Rhymed Invitations to Death!

You know what? Let's take a look at another Hangman story (see our previous post HERE too!) And if you're temporarily thrown off by the cute Mother Goose splash page, well, you shouldn't be, --because once this story gets going, 'ol Mama G literally becomes one of the creepiest Halloween-esque wicked witches in all of pre-code comicdom! Lots of great art and atmosphere, and some wildly violent moments in this one --plus! a couple of nice good girl moments courtesy of long-legged Thelma! But is The Hangman himself any more effective here than in our previous story? You'll just have to read it and find out for yourselves! From the August 1942 issue of Pep Comics #30, and with art possibly by Harry Lucey.

The Raven

It just wouldn't be October without an Edgar Allan Poe post, or in the very least, a Poe inspired tale of terror. So instead of giving you the same old beat of a Tell-Tale Heart, or yet another murder in some rue-ish morgue someplace sorrowful, let's flip open a few fun pages from the January 1943 issue of Pep Comics #35, where The Hangman (he's a super hero, by the way) tackles another bird brain bad guy who's seriously flown the coop! The dark, shadowy hospital setting is nicely realized by the ever bad ass illustrative mastery of Bob Fujitani, --there's just a lot of great action art and eerie faces, not to mention an absolute load of lurid thrills 'n chills! You've likely never seen Poe presented quite like this before here at THOIA, and fans of The Spirit, Dr. Drew, etc are sure to get a kick (and maybe a punch or two) outta this one! And of course, if you require much more legitimate presentations of Poe's works, CLICK HERE for lots rots more in our archive...