The Passing of Samantha B

Film history has shown us that on this day, April 21st, in 1880, the 6 founding fathers of Antonio Bay, California deliberately wrecked a clipper ship off the coast so that its wealthy, leprosy-afflicted owner could not establish a leper colony nearby. All crew and passengers were killed, and the sunken ship was eventually salvaged of its treasures by the same men responsible for this senseless tragedy. I'm sure many of you that follow this blog know the rest of John Carpenter's classic, gory, ghost story. So as long as we have the SSS collection handy (see our previous post too), let's take a look at a terrific terror tale possessing quite a few similarities, via the July 1969 issue of Strange Suspense Stories #8. Spectral ship, vengeful spirit, a lonely lighthouse, lots of fog, and a care-free couple suddenly caught up in the clutches of a screaming supernatural spook. Joe Gill script, Vince Coletta illustrations, and Jim Aparo cover art, too!

The Prophecy / The Black Candle

Queue up some Motorhead and prepare yourself for a quick and very vicious tale from the joltin' January 1954 issue of Out of the Shadows #11, featuring a scruffy but cool art collaboration by Jack Katz and Vince Colleta. And since it's kind of short, I went ahead and added a one-page Gene Fawcette quickie from the same great issue. "Read 'em and weep, the dead man's hand again..."

Phantom of the Disco

THINGS THAT GO AND DO THE BUMP IN THE NIGHT DEPT: Yes, it's Saturday, and if tonight you find that you have the fever for the flavor of something frightening, --then you've hustled on over to the right place! Okay, maybe this post isn't that frightening, but this fun 'n funky attempt by DC at cashing in on a particularly popular, nightclub cultural movement of the time, and in an eerie sort of three-page quickie (aka the July 1980 issue of Ghosts #90), really doesn't seem completely lost, or at all out of place for this comic book / music lover, --and I always appreciate a good polyester pair-up, haha. So come on everybody, --get down tonight!

The Couple Next Door!

I get at least a couple of emails a month asking for more vampire stories --more than any other type of tale I post here, in fact-- and after feeling like I kind of gipped you guys with that fake vampire story earlier this month, I hit the vault and not only found a worthy entry from the April 1954 issue of  Mystic #29, but one by Vince Colleta that is as va-va-va-voom voluptuous as it is vicious! Seriously, there are so many attractive panels in this one it's insane --page 3 for example is simply a great collection of Sexy Girl on a Bed poses! I could elaborate more on the Sexy Girl in a Coffin panels, or the low-angle leg art on page 4, but let's get this superbly spicy sucker started already, shall we?

A Model Murder / The Collector!

Two things I love most in life: building monster model kits, and collecting comic books-- and awesomely enough there are two shivery stories on both subjects fondly found lurking in the frightening July 1979 issue of House of Mystery #270. If that isn't enough, this post also contains two more favorite things of mine: the Creature from the Black Lagoon-- and bikinis! 

Devil's Festival

Whoa... I just realized that two posts ago THOIA delivered post #2,000! And for those that care, AEET finally hit 1,000 posts about 20 posts ago as well! (Man, I really need to pay more attention to that sort of milestoney thing!) So ok, not only are we celebrating Halloween today, we're also celebrating 2,000(+) posts at THOIA, or over 3,000 posts when combined with my other blog. And now it's totally time to turn these gnarly numbers into a festival, and of course there's no greater host of horrors (besides me!) than the King of Hell himself-- Satan! It is, in fact, a Devil Double Feature, the first story from the July 1953 issue of Strange Mysteries #12, plus a bonus half page quickie from the April 1953 issue of Out of the Shadows #8, with art possibly by Vince Coletta!















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PLUS! Mr. Karswell, Halloween '71


Happy Halloween everyone, stay safe and warm (it's freakin' snowing and freezing rain here in the midwest --arghh!), and have yourselves an enchantingly evil evening of sinful celebration --and most importantly-- CANDY CANDY CANDY!!

The Worm Turns! / Pretty Poison

We're back with a squirmy double header of slimy fun (plus: Slim Jims for everyone!) --from the Jan-Feb 1978 issue of House of Mystery #256! Yes, 70's DC horror occasionally tapped the gag reflex nicely, as so with these two slitherin' tales of terror that'll leave you gagging for mo-- >>ARRGGHH!!<<  More from this issue coming up in our next post-- see ya on Halloween!