A Vampire is Born

We spent the first half of May in bloodthirsty Beware mode, so time now to switch it over to something darker and more mysteriously batty with another vampire bit, errr, HIT from the March - April 1953 issue of Dark Mysteries #11. And hey, it's also time to learn something new about how a bloodsucker even comes to be... I think you'll all be verrrrry interested!

The Vampire Puppet

After a quick skim through the pertrifyin' possessed puppet archive of THOIA's past posts (there are a lot more puppet stories than I thought!), I'm fairly confident I've never uploaded anything about one that drinks blood. So here we go, The Vampire Puppet fills not one, but two requests that came in this week, one for something puppetty, and one for the weirdest vampire story I've read in awhile. And both requests came from my friend Chris, who also admitted that he's not a fan of puppets or vampire stories. This tale on the other hand, came from the May - June 1952 issue of Witchcraft #2. And despite the nice art from Ed Goldfarb throughout, plus that iconic precode cover by Gene Fawcette, I'm sure Chris will still hate it...

Deadly Doodles of Dandy

Hear that grinding noise? Is that the monolithic mills of the Gods slowly turning, or is it just Mr. Karswell uploading the final post of September 2024? Could be one, or both, and with a silly title like "Deadly Doodles of Dandy" you may just find that this Goldfarb and Baer terror team-up isn't quite as cornball as ya'd think! From the very short-lived, second and final issue of Fantastic #9, via Youthful in April of 1952.

Vampire Fangs (of Doom)

We've had a pretty full month of monsters this March: mummies, martians, ghosts, mannequins-- so howz'about we throw a vampire into the murderous mix too, shall we? Okay, now the Wood / Orlando cover of the August - September 1951 issue of Dark Mysteries #2 actually says "Vampire Fangs of Doom", but the story inside is simply called "Vampire Fangs." No worries though, the story itself still contains plenty of fangtastic doom --whichever way you sink your teeth into it! And after the story, head over to AEET where another lurid old vampire theme appears to be lurking around...

Two Heads Are Better Than One

Many people have referred to the horror comics of the 50's as "disposal entertainment", and maybe that's true, but occasionally precode comics also offered invaluable information over the years as well-- like in this story from the May 1953 issue of Fight Against Crime #13. Did you know that the apparent old Chinese custom of burying fish heads in your garden helps to create wonderful fertilizer? Now you do. And if you've also read the title of todays post, then you probably already know exactly where this smarty written, predictably awesome crime creeper is (be)headed!

The Shrunken Heads of Dr. Death

Another wild one from the March 1954 issue of Web of Evil #12, and it's a viciously violent, wonderfully kooky expedition into the jungle of terror-- PLUS, a rather downbeat ending untypical of this type of horror comic tale, best grab a hanky.

The Empty Coffin / The Madman

My plan is to keep you all spellbound for the month of April here at THOIA, so lets dive into another great issue of terror tales, and this time we'll kick things off with a deadly double feature from the January 1953 issue of Spellbound #11. And wait a sec, didn't we just have a story called "The Madman" last month?! We sure did, but here's another one because as mentioned before, Stan LOVED recycling story titles. Another thing these two tales have in common: unwitting saps who somehow failed to see the much bigger, much more petrifying picture. And don't scream too loudly over that scary Sol Brodsky cover illustration either-- EEEEK!!!