PLAY A SONG OF DEATH!

In this "ghostly yarn of weird terror", violinist Henri Marleau is ticked because his rival, Ricco, has aced the music audition over him. Marleau quickly dispatches him via strangulation to assume the top spot. Ricco, of course, comes back to haunt him and drives him insane. Marleau meets the kind of end we expect to see in a pre-Code horror comic.

"Death Song!" appeared in Comic Media's (Alan Hardy Associates) WEIRD TERROR #2 (November 1952) with art by Don Heck.

AN EXTRA SHOT IN THE HEAD

Any fan of pre-Code horror comics will be familiar with the infamous cover shown above by Don Heck for HORRIFIC (Comic Media, January 1953). What you may not know is that Heck recycled the "horrific" image from a cover he did just a few months before for the first issue of Comic Media's WAR FURY (September 1952).

Heck added an extra touch of horror for this war comic with the G.I. giving the North Korean soldier a shot of burning petrochemical by way of his flame-thrower.

Some images are just too good to be used only once!

LOOK, MA -- NO HANDS!

One of the themes explored in TwoMorrows' latest issue of the new CRYPTOLOGY is that of disembodied hands. The idea of a severed limb has forever frightened people, especially if it comes back to life!

Peter Normanton discusses dismembered limbs in his pre-code horror comics excesses article. Like a number of other tropes, this device was used numerous times and in the most outlandish ways. One of the stories he mentions is "Devil Claws" from HORRIFIC #3 (Comic Media, January 1953). Likely out of the Iger Shop, the writer and artist are unknown, so I'll let the story speak -- or scream -- for itself. Ugh!

COMIC MEDIA'S LAST GASP

An clever attempt at getting as close to the word "Terror" without raising the ire of the newly-adopted Comics Code Authority, TERRIFIC was the last of Comic Media's horror comics (WEIRD TERROR #13 preceded it in September).

Comic Media was formed in 1952 under the company, Allen Hardy Associates after Hardy left Harvey Comics. He took with him one of the premiere horror comic artists at the time, Don Heck, who was adept at creating particularly revolting covers along with his interior art. Also jumping ship from Harvey was Pete Morisi (aka PAM). Other imprints under the company were Artful Publications Inc. and Harwell Publications Inc.

During its short, two-year existence, Comic Media published Western, romance, adventure, humor, and war titles along with horror. Created by Pete Morisi, Johnny Dynamite was the most popular character to come out of the line.

Hardy had a call for submissions that appeared in the August 1953 issue of WRITER'S DIGEST, which was known for regularly providing market reports for various comic book publishers. He stated he wanted "the unusual, artists and writers who don't have hackneyed approach to comics[sic]."

Writer's Digest, August 1953

Comic Media ceased publishing in 1954. Most of the titles were sold to Charlton. Farrell continued TERRIFIC for one more issue (a non-horror comic featuring Wonder Boy) in March 1955, then disappeared. Don Heck went on to work for Atlas, which soon became Marvel. Pete Morisi had a successful career with Charlton.

Don Heck later commented on Hardy's death: "Allen was an alcoholic. He was a member of AA but he went off the wagon. While he was in this way, I could not leave him." He added, "I stayed until I cleaned up the stuff for Allen Hardy who, by that time, couldn't do anything. He had to go back for treatment. Not too long after that he died. I heard the story he was smoking a cigarette and it dropped and he burned himself to death. I liked him! He was a good guy as far as I was concerned."

TERRIFIC

Vol. 1 No. 14 (first/last issue)

December 1954

Mystery Publishing Company Inc. (Comic Media)

Editor: Alan Hardy

Cover: Don Heck

Pages: 36

Cover price: 10 cents

CONTENTS

"Dead on Arrival"

Script: ?

Art: Marty Elkin

"Human Cross"

Script: ?

Art: Don Heck

"The Wolf Twins"

Script: ?

Pencils: Ross Andru?

Inks: Steve Kirkel

"Dance of Death"

Script: ?

Art: Rudy Palais

A HECK OF AN ARTIST

Don Heck (January 2, 1929 – February 23, 1995) may be better known for his work with Marvel, such as being the long-time illustrator for the original Avengers and co-creating characters including Iron Man and Black Widow, but he was also a first class story and cover artist for a long list of Pre-Code horror comics, specifically for Comic Media.

He originally went to work for Harvey Comics in 1949 and one of his assignments was to modify Milton Caniff's newspaper strips TERRY AND THE PIRATES and STEVE CANYON into comic book form. He was a big fan of Caniff and incorporated some of his style into his own work. When friend and fellow-artist left Harvey to go freelance, Heck went with him and found assignments at Quality, Hillman and Toby.

In 1952, Allen Hardy, a staffer at Harvey, left to form his own comic book company, Comic Media. Knowing Heck's work, he called him up and offered him a job. Heck accepted and his two earliest works for Hardy were a story for WAR COMICS #1 (September 1952) and the cover and story, "Hitler's Head" for WEIRD TERROR #1, also in September (see below).

Heck hit his stride with the Comic Media horror comics line and produced some of the most memorable (and controversial) covers and art of the Pre-Code period, including his infamous bullet-hole to the head cover for HORRIFIC #3.

Here are a few more examples of his startling cover art for Comic Media:

Horrific #4.

Horrific #6.

Horrific #12.

Horrific #14.

Weird Terror #3.

Weird Terror #4.

Weird Terror #5.

Weird Terror #6.

Weird Terror #8.

Weird Terror #12.

This is Heck's original art for the cover of WEIRD TERROR #12. It is rendered in ink over graphite on 14" x 21" Bristol board. It was auctioned from EC expert Roger Hill's collection and the text paste-ups may be from Mr. Hill himself since restoration of comic logos and cover texts were an area of his expertise. This affords an excellent opportunity to observe Don Heck's exquisitely fine line work.

Source: Heritage Auctions.