Cavern of the Doomed / Devil's Due

3 Hellish Harvey classics for you today as we're finally beyond the halfway point of this damned Devilcember month of evil! First up: Bob Powell's "Cavern of the Doomed" from the August '52 issue of Tomb of Terror #3, followed by "Pact with the Devil" (text story) from the Dec '51 issue of Chamber of Chills #24, and finally another satanically sweaty (and bloody) Rudy Palais tale "Devil's Due" from the July '52 issue of Chamber of Chills #10.

Honeymoon of Horror / Chamber of Death

Avon Publications made a strange cover blurb decision with the June-July 1954 issue of Eerie #16 by ignoring great story titles within like Wally Wood's "The Thing from the Sea!", or "The Stranger in Studio X!" and "Nightmare!" and instead mentioning "The Chamber of Death" on the cover, which is in fact a two page text story! But since it also falls into our Devilcember theme this month I've went ahead and included it below as a bonus... but first a chilling Louis Ravielli entry, it's---

The Devil's Birthmark

As you have seen here at THOIA over the years, Superior Comics were notorious for their exceptionally grim stories that possessed a lurid, black hearted spirit so mean and ugly that sometimes you don't know whether to laugh or scream (or both) at the insanity you've just read. Still, fused within the slick 'n scuzzy Iger Shop assembly line artwork is a fun sort of manic energy that alot of other lesser pre-code publishers were never able to invoke... today's violent tale from the July '54 issue of Mysteries Weird and Strange #8 is yet another diabolical, prime example.

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Vintage AD

The King of Hades

Way back in Oct. '08, Magic Carpet Burn posted this Farrell classic in its Eerie Publications black and white reprint format. For those unaware, in the 60’s and 70’s Eerie updated (or “re-made”) pre-code 50's horror stories with newer, gorier art... The Professor’s post shows a fairly straight forward duplication with a few additions, but minus of course all the eyeball scorching coloring you get here today from the first and original source, that being the obnoxious as Hell September 1953 issue of Voodoo #11.

Re-printed, re-made, and re-drawn nearly a half dozen times in the years to come (check GCD by clicking HERE for more info about this story) ...and don't forget to click HERE for the first black and white Eerie Pub reprint version posted over at Magic Carpet Burn too!

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Vintage AD

Possessed! / Doctor Molnar's Corpse!

Two more devilish Atlas tales today, both from the July 1953 issue of Adventures into Terror #21... and our first comes from the great Gene Colan, followed by one from the also great Dick Ayers.

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Vintage AD

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Don't Try To Outsmart the Devil!

The ever awesome Atlas Tales site has an interesting note on today's Satan-o-riffic Stan Lee scripted story from the November (or is it December?) 1952 issue of Adventures into Terror #13: "The Gil Kane ink (?) credit comes from Carmine Infantino telling Doc V that Kane worked on stories at this time with him..."

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Vintage AD

Yes folks! You too can look slimmer, just like greedy, annoying old Murdock in the last panel of the story above! The Chevalier is good for your thumpin' heart too!