If you thought our previous post lacked a certain amount of heart, wait'll you get a load of this one! From the January 1954 issue of Weird Mysteries #8, and like most of the stories from this infamous issue --which includes the SOTI classic, "I Killed Mary" --it saw over a half dozen different issue reprints, most notably in the later era Eerie Pubs Shiver Age!
Here's another horrific heartbreaker from the October 1953 issue of Weird Mysteries #7. And like our previous post (which I seem to be saying a lot), this one has also been featured HERE before in the THOIA Archive, but only in a re-titled, black and white reprint form. I think you'll all agree, this story definitely benefits from a bit of the feminine flesh tones and good 'ol spurtin' red stuff. And be sure to fully enjoy that classic Bernard Baily cover illustration too!
If you landed here today hoping to see some spacemen beat off some aliens, then congratulations, --you came to the right place! This is a wild one from the October 1953 issue of Weird Mysteries #7, and if to some of you this all seems a bit familiar, it's because I posted it back in 2012 in B/W-- HERE!
After the previous month of vampires, banshees, and other assorted supernatural fiends, it's time to unleash the tragic tale of an unrelentless, ultra violent, human monster. This shotgun rampage of brutal crime originally saw print in the August 1948 issue of Law Against Crime #3, published by the very short-lived, Essankay, who appears to have only existed for two years, releasing two different series titles for a whoppin' total of only 4 issues. Great L.B. Cole cover on this one, and yep, Wertham hated this issue of course, mentioning it in his infamous Seduction of the Innocent book.
Yeah, I know, another vampire post. But word came down the pike recently that the 2024 remake of Stephen King's Salem's Lot now has a release date (after sitting in limbo for like 2 years since its completion), where it will finally be streaming on MAX this October. I've been looking forward to it for a while, and since the original 1979 TV two-parter is one of my all-time favorite films, I thought I'd show you this funny little Atlas quickie from the October 1952 issue of Astonishing #18, where the vampire has a very similar Nosferatu design that is also very much like the Mr. Barlow character from the 70's version. Plus, we get some "outside the window" action, which, if you've ever seen Salem's Lot, you know EXACTLY what I'm talkin' about. CLICK HERE to learn more about the upcoming film (hope it's good!), and I've also included a related photo, not from the film, but from my attic instead!
Girls! Do you have what it takes to reform the greatest sinner of all time? If you think you do-- think again! Of all the cockamamie love stories I've ever posted here at THOIA, this is surely one of the cockamamiest! From the Sept '54 issue of Horrific #13, art by Max Elkin and cover by Don Heck.
Werewolf Wednesday delivers a hot 'n heavy level of wild weirdness this week when a bored housewife's masturbatory murder monster fantasies take literal form. Wertham would've had a field day with this one, likely diagnosing it as just being "all in her head" while being left alone too long with her own fetishistic horror devices, --but we know differently, don't we? Or do we? From the October - November 1954 issue of Forbidden Worlds #34.
This story was one of my first encounters with a Gold Key comic that truly frightened me. I mean, I was just a dopey little kid, but that evil Jack Sparling spirit with those claws and teeth --that nobody but the victim could see-- really did me good for a few sleepless nights. It also kind of reminded me of the Haunting record fiend in the old ads. From the December 1970 issue of Ripley's Believe it or Not #23.
