Darth Corgi

I agree with you and like to add the occasional Fiction House to my collection.I would like to complete the Ghost run and add a few more Planets to my collection. How is the precode horror scene over there in France? Any unique horror comics published over there? Any good comic shows over there for vintage books?

Welcome to the boards Hap hazard! Beautiful books indeed and those Weird Mysteries are two of my favorites. Gojirga, Nice ghost Comics! Fiction house sure had their own look to these. I always liked their colors and line work.....Currently I only have the swamp cover with the eye looking through the title letters. -Christian

You're mad Flex. I love this three issue run but issue two is the pick of the litter. Eyelid damage trumps eye injury, blood transfusion and bondage all day long. All of these have great interior stories I might add. Especially number three according to my scribbled notes. -Christian

Happy 1000 pages! City Of Living Dead is a great book. Love that copy Jayman.

Such a tough book in decent shape. (thumbs u Wow. What a nice book Jayman! I'm beside myself.....

Although Darth chose issue 18 for his list (which I also like), this is the cover I would have picked for the greater "chill" factor. A nice all around composition. The eerie reflection in the water is creepy and the cheek shading on the monster seems to elongate his mouth into a gruesome grin. (thumbs u Ok... With that kind of sharp analysis, I'd like to see Jaymans top 25! Any one else?

Damon- nice Frank! That is a good one indeed. I love how the art takes up the whole cover...reflective... Marty Mann- is this Eerie cover a print error. Those banding stripes along with ink drop outs in spots looks weird and cool. What's the story?

Big thanks to everyone for chiming in and reading. Lots of fun. Great choice on this one as it been on my radar for quite a while now. Very iconic cover and did you look close and notice the ever so tiny ant sized victims falling from the snakes mouth. A very tough book to find in HG and I'm still searching... I've had #8 on my list for a while also. The cover image from #8 originally comes from the first story of issue #3. Like many Toby covers, it is recycled art. This time, the art was flopped and I like it better that way...makes for a good cover. Kind of like Horrific #3.... Yes, this Tales of Horror seems to be on a lot of want lists. I have yet to find a copy better than this one. There has to be some out there....just need to look harder I guess. Anyone have any copies, please post them. I would love to see a high grade or better yet, a high grade pedigree copy. Thanks again for reading! -Christian

Yes. You were right sir! You get a piece of Halloween no-prize candy.

My fellow Precoders, May I present to you.... And here is its older brother the Terrible 25: Happy Halloween gang and thanks for reading! -Christian Slade

1 Haunt Of Fear 18 How can I assemble a precode list without my favorite horror comic artist? The greatest and sickest of them all...Mr. Ghastly Ingels! My oh my. Where to start.....If I had to redo the Terrible 25, I think I would have to put this one in there. Every time I look at this cover, I see something else going on. I also am unclear about everything happening in this picture and I do not care. I do not need to know..... I am happy just basking in the glow of the drawing and artwork, As I stare at this cover, I am baffled by how something so grotesque and twisted could also be SO SO beautiful. Perhaps it is my love of the craft, and of making pictures myself but it looks like the artist had a blast with this one. That pose and head tilt on the old witch is just so perfect...and the strange colors on her face.....the green behind the title....... ....man..... ...I love comics.

#2 Voodoo Annual Oh yeah, here we go! Good Precode covers are creepy and weird and this one has got both. Jet black background, Laughing and jeering corpses, and a sick gag coming out of the coffin adds up to one messed up Ajax Precode cover. And it rules! The best part of this cover though is the mans face. His hand clutching his eye sockets and pulling them...is he pulling so hard, he is bending or pulling his face as if it was made of warm clay? I do not know but the distortion makes for an unsettling and wild ride.

#3 Frankenstein 18 The first horror issue in the series and the best cover in my opinion. Look at that grotesque floating head in the middle of the cover! Open scars, car crashes, billowing smoke and no blabby text boxes. Just a simple title and excellent layout. Even the poses of the figures are great. Such a great Precode.

#4 Mystery Tales 19 Let us do our part and make this book reach even crazier prices. Tough book to get a hold of. Honestly, this was the book I needed to acquire to complete this list and wow did it take forever. I remember years ago I missed out on a VG copy on these boards for $75. As it was, I still feel like I did ok with this one. Glad to have it. Like Menace and Venus, this Atlas book hails from a series that receives more attention than others for a variety of reasons. Mystery Tales has some great books in it including the issue seen on the excellent tv show LOST. My favorite version of this title has the blood dripping on top of the letters. And just look at that zombie! SO well drawn. The graveyard, sky and lighting really make this one a quick-to-add-to-the-wantlist book.

#5 Tales of Horror 8 How about a Toby book? One of the first precodes I bought and I am glad I did. I have never seen a nicer copy. VERY tough book. These Toby books also published the 3 issue series, Purple Claw and reprints some of those stories in here. They also recycled interior art for their covers like Superior. That is cheap and cheesy but I think that is the appeal with many of these...the cheese factor. So bad, its good. For some reason, this cover has always jumped out at me. Maybe it is the striking blood red background and a snake swaying open mouthed in the sky like some reptilian King Kong. Anyway, not much more to say other thanI think this is a cover that would grab major attention if seen on a newstand.

Ready to wrap this up?

Gonna have to wait. It'll be a late night post I'm afraid. Check back later.

Well, at least your priorities are in the right place. Good luck to you. Hope a copy or similar cones your way. On a related note, I was wondering what the weirdest place you fellow boardies have ever been while bidding on a book in an auction. I've got a few....a bunch while at Disney World...not that weird though since I work down there occassionally. Also tried to win a Strange Tales at the Virtual Comic Con a few years ago while at my sisters wedding...didn't work out. Anyway, I'd love to hear any stories you guys have. -Christian

There's no denying The Thing #15 (worm) is a classic and a great Ditko cover, but #12 blows it out of the water. #15 looks like a typical 50s sci-fi Giant-Monster-on the-Loose or later Atlas pre-hero Giant Monster cover, while #12 screams pre-code nightmarish weirdness. Here, here. Well said! Well reasoned Mr. Pontoon! They are close and both great covers. I also agree with your point of 12 having the nightmarish edge....but I wouldn't say "blows it out of the water."... More like bumps it softly with a Pontoon boat. If I am saying 12 and 15 are equal, why give 15 an edge? Honestly, it's the evil woman's face on the left. Something about it seems flat...leaves me wanting more....I would overlook it, if it didn't take up such a huge part of the picture. Now go easy on me....it's just an opinion. This isn't an exact science. And Hey! It's still a killer cover. It made the top 6! :) I would hate to think what would happen if I left 12 off the list. I think it's awesome that this cover has so many fans. Good stuff. Mr. Bedrock- Thanks for chiming in. The force is strong with you on one of those.... Mr Myst- Satre- My oh my.....Where do you get these wonderful books? Time machine? Jayman- Boo!

Some of those classics were on my previous top 25 list... this is a new list....it is a little confusing. Maybe I should renumber this new list 26-50.... No CSS 22, or Dynamic since those are precode crime, not horror. They will be part of a future list of wild crime covers. Jayman, not 24.....but....

Bronze Jonny, no Suspense or Strange Fantasy. Great books though! Alan, I knew if anyone could have an answer on that Beware, it would be you. Thanks!

They are Jimbo. A little side series I continually add to...Thanks for chiming in, Hope all is well buddy! That Mystic you recently acquired is one nice book. Congrats!

Double posting this. I have my countdown ending tomorrow on my TwisTeD 25 top Precode books over at the Undead Thread. Check it out here: http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=759405&fpart=645 This is a followup to my previous list from 4 years ago, The Terrible 25: Enjoy! -Christian Slade

And that is Day 4! Any ideas on the final 5? How about a hint or two.... There will be an EC, a Prize, an Atlas, and an Ajax book in there. Guess away fellow Precoders! I might try to post the books at midnight tonight or it will be late on halloween night itself.