER 8mm Horror Comedy Ads