As mentioned in my intro to the previous post, THOIA turns 19 in a few weeks (July 12th to be exact!), so let's spend the lead-up to that date with a few scary stories that made a huge impact on Mr. Karswell as a young 6 year old just discovering comics in the 70's. My grandmother had taken me antiquing in Farmington MO, and I found and purchased (with my own allowance!) a large stack of mind blowing, coverless horror comics. To say these changed my life would be a serious understatement, --because here I am a half century later still going gaga over them! And notably, a few of these comics that I found that day turned out to be Marvel titles like Crypt of Shadows and Vault of Evil, and these of course contained reprints of the amazing Atlas era precode stories of the 50's-- including this joltin' Gene Colan lead-off grinder from the August 1973 issue of Vault of Evil #4. My copy was not only missing that intense Frank Brunner cover, but also the first two pages of today's Colan story. But I still loved it, and re-read it countless times, over and over, giggling crazily about the funny, gruesome fate of Kurt Braun. More terror tales that shivered 'n shook my poor, pre-teen bones coming up next, so stay tombed! ("The Old Mill" originally appeared in the July 1952 issue of Strange Tales #8.)
