"The Neat Trick"

We've been looking at old time stage magic over at AEET this month HERE, so how about we bring a little bit of the 'ol slight of head-- errr, HAND-- over here to THOIA as well, eh? This is a fun, Atlas quickie from the June 1952 issue of Journey into Unknown Worlds #11, with Harry Lazarus and George Klein teaming up on art duties... and fyi: there's nothing up my sleeve (or inside my collar), but we might just lose our heads in the next post as well, so stay tombed for that coming up next-- I swear, it's gonna be a seriously wild weekend Double Header that you know you won't wanna miss out on!

Dark Journey! / The Phantom Bus

POST UPDATE: I had a busy week (actually "traumatizing" might be a better word for it) and forgot that I had planned to make this a "dark journey" double feature, --so here's the other story I absent-mindedly left out: "The Phantom Bus" from the September 1952 issue of The Unseen #6. We repo'd this one in the July 2015 issue of Haunted Horror #18, but it somehow never made its way here to THOIA, despite being one of my George Roussos favorites. I also included a ghostly half-pager from the same issue, which may have already been posted here somewhere over the years, I fergit. And of course, from the July-August 1953 issue of Skeleton Hand #6, comes a creepy tale of witchcraft and time travel gone oh-so horribly wrong. And to be honest, that's exactly the way I like it. I also dig that this one feels more like an ironically humorous Atlas quickie, and less the typical ACG happy ending that we've seen around here so many times before. 

Lair of the Spidery Fiend

As if our last tale wasn't crazy enough, here's another one from the same May 1953 issue of The Beyond #20. Seriously, Lair of the Spidery Fiend packs more into one standard length, 7-page Ace story than most comics these days can muster in a half dozen issues altogether! Some truly bonkers artwork from Dick Beck and George Klein as well! See what you think...

Vampire Castle!

Ready for another exploration into the ACG realm of the supernatural? Well, here's a bat shit crazy bloodsucker tale from the July 1953 issue of Forbidden Worlds #19, highlighted by some nice art from Frank Beck and George Klein... and keep your eyes peeled for the Bavarian shark moat?!

Allie's End

Sometimes a person can enter your life and fill that big empty hole with something glowing and forever special... sometimes they enter your life and leave something else. From the Feb-Mar '54 issue of Out of the Night #13.

The Thing With the Golden Hair!

Lurking behind a rather tame sounding title comes a surprisingly eerie jungle terror tale of evil from beyond the stars, illustrated by Sheldon Moldoff. Plus, the usual vintage ad, and a neat little George Klein bonus quickie, all from the March 1954 issue of Forbidden Worlds #27.

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Vintage Ad

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Spooky Bonus Quickie

Tour of Horror / Rivals unto Death!

TGIF peeps, and what a week! So let's top it all off today with two ACG tales for the price of one. Both of these shock spookers come from the May 1954 issue of Forbidden Worlds #29. Our first atmospheric story, Tour of Horror, is by Al Camy and George Klein, while our shorter, second tale, Rivals unto Death, is a nice bit o' great Bob Forgione filler.

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