Hearts and Horror TOMB OF TERROR "Rift of the Maggis" / HORROR TALES "Gift of Horror"

We've presented the classic O Henry story "Gift of the Magi" several times at True Love Comics Tales...

...but this version from Harvey's Tomb of Terror #11 (1953) ain't the heartwarming tale of eternal love!

Written and illustrated by the highly-underrated Howard Nostrand,  it has a kool EC Comics vibe thanks to artist Howard's stylistic similarity to Jack Davis!

Due to the restrictions of the Comics Code, the story couldn't be reprinted without partially-rewriting and totally-redrawing it!

So, Eerie Publications  handed it to artist Oscar Fraga with the script reused...verbatim in Horror Tales V7N1 (1975)!

Note: b/w magazines weren't covered by the Comics Code, so Oscar could have gone even gorier...

Happy Valentine's Day!

INVASION! A Twice-Told Tale!

One of the best-known "Invasion from Mars" tales is Orson Welles' 1938 War of the Worlds radio show...

Edited version

...which this twice-told tale "updates" to the television era!

But, it's radically-altered from it's first appearance, and that the original version had never been reprinted!

Here's a page-by-page comparison!
First the toned-down version, then the original, scarier version...

Original version

 Note in the original version, both the wife and singer on tv show a lot more cleavage!

Edited version

Original version

Again, more cleavage in the original version...

Edited version

Original version

Oddly enough, the wife's cleavage is unchanged, but the look of terror in the last panel is toned down!

Edited version

Original version

Panel four in the original version is much more gruesome than the edited version.  Note the dialogue balloon is unchanged, even though there's no actual weapons fire in the edited version!

Edited version

 This last page is radically-different! Prepare yourself!

Ready?

Proceed...but remember, I warned you...

Original version

Wow!

The edited pages were from Harvey's Race for the Moon #1 (1958), which was reprinted in Harvey's Shocking Tales Digest #1 (1981)

The original, never-reprinted (in that form) story was from Harvey's Witches' Tales #21 (1953)

As you can see, the Comics Code Authority insisted on some major redos, including most of the last page!

What do you think, fans?

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