bronze johnny

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for letting me know this because I don’t have a raw copy and haven’t gotten around to finding one to read. Agree that DC Special is Abel’s first appearance.

If that’s the case, then DC Special is Abel’s first appearance.

There’s definitely more definition to that panel than what we see in Hulk 180 and Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen 134. Agree with you that the reader is introduced to Abel the host of the House of Secrets. It’s Abel’s first appearance and HOS 81 kicks off his “first day on the job.” Best to have both books!

Cameo appearance!

The lack of information about the great non-pedigree collections is one reason why I started this thread. My hope is that those with some knowledge about a collection could share it here with boardies. I’m hoping we get as much information about these collections before memory about them fades and disappears. I do want to give kudos to CGC for identifying some of them.

Definitely an introduction to Abel as the host of the House of Secrets. Still, we don’t see him as the occupant of the House of Secrets until HOS 81. He and the House come together as one in HOS 81. One of those instances where it’s best to have both issues!

Curious Jay, I don’t have a raw copy so is Abel in a panel and referred by his name?

Thanks for sharing adamstrange! 49 West 45th Street should be designated a historical landmark. Amazes me today how much history of the comic book industry is going to be lost. New York City was once the hub for the greatest comic book publishing houses and the individuals who created this American medium and saw it grow. That history needs to be preserved.

Jack Kirby is the Antonio Meucci to Stan Lee’s Alexander Bell…

Neal’s best work is demonstrated in the Tomahawk series and this is his greatest and my favorite cover:

Agree. Wrightson relied more on “instinct” given he was never formally trained and that “rawness” made his overall work on horror the best of that era. Still, the cover to Phantom Stranger 10 captures an atmosphere of horror at the highest level that is rarely seen outside of the magazine format. I’m a Wrightson horror fan and believe he’s the greatest horror genre artist of all time and that includes the precode and later Warren Magazine horror artists like Ingels, Everett, Craig, Davis, Frazetta, Cole (both), Ditko, Elias, Baily, Cameron, Morales, and Heck. That being said, I don’t see a cover drawn by Bernie better than what Adams did with Phantom Strange 10. It’s also Neal’s “Tomahawk 116 of Horror” in terms of covers.

I’ve always said Wrightson was the greatest Bronze Age horror artist but Neal happens to have drawn the best horror cover from that era. This is it.

First Ditko art. Yes, I know Daring Love 1 was published first but the first chapter of Ditko’s storied career is horror and FF 5 is where it all began.

Public message admonishing car pools?

At least the guy in the coffin is dressed for the occasion…

Awesome pick-up Billy!

The Vault has been opened and the horror has been released!!!

I feel like Elon Musk is on the boards every time you post! Beauties by the way!

Boxing!

No! “The House of Pain!” (At least for me)

What!!??? Parker’s in Copper!!!

Great stuff Jay (as always)! Gilberton lays claim to publishing the first horror comic books with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in 1943. They were adaptations of classic stories but still the first horror comics entirely dedicated to comic book form. I haven’t read the stories in the “hybrid” books you posted but my guess is if they are original stories, then they are examples of the evolutionary steps taken towards Eerie Comics 1 and AITU 1. They also appear in the period between the first Gilberton adapted horror comics and Eerie Comics 1 & AITU 1. The Crime genre begins to surpass the superhero genre as Crime Does Not Pay enters the postwar era and the violence depicted in Biro’s and his contemporaries art captures the post World War generation and contributes to the demise of the Golden Age era of the superhero. Crime is the genre but we see the seeds of horror planted from the Gilberton classic horrors through the hybrid books (your examples) and onto the first comic book printed entirely with original horror stories. These hybrid books and Eerie Comics 1 were attempts to break through the crime comics reading public. Charlton introduced one of the first horror hosts in Yellowjacket Comics 7 in 1946. The Ancient Witch hosted stories with original material in the Yellowjacket Comics series and there’s no doubt Gaines was watching at the time since his Old Witch was very similar to this Charlton host. While initially unsuccessful in overtaking crime with the Gilberton, hybrids, and horror host books, horror was moving closer to breaking out as a true and popular genre. The crime genre continued to hold its place at the top of the postwar comics but things began to really change during the Fall of 1948 with ACG’s AITU. We know what happens after AITU takes horror readers into 1950. A new direction for horror picks up from there that ends with a crime comic book that Gaines himself defended at a U.S. Senate hearing.