River of Blood!

Time to finish up the macabre March - April 1953 issue of Dark Mysteries #11 --and what a bonkers collection this turned out to be, eh? It's hard to beat vampires, rats, and haunted hotrods, but I think this fourth and final nail in the comic book coffin is my favorite, and perfectly packed with gory severed heads, and slimy zombie vengeance! Hope everyone enjoyed this COMPLETE issue presentation --see the last 3 posts too if you missed 'em! But don't crawl back into your coffins just yet, there's even more Dark Mysteries coming up next! I'd say "stay tombed" like I usually do, but I just told ya not to crawl back into your coffins, didn't I?

Escape from Death!

Well, the Heath story I originally wanted to post today didn't quite work out, (no amount of clean-up attempt in the world was gonna make that one presentable here-- sorry!) So instead, let's take a look at another sizzlin' Joe Maneely quickie from the October 1951 issue of Journey into Unknown Worlds #7. I kind of felt like Satan was getting a little ignored during our Atlas Festivities lately anyways...

Maskless Axeman

Not to be confused with "Assless Chaps Man" (the alter ego of Brian Barnes), Maskless Axeman was the very first entry in the super cool, but brief "Fantastic Feature Films" anthology back-up filler tales from the earliest days of Novelty's hero-driven, Target Comics. It's a clever concept, as if we just walked into the the theater as a film is starting, --we can even see the backs of the heads from the people seated in front of us. We also get the title card and cast listing highlighting a handful of the same reoccurring actors and actresses, most notably "Orson Black" swiping Lon Chaney's moniker as "The Man of a Thousand Faces." There was around a dozen or so of these created, mostly self-contained, crime driven adventures, with a few based on literary classics like Treasure Island and Gulliver's Travels, and of course a few with some downright gruesome great horror overtones like the one in today's post, via the February 1940 issue of Target Comics V1#1 (and listed on GCD as the 666th comic entry, no less!) June Tarpé Mills, one of the first major female comic artists of the Golden era, provided the art for all but two entries, and she does a superb job with the heroes, heavies, and especially the Hollywood-esque hotties, as equally evident in the other story I have featured over at AEET HERE today as well-- check it out after today's blood soaked THOIA story! 

No Noose is Good Noose

After presenting "The Choker" post (HERE!) the other day, we at THOIA have re-evaulated our gallows stance and decided there actually just wasn't enough hanging around these parts lately to satisfy our terrible tastes! Enter our next story from the June 1954 issue of Mysterious Adventures #20. Charles Nicholas delivers some real swingin' artwork on this (*choke!) classic about a hangman who justifiably, gets no respect... though oddly enough, he does get the last laugh!

The Coward & The Choker

And the midnight toker! Just jokin'-- it's "Super Blood-Soaked Saturday Shocker" time again, with a deadly double header of gagging gore and blood thirsty, brutal betrayals! Yes, just in case anyone thought THOIA was turnin' soft over our expansive 18-year run here on the 'ol interwebs, well, --think again! Two terror-packed tales full of dismemberment, dickish dames, and dumb dudes a'danglin', and despite some less than stellar scan quality here, both are from the rather awesome August 1954 issue of Mysterious Adventures #21. The savage illustrations in the first story are by bad boy Bill Savage himself, and followed by the always radical Ross Andru on our rockin' second tale. Plus! A real crowd-pleaser of a cover by Hy Fleishman! Have a gory great weekend everyone, with lots lots morgue to come-- so stay tombed!

Dream of Horror

The big 13th post, THOIA finale of 2024 is a deliriously gory decapitation nightmare presentation from the December 1953 issue of Strange Fantasy #9! And what a way to end out the fear, err, year-- and hello, this entire issue is now finally archived here btw, just check the two previous posts, as well as "Hair Yee-Eeee" originally posted way back in April 2012! Hope everyone enjoyed the last 12 months of curated horror comic fun-- and my plan for 2025 is to take a few new twists 'n turns to really spice things up! So as usual (or unusual!) --stay tombed for tons more-- and HAPPY NEW YEAR, 'natch!

Flames of Hate

The Horrors of it All turns up the heat once more, as well as the hate, for a creepy-crispy, executioner tale of eerie evil from the October 1954 issue of Dark Mysteries #20. "When you're hot, you're hot," or so they say...