The Raven

It just wouldn't be October without an Edgar Allan Poe post, or in the very least, a Poe inspired tale of terror. So instead of giving you the same old beat of a Tell-Tale Heart, or yet another murder in some rue-ish morgue someplace sorrowful, let's flip open a few fun pages from the January 1943 issue of Pep Comics #35, where The Hangman (he's a super hero, by the way) tackles another bird brain bad guy who's seriously flown the coop! The dark, shadowy hospital setting is nicely realized by the ever bad ass illustrative mastery of Bob Fujitani, --there's just a lot of great action art and eerie faces, not to mention an absolute load of lurid thrills 'n chills! You've likely never seen Poe presented quite like this before here at THOIA, and fans of The Spirit, Dr. Drew, etc are sure to get a kick (and maybe a punch or two) outta this one! And of course, if you require much more legitimate presentations of Poe's works, CLICK HERE for lots rots more in our archive...

The Opener of the Crypt!

It's Lurid Lit 101 time again, and after our last post which weaved a rather wicked spin on a Shakespeare classic HERE, let's fulfill a recent request for not only mo' Edgar Allan Poe, but also for some Frank Brunner art! Now this is how you really weave together some legends-- and a fine addition to our recent look at illustrators who know their way around a scary skeleton drawing too! This is based on the John Jakes sequel to Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado", and originally appeared in the May 1973 issue of Chamber of Chills #4.

The Tell Tale Heart

Here we go with the last of the Edgar Allan Poe "Famous Tales of Terror" stories, and today's entry can originally be found in the December 1945 issue of Yellowjacket Comics #6. Ready for a shock? GCD credits the clunky art to a completely unrecognizable Rudy Palais. If this is indeed him, then he greatly improved stylistically in the next decade, like on a miraculous selling of his soul level. Like whoa...

The Fall of the House of Usher

Apologies for the delay, but I'm finally back up after a week of crummy internet connection. I was also attempting to dig up some better quality scans of this particular story (they're pretty small rez, still very readable though), as my usual / occasional donator hasn't been available, so we'll just have to make due with these "Famous Tales of Terror" images for now. From the December 1944 issue of Yellowjacket Comics #4, and starring Edgar Allan Poe himself even!

The Pit and the Pendulum

Continuing with the Edgar Allan Poe entries of "Famous Tales of Terror", this time around from the November 1944 issue of Yellowjacket Comics #3. There are a lot of nightmarishly fun visuals here, and hey, if you need help decorating for a Halloween party next year, be sure to refer back to this story...

The Black Cat!

We've been digging into these "Famous Tales of Terror" stories via Yellowjacket Comics, so we might as well knock out the few remaining entries as well for the next couple of posts. Consider this an early xmas present, because they're all Poe tales to boot! And we'll start it off exactly where Charlton did, from the September 1944 issue of Yellowjacket Comics #1 with-- The Black Cat! Stay tombed for more!