Number 2183: The Dead and the Living and the Dead

As a reader of horror stories I have read many stories of dead people returning from their graves to be among the living. In EC Comics it was usually because the dead had been wronged and were back for revenge. In “The Dead,” from Atlas Comics’ Adventures Into Weird Worlds #26 (1954), deceased relatives come out of their graves for an unknown purpose. Maybe they simply want a family reunion, but since they didn’t bring the potato salad the still-living family members are none too happy to see them. Dick Ayers did the artwork, working around an unwieldy script.  Too many words. A good editor would have cut the verbiage down by at least 50% or even more.

“The Living and the Dead” is a supernatural story about a writer for the very comics carrying the same type of horror stories we are reading today. This story is from Mystic #26, 1954. Writer and artist unknown. I have heard that horror stories often articulate unspoken fears. I had a lot of fears when young: ghosts, monsters in the closet...all the usual scary stuff kids worry about. Little did I know that when we become adults there are a lot more fears to worry about: earning a living, mortgages, car payments, raising children...I was more terrified by them than by any dead people

Number 993


Don't make a spectacle of yourself


In our two stories today spectacles, meaning eyeglasses and not exhibitionist behavior, play a major part. They are similar, both from Atlas horror comics: "Spectacles of Doom" by Bill Everett and "The Last Look" by Robert Q. Sale. "Last Look" I showed a few years ago, but have re-scanned it for you.

Bill Everett had some fun with "Spectacles of Doom," drawing some very funny characters. I love Everett mixing cartoon exaggeration into his art. Robert Q. Sale was another veteran comic book artist, who at one time shared studio space with Harvey Kurtzman, Will Elder and John Severin. He also mixed in some comic exaggeration--check out his graveyard dead on the last page, with their lolling tongues, or the cucumber-nose baby--and gave a nod to Kurtzman with panel four of page four, which is an homage to "Smilin' Melvin" by Wally Wood from Mad #7.

From Marvel Tales #94, 1949:






From Mystic #31, 1954:

Number 945


Check and double-Check


Compared to many of the journeymen comic book artists I feature in Pappy's, Sid Check did relatively few stories during his career. He did a reasonable imitation of the better known Wally Wood, some stories looking better than others. He even found his way into EC comics as a freelancer with a couple of memorable stories.

Here are two stories of Check's that I have on file: "The Werewolf's Victims" I showed long ago, but I have re-scanned it so the pages are actually readable. It's from Atlas Comics' Mystic #31, 1954. "Death Sentence" is a story I have both in the printed version from Harvey's Tomb Of Terror #14, also from 1954, and these scans of the original art I took a few years ago from the Heritage Auctions site. It's the originals I've chosen to show you today.

More Check stories can be found, posted by Mr. Door Tree in his Golden Age Comic Book Stories blog, here.

Number 446


To know the secret of the Black Dungeon is to die...


"Black Dungeon" is from 1951, Mystic #2. The Atlas site, www.atlastales.com, says the artist is Mike Sekowsky.

I owned Mystic #2 until about 2000 when I sold it on eBay. Ever do that? Sell something and immediately kick yourself for doing it? I've done it too many times. My bum is sore from those self-kicks. I felt lucky to find the story in one of the Marvel reprint books of the '70s, Beware #8, 1974.

I like the splash panel, although it doesn't have anything to do with the story, nor does the original 1951 cover, but in its own right the story is pretty good.