Oh, the Horror: the 1950s

The 1950s, as we all know, brought us the acme (and nadir) of horror comics. A zillion publishers, most of them long gone, got into the gore game before the censors stepped in. Let’s take a look at what led to the neutering of the comics industry…

Hallowe’en Countdown IV, Day 10

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« Ghosts! Haunted house! … wow!
I’m glad we don’t have to investigate
around a joint like that! » — Woozy Winks… who else?

How about some Golden Age Plastic Man Hallowe’en goodness? I thought as much. All this and Woozy Winks too!

This lovely splash opens Murder in Maniac Mansion, from Police Comics no. 17 (March 1943, Quality), edited by John Beardsley. Script, pencil and inks by Jack Cole.

Never mind the trick– treat yourself and read this sprightly ol’ comic book right here: http://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=14584

Mr. Cole’s splashy splash from another spooky Plas yarn, The Ghost Train, from Police Comics no. 23 (Oct. 1943, Quality). Read it here: https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=37425

The supremely versatile Jack Cole could always be counted on to inject a bit of sinister ambiance (or over-amped sensuality, depending on his mood) to mix up the generally humorous proceedings of the stretchy exploits of the former Patrick “Eel” O’Brian. At times, things got pretty grand-gignolesque, as in the following case.

This is Police Comics no. 26 (Jan. 1944, Quality). Cover art by Jack Cole.
Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and caldron bubble. This is Plastic Man no. 33 (Jan. 1952, Quality); cover pencils by Jack Cole, inks by ‘Burly’ Sam Burlockoff.

By the 1950s, Jack Cole had moved on to other pastures and projects, but Plastic Man kept right on stretching, one of the few superheroes flexible enough to withstand the horror boom. But not without a few alterations to fit the times, as evidenced by the following pair of samples.

This is Plastic Man no. 38 (Jan. 1952, Quality); cover art by Alex Kotzky. You have to appreciate that boney Monk Mauley hung on to his lucky belt even as his pants lost their corporeality. That’s commendable dead-ication! (sorry); Oh, read all about it: https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=30201
This is Plastic Man no. 43 (Nov. 1952, Quality); cover pencils by Dick Dillin, possible inks by Chuck Cuidera.

It must be stated that, even without the masterly Jack Cole, Plastic Man clearly brought the best out of the rest of Quality’s admittedly admirable bullpen, so his adventures remain worth reading… which is certainly not the case with most subsequent revivals, with the exceptions of DC’s 1976-77 mostly-ignored Ramona Fradon run and Kyle Baker‘s award-winning 2004-06 outing.

-RG

Hallowe’en Countdown IV, Day 9

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« It was the spookiest horror ride anywhere! Mr. Awrus… a charming little old man, really… made it that way, because he liked to entertain people! But then the snake-thing arrived… and the others… heh-heh… and people went in… and didn’t come out… » — Horror Beasts Dine Tonight

Forrest J. Ackerman and James Warren’s Famous Monsters of Filmland, despite its own humble beginnings (or partly thanks to them!) went on to inspire quite a spate of imitators of… varying quality.

First out of the gate was Irwin Stein’s Magnum Publications, with Monster Parade (four issues). It was soon followed by Monsters and Things (two issues).

Define ‘Tunnel of Love‘… This is Monsters and Things no. 2 (April, 1959). Edited by Larry Shaw, with a cover by Stanley ‘Bob Powell’ Pawlowski (1916-1967).

As for the magazine’s grimy guts, there’s regrettably nothing outstanding: a couple of reprints of pre-Code material that was pedestrian to begin with… Curse of the Living Crossbones, illustrated by Ken Rice (a retitled Spectres of the Jolly Roger and True Tales of Unexplained Mystery #44, a one-pager about vengeful German gargoyles, illustrated by Sy Grudko, both plucked, minus colour, from Web of Mystery no. 22 (Jan. 1954, Ace Magazines).

The issue does contain a couple of fun wash illustrations, including this one by the esteemed Mr. Powell, also (along with the cover), accompanying the main feature, Horror Beasts Dine Tonight. “And will that be your usual table, sirs?“
A sample of the classifieds. Do I, er… detect a certain pattern? One clear advantage of the Pin-Up Ghouls calendar is that you can reuse it next in 2026, so keep an eye out for gently-used copies!

Of further interest: An intriguing article about M&T’s predecessor, Monster Parade: http://frankensteinia.blogspot.ca/…/covers-of…

Still, it must be said that the dank, meandering back alleys of sleaze magazine publishing of the era are oddly fascinating, if decidedly disreputable places.

– RG

Hallowe’en Countdown IV, Day 5

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« Merchant and pirate were for a long period one and the same person. Even today mercantile morality is really nothing but a refinement of piratical morality. » — Friedrich Nietzsche

This charming rogue doesn’t look like he’s going to share his pretties with just anyone, so be sure to ask nicely.

This is Weird Mysteries no. 7 (Oct. 1953, Stanley Morse). Cover by Bernard Baily (1916-1996), whom we’ve previously spotlighted.

Stanley P. Morse ran a rather fly-by-night operation, even by funnybook industry standards, but someone in there had some taste, as evidenced by the classic material produced under its various dodgy banners (Aragon, Gilmor, Key Publications, Media, S.P.M., Stanmor, Timor…) by such notables as the aforementioned Mr. Baily, Basil Wolverton (including his enduring The Brain Bats of Venus) and a fledgling Steve Ditko.

This particular issue includes Fredric Wertham favourite Mother’s Advice, but really, the whole issue’s pretty wacky.

You know, this one. Art by Tony Mortellaro.

Still, the highlight of the issue has to be a brilliantly idiotic short tale intriguingly entitled… Sssshhh. Here it is:

  • Scripter unknown, with pencils by Sal Trapani, with inks by S. Finocchiaro. I have to say that this is my favourite-ever work by Trapani, a hack if there ever was one, whose inking jobs (his specialty in later years) generally did no favours to anyone’s pencils. And he had quite a prolific career, which was surely not hindered in the least by his being Dick Giordano‘s brother-in-law. For the defence, one of my close pals and colleagues holds that Trapani’s inks over Herb Trimpe‘s pencils on The Incredible Hulk (issues 156-166) were the finest of Trimpe’s lengthy run on the title. As far as that goes, I’ll stick with John Severin, but I do concede that Trimpe and Trapani did mesh well.

In his spare time, Trapani was the driving force behind the Society of American Vintage-radio Enthusiasts, which makes him very cool indeed. Here’s a compelling account of the early days of the movement to preserve this crucial art form. And it wasn’t just passive preservation: here’s an original recording of classic radio plays he produced in 1972.

-RG

Hallowe’en Countdown IV, Day 3

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« I’ve never gone to bed with an ugly woman… but I’ve sure woke up with a few » — Royal C. Bannon

Clearly, some cravings die awfully hard. This is Strange Tales no. 28 (May, 1954, Atlas), featuring a most claustrophobic… cuddle. The rest of this scarce issue contains artwork by Pete Tumlinson, Jack Katz (who recently — just last week! — turned 93), Bob Forgione, Don Perlin (who recently turned 90) and Tony DiPreta.

Cover by by Harry Anderson (1911-1970), not to be confused with his namesake, alias Judge
Harry T. Stone.
*Ken* Grimm, eh? Speaking of horror, they sure didn’t mince words to reel in the rubes, did they? This gentle, understated pitch appeared on the inside back cover of this issue of Strange Tales. « Mail the damn coupon with your shekels already, you bloodless, pitiful, skinny shrimp! », bellowed the bellicose drill sergeant.

[ psst! you can read the issue here! ]

-RG

Hot Streak: Bill Everett’s Menace

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« I have learned to live each day as it comes, and not to borrow trouble by dreading tomorrow. It is the dark menace of the future that makes cowards of us. » — Dorothy Dix

Menace was a short-lived (11 issues, 1953-54, Atlas) horror anthology title that’s mostly remembered*, if at all, for its one-shot introduction of a zombi by the name of Simon Garth. Because Atlas never really played the gore card, its successor Marvel was able to mine most of its Pre-code material as cheap filler in their 1970s bid to flood the market. Don’t get me wrong, though; these titles were still a lot of primitive fun, and in most cases, I’d pick an issue of Weird Wonder Tales, Where Monsters Dwell or Uncanny Tales From the Grave over the latest Fantastic Four or Spider-Man.

The writing was by no means daring or even coherent, but the artwork was frequently rather fine, with none quite finer than Bill Everett‘s, particularly his covers, which elegantly straddled the line between fearsome and goofy.

I’d be tempted to say that Everett (1917-1973) was at his peak when he created these, but the bittersweet fact of it is that Everett was still at the height of his artistic powers, even as he was slowly dying in the early 1970s.

This particular hot streak ends not because Everett turned in a lesser job, but because other hands provided covers for the rest of the run. Talented hands, at that (Carl Burgos, Gene Colan, Russ Heath, Harry Anderson), but none of the other Menace covers are a patch on Everett’s mighty half-dozen.

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These monsters look kind of playful and kooky, don’t they? This is Menace no. 1 (March 1953, Atlas). Inside we find Everett, George Tuska, Russ Heath and Werner Roth art. Oh, and Stan Lee stories. Colours by Stan Goldberg.
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This is Menace no. 2 (April 1953, Atlas). Colours by Stan Goldberg.
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This is Menace no. 3 (May 1953, Atlas). Colours by Stan Goldberg. Was the title’s monthly schedule truly supposed to be a selling point?
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This is Menace no. 4 (June 1953, Atlas). Colours by Stan Goldberg.
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If you think that’s impressive, you should see what mushrooms can do to asphalt!** This is Menace no. 5 (July 1953, Atlas). Simon Garth was dug up (sorry) in 1973, likely at the behest of continuity addict Roy Thomas, to star (if you can call it that) in his own black & white magazine, Tales of the Zombie (10 issues, 1973-75). Like The Man-Thing, he was essentially mindless and shambling, and so mostly a pawn or an uncomprehending witness to others’ tragedies. The best of the mangy lot is, imho, The Blood-Testament of Brian Collier (TotZ no.7… read it here.) It’s not great, but it sure looks pretty, thanks to the sublime Alfredo Alcala, who’s quite in his element here.
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Don and Warren also met Simon. Read Lee and Everett’s 1953 Zombie!
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This is Menace no. 6 (August 1953, Atlas). Colours by Stan Goldberg.

That strange compulsion that’s creeping over you, that ungodly craving for more Bill Everett, cannot quite be slaked without incurring a terrible cost, be it in human lives, the forfeiting of your immortal soul, or both. But do check out my co-admin ds’ earlier tribute to Mr. Everett’s nightmares, Bill Everett’s Restless Nights of Dread, it might tide you over until dawn.

-RG

*these babies are rare, in any condition.

**Here’s an example:

« A bump in the garage floor turned into a half meter of mushrooms in little more than three days. It crushed its way through five centimetres of asphalt in Åge Reppes garage in Stord, western Norway. It is the water pressure in the cells of the fungus that makes it able to crack the asphalt, says a biologist at the local university. » [ source ]. These are inky caps. Edible, but some species are toxic when consumed with alcohol. These are commonly known as ‘tippler’s bane‘.

Hallowe’en Countdown III, Day 27

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« And something horrible is going on in Foley’s body! Come at once! Come quickly! »

The Dead Who Walk is a mysterious one-shot from 1952. It was issued by Realistic Publications, an ephemeral publishing arm of Avon Books, during the decade that they haphazardly dabbled in the funnybook field.

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Boy, whatever you can say about Anne, she certainly made an impression.

The pungent dialogue and its implications aside, what fascinates me about this lavishly grotesque cover is the jarring schism in art styles: the damsel in peril is of the classically-buxom Matt Baker–Nick Cardy species, while the revenants belong to an expressively oddball Edvard Munch–Manny Stallman–Jerry Grandenetti school. As far as I know, the cover artist(s)’s identity is lost to time and obscurity. It has been established, thanks to a signature, that the insides were provided by longtime jobber Tex Blaisdell… a rather stiff and workaday performance, regrettably. But the cover assuredly isn’t his, no matter what the good ol’ GCD says.

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The most accomplished interior page, in my view, is the inside front cover intro. Art by Tex Blaisdell.

You can pore over the sordid tale of The Dead Who Walk thanks to the excellent Pappy’s Golden Age Comics Blogzine, where the issue was examined  back in 2007: http://pappysgoldenage.blogspot.ca/search?q=Dead+Who+Walk

At the time, it was presumed that the inside art was the work of future EC and DC player Joe Orlando, which didn’t seem far off the mark.

-RG

Hallowe’en Countdown III, Day 24

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« Somehow, this thing had caught the spark of life! And, anything that lives will fight to stay alive… even if it’s just a Rag-a Bone and a Hank of Hair! »

Ah, Brother Power, the Geek. A notorious flop for DC in 1968… or was it? At the time, it took several months for a book’s initial sales reports to make their way back to the publisher. Axing a title after two measly issues is quite a preemptive and premature strike against it. I suspect a case of toxic in-house politics. From the onset, editorial cold feet had the suits meddling with the project: the character of the animated rag doll was to be called The Freak, which was nixed in favour of the less druggy but more chicken-head-bite-y The Geek.

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This is Brother Power The Geek no. 2 (Nov.-Dec. 1968, DC); cover by Joe Simon, colours by DC’s peerless production manager Jack Adler, and logo presumably by Gaspar Saladino.

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I recall that this particular house ad seared itself into my brain at a very young age, but I had to wonder where exactly I’d first encountered it. As it turns out, it was in a random comic book that happened to land my way in childhood, namely Superman no. 211 (Nov. 1968), featuring You, Too, Can Be a Super-Artist!, written by Frank Robbins (I just found out!) and illustrated by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito.

Ahem. Anyway, BPTG was the brainchild of Joe Simon, presumably expanding on his and partner Jack Kirby‘s far darker A Rag-A Bone and a Hank of Hair (Black Magic no. 13, i.e. vol. 2 No.7, June 1952), illustrated by Mort Meskin (likely inked by George Roussos).

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This is Black Magic no. 13, aka vol. 2 No.7 (June 1952, Prize); cover, of course, by Jack Kirby, with likely inks by Joe Simon. Read it here!

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This lovely panorama is from Brother Power The Geek no. 1 (Sept.-Oct. 1968, DC). Written, laid out and inked by Joe Simon, finished pencils by Al Bare.

Say, have I seen Brother Power’s fellow detainees somewhere? Why, yes, of course! It’s Tentacle Master Wally Wood‘s Dorothy, Stanley and Doris, introduced to the world by Topps‘ Ugly Stickers back in 1965! Designed by Wood, they were painted by the masterful Norman Saunders.

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Brother Power the Geek, despite its commercial failure and infamy, offered a good-natured, unpretentious romp, even if didn’t quite show us « The Real-Life Scene of the Dangers of Hippie-Land! » You can’t always get what you want.

Brother Power was brought back under DC’s Vertigo imprint in 1993, but as with the revival of its fellow Joe Simon creation, Prez, it received a « groovy » and « ironic » hipster treatment. Bah.

– RG

Hallowe’en Countdown III, Day 23

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« A knot you are of damned bloodsuckers. » — William Shakespeare

One of my favourite Atlas mood-masters was Anthony Lewis “Tony” DiPreta (July 9, 1921 – June 2, 2010); it appears Mr. DiPreta and his colleague Murphy Anderson share not merely a birthday, but a day of birth as well.

Tony DiPreta’s long career in comics began with his arrival at the “Busy” Arnold studio, with his first credits appearing in early 1942. He worked extensively for Hillman Periodicals, handling such features as Airboy (yay!), Skinny McGinty, Flying Dutchman and Stupid Manny; Lev Gleason Publications (various crime stories and The Little Wise Guys); and of course Atlas Comics, where he chiefly, but not exclusively, cut loose on moody-but-not-gory horror stories, often with a finely-turned streak of gallows’ humour.

Tony survived the post-Code near-collapse of the comics industry when he succeeded Moe Leff on Ham Fisher‘s Joe Palooka strip, which he carried until the feature’s final curtain in 1984. In the 1970s, he also did a bit of moonlighting for Charlton, contributing to a couple of issues of The Flintstones spin-off The Great Gazoo. In 1994, DiPreta took on another venerable, long-running newspaper strip, medical soap opera Rex Morgan, M.D., until his well-earned retirement (DiPreta’s, not Morgan’s) in 2000.

For your reading pleasure and mine, I’ve selected this adorably wacky tale from Atlas’ Journey Into Mystery no. 11 (August, 1953). Writer unknown, which is a shame.

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Well, I suppose it might have been simpler to see who wasn’t around in the daytime, but let’s face it, Mazerok’s method is far more entertaining and original.

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The story was reprinted in Where Monsters Dwell no. 17 (Sept. 1972, Marvel); though cover-featured, the cover itself was a lacklustre job by an overworked and uninspired Gil Kane, stuck here with Vinnie Colletta, though to be fair, there’s nothing here to ruin. Beyond the cover, the insides are great: two Ditko stories (« I Opened the Door to… Nowhere! » and « The World Beyond », a low-key Russ Heath (« If the Coat Fits », also from JIM 11), and our featured yarn.

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Now that’s more like it! The Hidden Vampires‘ original place of appearance, Journey Into Mystery no. 11 (Aug. 1952, Atlas), boasts a just-about-classic cover by Russ Heath, with a fine colouring job by Stan Goldberg.

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Heath did a lovely job with the small space allotted to preview the other stories. Pre-Code Atlas books were graced with a clever and attractive cover grid.

– RG

Hallowe’en Countdown III, Day 10

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« Behind every tree there’s a new monster. » — Todd Rundgren

Now how can you go wrong with a genre-melding title like this? Did publisher Hillman Periodicals decide it was entirely too much of a good thing, and nip it in the bud? Who wrote and drew the darn thing? Nearly seventy years on, these are not easily-answered questions.

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Anyway, the lone, unnumbered issue of Monster Crime Comics rolled off the presses in the fall of 1952, it’s a pretty scarce item, as they say in the trade, and it features the sordid tales of The Crutch to Paradise, Another Hallowe’en, The Boss of Ice Alley, Oregon Tiger, The Canvas Tomb, The Cold Doorstop, and The Two-Legged Newspaper.

« A low print run and high price for the time (15 cents!) combined to make this one-shot among the rarest of the era’s crime comics, with perhaps 20-100 copies surviving. The over-the-top cover contributes to the book’s fame, particularly because it has nothing to do with the contents. Pre-Code crime comics from Hillman, possibly printed to clear out a backlog before the publisher ended its comics lineup a few months later. » [ source ]

– RG

Hallowe’en Countdown III, Day 6

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« Spine-chilling tales of suspense, horror, and the supernatural—prepare yourself for Adventures into the Unknown! »

This American Comics Group (ACG) entry is generally considered the first title fully committed to the supernatural genre in the history of US comics. And this arresting, Isle of the Dead-styled tableau graces the cover of the title’s second issue (December, 1948). Art by Edvard Moritz. Most of the stories were scripted by horror legend and H.P. Lovecraft disciple Frank Belknap Long (read his The Hounds of Tindalos and forfeit your soul!) Speaking of which, the entire issue’s contingent of chills and thrills is available right here for your pleasure and leisure.

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This is Adventures Into the Unknown! no. 2 (Dec. 1948 – Jan. 1949, ACG).

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As I was saying, Arnold Böcklin‘s Isle of the Dead painting, in its original version… of several.

This painting also inspired a quite fine Val Lewton / Mark Robson / Boris Karloff motion picture bearing the same name (1945). Watch the trailer, why don’t you.

« Kill, puppets, Kill! » — Turgot, the Puppet Master, never one to mince words.

– RG