CountDown to Halloween 2024 HORRIFIC "Jack the Ripper" aka WEIRD TERROR "Killing Spree" aka TERROR TALES "Ghoulish Feast"

Wait!

Doesn't the header read "Horrific"???

Yes, it does, but the story's first appearance, in Comic Media's Horrific #6 (1953) wasn't cover-featured...and the reprint in Comic Media's Weird Terror #13 (1954) was, with this kool Don Heck art!

Now, on with the tale...

Illustrated by Marty Elkin, this tale was reprinted in Weird Terror with a modified, retitled splash panel...

..but the rest of the story was unaltered!
In 1970, Eerie Publications took the script and had artist Antonio Reynoso redraw it!

If you're a horror literature aficionado, you might recognize the story as an unauthorized adaptation of the legendary Robert (Psycho) Bloch's story "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper", which was first published in the pulp magazine Weird Tales in 1943!

We'll be running the official comic adaptation, published in 1972, in November...

Join us next week as we present another tale your grandparents didn't want your parents to see!

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The Great Comic Book Scare and How It Changed America

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CountDown to Halloween 2024 HORRIFIC "Blood Lust"

Comic Media's primary horror-host, The Teller, passes narrating duties to Victor Vampire... 

...and it's not just because this is a tale about blood-sucking!

Yes, it's another host's origin story, illustrated by Marty Elkin, from Comic Media's Horrific #12 (1952)!

Trivia:

It's never been reprinted or reworked, as a number of other Horrific and Weird Terror stories have been!
The writer's identity has been lost to the mists of time, due to the disappearance of the records of the long-defunct company!

Join us next week as we present another tale your grandparents didn't want your parents to see!

Support Horror Comics of the 1950s

Visit Amazon and Order...

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The Great Comic Book Scare and How It Changed America

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CountDown to Halloween 2024 HORRIFIC "Hating Corpse" aka WEIRD TERROR "Double Murder" aka HORROR TALES "Corpse That Lives!"

Sometimes a title just doesn't do the story justice...

...as this terror-tale from Comic Media's Horrific #4 (1953) aptly demonstrates!

When it was reprinted in the same publisher's Weird Terror #13 (1954), the title and opening caption text were altered...

...but nothing else (except the coloring, which was a normal matter in reprints) was changed!

The original creatives are unknown.

Because the Comics Code Authority had strict rules about gore and horror content, it couldn't be reprinted in comic books between 1954 and 1971.
So it was redrawn by Oscar Stepancich, using the exact same script, for Eerie Publications' b/w magazine Horror Tales #V4N7 (1969).

Which version do you prefer?

Join us next week as we present another tale your grandparents didn't want your parents to see!

Support Horror Comics of the 1950s

Visit Amazon and Order...

Ten-Cent Plague

The Great Comic Book Scare and How It Changed America

Paid Link

CountDown to Halloween 2024 HORRIFIC "The Teller!"

A 1950s horror comic just wasn't complete without a host...

...so here's a slew of the crew from Comic Media horror titles Weird Terror and Horrific (our focus for this year's Countdown to Halloween blogathon), along with their ringleader, the debonair Teller (no relation to legendary Las Vegas-based magician Penn's silent partner)!

How many horror hosts narrate their own origin story?

While the writer for this never-reprinted scare-story from Comic Media's Horrific #8 (1953) is unknown, the art is by the extremely-underrated Don Heck, who did some of his best work for Comic Media's twin terror-titles Horrific and Weird Terror!
He would later be one of the primary illustrators in the Silver Age of Comics working on extended runs of such Marvel series as Iron Man, Ant-Man/Giant-Man and the Wasp, Avengers, Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, and X-Men!

Join us next week as we present another tale your grandparents didn't want your parents to see!

And Have a look at the other Countdown to Halloween 2024 Participants
HERE!

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!