Mystery Master

Croydon Publishing Co. delivered to us a pair of nifty 1940's "Mystery Master" horror tales, both of which can be found in the pages of the equally short-lived Variety Comics series. Running a mere 3 "mixed bag" issues, Mystery Master may have looked more like Ben Franklin than The Cryptkeeper, but he still stood out among the superhero, cops 'n robbers, and comedy selections featured in 2 of the 3 issues --and managed to spin a couple of superb chillers as well! A mad science experiment turns truly monstrous in "The Web", from the dynamic debut issue of Variety Comics #1 (1944), followed by a sinisterly swingin' old dark house set-up in "The Mystery of the Eccentric Collector", via Variety Comics #3 from 1946. According to GCD, the latter story artwork is credited to Leo Bachle, the first tale remains uncredited.

The Thing That Grew! (aka The Easter Basket Grass Monster)

Those of you with a great sense of memory may recall a couple of other THINGS that have already grown in the THOIA Archive HERE and HERE, --but believe it or not, I've found a way to twist today's Jordy Verrill-esque creeper show from the September 1954 issue of Horrific #13 into being the most perfectly stupid Easter post instead! Okay, besides the fact that this thing kills the Easter Bunny on page two, what you'll do is simply replace the final block of narrative above the last panel on Page One with this: "...some terrifying, unknown error in nature took place!! Suddenly a spark of life came to be, and just as the leaves mystically swirled away, they were magically replaced by flying strands of green, plastic Easter basket grass from the nearby neighborhood trashcans! Some even slithered in like snakes, some did the inch worm move! Some bounced like tumbleweed balls, --some twirled like tornados of terror! As if magnetically pulled towards the skeleton by some unseen force, the plastic Easter basket grass formed an eerie emerald shape around the boney, fetid framework." And so on. Please try to enjoy my attempt at whatever this is. (For more about the postcard, click HERE!)

Bargain With a... Worm

I'm not sure what planet the creators of this story are from, but here on Earth worms don't look like a blobby grey melted bag of trash. Even the creature itself is all "wtf!" about it too. Ahhh well, putting that completely deranged detail aside, this story is still a wonderfully weird, formless mass of anxiety and color. It's the kind of thing that made early days stories from Master Comics so bizzare and surreal... and they definitely don't come much more bizarre than this one! From the October - November 1951 issue of Dark Mysteries #3.

Those Tentacles! / Slimes, Slogs and Glumps

The Charlton creeps are eruptin' from the deep today at THOIA, with a nice 'n icky drippy pair-up via the June 1975 issue of Ghostly Tales #106, as well as one from the November 1982 issue of Scary Tales #35 --and both illustrated by the terrifyingly terrific, Tom Sutton too! Things from the murky, lurky depths hold a special place in my heart-- maybe these slimy thingies will hold you in a special place-- in their stomaches! (2nd tale scans courtesy of Holden, thank you!)

The Monster Kits / A Game of Squirt

It's kind of fun to find horror stories that clearly attempted a spooky spin and capitalize on popular fads of the time, like Monster Model Kits and Silly String, for example. And here are two interesting tales to prove my point: Frank Thorne's "The Monster Kits" from the March 1965 issue of Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery #9, and "A Game of Squirt" illustrated by Giorgio Cambiotti, from the February 1972 issue of Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery #39. And the cool thing about some fads is that they're actually still alive and lurking around too!

Hey, don't miss The 1st Annual Boris Karloff & Mr. Karswell Thanksgiving Feastival of Fear Collection-- NOW PLAYING at And Everything Else Too... CLICK HERE!