"...And All Through The House..."

Cloud 109's blog has posted EC's "...And All Through The House..." from 'Vault of Fear' #35. For those of you not familiar with Johnny Craig, you're in for a treat. This version is black and white which really showcases Craig's talent. This is certainly one of the best Holiday horror comic stories of all time.



http://cloud-109.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-favourite-ever-ec-christmas-story.html

Happy Hallowe'en

Happy Hallowe'en Everyone!

BOO!

Thrill Kill

"ThrillKill"

Published in 'Creepy' #75, November 1975
Written By: Jim Stenstrum
Art: Neal Adams



I'm a huge Neal Adams fan.

While most comic fans know him from his "Batman" work of the late 60's and 70's, he also did an amazing amount of horror comics. By 1975, Neal Adams had hit his artistic stride as one of the best in the business. His clean, realistic black-and-white style on 'ThrillKill' fits the story perfectly. Pay attention to the use of white space in the panels.

Many people consider 'ThrillKill' one of the greatest horror comic stories of all time. I consider it a great showcase of Neal Adams talents. The fact is the story is based on the Tower Sniper Charles Whitman an ex-Marine who killed 14 people and wounded 32 others during a shooting rampage on and around the University of Texas's campus on August 1, 1966. I believe the "didn't want to go alone" aspect of the story is Stenstrum's.

Creepy and Eerie often pulled the scare tactics of their stories 'closer to reality' to frighten older audiences. This one certainly did. It could actually happen. It did.

Thanks to the Grantbridge Street & other misadventures blog for putting an excellent scan of this story online.

Satan's Child

Did you know there used to be 80 and 100 page comics? And they cost a buck (or less). With comics that size, you needed prolific talent to fill those pages. Which brings us to Jack Oleck...



Jack Oleck is a name you should know. Sadly, it's tough to find much information on him. The earliest scripting credit I can find for Mr. Oleck is from 1948 ('Young Romance' #4). The latest scripting credit is House of Mystery #287 from 1980. That's 32 years of writing comics. He passed away in 1981.

The brother-in-law of Joe Simon, Oleck could crank out a script every day, and did. I consider Jack Oleck one of the last of the pulp writers. He wrote professionally for a living which means he wrote A LOT. A former WW2 sergeant with a flair for scare, he was the perfect fit for DC's 'Weird War Tales' through the 70's. I couldn't post a list of best horror comics without Jack Oleck.

The reason I chose this particular story was for the art. Before he was known for 'Marvel Zombies' and 'Deadpool', Arthur Suydam was in 'House of Mystery', 'Heavy Metal' and 'House of Secrets'. His style of 'comix grotesque' worked amazingly well with Oleck's script on "Satan's Child".

As always, click on the House of Mystery 256 image above to open the pdf.

Time To Poll

P.S. My choices are viewable on the Submissions page

Time To Poll

“The Haunted Mountain”


Originally Published: “Unexpected” Vol. 21, issue 175, DC Comics, Sept/Oct 1975
Written By: George Kashdan
Art By: Eufronio Reyes (“E.R.”) Cruz
Editor: Murray Boltinoff
Assistant Editor: Jack C. Harris
Cover Art to ‘Unexpected’ #175: Luis Dominguez

One of the greatest comic horror stories of all time? Probably not. But this is one I would certainly classify as a hidden gem. The beautiful and stylized inks of E.R. Cruz give the sense the we are balancing on the side of a mountain.

Normally, covers sell comics. Companies spend a lot of money on cover art with good reason. With respect to Luis Dominguez, E.R. Cruz's seven pages of interior artwork DESTROYS this cover. Check out the expression below of the 'Witch' Countess Freida Von Koerner and tell me if anyone does it better these days:




Kashdan's story is what we expect from 'The Unexpected' as he was one of the most prolific writers of the series. It's a cautionary tale of the repercussions of fear and violence, especially when your target is a witch. Kashdan and Cruz both did some great work throughout their long careers in both comics and animation.

At any point, I think its high time I expanded my 'Unexpected' collection...