Kiss of the Vampires!

After last Friday's feast of flesh appetizer, I'm guessing some of you might still need a little liquid refreshment to wash it all down! So today thy cups be runnethin' over a'plenty with a brutal vampire saga from the April 1973 issue of Nightmare #12. Chic Stone unleashes all kinds of head loppin', stake stabbin', sinister blood slurpin' sexiness, --where even the vampire hunter himself realizes too late that even he's bitten off just a bit more than he can chew! This is definitely one of the best ever Skywald entries in my opinion, and it contains quite a few panels I've seen taken out of context / tumblr'd endlessly over the last decade or so. And stay tombed-- the actual main encore corpse chow-down is up next!

Horripilate Host & The Prince of Evil: 19 Years of The Horrors of it All!

On this day 19 years ago (aka 2007), I cracked open the 'ol comic book long boxes and got to work scanning everything I had accumulated over my many decades of fiendish, fan boy collector existence. The point wasn't so much to just have everything backed-up on disc (which it is now, finally-- whew!), but to also begin something I had been mulling over in my horrible head for a few months prior-- and that was to not only start a big bad blog about horror comics, but to even turn my own dork ass self into the horrorest online host of 'em all. The initial game plan was to primarily focus on the Golden era of terrifyin' precode titles. Then over the years that concept changed a bit, and we "flashed forward" occasionally to check out Silver Age screams, as well as throwing Bronze Age bloodbaths upon our alter of evil too. 

The response in those early years of THOIA's existence was incredibly positive, and very rewarding too! And even though the fanbase of the blog has slowed down here a bit over the last decade, it's never ever stopped being a fun ride. As many of you know, THOIA helped me fulfill my dream of producing and publishing award winning hardcover books, including two separate, and critically acclaimed comic book series' with Yoe Books and IDW, --plus, a string of Rondo Nominations, as well as winning the highly honorable Last Drive-In Bolo Award in 2020 (thanks again to Joe Bob and Darcy!) A couple of terrific trips to participate in SDCC discussion panels, autograph sessions, and even gigs with a handful of other publishers as well, were all icing on the creep cake. 

So yeah, I guess I'm pretty proud of what I've created here over the years. But honestly, through it all the biggest perk for me has been meeting so many great, devoted horror comic fans who continue to follow this blog (as well as AEET), and these friendships created will undoubtably last for allll eternity. But the inevitable question persists: how long will THOIA last? I don't really have an answer for that, nor do I have plans of killing it off anytime soon --if that's where you suddenly thought this lengthy intro was heading! But as we all get older and the collection runs thinner of usable / worthy material, it's bound to happen eventually. Hopefully later than sooner! So in the meantime, happy birthday to us all, --and yes, you too! Please have yourselves a nice big slice of that creep cake because you're all an equally important mechanism of this functioning, monsterama machine too! 

Now, enough blab about Mr. Karswell, let's move on to what this blog is really all about, featuring two tales concerning a couple of other horror host chums o'mine. As you'll discover, neither are the sharpest blades in the 'ol sacrificial knife drawer though, so apologies in advance if this post hurts a bit! From the December '73 issue of Chilling Adventures in Sorcery #4, and the Dec '74 issue of Red Circle Sorcery #10.

Face of Love / Death + Essays into the Supernatural: The Werewolf

Another 70's comic book that made a huge impression on young Mr. Karswell was the April 1974 issue of Red Circle Sorcery #6. Awaiting readers behind that amazing, Vampira-esque cover design by the late, great Gray Morrow, (one of my most favorite covers ever), was a nifty little tie-in tale about a radio DJ and his #1 deadicated fan in listener land! Even at a a single digit age, I still recognized this spooky Marv Channing / Vicente Alcazar spin on the cool 'n creepy Clint Eastwood cinematic classic, "Play Misty For Me" (1971.) And Gray Morrow wasn't finished with the cover, --also included within this issue was his fun one-page filler "Essay into the Supernatural" about "The Werewolf", which rounds out today's post on a ferocious, snarling high note.

Cinderella

Time for one of the most gruesome fairy tale freak-outs ever produced during the precode 50's, via the February 1954 issue of The Thing #12. And this one comes from dependable 'ol Steve Ditko, no less, demonstrating, as usual, his dynamically deadly, dense sense of panel packin' punch. I mean it when I say that every single page here is seriously overflowing with a fangtastic amount of ferociousness and fear. And you leg lovers look-out, because this one also has one of the most luridly loose-limbed shock endings in all of Charlton comic's history. Classic cover art by good 'ol Steve, as well!

The Ghoul of Death

We've so far survived an unusual amount of female vampire attacks this month at THOIA, --let's see how you fare with one more, via "The Ghoul of Death", from the June - July 1951 issue of Dark Mysteries #1! I really love that Evening News headline at the top of page 6, almost as much as I love that batty blonde bloodsuckin' ghoul girl gnashin' her nasty gnarly teeth-- RRRROOOWWW! One more Dark Mystery to go for this monstrous month of May-- and speaking of, you va-va-va-vampire vixens can DM me any 'ol time!

A Vampire is Born

We spent the first half of May in bloodthirsty Beware mode, so time now to switch it over to something darker and more mysteriously batty with another vampire bit, errr, HIT from the March - April 1953 issue of Dark Mysteries #11. And hey, it's also time to learn something new about how a bloodsucker even comes to be... I think you'll all be verrrrry interested!

Vampire's Roost

Time for one more reason to beware, and it's another Art Gates classic, this time from the May 1954 issue of Beware #9. And not to be confused with yet another Brian Barnes unlocked fetish (really Brian, vampire roosters now??!!), but this blonde blood sucker story might just leave you all with a serious case of hellacious heart burn! And how about that wonderfully silly Hollingsworth cover design? haha