Draco-Saki!

One of the wildest, weird war horror villains to ever butt heads with a Four Faves Golden Age supe, (Unknown Soldier), was equally the "Father of all Japanese evil, and spirit of the underworld" aka --DRACO-SAKI! And however you choose to spell his name throughout the story, (?!) his sinister, supernatural vampire abilities are anything but suki, for example: the typical transformation into a bat, hypnotism, etc. Meanwhile, his most interestingly unique and hysterically unusual talent lies in the putrid power of overpowering and possessing his victims with a freaky fume emitted via his gaping, empty eye socket. GAG! MAD Magazine legend, Harvey Kurtzman clearly had a blast coming up with that goofy, gross-out detail, and the whole whoppin', 13 page adventure is just frenzy paced, fists a'flyin' fun. I love Kurtzman during this early 40's phase of his amazing career (see also this Lash Lightning tale in the THOIA Archive HERE!) From the August 1943 issue of Four Favorites #11.

Death Never Takes a Furlough

THOIA is officially at war with the vampires, and here swoops yet another black-winged, blood suckin' undead babe, complete with her creepy castle full of flesh-hungry, ghastly ghouls! Our American troops already had their hands full during Weird War 2-- now this! From the Nov. '52 issue of Web of Mystery #15, and while it is of course always great to archive yet another Lin Streeter screamer around these parts, just wait until you see the next couple of bat shit crazy WW2 vampire tales on deck! Beware-- they're coming!

The Vampire's Bones!

A few posts ago, a comment mentioned having to "re-read the story a few times to understand what was actually going on", and (for me anyway), the same thing applies with today's wicked vampire encounter, via the November 1952 issue of Adventures into the Unknown #37. It's still a wonderfully weird story, and I love the snooty aggressive nature and looks of the vicious vamp here. But our hapless hero, Gary Owens (not to be confused with the legendary Laugh-In announcer) continually talks about something on the first few pages that artist Pete Riss inexplicably chose not to even bother adding into the visuals. What really makes all of this even more odd is that it's even the freakin' title of the story! Or maybe I've just read this story incorrectly and missed something, who knows? Anyway, let 'ol Karswell know what you think. There are a few more vampires fluttering our way over the next couple of posts as well, so stay toodily tombed...

The Murdered Mummy

Well, I'm a bit saddened by the lack of response in our previous crime horror double feature, especially considering today's pre-planned post is a fine "told in pictures" pulp magazine follow-up to both of those tales. Yep, Hollywood Detective, Dan Turner returns, but this time he's in the Queenie Starr story,"Starring: A Corpse", (minus lil Queenie - see the previous post if you skipped it for whatev reason), and this time the setting isn't a mad science, stabby coffin, torture dungeon film set, it's an eerily exotic mummy movie location complete with a spine piercin' sacophagus! It's interesting to compare all the fun original art and various ideas here with the later 50's re-do, not to mention the hilariously snappy, tough guy banter. And boy, Barreaux could sure draw a gorgeous mm-mm-murdered mummy, even though I guess I like both versions of these about equal. From the January 1943 issue of Dan Turner - Hollywood Detective V1#6 (cover art possibly by Saunders?)

Murder in Wax "Starring: A Corpse"

It's Midweek Murder-thon time again, so lets crack open another perfect pair-up of crime horror mystery cases guaranteed to knock your nylons off and well into next week! Hollywood dick, Dan Turner has himself a heckuva of handful trying to straighten out a murderous screwy angle or two while on a macabre movie set in, "Murder in Wax", from the July 1953 issue of Crime Mysteries #8. But first, Hollywood glamor girl, Queenie Starr starrs in the new Sam Wilde horror picture over at Paragram Studios, (via the July 1952 issue of Crime Mysteries #2), and if she's not careful, she too could find herself playing the lead corpse! Heater bangs, head bops, horror chops, and heavenly babes a'plenty-- what more could you ask for in a THOIA Double Feature, anyway?