Mystery of the Missing Mummy

Something slightly different for our final March of the Mummies Monday, and we're going waaaay back to the March 1939 issue of Funny Picture Stories Volume 3 #2, from Centaur. It's a spooky old detective mystery full of fun, Saturday matinee serial thrills, and stiffly superb artwork by E. F. Webster, who also penned the script. GCD notes that aside from this foray into comics, Webster was also a fine arts painter, as well as a former federal agent. Maybe that explains the natural knack for weird mysteries, such as this. 

Hope everyone enjoyed this month of macabre mummery!

Curse of Karnak

Wow, it's already Mummy Monday again, --time to open up another time-rotted tomb of ancient horrors! And this one is absolutely loaded with eerie Egyptian god freaks, as well as various bad decisions on the parts of our heroes. But it's a fast paced, fun yarn none the less, plus Bob Forgione (again already, too!) adds a healthy dose of cleavage to the chase so that kooky Mr. Karswak doesn't have to! On top of all that, dig the ghastly cover decap design, and rather lovely B/W table of contents page, both courtesy of Lou Morales. From the October - November 1952 issue of The Thing #5.

The Terror of Akbar

Every Monday in March is Mummy Madness Day here at THOIA --and this week it's also happenin' at AEET too! Annnnd okay now, a few of you might be familiar with this grisly golden age gem from the February - March 1954 issue of Strange Fantasy #10, --I mean, it was reprinted nearly a half dozen times in the Eerie Pubs, but it also found a new, return-to-color home in Haunted Horror #17 back in 2015! And that's why it was a such a surprise to Mr. Karswell recently when he discovered that it had somehow never been featured here at THOIA-- until NOW, that is!

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The Mummy Ray

We've traded in our whooshing death ray for a b-z-z-z-ing mummy ray (bandages not included!) in this week's deja vu loaded installment of Mummy Monday, via the Fall 1941 issue of Wow Comics #3! We've also swapped out crazy Captain Battle for the ever hilarious Mr. Scarlet, a shameless, mustachio'd masked hero who is not above the use of an innocent victim's corpse as a distraction device against his fiendishly foolish foes! And okay, since these "mummies" aren't the usual type of actual Karloffy mummy we've all come to love around here, I've also included a special one page tutorial on "How To Make A Mummy" from the November 1973 issue of Skywald's Psycho #15. Also of note: the more observant of you may notice a rather striking similarity in the overall writing vibe and art of Mr. Scarlet, and that's because it's by Otto and Jack Binder, the same dynamic brother duo who delivered all the great Captain Battle horror hero action last week. Enjoy!

The Mummy Master

I've designated March as "Mummy Madness Month", so every Monday we'll get ourselves wrapped up in some mummified related macabery! And let's march it into action right now with a creepy Captain Battle WW2 classic from the ominous October 1941 issue of Silver Streak Comics #15. Original Daredevil creator / artist, Jack Binder clearly had a blast with this one, --and I'm super duper sure you will too!

ZERO GHOST DETECTIVE: Ghost's Vengeance / Hand of Rutatutakhmen

It's been a bit since Noel Fowler's "Zero Ghost Detective" solved a mystery around here, so as per his previous THOIA entries, let's take a look at two of 'em for a quick Double Fear-ture of fun! The first tale materializes from the September 1940 issue of Feature Comics #36, and finds our ghost dick battling a real dick of a ghost! This one has a neat supernatural concept I'm unfamiliar with: moonlight on a silver blade and carved into a cross pattern can dispel an unwanted spirit! And then, since it's Mummy Monday, it's time for our Zero hero to investigate the ancient Rutatutakhmen curse-- or the creepy, murderous hand of the mummy, anyway! From the October 1943 issue of Feature Comics #72, and no, no relation between Rutatutakhmen and King RootinTootin from the Three Stooges classic! (Click the image at the end of the post for some extra knuckleheaded thrills 'n chills!)