THE PHANTOM CREEPS!

Universal's 1939 12-chapter serial THE PHANTOM CREEPS is another variation of the "mad scientist" theme. Bela Lugosi is Dr. Alex Zorka whose mad machinations focus on bringing the world to its knees. Add a giant robot (played by Edward Wolff), a dash of foreign spies and a sprinkle of G-Men and we've got another science-fiction/horror/crime potboiler in which Lugosi plays the menacing villain. It was the last of his serial appearances and the 112th that Universal produced.

Starring Robert Kent, Dorothy Arnold, Regis Toomey and Edward Van Sloan, a young Lee J. Cobb is also in a scene using archival footage. No info on who made the "Phantom" robot, but it's likely that Jack Pierce did the makeup considering he was still on board at Universal.

Released in January 1939, it offered theater-goers respite from the dark clouds of war forming overhead.

THE PHANTOM CREEPS was adapted in comic book form in MOVIE COMICS #6 (September-October 1939 by Picture Publications, Inc., an imprint of DC Comics. C. Elbert was editor, Max Gaines was managing editor and Sheldon Mayer was assistant editor. The scriptwriter is unknown and art is by Jack Adler and Emery Gondor using airbrush to touch-up the photos and adding additional line art. A pretty good job is done in encapsulating the 265-minute film is just seven short pages. Lugosi's first name, Alex is misnamed Alec.

Learn more about DC's MOVIE COMICS HERE.

Various one-sheet movie posters:

Pressbook:

Production stills:

Have a creepy week!

RARE SON OF FRANKENSTEIN PHOTO-STORY!

MOVIE COMICS
Vol. 1 No. 1
April 1939
Picture Comics, Inc.
Editor: C. Elbert
Assistant Editor: Sheldon Mayer
Managing Editor: M. C. Gaines
Cover: Photo cover depicting scene from "Gunga Din" with airbrushed corrections by Jack Adler and Emery Gondor
Pages: 68
Cover price: 10 cents

Released on January 13, 1939, Universal Pictures' SON OF FRANKENSTEIN was turned into a comic book adaptation just a few months later -- only this comic was a little different.

An early example of what would become known popularly as "fumetti" (aka photo funnies and photostories), MOVIE COMICS combined film adaptations, movie stills and cartoon embellishments along with dialogue word balloons to create a version of the movie on paper that could be enjoyed over and over. This is a rare example of a monster movie (by then escalated from "thriller" to "horror" film) that was depicted in a publication other than the odd article here and there in movie fan magazines. It would be almost 20 years before James Warren and Forrest J Ackerman gave us the classic film monster magazine, FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND. Warren would publish his own fumetti 'zines under the "Famous Films" imprint that included THE MOLE PEOPLE and CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN/HORROR OF DRACULA.

The SON OF FRANKENSTEIN adaptation in this first issue of MOVIE COMICS (an early manifestation of DC Comics) was scripted by Willie Cooper with pencil and ink corrections and colors by Jack Adler and Emery Gondor.

The cousin of shock-jock Howard Stern, Jack Adler rose from the ranks of the comic book industry, and worked on titles for DC Comics such as SEA DEVILS and GREEN LANTERN during the Silver Age before becoming vice president of production. Comic fans may also recognize the name Sheldon Mayer, who had a hand in creating DC super heroes Green Lantern, Hawkman, Wonder Woman and The Flash, among others. M.C. Gaines, of course, is Max Gaines, whose son, Bill, would be the man behind the infamous E.C. Comics line.

EXTRA! Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Jack Pierce in a one-page feature from MOVIE COMICS #1.