Did Marvel Release a Bronze Age Horror Comic?

[jeff2004]

Marvel's Tower of Shadows seems a direct response to the revamped House of Mystery, but we're talking 1969, so maybe not Bronze Age after all...

 

Bronze Age did not start until Conan#1...

[Zonker]

Tower of Shadows and Chanber of Darkness were Marvels horror anthologies just like HOS and HOM. And if ther were started in 1969 and predated "bronze Age" then they also pre-dated BA HOS AND HOM....and if so, they LED TO DCs BA horror books and shouldnt be disqualified because they started a few months early. Theye still were coming out in 1970 at the start of the BA too.

 

So those 2 books are your answer.

 

 

HoM 174 = May 1968

 

HoS 81 = Aug/Sep 1969

 

ToS 1 = Sept 1969

 

CoD 1 = Oct 1969

 

 

And I'm aware most of us (me included) start the Bronze Age at 1970-- all the above books span between the before-and-after Bronze Age milestone. That's part of the point I suppose, unless we want to start the B.A. in 1968, we need to consider the Horror/Mystery revival as an overlapping but different trend than the Silver-to-Bronze move.

[joe_collector]

Suspiria is a very different movie from Nightmare on elm st. They are both horror movies, one uses a one off idea, the other recurring characters.

 

It's not about "recurring characters", but about formula and genre.

 

Or to put it another way, what genre do you feel Buffy and Angel are in?

[joe_collector]

And I'm aware most of us (me included) start the Bronze Age at 1970-- all the above books span between the before-and-after Bronze Age milestone.

 

But how could that be, as the Code revisions didn't take place until 1971? What was DC doing!

 

[dgillock]

Tomb of Dracula, Werewolf by Night, The Monster Frankenstein, Son of Satan, Ghost Rider, Brother Voodoo, the Living Mummy.

 

Whether of not we can really consider these "Horror comics" is up for debate (I would take the "con" position), they certainly feature themes and characters typically associated with the genre; and they never would have gotten Code approval pre-1971 revision:

 

From 1955 CCA Code, General Standards Part B, point 5:

 

"Scenes dealing with, or instruments associated with walking dead, torture vampires and vampirism, ghouls, cannibalism, and werewolfism are prohibited."

 

Sometimes I'm surprised that Casper and Hot Stuff managed to get CCA stamps.

 

_douglas

[joe_collector]

Whether of not we can really consider these "Horror comics" is up for debate (I would take the "con" position), they certainly feature themes and characters typically associated with the genre; and they never would have gotten Code approval pre-1971 revision

 

Sure, but this was really a question of whether Marvel actually published a Horror comic series in the 1970's, and I still haven't been able to find one.

 

Now I know why all the Horror addicts are DC collectors.

[dgillock]

As a follow up, here's the same section from the 1971 CCA revision:

 

"Scenes dealing with, or instruments associated with walking dead, or torture, shall not be used. Vampires, ghouls and werewolves shall be permitted to be used when handled in the classic tradition such as Frankenstein, Dracula, and other high calibre literary works written by Edgar Allen Poe, Saki, Conan Doyle and other respected authors whose works are read in schools around the world."

 

In otherwords, if it's "literary", it's okay...

 

_douglas

[ecfanman]

Archie (under the Red Circle imprint) published Chilling Adventures in Sorcery 3-5 and Red Circle Sorcery 6-11 in 1973-1975.

[awe4one]

 

Jeez...I knew that....but it's so easy to forget.....

 

Jim

[joe_collector]

Jeez...I knew that....but it's so easy to forget.....

 

Not to mention all those "horrific" Life with Archie books.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[shiverbones]

WOW! Thanks for posting that code revision! How on earth did DC get torture, acid in the face, severed heads, decapitation, dismemberment & eye injuries into their 70's comics?

 

Oh, and Witching Hour #1 predated HOS81 as well as unexpected, so DC had 3 ongoing mystery comics going before TOS & CHOD

 

The thing i am trying to figure out is how exactly Twilight zone, Boris Karloff, Ripley's believe it or not, creepy, & eerie fit into the scheme of things....

 

That is why i see HOM,WH, UNEX & HOS as well as CHOD & TOS as bronze because that silver age horror is a different animal than HOM174 on. Excpet for Creepy & eerie, which is basically the same thing, but its a magazine and is black & white. ooh brother, my head hurts

 

As for Angel & buffy, i have never seen them so i can't really comment.

[thecomicsheet]

Weird Wonder Tales? My memory is pretty hazy about the early 70's. Can't even remember for sure if this was a Marvel title.

[PovertyRow]

Sorry for late response, Shiv. As I said, therewere some original horror books from Marvel but very few, and amoung the anthology books. My main focus was on the Drac, Frank, WWBN type books. I just canot see them as horror, although I refer to them as Marvek BA Horror. Main reason? They are horror characters but put in super-hero situations. I don;t think horror characters or even monsters make "horror". I think the intent, so to speak is more important. I doubt anyone would call Transylvania 6-9000 a "horror" movie ("horrorble" one though).

[Aman619]

I guess I totally misunderstood the question. I was there and always considered HOS HOM COD TOS etc as BRONZE Age books. Arent these the Bronze horror books collectors today are seeking? So if they came out before 1970, and you date teh BA to 1970, then there were NO BA horror books. Or was that the original question?

 

but thats still confusing me.... if these 4 horror titles werent BA but really SA titles, then why are they considered BA books by most collectors. Wasnt the switch in content in HOS HOM Unexpected and the new WH the darker tone to stories and heroes that WAS the BA??? I dont want to reopen the whole "When did the BA start" debate again... bt whats up?

[PovertyRow]

Hey Aman! I think you mistook me for someone else! I mean, HOM started as GA then went to SA and BA etc! . All I said was that most of the Marvel horror were horror characters in Superhero situations, although i DID allow there were a few Marvel original horror books.

[joe_collector]

I guess I totally misunderstood the question. I was there and always considered HOS HOM COD TOS etc as BRONZE Age books. Arent these the Bronze horror books collectors today are seeking?

 

Nope, the idea is, that these are super-hero books that just happened to feature horror-based characters.

 

Genre is key, i.e. Young Frankenstein and Blade are Comedy and Action movies, respectively, and have no horror elements whatsoever.

[Ze-man]

Was Abbott and Costello Meets Frankenstein a true Comedy/Horror movie?

 

 

 

j/k

[Aman619]

sorry POV - - I just replied to the closest post.... How have you been?

[Aman619]

I guess I totally misunderstood the question. I was there and always considered HOS HOM COD TOS etc as BRONZE Age books. Arent these the Bronze horror books collectors today are seeking?

 

Nope, the idea is, that these are super-hero books that just happened to feature horror-based characters.

 

Genre is key, i.e. Young Frankenstein and Blade are Comedy and Action movies, respectively, and have no horror elements whatsoever.

 

Im not too invested in this discussion, but now Im really losing it. HOS amd HOM are "superhero books"? They only carried 2nd rate heroes for a year or two, but had mystery/horror stories since their inception in the early 50s. And they didnt have "horror-based characters" except for their hosts, which only introduced the stories, just like back in EC days. What am I missing here??

[shiverbones]

ok Aman, to save your sanity...

 

The debate was over whether or not MARVEL actually published horror comics in the bronze age, or just superhero books with monster protagonists.

 

DC had begun true horror comics agian in 1968, which depending on your views is silver, post silver or beginning of bronze. These continued until 1983.

 

marvel briefly published 2 horror anthologies in the late 60's which do qualify as do the first issues of several other titles like chamber of chills.

 

The whole thing boils down to semantics i believe and your own definition of horror. It really has no bearing on anything real, just wondering aloud i suppose. Technicality stuff. The truth of the beast is horror elements crept into just about everything from 1968-1974 or so from romance to superhero.

 

Hope that helps!