Number 2232: Revenge of murdered men

When Fawcett quit the comic book business in 1953 the Captain Marvel universe disappeared for two decades until DC picked it up, and some of their non-Captain Marvel comic book line went to Charlton. That includes a horror title, This Magazine is Haunted. Before the Comics Code was implemented Charlton was able to use unpublished inventory from Fawcett, and also material which had been published, but could be reprinted. Two horror stories today have similar themes. Both of them are about guys who commit murder, and the dead come back to wreak revenge. That is Horror Comics 101; one of the most basic plots of all.

I am not sure if they were written to appear in the same issue, but they both appear in This Magazine is Haunted #15 (1954, Charlton). They are drawn by the same artist, Bob McCarty. (McCarty’s name is sometimes written as McCarthy.) McCarty’s artwork is usually identified by the eyes he drew, which are sometimes confused with distinctive eyes that George Evans drew; but where Evans’s style is slick and unique to him, McCarty’s can sometimes (as in these stories) look cobbled together from different artists’ styles. McCarty worked for the Simon and Kirby studio, and drew various features for comics until at least the mid-fifties. He looks to me to be another comic book journeyman whose work in those days was mostly anonymous.

Number 1777: Vampire dominatrix rides a dragon...see it by going through “The Door”

This story, from Fawcett’s This Magazine Is Haunted (#12, 1953), is an origin story, of sorts. The artwork is credited by the Grand Comics Database to Bud Thompson, a journeyman artist who also did Captain Marvel Jr for Fawcett.

Number 1044


The Green Hands of Horrorween


It's Halloween today. If the past is any indication, the kids who show up at my door this evening will probably be dressed like princesses or ballerinas and the boys in whatever is popular today. (What is popular today? Transformers?) What fun is that? Where are the witches, the skeletons, the ghouls, besides the U.S. House of Representatives?

Ah well. At least I carry on the tradition of presenting horror stories on Halloween I'm showing a couple of cool tales from the Fawcett vaults of the early 1950s. First up is "The Green Hands of Terror" from This Magazine Is Haunted #2, which readers saw when they got past the cover by Sheldon Moldoff:

"Green Hands" was drawn by George Evans, who as usual did a beautiful job making material that could have looked just silly into creepy. He went on to EC Comics and proved he could draw anything they asked him to.

(Note: you aren't imagining things: the colorist screwed up and colored an extra arm green in the splash panel.)













The second story, "The Resurrected Head," is from World Of Fear #4. The Grand Comics Database doesn't list an artist. The story gives me something of the vibe of Re-Animator, the classic '80s film where a headless scientist gives head!

Number 953


The Thing that Haunted Dick Ayers


I don't have to explain Dick Ayers to anyone, do I? Dick Ayers, who made his debut in comic books in 1948, who has worked for just about every comic book publisher in the business, and who has drawn almost every genre?

These three strips, all published by Charlton, are from, respectively, The Thing numbers 16 and 17, and This Magazine Is Haunted #20 (a title Charlton took over from Fawcett when Fawcett stopped publishing comics in 1953), all from 1954. The Thing #16 has been erroneously called a Seduction Of the Innocent title, when in fact it didn't show up in Fredric Wertham's famous anti-comics screed. The Thing #16 was published after SOTI was released. The gory panel at the top of this post was used to illustrate an article about the formation of the Comics Code in the November 8, 1954, issue of Time, and that may have led to some confusion with SOTI.

Ayers' horror comics work was excellent. In this pre-Code era Ayers usually worked with Ernie Bache as his assistant, and all three of these stories feature Ayers' own distinctive lettering. I have shown "Nothing He Couldn't Do" before, but as with other strips I've re-presented recently, these are new scans.