Darth Corgi

#6 The Thing! 12 Finally! Right? The most requested omission from my original Terrible 25 list four years ago is this one right here. Ditkos first cover and pretty brutal. I still think that his worm cover is his best but this is a close second. As with many covers from this title, the books title logo features neat artwork as well. I believe this was the last issue it would do that with. Pretty scary characters in this Cinderella telling. The woman on the stairs with her arms up is terrifying. The story that goes with this is pretty cool as well and worth reading.

#7 Weird Mysteries 2 It is ok to feel sorry for issue #2 of Weird Mysteries. This book has always had to look up to its more famous brothers, Weird Mysteries 5 and 4. Still, this one does get a lot of love on here with many boardies showing off excellent copies. It is all about the floating heads spilling from the cauldron and the wonderful purples and yellow greens. Great precode faces!

#8 Spook 27 What is a top precode cover list without one form the master, LB Cole? His Startling Terror 11 topped out at #1 on my first list. There are many LB Cole covers out there but I believe this is his second best. As usual, amazing composition and drawing ability on display here. Color wise, the floating red head pops against that green. The longer you look, the more you see. From the strange faces, to the doomed man hanging above a ship, and even to the simple swirl designs in the green sea....this cover simply rocks.

#9 Beware 10 One word: Frazetta Nuff said! ....but I will blab a bit more.. I read in Tales Too Terrible TooTell years ago that this was Frazettas only horror comic cover he ever worked on....(if you do not count the Warren mags, because those are technically mags...On a side note, arent those thing great? Frazetta and other artists painted some really sweet covers for Creepy and Eerie)...Anyway, apparently this piece was a bit of a duet as Frazetta worked with Sid Check on this as well. It doe not take much to tell that Frazetta drew that girl Not sure about the rest of it. Perhaps another boardie could chime in if they know more. The girl framed by the yellow moon is great and this issue has a nice neck breaking story inside. Considered by many a Precode Key and with good reason.

#10 Chilling Tales 15 Another Chilling Tales kicks off the list today. And someone guessed this one a few posts back. Well done sir! Matt Fox finally makes an appearance. I gotta be totally honest and say he is not my one of my favorites. He is sort of the folk artist of precode horror. That said, he has a fresh and unique style and an inventive and playful approach to these pictures. This cover is his best from his mini run on this series. It has never been clear whether the man is about to be hanged or he has already been hung...I think he has already been killed and this is what was waiting for him on the other side. Pretty scary stuff. I love the sky and three creatures. I guess there are mushrooms in the afterlife and how about those hand trees in the background? Pretty trippy stuff!

Day 4 begins..... Top Ten starts now!

Well stop reading all those Swamp Thing issues and get crackin'! Ps: did I guess any upcoming issues on your list? None of those are on the list. I will say that the three Atlas books you mentioned were very strongly considered.....runners up if you will. However, someone else guessed a book..... Swamp Thing...I have been so busy I have read a total of 5 issues so far Looking to speed things up this week though. We need to have another chat again soon. Ill send ya a PM.

Adventures Into The Unknown! # 33 Adventures into Weird Worlds # 6 Spellbound # 14 Spellbound # 17 Suspense 14 Chilling Tales 13 or 14 Crime Does Not Pay 33 No crime books! It's a "Twisted" cover ! And I love it too, it's just that Christian decided not to include crime books. Only straight up horror. I know... Truth is I have another list Ive been working on for years that covers the best crime covers and that is where that one goes. I agree. It's a great book. Lots more goodies to come.

And that is the end for Day 3! Tomorrow starts the home stretch and the final ten. Any guesses? Thanks for reading! -Christian Slade

#11 Eerie Adventures 1 Ziff Davis put out a small collection of precode books but most of them were more scifi in nature. There were also a few issues of Nightmare which were superb and then this one shot here, Eerie Adventures. This was one of the first precode books I purchased when I started branching out from EC and discovering all the other GA horror publishers. Similar to the Norman Saunders covers, I love it when paintings are used on comic covers. Especially when they are done so well. This painting along with the green title just screams. Also, a cool thing about this book is the back cover. Instead of an advertisement for how to get fatter or how to get skinnier, we get this:

#12 Mysterious Adventures 13 A man being consumed by fire and a woman trying to pull him back. Hmmmm..... Could be a metaphor here guys. I think this is what happens when Precode comic collecting goes too far. I heard of a collector once who managed to obtain ever single precode book. After that happened, he was never heard from again. His wife said after he placed the final mylar protected book in the short box, she had stepped out of the room for a moment. After hearing a sudden large sound like a dumpster being dropped from a second story, she rushed back in to find her husband gone. Only his shoes remained on the floor. The comics were still all there...but no husband.

#13 Menace 1 Menace is a great short run of books all filled with great stories. Many collectors have said Menace features some of the best of Atlas horror, and I agree. Many of these issues are tough to find in any shape. It took me YEARS to put a full run of these together. This past summer though, I sold them all except this one here, my favorite. The art is fantastic...That double portrait in the foreground just sells this thing. I also like the three extra previews running along the bottom instead of the side here.

#14 Black Cat 45 When it comes to Black Cat, issue 50 seems to get the majority of praise (and rightfully so) but there are plenty of other killer covers in the run. The feature story here Colorama is a Harvey classic and very clever in how it is told. As for the cover, a psychedelic portrait dominates the composition....front and center with superb color choices. One of the best things about the Harvey Horror books are not just the cover art but the mastheads/ titles of the books. Black Cat is uniquely designed as to look like brushstrokes. Its brother and sister titles are the same, like Tomb of Terror, Witches Tales and Chamber Of Chills.

#15 Spellbound 9 Lots of Atlas on this list. Over the last few years, I have really gotten into them. Here is a book that was love at first sight for me. That meant it took awhile to track down a decent copy. This one is not perfect but its solid and the River City copy. This is probably the most subtle of the covers on this list. We are not 100% sure of what is going on here but it is very well drawn and intruiging. The detail in the outstretched hand in the foreground with a little touch of red on it makes it pop. The broken staircase is so detailed...then the body laying facedown in a pool of yellow light surrounded by purple shadow..and look at all that linework in the shadows! Just awesome.

Day #3 begins.....

Satre, Only a 9.4 for the Out Of Shadows 8? Pffff....Come on man. theres got to be a 9.6 or 9.8 out there. Lets step it up next time huh? just kiddin

And that is Day 2! Hope everyone is having fun. And now lets roll the credits and take a look at Satres high grade gems:

#16 Black Magic 29 This series stands out from other precode books. Total different vibe going on here. The books in this title had some cliched stuff but overall the stories varied more in subject than any other publisher. Leading the way was the talented classic team of Simon and Kirby. The reason this cover has always stood out to me is the use of yellow type against a blue and pink background. Really cool...The Kirby artwork is also a major draw. The art is part crystal ball as one does not need to look far to see creatures that would appear a few years later in Tales To Astonish, Tales Of Suspense and Amazing Adventures. The man in the middle has a resemblance to Reed Richards and the building in the background could of been designed by the same architect of the Baxter Building. Sorry to get all Silver Age in here, but well...I am glad to finally get one of these Kirbys on this list. (So hard to pick this one....The pink underwater cover was the runner up)

#17 Haunted Thrills 9 Two words: Clooven foot. Hell yeah. This cover is Precode Horror at its finest. Lots to look at here. This is another book that is underated in my opinion. Goulish and sick....against a black background, the characters and scene really pop. When it comes to these books, I say the stranger the better. Is that Impossible Mans evil brother helping out over the cauldron?

#18 Strange Stories From Another World 4 Ah! The great Norman Saunders everyone! Famous for his Worlds Of Fear eyeball cove, Pulp/magazine painter and artist on the Mars Attacks trading cards. He created all the covers of this short run but this one is my favorite....(The others are VERY close though). I got this copy years ago from fellow boardie Shiverbones. SUPERB painting at a master level...something not often scene on comic covers....this one feels more like a pulp and I enjoy it for that. Look at the way the hands and face are painted..These areas are notoriously difficult for artists ...These are perfect Nothing more to add...the picture says it all....just amazing.

#19 Astonishing 8 This book took awhile to acquire but here it is. One of my favorite Atlas covers. Russ Heath is awesome here. GREAT sense of depth....Lobsters in the foreground creepers in the background....Love it! Killer colors against a black background.....and look at the detail and line quality in the hands digging into the ground and the splash of the water. We even have a nice trio of spots previewing stories inside (all of which would make excellent full covers on their own)...my favorite is The Hanging Terror!

#20 Haunted Thrills 6 Roll the bones my fellow Precoders! No PC list is complete without at least one Ajax Farrell book and today there are two up here. These books have some of my favorite Precode stories in them, mostly created in the Iger Studio. This book screams classic with the dominant skeleton in the middle throwing snake eyes. The design is actually deceptively simple but effectively drawn. The black ink drawing pops against a wild field of colors which might not match too well with each other....but who cares?! These comics are supposed to be crazy.

Thanks for all the comments gang! On with Day #2! -Christian Slade

And that is Day 1! Be back tomorrow for round two....

#21 Astonishing 4 Wrapping up Day 1 is an early Atlas classic by Bill E. The drawing and colors on this cover are exceptional! The contrast of the green robe against the hot reds, orange and yellows makes for a dynamic scene. The compostion does a fine job of controlling your eye around the picture frame. You start with the creature on the left with the ax and your eye goes up to the top to the green robe and then diagnol to Marvel Boys outstretched arm to the creep in the lower right corner who is turned back into the picture contianing your eyes in the picture frame. Such a great cover and very different to what we would see later with Atlas Horror book cover design. Marvel Boy is literally being put on the chopping block to make way for the oncoming wave of horror stories that would dominate comic books for the next half a decade.