Hive!

I was looking back through my archive and semi-shocked to discover that I haven’t posted a full Harvey horror story is over two months! So starting today we’ll have ourselves a fest with stories, one-page fillers, funny strips, ads, and of course whatever else floats to the surface over the next three or four days. And what better way to kick it all off than with this ironic, bloodcurdling bug bonanza from the great Lee Elias!
From the March 1953 issue of Tomb of Terror #8

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PLUS! A trio of great Harvey Ads from the 50's!

The Haunted House

I recently stumbled upon something called The Barker’s Blog containing a wealth of fascinating info about circus freaks, related art, pop culture stories, old comics, that sort of thing. The blog doesn’t appear to be active anymore though; the last entry was posted back in November of last year and was dedicated to the life of this awesome fellow:



But of interest to the THOIA gang is this: around Halloween ’07 The Barker posted 6 great pre-code horror stories, one of which I present to you here today (yes I swiped his scans, but I’m hoping he sees this and starts his great blog back in action!) It’s a really spooky Pete Tumlinson ghost story from Atlas, so if you like what you see then please visit The Barker’s Blog and check out the other various comic scans he posted, a few you’ve probably already seen here but also a few others you probably haven’t.

From the April 1954 issue of Journey into Unknown Worlds #26

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“NAME THAT FILM” CONTEST WINNER: Doug Bentin of Bethany, Oklahoma. Congrats Doug! You win the Eerie #12 comic book. There are plenty more contests coming up this summer people, so hang in there!

ANSWER:

Seven Keys to Baldpate (1917)

Thanks again to everyone who entered! Special Mention “No Prizes” goes to all the other fine film freaks who also guessed correctly: Michael Specht of Suffern NY, Brian Riedel of Hollywood CA, and John Hegenberger.

Answer to clue #4: Remade many times in film, the latest re-titled adaptation being the "House of Long Shadows" (1983) starring Christopher Lee, Vincent Price, John Carradine, and Peter Cushing (as pictured on the right hand side of this blog in the “Recommended Movie” section--- and staring you right in the face!)

Answer to Clue #5: Hedda Hopper.

It Waits in the Box

Erupting from my ancient files haphazardly labeled “What’izzit?!” and “Who’drooit?!” comes this smashing monster classic from the October 1952 issue of Journey into Unknown Worlds #13. For the artist credit the Atlas site says “Stallman?” with a big question mark… anybody know for sure? [They seem to have confirmed it as Stallman. -- Nequam]

To see a sci-fi Stallman collaboration (this time from Harvey Comics) head back in time to Pappy’s post from yesterday!

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CONTEST CLUES!

In case you’ve missed the helpful contest clues I’ve supplied in the last few comments sections of this week's posts here they are in one easy breezy list... plus one last final clue that will probably not help anyone in the least bit. Contest ends tonight at midnight! Let the reckless, no holds barred guessing commence!

1. It's a SILENT era movie.

2. This film has been re-made over a half dozen times, once for televison even.

3. It's not the Clara Bow sex tape.

4. If you're on “The Horrors of it All” blog then the answer (or one of them) is staring you right in the face.

5. One of the film’s stars later became a famous Hollywood gossip columnist.
Good luck everyone!

The Vultures of Doom

As we lower the long box coffin lid on Dark Mysteries for a spell, we slither over to the equally repulsive pages of Mysterious Adventures. Today’s tale has some truly jarring moments, and would make a nice ‘n evil companion piece to the City of the Dead story that I posted back in March. I guess if you learn anything from this one it's "Be careful what you wish for..."
From the January 1953 issue of Mysterious Adventures #12

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And here's another cheery one-page history lesson of things you never learned in school (excluding VBS), courtesy of Harvey Comics.

Best Seller!

Because you demanded it--- it's more Dark Mysteries! And half of you may agree that this is the most shocking crime you’ve ever seen!

From the June 1953 issue of Dark Mysteries #12

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Name That Film (CONTEST)
Can you name the film you see in the spooky picture below? Send your name, address, and answer/s to karswell@hotmail.com, and be sure to put NAME THAT FILM CONTEST in the subject line. Everyone who answers correctly will be thrown into a fishbowl and one name drawn wins a G-VG copy of Super Comics Eerie Tales #12 (which is actually a color reprint issue of pre-code stories from Avon’s Eerie #1 from 1951), with great stories about werewolves, the living dead, subway horrors and more! The contest ends on Friday May 23rd, enter now, and as many times as you’d like. And remember, guessing never hurts either!

Voices of the Dead

Today’s “grawesome” tale comes from the June 1953 issue of Dark Mysteries #12 with super spooky (and super sexy) artwork by Hy Fleishman. Googlin’ around online for personal info about him I really only found one interesting link, and of course it originated from an old post of Pappy’s commenting on how Hy’s “near cartoony style” possibly influenced the underground comics of the 60’s. You may be right Paps!

And thanks to Jeffos for "grawesome!"

Born in the Grave

For many of you long time THOIA regulars, all I have to do here is say the words “Brian Hirsch Submission” and you already know you’re in for a super demented, horrific pre-code post. I’m digging through my own Dark Mysteries tonight and seeing if maybe I can come up with a few days worth of other DM terrors, so this may actually be the start of a fest. Say your prayers now…

From the August 1954 issue of Dark Mysteries #19

The Tell-Tale Heart

As previously mentioned, I’ll be posting a sampling of Edgar Allan Poe stories throughout the month of May… last week we saw The Pit and the Pendulum, today it’s The Tell-Tale Heart! This is probably the longest story (page-wise) that I’ve ever posted in a single day, but it’s a great adaptation and despite the length it’s still a taut, exciting read. Enjoy!

From the June 1951 issue of Classics Illustrated #84

Thanks again to Todd Hunter for the scans. And for more info on comic book adaptations of Poe’s work, check out The House of Usher site by clicking HERE!