Number 2446: The horrors of the Web of Evil

Pappy's First Law of Horror Comics: “The main character shall be as unpleasant and irredeemable as possible.”

Web of Evil was a horror comic from Quality Comics. It lasted 21 issues from 1951-1954. It follows the usual plots of horror comics, making the bad guys truly evil, and the victims sometimes not much better. In each of the four stories in this issue Pappy’s First Law is observed. In the first story the irredeemable bad guy is the last of a family who were evil slave owners. The ghosts of the slaves, along with their giant alligator are there to wreak vengeance.

The second story looks to be inspired by Tod Browning’s infamous Freaks, a controversial horror film from 1932. The other two stories, including the third, drawn (or at least penciled) by Jack Cole and the final tale, both fit into the First Law category. The Grand Comics Database lists no credits for the non-Cole stories.

From Web of Evil #1 (1952):

Number 1517: Giant zombie and dead husband walking

I like these two pre-Code horror stories for various reasons. The first, “Was He Dead?” from Avon’s Eerie #3 (1951), is a murdered-spouse-returns-from-the-dead story. In a few days I will show a Graham Ingels story where I will expound further on this theme, but for now suffice it to say this is a not-untypical example of that type of horror comic story, with nice yet derivative art by Moe Marcus and Rocke Mastroserio. It’s derivative in that some panels are borrowed from the style of Johnny Craig and Craig’s dripping sweat, as well as some inking inspired by Wallace Wood. A big plus is it’s got a bikini-clad babe!

“The Walking Dead” appeared in Web of Evil #12 (1954), and the artist is unidentified. You’ll recognize immediately that it is a zombie story with a borrowed twist: the zombie is a giant because the story is inspired by King Kong. That classic movie was re-released to theaters in 1952 and was a big box office success all over again, so it was aped (ho-ho) by several comic book scripters. (See the link below today’s two stories.)

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More on the 1952 King Kong re-release in this posting from nearly two years ago: