The Case of the Curses / From the Ocean Bottom

We've spent most of the month looking at scary 70's Skywald classics, and yes, I promised we'd finally make our way back to the fright-filled 50's-- and we are! But first, a quick stop into the early 60's. And note: this is merely a temporary detour because I was recently discussing post-code ACG "horror" with Nequam and thought, what the heck, how about an example of how a really good series like Forbidden Worlds seriously got the business from the contemptible comics code, i.e.: water it way down, remove all traces of swords (!!!) etc., --yet still manage to be "too gay" (???), --though ya know what-- also, actually strive (or struggle) to preserve OK art and remain entertaining in a doofy Ripley's Believe it or Screw It kind of way. The second two-page quickie tale feels a bit more at home here, so enjoy 'em or hate 'em, we'll be back in a few with more of the good stuff! From the August 1961 issue of a Forbidden Worlds #97.

COLORAMA

Larry "The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra" Blamire recently wrote in requesting Bob Powell's classic "Colorama" tale from the August 1953 issue of Black Cat Mystery #45 ...so, being a huge fan of Larry's fantastic output of fine film, I of course said "yes, sir!" And despite the fact that this tale has been reprinted countless times over the years in multiple forms and easy to find versions, I (in fact) did not actually have a copy of it-- argh! Soooo, once again I turn my blog over to the terrifying scans of Mr. Brian Hirsch, the one man on the planet who undoubtably owns every comic book ever made.

PLEASE NOTE: These scans are actually the later reprint and slightly modified version of this story from the January 1958 issue of Black Cat Mystery #61. (see comments)

The Ghost Still Walks (Re-visited)

We talk alot about reprints / remakes around here, for example the way Eerie Publications revived a ton of great 1950's Golden Age pre-code stories 20 years later, and in the process intensified the horror by expanding upon certain visual elements with more insane levels of gruesomeness in the art (and story.) But as we clearly see in today's post, Marvel went the opposite approach with 70's color horror reprints of their own pre-code Atlas tales:

"The Ghost Still Walks" originally appeared in the May 1952 issue of Adventures into Weird Worlds #6, and was later reprinted / revised for the Dec. 1973 issue of Dead of Night #1, (see THOIA Archive HERE for reprint post.) As you can see from the example above, this isn't just white ghost robes turning purple, these putrid Golden era ghouls are horrific, rotten, dripping, slimeball messes, vs their much tamer / lamer remake appearance... and I hope artist Joe Sinnott threw a goddamn fit over it.