Number 2136: Horror story

We are kicking off December with a horror story called simply “Horror Story,” from Atlas’ Spellbound #2 (1951).

“Horror Story” is creepy, with that Bill Everett touch; just a bit of cartoony in with his depiction of monstrous villainy. It is not a real story about the real world of horror comics, but is fun because it might have made the readers of the time think it reflected the everyday life in the production of comic books. At least until the editor got to the cemetery.

Here are a couple of my favorite Everett horror stories, originally posted in 2011. Just click on the thumbnail.

The visual punchline

These three 4-page shorties all appeared originally in Atlas’ Spellbound #13 (1953). I scanned them from the reprint comic, Vault of Evil #10 (1974). While published in a horror comic, these are clearly not typical horror. They are more like vignettes, story fragments, setting up punchlines. I don’t call them shock or surprise endings, because with the exception of “The Death of a Puppet,” drawn by Jim Mooney, the stories seem jokey. Stan Lee’s contribution, “The Pitchman,” about a con man selling the Brooklyn Bridge, sounds like an urban legend (and makes me wonder if I have seen it before, in another form). It is drawn by Bob Brown. “Let’s Face It” has a punchline based on the story’s title. The GCD guesses the pencils are by Joe Orlando, and the inks by Jack Abel.

Here’s another story set up to have a visual punchline, from a Harvey pre-Code horror comic. We travel back to 2007 for this one.