Number 1411: Horror by three

Craig Yoe has an interesting Facebook page devoted to horror comics. Although I love them, I don’t show a lot of horror comics. Steve “Karswell” Banes in his Horrors Of It All blog does such an excellent job that I try to think of another angle when I do show horror.

So here it is. Three horror stories, slightly different than you might expect. First up, “Weird Tales” from Quality’s Hit Comics #1, which some claim is actually the first comic book horror story, done in 1940. I’m not sure of that, but I’m not ruling it out, either. Something that seems horrible to me is that the artist couldn’t keep the Old Witch’s look consistent on the first page. It also distinguishes itself by the most tepid horrors I’ve ever seen when the hotel “guest” peers through the keyhole at the phantasms haunting the inn. It’s historic, though, if we believe it’s really the first of its genre, so I’m including it.

Superior Comics of Canada published some great horror comics, but the printing was often terrible. The contents of the books were supplied by the Jerry Iger comic shop, and judging by the original artwork for “Here’s to Horror!” from Journey Into Fear #18 (1954), the artists who worked the story did a good job despite knowing how it would look once it came off the presses. A dialog paste-over on page has fallen off, so I’m including the panel from the printed comic where you can see it covered up the girl walking her dog. The artist(s) need not have gone to the trouble to provide an interesting background. Oh, and lead character, the crooner, Lanny, has a condition called spasmodic dysphonia, called “spastic throat” by the doctor in the story.

The scans came from the Heritage Auctions website. Thank you, HA!

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Finally, I found this horror story of the living dead in an unlikely place, a comic book about Native Americans called Redskin #9 (1952). (That word is now considered a racial pejorative; my apologies to those offended.) When horror comics got popular then horrors started showing up in comics of other genres. The cover of this issue, though, has no indication that upon reading the book zombies will be encountered. The artwork is by Edwin Goldfarb and Bob Baer, a team who drew reams of crime and horror comics during this period.

Cat! / Immortality Factor

Another Red Circle Comics Group double feature post today, this time a showcase example of Gray Morrow's talents as both writer and artist... from the stunning cover to all 4 stories in the Oct '73 issue of Chilling Adventures in Sorcery #3 (writer credits for the Essays into the Supernatural one-page bonus go to Phil Sueling), Morrow did pretty much everything else in this issue himself. And it's wonderfully detailed work too, I might add-- the first story "Cat!" stars Barbara Steele, purrfectly cast in the seductive lead, while "Immortality Factory" features photo reference panels of Boris Karloff at his typically sinister, mad doctor best.

Number 1410: Baby Face, you've got the deadest little baby face...

Lester Gillis, AKA Baby Face Nelson, died after a shootout with FBI agents in November, 1934. I heard the story of Baby Face early in my life from my father. It helped form my fascination with the early ’30s motor-gangsters who robbed banks and ran wild. The best account I’ve read of this lawless era is Public Enemies by Bryan Burrough. The book was made into a movie but focused mostly on John Dillinger (and got a lot of details wrong, including Baby Face’s death).

This particular version of the death of Baby Face, drawn by Jack Kirby for Headline Comics #23 (1947), is also loose with the details, editing the story considerably. But the thing that makes this particular crime comic so desirable is it is all Simon and Kirby, full of action, guns and gangsters,

You Can Learn A Lot From Comics!

Gotta love this, from Gold Key's "Peoples of Africa" #17, the East Indians:

"Some" of the "young" girls are very beautiful?  Yeesh!  One supposes that the older gals are quite homely.

And from the People of Australia #4, the Trail Drivers:

Blackfellow is apparently an obsolete and offensive slang term for an Australian aborigine.

Number 1409: Dragon Lady is no drag

Terry and the Pirates, a phenomenally popular strip, well written and drawn by Milton Caniff, was, like all newspaper features, disposable. Newspapers were thrown out after being read, or used to wrap fish. I’m sure there were people clipping and saving the strips day-by-day, but for the most part newspaper comics were one-and-done. That is, until comic books came along with an insatiable need for content. Then many popular newspaper comics, including Terry, got another life.

The Dragon Lady, one of the most popular characters, is introduced in this first issue of the Terry and the Pirates reprint series from Harvey Comics. (The comic says #3, but it was a continuation of Boy Explorers, which lasted only two issues). Although the Dragon Lady had been introduced in newspapers in 1934, the comic book was published in 1947, which gave it a huge new batch of readers who weren’t around when the original strips were published.

It was another era...China was a faraway place, a strange universe of its own, far from America of the 1930s. Stereotypes were used (Connie especially, although next to Chop Chop of the Blackhawks he seems almost acceptable). Despite being the title figure, Terry Lee was something of a secondary character next to his adult pal, Pat Ryan. Terry grew up later, but in these early strips he’s a callow youngster.