THOSE LITTLE MONSTERS!

Fans of the American Comics Group pre-Code horror comics know that, as horror comics went back in the day, ACG's titles were quite a bit tamer than say, Harvey, Stanley Morse or numerous others, for that matter.

But hold on -- there is one very notable exception: In an apparent attempt to jump on the bandwagon of the excessive horror that was oozing from comic pages circa mid-1950, Norman Fruman was the editorial custodian of one of the most gruesome and grisly comics of the late pre-Code horror era. 

With a cover date of July-August 1954, THE CLUTCHING HAND #1 hit the stands like the wet slap of a blood-soaked towel on a morgue tile floor. The entire issue is cover-to-cover violence, brutality and death.

Selected for you today is one of those stories: "The Tiny Heads", a crazy little tale drawn by Sheldon Moldoff -- yes, the same Shelly Moldoff who ghosted on Bob Kane's BATMAN, worked on the Golden Age HAWKMAN and HAWKGIRL, and co-created  Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy and Bat Mite? Yep, the very same.

Moldoff was actually on the leading edge of pre-Code horror comics and appeared to have a lot of ideas and the imagination and drawing talent to go with it. He was famously ripped off when he pitched two titles he created, TALES OF THE SUPERNATURAL and THIS MAGAZINE IS HAUNTED to EC's Bill Gaines, who reneged on their financial agreement and then went ahead and published them anyway!

ACG pulled THE CLUTCHING HAND after just one issue, probably feeling the heat from Dr. Fredric Wertham's bubbling cauldron of comic book contempt, as well as the impending restrictions of the Comics Code Authority. Consequently, ACG was one of the few major comic book publishers that survived the fiasco.

THIS MAGAZINE IS HAUNTED NO. 1 (FAWCETT)

"I am Doctor Death! And through my eyes you shall see horror that defines comprehension!" And so begins the introduction to the first issue of Fawcett's interestingly-titled THIS MAGAZINE IS HAUNTED.

With superhero comics on the wane, artist Sheldon Moldoff saw the writing on the wall and began soliciting publishers for his ideas for horror comics. In an article for Roy Thomas' ALTER EGO #3 (TwoMorrows, Spring 2000), he explained: "I had shown This Magazine Is Haunted and Tales of the Supernatural to Will Lieberson [of Fawcett Comics] before I showed them to Bill Gaines, because I trusted Will Lieberson much more. He showed it to the big guys at Fawcett, and he said, 'Shelly, Fawcett doesn't want to get into horror now; they don't want to touch that'". Moldoff then took his package proposal to Bill Gaines who accepted it and had Moldoff sign a contract to seal the deal. Moldoff's worst fear was realized when Gaines soon retracted his offer and EC's lawyer, Dave Alterbaum, threatened to blacklist Moldoff if he brought suit against EC.

Not to be denied, he took his comics package back to Fawcett. He recalled: "Will Lieberson said, 'Let me bring it back to Fawcett again, and see if they'll take the title'. And so they did; they took This Magazine Is Haunted and Worlds of Fear and then Strange Suspense Stories. What they did was pay me $100 for the title, and give me as much work as I wanted, and I also did the covers." It is not known if opting for this agreement ended up paying better than his original proposal for royalties.

Perhaps as payback against Gaines, Moldoff created the character Doctor Death, who hosted each story in THIS MAGAZINE IS HAUNTED, much like The Old Witch and the other Ghoulunatics at EC.

Besides Moldoff's cover and story, this issue features art by George Evans who was just a few months away from his first work for EC (one wonders what Moldoff thought about that!). Bernard Baily, who created some of the most notorious covers of the Pre-Code era also has a story. Of further note is Charlotte Jetter's lettering for the story "Stand In For Death". At the time Jetter was married to Fawcett art editor Al Jetter. She had a long career and worked for a number of publishers including Marvel, DC, Charlton, Atlas/Seaboard and Warren.

THIS MAGAZINE IS HAUNTED ran for 14 issues, with cover dates from October 1951 until December 1963, at which time -- as a result of the restrictions caused by the Comics Code Authority -- exited the horror comics business and sold the title to Charlton, who ran it for seven more issues in 1954 without the CCA seal of approval.

THIS MAGAZINE IS HAUNTED

Vol. 1 No. 1

October 1951

Fawcett Publications Inc.

Executive Editor: Will Lieberson

Editor: Roy Ald

Art Editor: Al Jetter

Cover: Sheldon Moldoff

Pages: 36

Cover price: 10 cents

CONTENTS

"The Curse of Carnoc Castle"

Script: ?

Art: George Evans

"Stand In For Death"

Script: ?

Art: Bernard Baily

"The Coffin Maker!"

Script: ?

Art: Sheldon Moldoff

MONSTERS OF THE MIND!

While Pre-Code horror Fawcett titles had their fair share of violence and grue, this particular title took more from the pages of ACG and took it down a notch or two, leaning more toward the supernatural and paranormal side. Although its first air-date wouldn't come until about seven years later, the stories are reminiscent of the TV series ONE STEP BEYOND. This issue is especially remarkable for its eerie cover by famed paperback, pulp and men's sweats illustrator, Norman Saunders, also known as the artist for the infamous MARS ATTACKS trading cards, as well as the cards for the 1966 BATMAN TV series.

Sheldon "Hawkman" Moldoff was hired to create the Fawcett horror line and thy produced several notable titles during the era, including THIS MAGAZINE IS HAUNTED and BEWARE! TERROR TALES. Moldoff contributed the art to the lead story, "Pillar of Stone".

The standout is "Monsters of the Mind", Written by Bill Woolfolk, who scripted for Capt. Marvel and Superman it is the story of a man who is entrusted with a briefcase of government defense secrets. He suffers a head injury when hit by a car and afterwards imagines (?) aliens are after him and the secrets. The strip was drawn by Bob McCarty (aka Bob McCarthy) who worked for the Simon and Kirby studio and Atlas/Marvel, among others. McCarty also drew some horror comics for Toby Press.

STRANGE STORIES FROM ANOTHER WORLD

Vol. 1 No. 4 (Third issue)

December 1952

Fawcett Publications Inc.

Editor: Will Lieberson (Executive Editor); V. A. Provisiero (Editor); Al Jetter (Art Editor)

Cover: Norman Saunders

Pages: 36

Cover price: 10 cents

CONTENTS

"Pillar of Stone"

Script: ?

Art: Sheldon Moldoff

"Monsters of the Mind"

Script: Bill Woolfolk

Art: Bob McCarty

"Phantom Riders in the Sky"

Script: Bill Woolfolk

Art: Ed Waldman?

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