Frankenstein y el Hombre Lobo

We looked at a comic book Frankenstein story exactly one week ago today, right HERE --and in the comments, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man '43 was mentioned (by the guy who always mentions Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man whenever he possibly can!) So hey, let's make it another Frankenstein Friday and take a look at Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, shall we? But let's make it extra different and dig out the Junior Films #3 (1946) adaptation from Spain, featuring tiny frames of FvsWM fun, with the entire film claustrophobically crammed into just 4 puny pages! That cover collage is pretty sweet, too! But awww, you can't read Spanish? Well, your phone can! Just use your handy dandy Google Translate app feature! Now THAT'S mad science! But now you say that you prefer your Frankenstein even weirder, as well as from Japan? Hmmmm, howz'about checking out Jin Katagiri's Udonkensteins from the Kenelephant figure collection at the very end of this post then! Yep, if you ever wondered what Frankie would look like in 4 different color variations and with his entire hulky form composed of tasty, uncut / scored udon noodles, well-- now you know! Thanks again to Mr. Cavin for these so f%$kin' incredible sofubi treasures! I definitely do believe that you are simply not going to encounter a more foreign Frankie post on the web today than right here at THOIA, --or EVER for that matter!

The Madhouse Murder Mystery

A few of you seemed on the fence about the hot pink horrors of our previous post, so I thought maybe we'd take another stab at it with a fun, old-time oddity from the March 1939 issue of Amazing Mystery Funnies V2 #3. Of the 7 pages, 3 of them are overlayed with a variety of perplexing pink hues, while the other 4 pages are in black and white. Not sure why they did it like this exactly, but I think it adds a screaming surrealness to the sinister setting, as well as to the masked murderer and their spooky dungeon of brain swappin', scientific madcappery. GCD notes that artist/writer, E.F. Webster was actually Ethel Felder Webster, and she was rockin' the Richard Sala-esque murder mystery style tale a few decades before he was even born. Man I miss that guy...

The House of Fear!

As promised, here comes another DC Movie Comic adaptation of a creaky, old Universal fright film classic (see our previous post for Son of Frankenstein in case you missed it!) And this time it's a spooky detective mystery set in a haunted theatre --where murder hath taken the stage! From the August 1939 issue of Movie Comics #5, "The House of Fear" '39 film (not to be confused with the great Sherlock Holmes movie of the same name from 1945) was actually a silver scream remake of Paul Leni's "The Last Warning" from 1928, which was, in turn, an apparent follow-up to Leni's superb 1927 old dark horror house hit, "The Cat and the Canary" --whew! Fun stuff, and just like the Movie Comics version of Son of Frankenstein, hot pink House of Fear here contains the same condensed, cut 'n paste process of colorized, cropped film stills, combined with added artistic elements to keep things as comic book cartoony as possible.

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...

Esme'

 One more Chilling Alcazar Adventure into Sorcery for you this month, and it's a gorgeous tale containing verified proof that monsters walk among us! Don't believe me? Just put on these glasses and you will indeed see that --THEY LIVE! From issue #5, via Februrary 1974, and this story also holds an extra special place in my heart because not only did it introduce me to the amazing work of Alcazar, but beautifully groovy blonde babe Esme' in the big round glasses here always reminded me of my very first neighborhood babysitter, who also became Kid Karwell's very first 70's krush! This one goes out to you, Janet --where ever you may be! Stay tombed for something cinematic and different, coming up next...

Horripilate Host & The Prince of Evil: 19 Years of The Horrors of it All!

On this day 19 years ago (aka 2007), I cracked open the 'ol comic book long boxes and got to work scanning everything I had accumulated over my many decades of fiendish, fan boy collector existence. The point wasn't so much to just have everything backed-up on disc (which it is now, finally-- whew!), but to also begin something I had been mulling over in my horrible head for a few months prior-- and that was to not only start a big bad blog about horror comics, but to even turn my own dork ass self into the horrorest online host of 'em all. The initial game plan was to primarily focus on the Golden era of terrifyin' precode titles. Then over the years that concept changed a bit, and we "flashed forward" occasionally to check out Silver Age screams, as well as throwing Bronze Age bloodbaths upon our alter of evil too. 

The response in those early years of THOIA's existence was incredibly positive, and very rewarding too! And even though the fanbase of the blog has slowed down here a bit over the last decade, it's never ever stopped being a fun ride. As many of you know, THOIA helped me fulfill my dream of producing and publishing award winning hardcover books, including two separate, and critically acclaimed comic book series' with Yoe Books and IDW, --plus, a string of Rondo Nominations, as well as winning the highly honorable Last Drive-In Bolo Award in 2020 (thanks again to Joe Bob and Darcy!) A couple of terrific trips to participate in SDCC discussion panels, autograph sessions, and even gigs with a handful of other publishers as well, were all icing on the creep cake. 

So yeah, I guess I'm pretty proud of what I've created here over the years. But honestly, through it all the biggest perk for me has been meeting so many great, devoted horror comic fans who continue to follow this blog (as well as AEET), and these friendships created will undoubtably last for allll eternity. But the inevitable question persists: how long will THOIA last? I don't really have an answer for that, nor do I have plans of killing it off anytime soon --if that's where you suddenly thought this lengthy intro was heading! But as we all get older and the collection runs thinner of usable / worthy material, it's bound to happen eventually. Hopefully later than sooner! So in the meantime, happy birthday to us all, --and yes, you too! Please have yourselves a nice big slice of that creep cake because you're all an equally important mechanism of this functioning, monsterama machine too! 

Now, enough blab about Mr. Karswell, let's move on to what this blog is really all about, featuring two tales concerning a couple of other horror host chums o'mine. As you'll discover, neither are the sharpest blades in the 'ol sacrificial knife drawer though, so apologies in advance if this post hurts a bit! From the December '73 issue of Chilling Adventures in Sorcery #4, and the Dec '74 issue of Red Circle Sorcery #10.