Fury of the Macabre Mannequins

Got another bizarre ACE classic for you today, complete with disturbing panels of gruesome deeds and putrid rotting flesh, a truly tender study in how to take things a little bit too far.

From the April 1952 issue of Web of Mystery #8

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On a more personal note, as a child I had reoccurring nightmares of headless mannequins coming to life and stalking me inside a dark and deserted department store after hours (sounds like The After Hours episode from Twilight Zone, doesn’t it?) I’m not exactly sure what they wanted from me, but being evil and headless I suppose one could make an educated guess...

Does anyone else have any good ‘n macabre mannequin memories they’d like to share?

Werewolf Blood on My Hands

Werewolf Wednesdays are back--- AHHH-OOOOOO!!! Today’s tale is ever so slightly bent, with a great "become a werewolf to hunt a werewolf" premise, but totally set up by a kookball concept, (which of course in no way detracts from the fun.)

From the July 1953 issue of The Beyond #21

And for another ACE werewolf tale click ‘n run (don’t walk) on over to Pappy’s blog sometime today--- before the full moon rises!

And for a 70's Flashback bio on Man-Wolf head over to Chuck's Comic Book Catacombs today too!

Ken Shannon vs. The Venusians

We’ve seen Ken Shannon tackle supernatural spooks in a couple of escapades so far, but nothing from our neighboring planets has yet to ruffle his bow tie--- until now! I will admit up front that there’s not much in the way of “horror” with today’s story, but the writing here is so hysterically excellent you probably won't even care about the lack of goose bumps.

From the April 1953 issue of Ken Shannon #10

Also, this one goes out to my pal Chuck over at the The Comic Book Catacombs, and everyone else who has commented or emailed me begging for more Ken Shannon. Hmmm, maybe I should just start a crime comic blog someday too?

Grim Grins & Weird Watson

For those of you who enjoyed the Chilly Chuckles from the other day here’s some more silly “betweener” material from Standard Comics. And just like Chilly Chuckles, Grim Grins was a very funny, one-panel grab-bag quad of 3rd grader style Halloween jokes (just the way I like’em!) that fit a half page perfectly.

From the April 1954 issue of The Unseen #14.



Even better are the wacky 4 panel Weird Watson strips, (maybe Ger knows who illustrated these?) I especially love how sick boy Watson knows where to find the really fat worms for his fishing trip! Ewww…

From Adventures into Darkness #14 and Out of the Shadows #10.

The Eyes of Death

I’ve been holding out from sharing this King Ward classic because I’ve been hoping to upgrade this issue with a better copy, though of course not having much luck. Anyway, enjoy this atmosphere-soaked story... the scans are a bit rough but it’s still a very spooky one!

From the August 1952 issue of Forbidden Worlds #8

Mother’s Day Horror

Performing a quick IMDb search for “Mother’s Day” unearthed over two dozen different film entries all bearing this title, many of them are comedic film shorts... of course the most famous “Mother’s Day” of them all is the disturbing, exploitive, slasher classic from 1980.

But just as I was wrapping up my research on this “holiday”, I noticed a film entry called Happy Mother’s Day, Love George (‘73.) Apparently, Darren “Kolchak” McGavin directed two feature films in his career and this was the first. Also known as Run, Stranger Run, this PG rated “psycho-murder” flick has a wild all-star line-up, check it: Patricia Neal, Cloris Leachman, Bobby Darin, Simon Oakland, Gale Garnett, and Ron Howard! Synopsis: A series of gruesome murders shakes a small New England fishing village as an adopted teen searches for his biological parents.

Has anyone ever even heard of this film or have a copy I could borrow? Man, just when I thought I’d seen them all…

The Cannibal!

While you’re celebrating today over a nice hot meal with the lovely, controlling ladies in your life, here’s a tale about a stubborn little lady with another type of bone to pick! Bon appétit!

From the May 1954 issue of Out of the Shadows #13

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And how about some “Chilly Chuckles” to round out your weekend? Somebody really needs to collect all of these into a cool little funny book for kids.

The Thing from the Sea

Ever have one of those days where you’re on a boat and you suddenly get thrown overboard in the middle of nowhere and then you sink to the bottom of the ocean, only to wake up dead with fish nibbling on your flesh and then you have to take a long, lonely stroll underwater back to shore just to get some simple revenge? Sucks.

From the June/July 1954 issue of Eerie #16

The Pit and the Pendulum

Scattered throughout the month of May I’ll be posting Edgar Allan Poe stories as I’ve recently acquired some very cool pre-code submissions. Do I really need to include a Poe bio here for the uninitiated? Not bloody likely… so without further ado, here is your first trip into the haunted, subterranean nightmare regions of a truly disturbed mind, and one of Poe’s darkest, eeriest tales…

From the June 1952 issue of Beware #10

Look for another Poe terror tale coming next weekend!