Number 1367: Three from Suspense

I've taken three stories from Suspense Comics, a title which lasted for 12 issues in the forties, because they remind me of old radio shows or B-movies. And why not? That’s what the people reading comic books were doing for entertainment in those days. (Those poor deprived citizens, with so few distractions in their daily lives. Unlike today, of course, where our whole lives seem lived for distractions. Ah. But I digress.)

The cover of this issue is by L. B. Cole. The stories are drawn by comic book journeymen John Giunta, George Appel, and Don Rico.

From Suspense Comics #6 (1944):

Earlier this year I showed a couple of stories from this issue by the fine artist/WPA muralist turned cartoonist, Louis Ferstadt. Click on the picture to see that posting:

Number 1281: Spook Comics

Spook Comics #1-and-only is one of those oddball one-shots that came out in the mid-'40s. It's credited to Baily Publishing, which would be Bernard Baily. Baily was co-creator, with Jerry Siegel, of The Spectre. He was a journeyman cartoonist and a longtime DC Comics contributor into the '60s. The Grand Comics Database lists only eight individual issues published by Baily, so it wasn’t like he was setting the world of comics on fire. Spook Comics cover featured Mr. Lucifer, credited by GCD to John Giunta, pencils, and a question mark after Frank Frazetta for inks.

I've decided to show all the stories from the comic because in its own weird way I like it. I like the unusual artwork for Mr. Lucifer in “Up Pops the Devil!”, which is well done, even if sabotaged by bad printing, I like that Gregory the Ghost doesn't fit any kind of popular conception of ghost that I know. I’m not as hot for Cheap Skate or Dr. Paul Barer, but I really like “The Obi Makes Jumbee,” which is a unusual take on the zombie story. The GCD credits it to Robert Baldwin, an artist with whom I’m not familiar.

I wonder how they did this comic...did they plan to make a series, or did they just have stories lying around that they put together for a one-shot? I also wondered the same about Tally-Ho Comics, another one-shot that followed the same pattern, also credited to Baily.

From Spook Comics #1 (1946):