SPUNKY THE SMILING SPOOK

Scripted and drawn by unknown writer(s) and artist(s), another Casper clone, SPUNKY was created by the obscure comic book packager, Jason Art Studios, owned by Leon Jason, who employed about three dozen writers and artists from the 1940s into the 1950s.

Spunky #1.

This is the last of four issues published by Ajax/Farrell with a cover date of May 1958. It's really only the third issue as Spunky appeared on the cover of the first issue, but the interior Spunk story featured a baby kangaroo, not a ghost (commence head-scratching here).

Here are the two Spunky stories from the issue:

Hey, Spunky: Watch those hands!

WITCHES' TALES VOL. 1 NO. 7 (EERIE PUBLICATIONS)

WITCHES' TALES

Vol. 1 No. 7 (Whole number 1)

July 1969

Eerie Publications

Editor: ?

Cover: Chic Stone

Pages: 52

Cover price: 35 cents

 CONTENTS

“Devil On His Shoulder” (Iger Shop)
Reprinted from Haunted Thrills #9 (Ajax, May 1953)

“Broom For a Witch” (Iger Shop)
Reprinted from Fantastic Fears #9 (Ajax, Sep-Oct 1954)

“Green Horror” (Iger Shop/Additions by Ezra Jackson)
Reprinted from Fantastic Fears #8 (Ajax, July-Aug 1954)

“Grimm, Ghost Doctor” (Iger Shop?)
Reprint of Music and Mayhem, Haunted Thrills #3 (Ajax, Oct 1952). Originally printed in Bomber Comics #2 (Gilberton, Summer 1944)

“Mirror of Madness” (Iger Shop)
Reprinted from Haunted Thrills #17 (Ajax, Sep-Oct 1954)

“The Antilla Terror” (Iger Shop)
Reprinted from Voodoo #2 (Ajax, July 1952). Originally printed in Rulah, Jungle Goddess #26 (Fox Features, May 1949). Rulah is renamed “Kolah”.

“Ghost-Bait” (Iger Shop)
Reprint of “The Haunted One”, Voodoo #1 (Ajax, May 1952). Originally printed in Bomber Comics (Gilberton, 1944). Grimm renamed “Trimm”.

“Ohhhh, Brother” (Iger Shop)
Reprinted from Voodoo #11 (Ajax, Oct 1953)

This is the first issue of WITCHES' TALES, another entry in the Eerie Publications horror comic magazine line. The title follows the same format as the others by resurrecting 1950's pre-code horror comics, increasing the pages from comic book to magazine size, throwing on a gruesome, luridly-colored cover and touch up some of the interior pages with a bit of extra gore.

The formula worked as Eerie Pubs published a slew of these titles. Initially dismissed by their crudeness, they are now highly collectible!