Number 1598: Ted’s head!

We are slipping out of June with a couple of stories from one of the first horror comics I ever owned. I got it in a trade circa 1959, and it has been in my collection since.

I have shown the Dick Briefer-drawn “Somewhere Lurks a Thing!” before, in the early days of this blog. These are new scans. “Ted’s Head” has art credited by the GCD to Larry Woromay ? by way of the Atlas Tales site. I think Larry did a pretty good job showing headless people without the gore. But it wouldn't have satisfied the Senate committee and their hearing on comics. They didn’t buy Bill Gaines’ decapitated head cover of Crime Suspenstories #22 as “being in good taste for a horror comic.” For the record, I think “Ted’s Head” is in good taste for a horror comic.

Number 923


Atlas animal antics


I had more fun than usual putting together this post. For over a year I have been wanting to use the Bob Powell story, "Talking Dog," from Marvel Tales #133, 1955. It was while going through some other Atlas post-Code comic books that I found a few more short-short stories where animals are prominent.





"Where Dinosaurs Dwell" is from another Marvel Tales, issue #143, from 1956. It's a time-travel story featuring a big green dinosaur. That would have gotten my attention when I was a kid, had I seen it. It's drawn by Bob Forgione and Jack Abel.





Strange Tales #66, from 1958, has yet another talking dog story, "Voice of Fido," drawn by Werner Roth. In this case the dog's voice is provided by the ventriloquist...or is it?



"The Flying Horse," drawn by Ed Winiarski, and scanned from Uncanny Tales #37, 1955, has a surprise last panel that actually surprised me.




Finally, an oddball tale by Howie Post (Spooky, Hot Stuff, etc.), telling a shaggy dog story in his shaggy drawing style. This is from Marvel Tales #131, 1955, the last pre-Comics Code issue of this title. Atlas was switching away from horror to more "acceptable" stories, but even so, the whipping wouldn't have made it past the blue noses at the new Comics Code. The characters are werewolves from the moon (!) Werewolves were also prohibited by the CCA, who was just no damn fun at all.