The Moon Bat

It's time once again to blast-off into the deepest, battiest parts of ominous outer space with a fun sci-fi / horror hybrid from Charlton's short-lived, oddball, final issue of Space Western Comics #45, via August 1953. Artist credits go to Stan Campbell who also appears to have illustrated every story in this ish, as well as that great cover! And what a wildly smart mix of cowboys, science, monsters --and mmm-mmm-mini-skirts on the moon! Plus, a very funny final panel that left even cranky 'ol Mr. Karswell a'howlin' out loud!

Shock Ending / The Exorcism

Here's a joltin', revoltin' idea-- let's kickstart the new month of posts with a shock ending! And not just any shock ending-- but a SHOCK ROCK ending, to boot! If Kiss, Alice Cooper, and King Diamond were dead, they'd be rollin' over in their graves right now! And if that opening Su Gumen number ain't electrifyin' enough for ya, let's end it all once and for all with a humorous Wayne Howard exorcism encore! From the October 1975 issue of Ghostly Haunts #46, as well as the fright-filled February 1976 issue of Ghostly Haunts #48.

I Married a Teen-Age Fly

Sunday Fun Days are here again with a wild, satirical whack at horror comics from the 1950's, and it comes courtesy of a midcentury girlie magazine to boob-- errr, boot! Of course, this could also easily be whackin' it at sci-fi horror film classics like I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957),  The Fly (1958), and I Married a Monster from Outer Space (also 1958), but let's just stick with the blurb's intention from the back cover of the memorable, March 1959 issue of Fling #13. Some really nice, titillating artwork here by cartoonist, Don Magolis, and while the writing isn't quite up to a MAD or Cracked level of crazed, sight-gag filled hilarity, it's still worth the handful of chuckles and everyone's attention for the risque / mad monster mash-up freak factor alone!

The Man Who Warmed the Bones of the Dead! / The Idea!

In just a few short weeks we'll be halfway to Halloween! But as everyone here already knows, everyday is Halloween at THOIA, so let's unleash a couple of ghastly old g-g-ghosts to further p-p-prove my p-p-point! Bob Powell, (as promised in our previous post) returns to warm up this haunted house of horrors with 10 atmospheric pages of pure nightmare fuel! From the June 1952 debut issue of Strange Suspense Stories #1 --and check out that bone-chilling cover by Sheldon Moldoff! Also, if it's just too scary for some of you, how about a cute Droopy Dog bonus page via Laffy-Daffy Comics #1 (1945.) We can't let Yogi have all the fun, now can we? And okay, this isn't quite the same Droopy that some of you are likely already familiar with, but it's still a nice little chiller ghost filler! BAARRF! ARF! Give that dog a warm bone!

A Man Named Satan

Time to crack open a hot one, as THOIA celebrates Easter 2026 in the only infernal way we know how-- with a tribute to Satan! More than anything, I felt like the coloring of this story, with its heavy use of purples and greens, seemed a bit Easter eggy. Though lo and behold of course, illustrator legend, Bernie Krigstein's evil uniqueness shines through! From the December 1950 issue of Marvel Tales #98. And just for the hilarious Hell of it, I've also added a devilishly funny gag by HAM! Have yourselves an especially evil Easter!

House of Wax!

APRIL FOOLS! It's not "House of Wax" at all-- it's "House of Whacks!" hahaha from the December 1953 debut issue of Mad #1! APRIL FOOLS! It's not from the December 1953 issue of Mad #1 at all either, it's actually from the December 1953 issue of Eh! #1 published by EC-- errr, April Fools uhhgain, --from Charlton. Eh! ran 700 issues... April Foo... ehhhh... that's to say, 7 issues total before calling it quits, just like I'm calling it quits with this rather annoyingly foolish gag o'my own! And if you think this intro is full of tired attempts at humor, wait'll you get a load of this vampire story, because it's incredibly funny, and totally unique and oooo boy... April freakin' Fools for probably the last goddamn time ever. Yeesh, even the Sam Spade Wild-Root hair tonic advertisment that I tossed onto the end of this post is somehow way sillier!