R.I.P. Bob Fujitani (1921 - 2020)

The comic world loses yet another artist legend, Bob Fujitani passed away earlier this week, and today we honor his wonderful work with an encore presentation of two Atlas horror classics already found in the THOIA Archive. Our first selection is from the Spring 1952 issue of Suspense #16, and the second originally featured in the September 1952 issue of Mystic #12. R.I.P.

Afraid!

I'm sure many of you will be able to relate to this next story, as the reason we all gruesomely gravitate to this bloody blog in the first place is because of our undying love and insatiable lust for reading tales of terror and the macabre. See if you don't recognize a little bit of your own spooky selves, as this one draws to its funny little fraidy-cat finale! From the February 1953 issue of Strange Tales #15.









Can't get enough of these Frankie stories lately, can we?



(Strange Tales #15 art excerpt by Bill Everett)

The Monster Makers

I've had a bunch of requests for more Bill Everett --and a couple for joltin' Gene Colan too--, so to kill two maniacal monster makers with one scary stone, here's a double feature actually made into a triple with the inclusion of a likewise titled old 40's horror film link! Whew! You'll be makin' like a monster yourself by the time you finish today's post! Our first story is from the August 1952 issue of Uncanny Tales #2, and the silly Franken-follow-up from June 1954's Wild #4.














(CLICK HERE TO WATCH IT!!!)











Before you go, ask yourself: was 3 monster makers not enough? Maybe you need to go for 4? Or how about 5?!! Well, then CLICK HERE and HERE for *gag*choke MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MONSTER MAKERS!

Teeming with Screaming

My buddy Max was recently going through THOIA's August 2017 archive and noticed the trio of posts about swiped pre-code artwork re-used on mid century spook show posters (check the archive HERE if you missed it.) Finding it apparently "very interesting", even "amusing", he wrote to me asking my opinion on another one he believes that he's spotted: compare the werewolf head from the cover of the Jan - Feb 1952 issue of Forbidden Worlds #4, now singled-out and flipped horizontally for the "A Living Nightmare" spook show poster (see top right of the ad below:)



I suppose it could be, I mean it looks pretty close, but it definitely looks redrawn quite a bit as well. Not to mention, the original ACG werewolf is likely created from a Lon Chaney Jr. Wolf Man reference photo. What I do know for sure though is this: two of those bloody, severed lady heads in the spook show poster were absolutely lifted from the intense pulp illustration for Robert Bloch's "Head Man", originally featured in the May 1950 edition of Dime Mystery Stories!

Tales from the Creep

I thought we'd kick off September 2020 here at THOIA (and over at AEET too) with some light hearted laughs, and all totally at horror's hilarious expense. So if you're a fan of EC comics, and more precisely, the awesome 70's Amicus film classic of the same name, then you've come to the right place, as Marv Wolfman, Roy Thomas, John Costanza, and Marie Severin split your funny bones right down the middle with 8 pages of f-f-f-funny fright. From the Nov. '72 issue of Spoof #2.

















Need more silly, 70's anthology satire? Then head over to AEET by CLICKING HERE to see what the mad minds at Marvel did to Rod Serling's Night G-g-g-gallery! AIEEEEE!!!

In the Dead of Night

"...this is probably one of the worst offsets I've seen in a while." said Brian Barnes in the comments section of our previous story post. "I'll take that as a challenge." replied Mr. Karswell, who then proceeded to dig out a tale from the November 1951 issue of Suspense #11, one that he has wanted to post a million times before but always thought the overly primary bright, shabby blob coloring, and off register red just ruined what is clearly one of the better Atlas vampire tales of the precode era. "Maybe there are copies out there that look better?" he often pondered. But no. All the pondering and back issue bin digging in the world would unfortunately never unearth a better looking copy. And thus, THOIA ends out the month of August 2020 and sadly presents:













PS: I actually spent a small amount of time and cleaned up a lot of this, thusly 2, so it doesn't look quite as bad as it originally did. Enjoy! --Mr. K

Who Called?

THOIA has turned into Vampire Central here in the final stretches of August 2020, and our star artist of the month, Al Eadeh (who we featured in a few great posts last week), comes fluttering back once more from beyond the veil of darkness with another strange terror tale to drain your souls dry! From the December 1953 issue of Uncanny Tales #15, and please pardon the slightly off register coloring which somehow only seems to add to the overall weirdness factor!

And if you're looking for more toothy, blood suckin' weirdness, I recommend the new vampire horror film, Blood Vessel. Set at the end of WW2, a small group of Allied Force members find themselves unfortunately trapped on a nazi freighter at sea with a family of vampires. Fun stuff, especially if you're a fan of Weird War Tales comics --and films with bite!



CLICK HERE for the trailer!

The Vampire's Bride

Everyone seems to love those vivacious vampire girls, so let's see how many more lovelies I can dig up --literally!-- before the month screeches to a halt, as they say. It's a funny little Dick Ayers quickie written by Stan Lee, and from the super shiver-inducin' September 1952 issue of Spellbound #7.







FYI: Fans of anthology horror will be happy to know that NBC.com has added all 7 episodes from the spooky fun, early 80's Darkroom TV series to their free online streaming service. Hosted by James Coburn and featuring tales of vampires, voodoo, killer toys, and the supernatural, this was an unfortunately short-lived series that many of us fondly remember watching as kids. Highlights include stories and scripts by the likes of Robert Bloch, Brian Clemens, Cornell Woolrich, and more! Check it out by CLICKING HERE!

As Halloween Season Approaches...

A reminder from THOIA: I have a rapidly dwindling back stock of various Haunted Horror and Haunted Love back issues, signed copies of select Chilling Archives hardcovers and Classic Monsters softcovers, (sorry, Mummies is SOLD OUT), plus a few Haunted Horror Coloring Books and even Weird Love back issues. Fill up those gaps in your collections by dropping me a line at karswell@hotmail.com and I'll fill you in on prices and the HH / HL / WL back issue numbers that are still available. Many of these are out of print, so get 'em now before they're gone forever --or be doomed to pay ridiculous prices later! Spook up your Halloween season NOW!

(FYI: Discounts applied to all longtime THOIA followers!)