Feast of the Dead!

When the Spirit Halloween stores start poppin' up around your area, you know it's finally time to get serious about what you too are going to be wearing this All Hallow's Eve! You still have 50+ days to get your act together, but just once I'd love to see someone get as serious about their horror presentation as the corpse mutilatin' madmen depicted in today's atmospheric beast of a feast terror tale from the Sept. '54 issue of Crime Mysteries #15. Good lord this one is insanely inspired, and hysterically gruesome, --even by 'ol Mr. Karswell standards! And not to be a spoiler sport here or anything, but fyi Shaggy and Scoob never encountered cemetery cosplay quite on the same level as this! These goons really go for the gold. Oh, while we're at it, don't bother checking Spirit for gas-filled balloons, radium glow cloth, and steel knives 'n grippers, they don't carry any of that stuff...

The Butcher / The Strangler

--and if you think you need a story about a candlestick maker to round out your trilogy of terror, just click HERE after today's deadly double detective feature! Our first tale fresh off the chopping block is from the August 1952 issue of Suspense Detective #2, with art by Mike Sekowsky, followed by one guaranteed to really choke you up, from the January 1954 issue of Crime Mysteries #11.

The Deathlook

Not be confused with the cybernetic sensation, Deathlok (that would be a totally different blog), this is a horrific shrunken head mystery with a really super splash 'n title treatment --and a twist! See if you can figure it out... I bet you can. From the November 1954 issue of Secret Mysteries #16.

Curse of the Jabberwock

Today we have a rollickin', highly atmospheric, old dark house creature feature, with super art by an unknown artist (any guesses?) --from the March 1952 issue of Crime Mysteries #12. I do wish Ribage had allowed said artist at least one more page to help flesh out a few more of the climactic visual details, (so that the out-of-left-field narrative didn't have to do all the talkin'), but still-- fun fun fun-- and that's a great lookin' monster to boot! And before Brian says anything about the girl in the last panel at the bottom of page 3, I have 3 words: Bathed. In. Moonlight.

HAUNTED HORROR #27 DOUBLE FEATURE

The final installment of Mr. Karswell's 3-issue "HORRORS OF IT ALL" thrillogy, aka HAUNTED HORROR #27 is finally in stores NOW, and Mr. K has a deadly double feature sampling of depraved sickness from said dead issue to gouge you right in your sockets! The Eyes of Horror first appeared in the June 1952 issue of Mysterious Adventures #8, while Modern Design originally made its debut in the March-April 1953 issue of Mister Mystery #10. I've included the original cover of Crime Mysteries #3 below as well so you can see and compare the type of editorial choices we occasionally make for the better of our own HH cover designs, we hope no one minds the changes. And apologies for the delay as I was in NYC for a few days and not able to update THOIA on the actual release date. So get it now-- get it while it's rotten!!





























And I know, I still owe you guys one final story from that Mystic reprint-- it's coming up NEXT!

Out of this World!

After the comics code crushed the crime and horror genres in '54, many publishers simply changed the name of their titles and toned down the ingredients that made them so popular in the first place. Crime Mysteries was one series, blandifying it's name to Secret Mysteries while applying the sad snooze to their content, and thus died after 4 ho-hum issues (one issue simply being a complete reprint of Red Circle Comics #4 from 1945.) I do like this simple, atmospheric tale of magic and the occult from the March 1954 issue of Secret Mysteries #17 though... see what you think. Also, enjoy Mr. C's entry in the Craig Yoe THOIA birthday contest after the story-- great work, Cavin! You won yourself a copy of Haunted Horror #3 (fyi: in stores NOW!)