Cagliostro Cursed Thee

I know that some of you are still trying to catch-up with our previous April Fool's Day post, but I wanted to get in this goofy great tale from Fiction House's "The Ghost Gallery", aka the September 1952 issue of Jumbo Comics #163 --you know, for a long awaited Werewolfery Wednesdayery installment, 'natch! Packed with loads of luridly beautiful Bob Webb artwork, this time our lycanthropy problem feels a bit weirder than usual, and when the wild mad science angle finally runs amok in the final pages, you'll be wondering when Santo or the Blue Demon will bust through the walls to save the B-movie day. Fantastic cover illustration as well, we even have a freaky lookin' Gomez-esque doctor that certainly seems inspired by the famous Charles Addams character. So fire up the serpent skull incense burner and dive into one heckuva chaotic monster mish-mashin' spook-a-rama!

Going - Going - Real Gone!

Okay now, we've been doing "April Fools" around here since 2007, so at this point in the blahhguh game there's really no point anymore in me, errrr, I mean Mr. Karswell, trying to pull a fast one over you guys! Instead, we'll just take a look at another fun MAD magazine wannabe yarn featuring some silly supernatural spirits (including a funky Frankenstein's Monster, boney 'ol Death, a headless Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Horseman, and a super stoned Casper clone midget), doing their absolute worst at scarin' a buncha haunted house invadin', hip cat college kids and their fast yappin', jump ' n jive nonsense. It's kooks 'n spooks a'plenty, and it's from the Fall 1954 issue of Madhouse #4, with art likely by those krazy be-boppin' Iger Shop kool kats. Ya dig?

The Flying Dutchman

Time to end the month with one more weird war tale from the pulse-pounding pages of Fiction House's Wings Comics, our spotlight series for March 2025 (check the archive if you missed any.) And though I typically tend to fly clear of stories created in a sort of historically factual, narrative style as this one, I do find the highly efficient story-telling and surprisingly chilling final panel to be very worthy of a THOIA post. Hope everyone enjoyed this month of high-flyin', hair raisin' hits from above, stay tombed in April for more hits coming up from below! From the November 1941 issue of Wings Comics #15.

Better Tombs and Graveyards

In the late 50's, Pierce Publishing attempted to cash in on the MAD Magazine craze, frantically cranking out 5 issues of nicely illustrated comedy madness before calling it quits, --but not before assembling this silly monster mash spoof of Better Homes and Gardens for the April 1959 issue of Frantic! V2 #2.

Strange Case of Henpecked Harry

While ACG is credited in creating the very first horror comic book series with Adventures into the Unknown in 1948, Avon actually beat them by one year with the first full horror comic issue one-shot with Eerie Comics #1 (1947.) Some top-notch artists joined in for the creation of this landmark title, like legendary Joe Kubert, the great George Roussos, as well as Bob Fujitani (who also illustrated that superb cover, see below!) We're actually going to take a look at the frighteningly funny Fred Kida tale today though, where his unique, organic style, and cinematic staging / character posing was really beginning to take sensational shape. And to anyone who doesn't think that you can be titillated by a woman falling on some train tracks, well, I present one seriously gorgeous splash page, as well as a couple of panels on page 6 that will absolutely convince you otherwise! "OH-HHH!"

The Thin Ones of Skeleton Island

We've been randomly looking at the spookier sides of Fiction House's wild, WINGS COMICS war series throughout the month of March, and this Suicide Smith (and the Air Commanders) on a cursed island entry from the February 1948 issue of Wings Comics #90 fits our THOIA bill nicely. Smith was one of the longest running back-up characters from this series, and today's post features great art by precode fan fave, John Celardo too, loadin' every page with fast paced adventure, a few tricky horror overtones, plus gorgeously illustrated ladies to really spice up the action. Also, if you ever wondered what the silhouette of a bad guy getting smooshed by a giant boulder looks like, well then --you came to the right island!

Death Ship

The highly unlikely, artistic credit guess in our previous post HERE sent me on quest to find an actual story containing actual art by joltin' Jay Disbrow. And I believe I found a good one, (well, good for me anyway because I love tragically unhappy endings!) --this time from the March 1954 issue of Ghostly Weird Stories #122. Please scroll down and compare the two posts. You will immediately notice that there is, in fact, no comparison. Disbrow has a very distinct style (especially with faces, as one example), which is absolutely non-existent in the "Revenge!" story. But enough complaining, prepare to blast-off into the brutal reality of scary space with this sizzlin' Star Publications, sci-fi screamer, complete with an extra awesome, blacklight poster-esque L.B. Cole cover. (Don't forget the Kleenex, you whiners!)