Here we are back in October already. I’m afraid there won’t be a full Hallowe’en Countdown this year. However, as this remains — no controversy there — our favourite period of the year, we’ll still be indulging our undying passion for all things moody, creepy and spooky.
For my opening salvo, I’ve chosen to spotlight the striking cover art of a particular horror title of comics’ Golden Age, namely Harvey’s Witches’ Tales (28 issues, 1951-1954).
This is Witches’ Tales no. 1 (January 1951, Harvey). Cover by Al Avison. Read this issue here!This is Witches’ Tales no. 2 (March 1951, Harvey). Cover by Al Avison. Read this issue here!This is Witches’ Tales no. 8 (March 1952, Harvey). Cover by Lee Elias. Read this issue here!This is Witches’ Tales no. 16 (December 1952, Harvey). Cover by Lee Elias. Read this issue here!This is Witches’ Tales no. 19 (June 1953, Harvey). Cover by Lee Elias. Read this issue here!Here we have the miraculously surviving layout sketch by MVP art director Warren Kremer, who designed each of these dark gems, and indeed thousands more, for Harvey Comics. Since it’s preferable to show, not merely tell, here’s a nice brace of them.This is Witches’ Tales no. 20 (August 1953, Harvey). Cover by Bob Powell, né Stanley Robert Pawlowski. Read this issue here!
I now skip over two of my very favourite covers in the series, nos. 21 and 22, having featured them in an earlier post. Do check them out!
This is Witches’ Tales no. 24 (April 1954, Harvey). Cover by Elias. Read this issue here!This is Witches’ Tales no. 25 (June 1954, Harvey). Cover by Howard Nostrand (he always comes to mind when I take the subway in Brooklyn), doing his best Jack Davis impression. Read the issue here, and while you’re at it, Bhob Stewart‘s insightful article about Nostrand and his œuvre.Another surviving layout by the estimable Mr. Kremer.
As far as I’m aware, Harvey horror is renowned for exactly two classic stories: one of them is the innovative Bob Powell tour de force Colorama, originally published in Black Cat Comics no. 45, (August 1953), and widely reprinted since. Read it here, and check out the excellent Kremer-Nostrand cover it bears. And the other? Why, it’s WT no. 25’s cover story, actually entitled What’s Happening at — 8:30 P.M... and having nothing to do with the striking (sorry!) situation depicted above, though also illustrated by Mr. Nostrand.
This is Witches’ Tales no. 26 (August 1954, Harvey). Cover by Lee Elias. Read this issue here!This is Witches’ Tales no. 27 (October 1954, Harvey), another Elias cover. Read this issue here! It’s a competent but disappointing image, and it turned out that there was a good reason for its relative restraint.… and that reason was self-censorship. The writing was on the wall, the dreaded Comics Code was about to come into force, and the Harvey brass — devoid of anything to match EC honcho Bill Gaines‘ brass balls — had opted, to ensure its survival, to preemptively play the squeaky-clean card for the duration. Gone is the soon-to-be verboten term ‘horror’, swapped with the gentler ‘suspense’. The censored cover aside, the issue consisted of timorous reprints from the title’s milder days. No story entitled ‘Dig That Grave’ appears to have been published by Harvey, though it would have been nice to recycle the script with, say, Richie Rich buried alive… which would explain how he became Casper.
It’s interesting, I think, to see how the tone of these covers reflected the industry’s moods: the earliest ones are light and goofy, then things get darker and darker, reaching a zenith of sorts with issue 25’s notoriously gruesome scenario. Then, under the cloud of censorship and public opprobrium, they threw up their hands and eased off the accelerator.
-RG
P.S. While I’m resting on my laurels out here, should you crave more, always more, here’s a most convenient stack of links leading to the only slightly mouldy archive of our past Hallowe’en-themed efforts. Those of you yet blessed with a functioning attention span should find plenty therein to while away the long autumn nights :
Hi Neal! I largely agree with you about Elias’ DC work (he wasn’t a good fit on either Adam Strange or Eclipso), though I have a soft spot for his Ultra, the Multi-Alien in Mystery in Space. His best work for the company, which I’ve spotlighted a couple of times on the blog, is the stories he illustrated for editor Murray Boltinoff’s Ghosts in the 1970s. As for Marvel, I sure didn’t want Elias on The Human Fly when what I craved was Frank Robbins artwork!
I’d say the (tremendous) appeal of WT number 26 lies in the intriguing concept. The matching story is goofy fun, but can’t match the cover’s power. Read it here: https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=17507
Okay, I read “Up There.” My guess is that the you-know-what at the top of Lanapurna was the work of a bored Tralfamadorian pilot several galaxies off course.
Though ‘What’s Happening At… 8:30 P.M.?’ is good, I prefer ‘Dust Unto Dust’ from Chamber of Chills #23, which I always imagine as being done under the influence of Jack Davis tales ‘Betsy!’ and ‘Country Clubbing!’ the two of which are essentially the same story played in reverse. I guess Bernie Krigstein could have influenced Nostrand’s storytelling on his story as well. It’s as dream-logicy as much of Nostrand’s work, but it works better in ‘Dust Unto Dust’ than some others.
Well spotted, Eric! I first encountered « Betsy! » through East Coast Comix’s E.C. Classic Reprint series (as advertised in the back of Warren magazines!), and I have the droll « Country Clubbing! » in a volume of Russ Cochran’s EC Library. Gorgeous stuff. As Bhob Stewart and others have noted, Nostrand was no mere swiper… he understood, appreciated and acknowledged his influences… and assimilated them well.
Never cared for Elias’ work for DC or Marvel but I am knocked out by his Caniffian covers above! #26 is my fave but I couldn’t tell you why.
Thanks (yet again) for turning me onto the earlier, better work of an artist that I had dismissed as a bit of a hack for his later stuff.
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Hi Neal! I largely agree with you about Elias’ DC work (he wasn’t a good fit on either Adam Strange or Eclipso), though I have a soft spot for his Ultra, the Multi-Alien in Mystery in Space. His best work for the company, which I’ve spotlighted a couple of times on the blog, is the stories he illustrated for editor Murray Boltinoff’s Ghosts in the 1970s. As for Marvel, I sure didn’t want Elias on The Human Fly when what I craved was Frank Robbins artwork!
I’d say the (tremendous) appeal of WT number 26 lies in the intriguing concept. The matching story is goofy fun, but can’t match the cover’s power. Read it here: https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=17507
Cheers!
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Okay, I read “Up There.” My guess is that the you-know-what at the top of Lanapurna was the work of a bored Tralfamadorian pilot several galaxies off course.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Though ‘What’s Happening At… 8:30 P.M.?’ is good, I prefer ‘Dust Unto Dust’ from Chamber of Chills #23, which I always imagine as being done under the influence of Jack Davis tales ‘Betsy!’ and ‘Country Clubbing!’ the two of which are essentially the same story played in reverse. I guess Bernie Krigstein could have influenced Nostrand’s storytelling on his story as well. It’s as dream-logicy as much of Nostrand’s work, but it works better in ‘Dust Unto Dust’ than some others.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well spotted, Eric! I first encountered « Betsy! » through East Coast Comix’s E.C. Classic Reprint series (as advertised in the back of Warren magazines!), and I have the droll « Country Clubbing! » in a volume of Russ Cochran’s EC Library. Gorgeous stuff. As Bhob Stewart and others have noted, Nostrand was no mere swiper… he understood, appreciated and acknowledged his influences… and assimilated them well.
LikeLike