The Thing in Outer Space

Time to blast-off into the horror-filled void of scary outer space with an action packed creature feature from the July 1954 issue of Spaceman #6, (the actual final issue of this very short-lived Atlas series, in fact!) Bob Forgione amps up the atmospherics, and that's Joe Maneely on creepy cover duty! So prepare now for one heckuva rockin' rocket ride with Speed Carter and the Space Sentinels as they face:

Dinosaur in Grandfather's Barn

Here's a fun little tale for you fans of freaky dinosaur driven action and drama (like Valley of the Gwangi and especially Beast of Hollow Mountain), about a spunky city kid finding way more than he ever b-b-b-bargained for on a visit to the c-c-c-country! From the F-F-F-February 1952 issue of Youthful's Fantastic #8, art by Henry Kiefer.

The Thing That Grew!

It's long after midnight, and we are now into the wee hours of the new year. Mom and dad arrive home from a night of hard partying to find that their son Timmy is still awake. "Happy New Year, bud! Hey now, what the heck are you still doing up?" asks dad, followed by a few drunken hiccups like you'd see in an old cartoon. "I can't sleep," whines Timmy, "tell me a story." "Your dad is in no shape to be telling you stories, Timmy!" warns mom, as she stumbles into the coffee table. "What? Nahhh, I'm fine," says dad, wavering a bit while loosening his tie, "You come on upstairs with me, my boy, and I'll tell you the single greatest story you've ever heard in your life!" "Alright!" exclaims Timmy. "Uhhh boy..." groans mom. Upstairs, Timmy hops into his Howdy Doody sheeted bed, dad lowers the light. (Mom passes out halfway up the steps.) "You're gonna love this one, Tommy..." slurs dad, sounding way too much like W.C. Fields. "My name is Timmy..." says Timmy.

"I call this one..."









(Actually from the November 1951 issue of Witches Tales #6)

The Monsters Strike!

Cave men apparently existed in the days of the dragonsaurs in this monstrously fun tale from the July 1952 issue of Adventures into the Unknown! #33, art credited to Charlie Sultan who did a ton of top notch artwork for ACG... post rounded out with a good 'n ghostly "true" one-page filler too! Boo!

The Hunter and the Hunted!

I've posted a ton of stories here over the years at THOIA about jerk ass, big game hunters who find the terror tables turned on them gorily and ironically in the final panel-- but you ain't ever seen a bat shit crazy ending like this one-- unless you encountered this tale reprinted a few times in the Eerie Pubs (and don't let the splash panel fool you either!) Originally presented in the August 1953 issue of Mysterious Adventures #15, art by Doug Wildey.

Dimension IV

Time for another giant monster story as part of our most inconsistent themed month fest ever-- sorry, sometimes other stuff comes up! From the February 1953 issue of Witches Tales #17, a wonderfully weird, and very colorful story from Rudy Palais.

How I Had (and Lost) a Pet Dinosaur

Dick Briefer’s Frankenstein Weekend continues, and today it’s some non-frightening fun for the kiddies, from the Nov-Dec 1946 issue of Frankenstein #5

And be sure to check out Frankensteinia this weekend too for more indepth info about Dick Briefer’s Frankenstein.

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TOMORROW: It’s time to Journey into Unknown Worlds for a 5-day look at this groundbreaking Golden Age Atlas series. Sinister undertakers, vampires, robots and pure evil from beyond the stars, it all starts tomorrow so don’t miss a single day!

The Beast from the Deep!

In June 1951, The Saturday Evening Post published the short story The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (aka The Fog Horn) written by sci-fi master Ray Bradbury. Two years later in the summer of ‘53 the story became the inspiration for the very loosely based, though none the less fantastic big screen film of the same name, featuring jaw dropping stop-motion FX by master animator Ray Harryhausen. It didn’t take long after the film’s release for Toby Press to jump on the source material the same year, as the October 1953 issue of Tales of Horror #7 hit comic book stands with it’s own excellent, uncredited, though much closer adaptation of Bradbury’s original tale, and drawn by ACG / DC legend John Rosenberger.

(Reprinted / recolored in Seduction of the Innocent #4.)

UPDATE: Mr. Cavin requested a page from the original Toby Press version so here it is, as mentioned I opted for the recolored Eclipse reprint for today's post because as you can see the print job here is practically a quarter inch off target. Other pages look even worse!