Halloween is approaching, and I thought the board might appreciate a selection of classic horror stories from the presumed public domain.
"Dead Man's Tale" is from Avon's Eerie Comics #1 (1947). The issue, a one-shot, was the first US comic wholly devoted to horror stories. It wasn't the beginning of horror in US comics, though, as horror stories had appeared in other titles in supporting slots. Golden Age superhero stories often had a horror element too. Avon reprinted the story in Strange Worlds #1 and Out of This World Adventures #2.
The story reminds me of Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Bottle Imp". This memorable short story was based on a 19th century play by Richard Brinsley Peake, which owed its plot to German literature. There's an article here by the author Helen Grant on the history of the theme.
The GCD credits the art, on the assessment of Jim Vadeboncoeur Jr., to Jon Small, pencils, and George Roussos, inks. Its page on Eerie Comics #1 doesn't currently have a writer credit, but its pages on the reprints note that it was credited in Out of This World Adventures #2 to E. J. Bellin, a pseudonym of Henry Kuttner.
The images are from Comic Book Plus. Click to enlarge.
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Despite its crudity, I like the energy and apocalypticism of this story by Don Rico from Capt. Battle Comics #2 (1941). The nightmarish upheaval it depicts is a metaphor for the war.
I skipped Dr Horror.
In a lighter vein, here's a story from Harvey's Witches Tales #23 (cover-date 1954). The GCD attributes the pencils to Manny Stallman and notes that Sid Jacobson's name appears on the splashboard as Sid J. Kobson, "indicating he probably wrote or edited the story or the comic."
Here's another story from Fawcett, from This Magazine is Haunted #12 (1953). This one is like those Ace tales, a wild fantasy. The art is by Bud Thompson:
The twist conclusion comes out of nowhere, but Thompson's delivery gives it impact.
Images from Comic Book Plus.
As a follow-up, here's another story with art by George Evans, from This Magazine is Haunted #2 (1951):
This one owes everything to its art and colours, I think.
Images from Comic Book Plus.
“Gateway to Death” was the first story in Black Cat #30 (1951). The GCD credits the pencils to Vic Donahue and leaves the inks open. The inking looks the same as the inking on "Grave on the Green" in #33, which the GCD credits pencils and inks to Donahue. But the storytelling of "Gateway to Death" is more polished, and has a familiar look to me. If those are Donahue's inks on "Grave on the Green" I think on "Gateway to Death" he may have done heavy finishes over Jack Kirby:
The GCD’s bio of Donahue says he worked for Simon and Kirby, so it's possible. But I have a reservation: the layouts look and read a lot like Kirby's SF in the second half of the decade, but less like his contemporary work on Black Magic.
(31 Oct) A better guess might be Leonard Starr. It has to be someone whose storytelling was polished, who drew precisely and whose figures were lean or elongated. Compare Starr's art on "The Cosmic Brain" in Ziff-Davis's Amazing Adventures #3.
Some number of the stories the GCD credits to Donahue look like they were pencilled by DC artists. I think the penciller of this story from Black Cat Mystery #38 (1952) was Curt Swan:
Swan did quite a bit of horror, as he was a mainstay on DC’s House of Mystery in its early years.
Chamber of Chills was initially numbered from #21. With the fifth issue the number became the same as the issue count. So the GCD lists the opening issues as #21 [1], #22 [2] etc. This story from Chamber of Chills #22 [2] (1951) looks pencilled by the same artist as "The Weirdest Museum in the World" from House of Mystery #10. The GCD says that was Bob Brown:
Images from Comic Book Plus.
This story is from Witches Tales #10 (1952). Is that Bruno Premiani pencilling? (Oct 31) A better guess might be John Daly, who had a run on "Aquaman". The GCD says Donahue on pencils and tentatively suggests Warren Kremer on inks:
DC fans might want to check out "The Flaming Horror!" from the same issue, which has art by Joe Certa.
I’m pretty certain this story from Witches Tales #9 (1952) is by Premiani, but the GCD confidentally assigns it to Donahue and Kremer. It reads like a DC story that took a wrong turn and wound up at Harvey by mistake:
Images from Comic Book Plus.
With the coming of the Code horror titles were replaced by uncanny story or fantastic story titles. These are often called mystery titles, but I think that term confusing. They mixed stories of the supernatural or unexplained with science fiction, and their stories had twist ends. Black Cat was converted to his format with #57. For that issue the new title was, again, Black Cat Mystery, but from #58 it became Black Cat Mystic. The run was overseen by Joe Simon, and continued to #62. Kirby drew the major stories in #58-#60. This story from #59 (1957) anticipates one of Kirby’s 1970s titles:
Simon also put together Alarming Tales for Harvey. Kirby drew the major stories in #1-#2 and further stories for #3-#4. My favourite is “The Fourth Dimension is a Many Splattered Thing!” from #1, an artistic tour de force. But this story from #2 is more in keeping with the thread’s Halloween theme:
Meydrick discusses the cover in a post from Apr 17 2009. His assessment is it was pencilled by Simon, but he notes the large figure is based on a Mort Meskin figure from a story in Black Magic #5.
Images from Comic Book Plus.
Some of the stories from the titles fizzle out, but there are highlights.
“Blue Fire!” from Black Cat Mystic #62 (cover-date 1958) has stylised art by Ernie Schroeder. It might be too stylised for some tastes, but it seems to me very impactful at the climax. The story owes a debt to a Kirby story, “Strange Old Bird” from Black Magic #25, so the reader may wish to read that one first:
The story looks to me like “Strange Old Bird” crossed with the movie The Giant Claw (1957).
This story from Alarming Tales #3 (cover-date 1958) also has effective art by Schroeder:
The ending reminds me of Alfred Bester’s story "Star Light, Star Bright", which I expect was the inspiration.
Other artistic highlights include “Underwater” in Black Cat Mystery #57, an imitation of EC’s SF which has terrific art by Howard Nostrand. “Half Man-Half What” from Alarming Tales #5 is a fizzle as a story but has terrific art by Matt Baker. There are also several stories with art by Doug Wildey. Of these "The Strange One" from Alarming Tales #3 might have the best twist.
“The Man Who Never Smiled” from Black Cat Mystic #62, also by Wildey, stars Frank Sinatra. Ronald Reagan makes a cameo appearance in "Secret Weapon" from Alarming Tales #4.
Images from Comic Book Plus (which has two versions of Black Cat Mystic #62).
The Code version of Black Magic appeared from 1957-1961. The run includes stories by Joe Orlando, George Tuska, Angelo Torres, Bob Powell, Dick Ayers and Steve Ditko.
This tale from Black Magic #43 (1960) has particularly strong art by Angelo Torres. The story might be by Carl Wessler, as its end is similar to that of Wessler's “A Trader in Treachery” from The Unexpected #107:
This story drawn by Dick Ayers from #48 (1961) reads like a story from a Marvel monster comic of the same period:
Images from Comic Book Plus.
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