Number 182


Sex and Skeletons Part 5


Ah, the things I do for you guys, looking through all of these skeleton covers so I can give you a few moments of pleasure. Well, it's a chore I enjoy. ::he said, giving his Crypt Keeper cackle:: I've explained how publishers used images of sex and death — like that's a big surprise — to sell their products, and comic books of the '50s were no different.

Eerie was published by Avon, and Eerie Adventures by Ziff-Davis. More than one cover of Eerie used the same girl in the same stance, looking at some horrific sight, like an approaching skeleton. It might have been some sort of inside joke. Why repeat the motif? Another mystery from the horror comics of the 1950s.

Secret Diary Of Eerie would have been one of those one-shot rebound editions of three unsold copies of regular issues squarebound in a new cover. A way of recycling that produced some interesting giant comics.

The cover to Eerie Adventures is painted by illustrator Allen Anderson. The beautiful girl in the foreground, giving much the same pose as the girl on the Eerie covers, is actress Jean Dawyot, who Anderson used for multiple covers, including pulps like Planet Stories. An article on Anderson in the excellent magazine, Illustrator #18, has several of Anderson's covers reproduced, including his Ziff-Davis covers; Dawyot is in most of them. 

Eerie and Eerie Adventures were mentioned in the infamous Seduction Of The Innocent by Fredric Wertham, M.D. It was about Avon suing Ziff-Davis for using the word "Eerie" on their covers. Wertham thought the judge should've throw in his opinions on the contents, but the fact that the judgment was solely on unfair competition and infringement didn't occur to the good doctor. What the judge ruled was that Eerie Adventures had to make the word "Eerie" smaller. I guess Wertham thought the judge should have torn them to pieces or burned the books in front of the court.

Number 178


Sex and Skeletons Part 4


Haunted Thrills, published by Farrell, a publisher which hung around the periphery of comics even after the Comics Code was instituted, had a nice selection of skeletons and skulls on its horror comics covers. Some symbolic, some representational.

I especially like the taxi driver cover on issue #15. I'll bet jouncing over bumpy roads with this guy gave new meaning to bone-rattling. When he jawboned with the passengers, he really jawed.

I've also included a copy of Canadian publisher Superior's Strange Mysteries #15. Not only does it have a big symbolic skull, it's got bony hands reaching for a girl with a Bettie Page hairdo, a red dress, and some of the worst looking and un-sexiest sandals I've ever seen.

Number 171


Sex and Skeletons Part 3: Don't Look Behind You!


Remember when you were a kid and had to get up at night? I remember those nights, having to walk to the bathroom in the dark, with the floor creaking, the wind outside moaning, tree branches tapping the windows. Tap, tap, tap. What was really a walk of a few yards in my safe, suburban house, became a midnight walk past a lonely graveyard.

"There's nothing behind me," I'd tell myself. "Mom and Dad are in the other room. If I need to I can holler for help…" I just knew if I turned my head even the slightest I'd see that I was being closely followed by a monster or a ghost or…choke!…a skeleton!

I'd do what needed doing, then walk as fast as possible back to my room, get into my bed, throw the covers over my head, all without turning so I wouldn't see a grinning rack of bones looming over me.

The folks on these covers should probably not turn their heads either. If you don't turn around, the skeleton will just go away. At least that's what I told myself. But then, I didn't test whether it was true or not by actually turning my head and peeking…