The Monster

Finale tale from the premiere issue of Monster #1 (1953.) There was only this one and an issue #2 before the series was sadly cancelled, a real pity too because it obviously started off pretty damn good. And for those paying extra attention, this concludes another full-issue presentation here at THOIA (see also: "The Philosopher's Stone", "Traitor's House", and "The Mirror.") Beginning next week, we'll start heavily digging into the witchcraft as we inch closer and closer to Halloween!

The Philosopher's Stone (Dr. Drew)

Another phenomenally illustrated tale from Fiction House's Monster #1 (1953), and of course Jerry Grandenetti needs no introduction, but I will say that if you enjoy this entry from the Dr. Drew case files, you may also want to hit up the THOIA Archive afterwards (if you haven't already) and take a look at "The Strange Case of the Absent Floor" as well as "The Witch's Doll."

And don't miss Melvin Monster
over at AEET-- click HERE!!

Traitor's House

Here's a freaky one for you from Fiction House Magazine's Monster #1 (1953.) And as you can see in the bottom righthand corner of the splash, art credits go to Anthony D'Adamo, who manages to pull out a number of wonderfully eerie moments throughout (note: under the art direction of Jerry Iger no less!), most noteably, in the page 5 panel of the guy trapped in the see-thru casket, as well as the insane materialization of evil spirit faces on the final page. I'll have another tale from this issue in our next post too...

The Mirror / Sticks and Stones

Let's warm-up today first with one from Fiction House Magazines' Monster #1 (1953) ...it's a nightmarish little tale with a downbeat ending and great legs (GCD claims "story contains some Milt Cannif Dragon Lady swipes as well as some good girl art swipes that look like they came from Blue Beetle..."), followed by an even warmer Atlas shocker from the July '52 issue of Advs into Weird Worlds #8.

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"Sticks and Stones"

Where the Undead Roam

Nice artwork from Benulis and Abel save today’s unfocused, plot hole riddled tale from completely derailing alongside the narrative train wreck… seriously, just tell the story next time—argh! But still, for this very same reason I actually like this tale, because as in lesser pre-code publisher style, it reaches high for moody, poetic flourishes but typically never quite manages to fully grasp the brass ring (can’t fault them for trying though.)

From the 1953 issue of Monster #2

TOMORROW: Time again to Flash Forward to the 70's, this time with Joe Sinnott!

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Vintage Ad

The Dark Abysmal

I’m not really the biggest fan of Fiction House pre-code comics from the 50’s… sure, Ghost and Monster have great covers and are full of top notch art, but nearly everything I’ve read from their horror titles so far contained very little in the writing department considered “on par” with the pretty pictures. So, for the next few days this week I tried to find a sampling of stories that are better than the usual FH fare, and oddly enough all of these examples come from the 1953 issue of Monster #2, starting with this fun little Monster-fest by Johnny Belcastro featuring 7 crammed pages of inspired art and ideas with a creepy, rampaging, tentacled Squiddly Diddly monster straight out of Lovecraft, (and totally keep your eyes peeled for the hilarious “Austin Powers-esque, Nudity Obscured” panel at the top of page 2.)

TOMORROW: A better example of bad Fiction House writing, (but cool art...)

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Fiction House AD