Screaming City

As we've seen in the last few posts, a scary illustrated skeleton in your story can really elevate the eerie factor! Take for example this rotten Rudy Palais crime horror quickie --which also contains the origins of Dr. Strange! --via the January 1952 issue of Witches Tales #7. Annnnd to all you fans of Lucio Fulci's classic, ZOMBIE, -- you may be surprised to learn today that an undead guy fighting a shark underwater (CLICK HERE for it) didn't originate in his 1979 cult film feature!

Designer of Doom

And here we go, kickin' off December 2024 with a fantastically fog enshrouded, fiery freak-out, --and seriously, when you need someone to kill off the cast (and even the venue itself) of a really bad theatrical play, there's no one better suited to this terrible task than rockin' Rudy Palais! How he always managed to pack so much master-class, hellish imagery into only a half dozen pages for these Harvey mags is mind bogglin', and today's cuckoo voodoo witch doctor of death post is no exception! Nice uncredited cover and bonus filler in this issue too! From the April 1952 issue of Witches Tales #9. 

Mannequin of Murder!

Manny Stallman takes us out on a wild manny-quin murder spree with a truly madcap Harvey Horror classic from the February 1953 issue of Witches Tales #17. And for more mannequin madcappery, head over to AEET HERE for a sillier, saucier side of our still life subject matter this month! Hope everyone enjoyed this brief look at the darker side of department store doomies!

The Wig-Maker

Time to venture back into the odd old west for a tale that's half spooky / half silly, and 100% howlin' Harvey at this late precode horror / humor vein stage of the 50's game. Yeah, everybody could see Wertham's hammer of doom a'fallen', so many of these terror titles began to take the hint and turn up the funny volume. Things went from gory to corny fast, but not all was lost, like this hairy scary (*tag! *gag!) from the Feb '54 issue of Witches Tales #23. And FYI: There's even more wig weirdness in the archive if you've got a hankerin' to dig 'em out-- just don't ever say that Mr. Karswell didn't go to great lengths to root out that 'ol black humor for ya's!

The Demon Is a Hag!

Wednesdays are usually dedicated to werewolves around here, but this week we're conjuring up some witchcraft instead-- so welcome all, gather 'round the midnight fire for a rather bitchy, Witchy Wednesday instead! Now some of you might remember this precode Rudy Palais tale I posted back in April (CLICK HERE!), and so today we present the Eerie Pub remake from the May 1973 issue of Witches' Tales Vol. 5 #3, featuring all new art by Ezra Jackson. If you compare the two, you can clearly see the original is about 666 times more horrifically gruesome in nearly every panel (even the new story retitle is a bit meh.) But not all is lost, and it's still a perfectly fine little update... it's just gonna be a no win situation however hard you try to re-do that putrifyin' Palais perfection.

Share My Coffin

Time for yet another tale where someone thinks hiding inside a coffin to break outta jail ever works! No spoiler there, fiends, you know it as well as I! A repeated theme doesn't make it any less fun, and hey, we also have Rudy Palais on art duty as well, so expect lotsa sweat drops, bizarre angles, and gaping, gory bullet holes too! From the September 1951 issue of Witches Tales #5, --plus a weird, quickie one-pager!











For another Harvey tale that asks you to NOT share your crummy coffin, CLICK HERE!

The Mummies

If you look at the top righthand blog sidebar you'll see I have a new book coming out next month called MUMMES, (pre-order right HERE!) And leading up to the release, I'll be posting occasional mummy, or mummy related stories, sort of like this one-- which is actually not about the type of mummies the book speaks of. Anyway, you'll see. Originally presented in the February 1970 issue of Witches' Tales Vol. 2 #1, with art by Oscar Stepancich. (Cover art by Bill Alexander.)

Kill / Laugh, Clown, Laugh / Kill!

Are you totally unaware of the brand spankin' new, big screen adaptation of Stephen King's IT hitting theaters this week? If so, chances are you've been living in a sewer. And if you already know about these two kooky pre-code clown tales floating around in the THOIA Archive, then maybe find something else to do for a few days, or pay them a re-visit... because, you know, clowns are scary. It's "Scary Clown Week", right? Riiiiight. Uhhhh boy. Anyway, Kill, Clown, Kill! is from the April 1953 issue of Uncanny Tales #7 (yes, it's actually another Atlas tale this year, and yes that's a super cover by Bill Everett!); while Laugh, Clown, Laugh! first appeared in the August 1952 issue of Witches Tales #13. Anyway, I'm actually looking forward to the film, (it seriously can't get worse than the TV version, could it?), and to anyone else who sees it, tell us what you thought. But for now, kill and laugh... laugh and kill... go, clown, go!