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The Undead Thread: Pre-Code Horror
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Started by precodekeith,

Favorite Pre-Code Publisher  

9 members have voted

  1. 1. Favorite Pre-Code Publisher

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10,235 posts in this topic

PokerKid

PokerKid

Posted
Posted
At long last, my full run of this series is complete! This is the worst one of the set (grade-wise) but I became sick of waiting for a better one at a decent price.

 

scan10002.jpg

 

With those headlights on, you'd think he would have been able to see her.

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Darth Corgi

Darth Corgi

Posted
Posted

This is one great undead thread!

 

After a decade of casually tracking down all the single EC reprints, I have finally turned a collecting eye towards all the other cats in Precode Horror. There are some gems among this bunch and these boards along with The Tales Too Terrible To Tell books have really opened up my blistered eyeballs, along with my wallet :P to these books. The last 3 months have been fun putting together the beginings of my Precode reader collection, about 20 books, many I would consider "classic". I get books in the condition I can afford them and love getting high grade books when I can, but I also enjoy a good deal so the conditions in my collection will be mixed. My goal is to get a sampling of all the titles and then decide on which runs to go after. I am going to post the books as I get them starting with the first....

 

Startling Terror Tales #11

This comic and this exact copy shouldn't be a stranger on these boards. I have seen this book posted by at least 1 other board member. I picked this up a few months ago from Phil (Vtcomics) in the For Sales Thread. This book was my personal gateway into non EC Precode books. Being a fan of the macabre and having a fear of spiders, how could I not fall in love with this cover? Having a skull head on the beast is just inspired, and adding blood dripping from its mouth is the icing on the cake. I even love the condition this book is in. Bits and a few chunks missing from the edges, this copy looks like the spider monster attacked the book itself, even staining the bottom right corner with some venom, used no doubt to take care of the poor victim on the left. Speaking of which, notice some of the greenish coloring from his shirt creeping onto the side of his face. Makes it look rotting.

80711.jpg.a8aab6c133af6f2a88d0de5a186c1601.jpg

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Darth Corgi

Darth Corgi

Posted
Posted

Although, these Ziff-Davis books are often considered more SciFi than Horror, I am including them into my collection because 1). There aren't that many and 2). These covers are friggin incredible!! Many thanks to Jimbo for selling me this amazing copy which has unbelievable colors and gloss. I picked this up right after getting my Startling Terror #11 which contrasts it nicely.

 

Some of my favorite things about this book:

 

-Painted cover. I am a huge fan of Pulp cover illustration and I love seeing it on a comic. I think Norman Saunders was credited for this one but it looks a little tight for him. Maybe someone here knows who did this one??

 

-Flowers. The cover has flowers on it. How often do we see such well painted flowers on a Pre-Code book? At super quick first glance, this looks like a romance book until we see the robot dude and then the evil looking alien at the controls.

 

-Did I mention the evil looking alien? And oh yeah, he's drooling too!

80712.jpg.6eec7a051ba9db4994ba8c6b18a6f0f4.jpg

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Darth Corgi

Darth Corgi

Posted
Posted

Black Cat #30

 

I wanted to get this issue of Black Cat because it is considered the first of the Horror theme within the title. It's not the best cover out there but there's just something charming and very old school comic art about it. The inks and what color there is really pops off the white background. Lee Elias is quickly becoming one of my favorite non-EC Horror artists. When I first saw his work, it reminded me a lot of the great Jack Davis, but the more I see, I am favoring him more because of his far less humorous take on horror. Lee Elias also has drawn some of the best key issues out there.

 

Both the Black Cat and the creepy critters that are literally pushing her out of her own book are drawn with a simple economy and are still very expressive. I particularly love the bug on the bottom with the human head and the tentacle coming out of the fish/bat arm.

80717.jpg.80da78c5ca04b7427009e6815f01be80.jpg

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precodekeith

precodekeith

Posted
  • Author
Posted
This is one great undead thread!

 

After a decade of casually tracking down all the single EC reprints, I have finally turned a collecting eye towards all the other cats in Precode Horror.

 

Welcome to the club, DC! Meetings for 1950's horror junkies are held here 24/7. Please feel free to post away. (Oh, and we love the EC stuff, too. Natch! ) :popcorn:

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Jayman

Jayman

Posted
Posted
This is one great undead thread!

 

After a decade of casually tracking down all the single EC reprints, I have finally turned a collecting eye towards all the other cats in Precode Horror. There are some gems among this bunch and these boards along with The Tales Too Terrible To Tell books have really opened up my blistered eyeballs, along with my wallet :P to these books. The last 3 months have been fun putting together the beginings of my Precode reader collection, about 20 books, many I would consider "classic". I get books in the condition I can afford them and love getting high grade books when I can, but I also enjoy a good deal so the conditions in my collection will be mixed. My goal is to get a sampling of all the titles and then decide on which runs to go after. I am going to post the books as I get them starting with the first....

 

Startling Terror Tales #11

This comic and this exact copy shouldn't be a stranger on these boards. I have seen this book posted by at least 1 other board member. I picked this up a few months ago from Phil (Vtcomics) in the For Sales Thread. This book was my personal gateway into non EC Precode books. Being a fan of the macabre and having a fear of spiders, how could I not fall in love with this cover? Having a skull head on the beast is just inspired, and adding blood dripping from its mouth is the icing on the cake. I even love the condition this book is in. Bits and a few chunks missing from the edges, this copy looks like the spider monster attacked the book itself, even staining the bottom right corner with some venom, used no doubt to take care of the poor victim on the left. Speaking of which, notice some of the greenish coloring from his shirt creeping onto the side of his face. Makes it look rotting.

 

80711.jpg

 

Terrific book! :applause:

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adamstrange

adamstrange

Posted
Posted
Although, these Ziff-Davis books are often considered more SciFi than Horror, I am including them into my collection because 1). There aren't that many and 2). These covers are friggin incredible!! Many thanks to Jimbo for selling me this amazing copy which has unbelievable colors and gloss. I picked this up right after getting my Startling Terror #11 which contrasts it nicely.

 

Some of my favorite things about this book:

 

-Painted cover. I am a huge fan of Pulp cover illustration and I love seeing it on a comic. I think Norman Saunders was credited for this one but it looks a little tight for him. Maybe someone here knows who did this one??

 

-Flowers. The cover has flowers on it. How often do we see such well painted flowers on a Pre-Code book? At super quick first glance, this looks like a romance book until we see the robot dude and then the evil looking alien at the controls.

 

-Did I mention the evil looking alien? And oh yeah, he's drooling too!

 

Congratulations on your branching out to the other horror companies! :applause:

 

Allan Anderson is the artist. I highly recommend this issue of Illustration Magazine (a great magazine, btw).

 

Illustration-1.jpg

IllustrationAndersonchklist-1.jpg

Illustrationp8-1.jpg

Illustrationp9-1.jpg

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Darth Corgi

Darth Corgi

Posted
Posted

Thanks for the welcome everyone!

 

Adamstrange, That "Illustration" magazine is amazing! I've been lucky to of gotten every issue since grabbing #1 off the rack in a comic shop down here in Orlando back in 2001. Dan Zimmer really knows how to put a quality mag out! I read that issue #18 when it first came out but never made the connection to the Ziff-davis rags. Thanks for posting and reminding me. I'm totally going to reread that one.

 

 

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adamstrange

adamstrange

Posted
Posted
Check out this TERRIFYING TRIO!!! These are a few of my favorite pre-code covers.

 

Classic horror for certain! :applause:

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Darth Corgi

Darth Corgi

Posted
Posted

Black Cat #40

 

Quasimodo lives!!

Another cover I was totally blown away by. The purple background and yellow wisps of wind adds a strangeness to this unsettling scene. Anytime you've got a large creature and a small pile of humans running away in panic, you can't go wrong! The detail on the giant, especially the face, is remarkable. Thanks to Bunky Brothers for the book!

 

I also included a pic of the original cover art I found for sale on ebay.

It credits Joe Simon as the artist but looking closely, I was thinking maybe Rudy Palais when I saw the exaggerated sweat/slime drips. What do you guys think?

 

 

80779.jpg.e8cefaec8f50b10b62fb2dcc1982421a.jpg

80780.jpg.e0476d36c3b8cc317cd28079ab6aa732.jpg

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Darth Corgi

Darth Corgi

Posted
Posted

Black Cat #53

 

I got a really great deal on this book from my LCS. After a discount and sale they had, I got the book for $16. It was a wall book and the color is a bit faded but I actually don't mind in this case because the cover turned sort of a nice olive green and has a nice limited pallette look to it. And for $16, I had to grab it! Even though this book is all reprints of earlier stories, they were all new to me. There's a Bob Powell and a Rudy Palais story in here too.

 

80834.jpg.b689d4118b602771d8955e2ebaab8305.jpg

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