The Passing of Samantha B

Film history has shown us that on this day, April 21st, in 1880, the 6 founding fathers of Antonio Bay, California deliberately wrecked a clipper ship off the coast so that its wealthy, leprosy-afflicted owner could not establish a leper colony nearby. All crew and passengers were killed, and the sunken ship was eventually salvaged of its treasures by the same men responsible for this senseless tragedy. I'm sure many of you that follow this blog know the rest of John Carpenter's classic, gory, ghost story. So as long as we have the SSS collection handy (see our previous post too), let's take a look at a terrific terror tale possessing quite a few similarities, via the July 1969 issue of Strange Suspense Stories #8. Spectral ship, vengeful spirit, a lonely lighthouse, lots of fog, and a care-free couple suddenly caught up in the clutches of a screaming supernatural spook. Joe Gill script, Vince Coletta illustrations, and Jim Aparo cover art, too!

The Man Who Warmed the Bones of the Dead! / The Idea!

In just a few short weeks we'll be halfway to Halloween! But as everyone here already knows, everyday is Halloween at THOIA, so let's unleash a couple of ghastly old g-g-ghosts to further p-p-prove my p-p-point! Bob Powell, (as promised in our previous post) returns to warm up this haunted house of horrors with 10 atmospheric pages of pure nightmare fuel! From the June 1952 debut issue of Strange Suspense Stories #1 --and check out that bone-chilling cover by Sheldon Moldoff! Also, if it's just too scary for some of you, how about a cute Droopy Dog bonus page via Laffy-Daffy Comics #1 (1945.) We can't let Yogi have all the fun, now can we? And okay, this isn't quite the same Droopy that some of you are likely already familiar with, but it's still a nice little chiller ghost filler! BAARRF! ARF! Give that dog a warm bone!

Bewitched!

I have to admit, I'm not the biggest fan of post-code 50's Atlas stories. I mean, yeah, they may contain some nice artwork from bullpen legends, --unfortunately, most of it tends to feel a bit lightweight, pandering, and unbearably bland / repetitive when it comes to the storytelling (especially when compared to the precode stuff!) But give good 'ol bad ass Bob Powell a script to bewitch the reader with, and suddenly now you're talkin' a horse of a whole different, creeptacular color! Take for example this eerie excellent entry via the August 1957 issue of Strange Stories of Suspense #16 (the final issue in this series.) Powell fleshes-out four perfect pages into one heckuva thrilling supernatural quickie-- even reminding me a little bit of Charles Beaumont's masterfully freaky, funeral planet episode, "Elegy", from the first season of the OG Twilight Zone television series. I have an equally good Golden Age Powell tale coming up next too, stay tombed...

Mystery Master

Croydon Publishing Co. delivered to us a pair of nifty 1940's "Mystery Master" horror tales, both of which can be found in the pages of the equally short-lived Variety Comics series. Running a mere 3 "mixed bag" issues, Mystery Master may have looked more like Ben Franklin than The Cryptkeeper, but he still stood out among the superhero, cops 'n robbers, and comedy selections featured in 2 of the 3 issues --and managed to spin a couple of superb chillers as well! A mad science experiment turns truly monstrous in "The Web", from the dynamic debut issue of Variety Comics #1 (1944), followed by a sinisterly swingin' old dark house set-up in "The Mystery of the Eccentric Collector", via Variety Comics #3 from 1946. According to GCD, the latter story artwork is credited to Leo Bachle, the first tale remains uncredited.

The Flies!

Flyday Fridays are back at THOIA! And wowzers, I'm not sure we've partaken a tale from Marvel's legendary Legion of Monsters #1 one-shot (September 1975) before, so I guess it's finally time to hear what all the buzzzz is about! The titanic, three-way team-up of Gerry Conway, Paul Kirchner, and Ralph Reese do a pretty consistent job of plopping real life side show actor / performer, Schlitzie into the horrible, humiliatin' action, though of course underground comix legend, Bill Griffith first popularized Schlitzie's likeness as Zippy the Pin Head in both comic books and syndicated strips just a few years earlier. This all coming about, of course, in large part thanks to the rediscovery of Todd Browning's 1932 cult classic, FREAKS, as it made it's grand revival through the 60's midnight movie circuit, and late-nite horror host show airings on the 'ol boob tube. Okay, with all of that out of the way, let's not forget to gaze longingly at the glorious cover painting by Neal Adams-- Yow! I guess I could've mentioned The Ramones here too...