Number 1254: Horrors! It's Halloween!

Today is Halloween, and my one bag of jelly beans is ready to parcel out to the trick or treaters, one jelly bean at a time. I found the jelly beans in a drawer in the basement, so they are several years old. When I poured them into a bowl I noticed some of them were moldy. Nice guy that I am I picked out the worst of them. But my eyes, fried from sitting in front of a computer monitor all day, probably didn't detect them all. So, kids, c'mon over to Pappy's...and take your chances. Oh, yeah...I will put in one jelly bean per trick or treat bag. It's my way of fighting the childhood obesity epidemic. Gad — speaking of vision problems — I'm blinded by the glow from my own altruism and public spirit!

Here are two stories that are oldies, but unlike the jelly beans, not moldies. They’re original art from Vault of Horror. They show the artists, Ghastly Graham Ingels and Jack Davis, at the very top of their profession. I've complained about text-heavy comic books before, and that's true of these stories. They're very wordy. But the artwork...gasp! Choke! Good Lord!

“We Ain't Got No Body!” is from Vault of Horror #28, and “Tombs-Day” appeared in Vault of Horror #35. The scans were made by Heritage Auctions, and it was from their website that I shamelessly lifted them. I give all the credit to them for the sharp scans.

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This would be a good time to echo what my friend Chuck Wells at Comic Book Catacombs has recommended, the first issue of Craig Yoe's and Steve “Karswell” Banes' Haunted Horror. I'm doing this sight unseen, because I respect both those guys, and know first hand the quality they are known for.

Buy it!

Number 1253: Journey into Halloween fear!

As I mentioned yesterday, Wednesday is Halloween, and despite being the Ebeneezer Scrooge of Halloween, I feel obligated to show some Halloween stories. But obligated is the wrong word. I love horror stories, I'm just not thrilled about Halloween. It's the kids you know...the kids who come to the door and yell “Trick or Treat!” and make Ebeneezer Pappy get off the comfy couch, from which I’ll be watching some old horror movie on TV, no doubt.

I also told you yesterday I found a long-forgotten bag of jelly beans in a drawer. I will give them out to the kids. I opened the bag and poured them into a bowl to keep by the front door. I sampled one of the j.b.'s and it was a bit hard. I nearly broke a tooth. I'll have to issue a disclaimer when I put them in the kids' trick or treat bags. “Make sure you suck on these jelly beans for a half hour or so before biting into them, kiddies! Heh-heh. And don't send me a dentist's bill!”

So what have we for our fear-fare today? We have two stories I've showed before, way back when in the early days of this blog. They're both from the Canadian publisher, Superior Comics, which got their pre-packaged material from the Jerry Iger Studios. Iger had some demented people writing and drawing terror tales in those days. 

Hey, you know what's funny? Halloween candy may rot your teeth, but horror stories like these will definitely rot your brain!

From  Journey Into Fear #19 (1954):

Number 1252: Two Halloween horrors!

Halloween is Wednesday...and that means the little neighborhood beggers will be coming to the door for their tricks and their treats. I found a bag of forgotten jelly beans placed in a drawer a few years ago. The kids will have to settle for fifteen-year-old candy from Pappy!

I have two Fawcett horror stories to celebrate Halloween. First up, “The Thing From the Lake,” from Strange Stories from Another World #3 (1952). It's a tale of a castle, greed, and a slippery, slimy corpse using psychological torture as revenge. The sharp black-line artwork is from a downloaded version of the story done up as an online collection called Fawcett Classic Horror #2. Some good person (and thanks to him!) probably got the stories from UK or Australian comics, which printed them sans color.

Next up, from Beware! Terror Tales #5 (1953), a tale of a cursed clock, “Horrors of the 13th Stroke.” The Grand Comics Database lists ? as the artist on this tale. Karswell of The Horrors of It All showed his scans of the story almost four years ago, in January 2009, so I feel it's time (get it? Clock? Time?) to see it again. As a bonus, the nifty cover from the issue is drawn by Bernard Baily, who did some great horror covers of the pre-Code era.