The Last Words for Men Who Talk to Ghosts!

We have some last words to deliver today as we put a wrap on our macabre, month long, Double Fear-ture fest here at THOIA, with two more ghastly ghost-a-ramas to leave you equally gasping as you're eerily giggling with gruesome glee. First, Stan Lee and Carl Burgos team-up to terrorize you into insanity, from the January 1953 issue of Strange Tales #14, --followed by a laughably lurid Larry Woromay weirdie, via the February 1953 issue of Strange Tales #15! Very strange tales indeed, and full of that awful wedded bliss we'll be seeing much more of in our annual vicious Valentine month freak-out coming up shortly. Hope you enjoyed this two-for-one month of morbid madness --stay tombed for lots rots more!

Skulls! Skulls!! Skulls!!!

The second half of the 28 Years Later film saga, The Bone Temple, opened in theaters this weekend, and we're going to see it this Tuesday night, in fact. Now, not to get "a-head" of ourselves here for anyone else who hasn't seen it yet, (though I'm sure the posters, trailers, and scenes from the first half of the previous movie hath etched the towers of chilling skull totems into everyone's gasping eyeballs already anyway), but that brings me to this: I've been hanging onto Werner Roth's rather savage, "The Grinning Skulls!" from the January 1953 issue of Strange Tales #14 for about a year now, patiently waiting for just the right occasion to post it, and now you will see EXACTLY why. And not to be outdone by one juicy jolt of jungle jitters, but I also have a god-damned (get it?)  Stan Lee / John Romita decap classic via the January 1953 issue of Mystery Tales #7 that will really flip your lid! If that ain't enough, I've also included an old WW2 photo with a back story that's even more macabre than either of today's Atlas Tales combined. Click HERE for it if you dare... ugh!

The Ugly Man

How about we finish up this Atlas Fest with another one from the October 1952 issue of Suspense #23. And similar to our previous post, it's another tale about lousy 'ol looks, looks, looks! But a story illustrated by joltin' Joe Maneely is of course anything but "lousy", because not only is this 4-page, mini-masterpiece of mad science also written by Stan Lee, it's got zombies, werewolves, ghosts, plus, a fantastically funny finale! Don't believe me, eh? Wanna bet?

ZOMBIE!

Time for the grandaddy, livin' deader of 'em all-- "ZOMBIE!" by Stan Lee and Bill Everett. And yep, like most of the Everett illustrated stories featured here over the last week or so, this classic can also already be found in the THOIA 2010 Archive HERE, but it's the black 'n white reprint version... I'm not sure how we went this far without the original color version. And along with that iconic cover (also by Bill), this is a fabulously fitting, and extra eerie way to end our monstrous Menace Fest-- hope everyone enjoyed it! Lots more on the way, stay tombed! From the July 1953 issue of Menace #5.

On With the Dance!

If you've been a member of any type of social media platform for the last few decades, ie Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, etc., then you know at this point that "doom scrolling" for some eye pleasingly quick entertainment imagery is pretty much the norm in this age of increasingly shorter attention spans. The smaller anthology horror tale, as the kind featured regularly here at THOIA, play out well to this kind of audience, and even better (unfortunately) when someone takes a single panel out of context from one of these stories and posts it all over the internet for an even quicker laugh. And that's all fine I guess, but it kind of sucks that most people will never bother to dig a little deeper for the rest of a truly great Stan Lee / Russ Heath tale, like this one for example from the April 1953 issue of Menace #2. These isolated panels (first image below) have been floating around the web for years-- but now you finally get to know the full story!

Burton's Blood! / Blood Relation

So far this month we've had mummies, werewolves, and weird graveyard ghouls-- so let's keep the monster mash a'bashin' now with a Saturday Afternoon Vampire Double Feature! First up, Stan Lee and Bill Everett team-up for a freaky, fang-filled tale of futuristic fear, from the April 1953 issue of Menace #2 (and check out that Everett cover too!) Followed by an eerie blood suckin' quickie via Ed Winiarski and the January 1954 issue of Menace #9. Hope everyone's enjoying this menacingly macabre Atlas Fest I've apparently started...

Vampire at the Window

Yeah, I know, another vampire post. But word came down the pike recently that the 2024 remake of Stephen King's Salem's Lot now has a release date (after sitting in limbo for like 2 years since its completion), where it will finally be streaming on MAX this October. I've been looking forward to it for a while, and since the original 1979 TV two-parter is one of my all-time favorite films, I thought I'd show you this funny little Atlas quickie from the October 1952 issue of Astonishing #18, where the vampire has a very similar Nosferatu design that is also very much like the Mr. Barlow character from the 70's version. Plus, we get some "outside the window" action, which, if you've ever seen Salem's Lot, you know EXACTLY what I'm talkin' about. CLICK HERE to learn more about the upcoming film (hope it's good!), and I've also included a related photo, not from the film, but from my attic instead!