The Undead Thread: Pre-Code Horror 21 21

[BOOT]

Creepy St. John...

Here are the stories in the Strange Terrors.

 

Highlight has to be the Joe Kubert opener. Prime Kubert!

[Jayman]

Ever since I bought this issue back in the late '80s I loved the cover.

 

 

I can now say I picked up the original!

 

[adamstrange]

And what a lovely looking back issue copy that is!

[Jayman]

Thanks Adam!

I think the shocked look on the corpse's face is what hits me as a non-typical horror cover.

Where most others would have the monster scaring the people.

Also what I find interesting is that the coloring is so much more detailed in the original than the 80's copy.

[originalisbest]

Different (i.e. better, to me) coloring seems to have been the norm for '50's books vs. the '80s-90's, due to the different processes involved -- hand-done then moreso, vs. electric separation of colors in more recent times. Russ Cochran answered a similar observation in the letters column of one of his '90s EC reprints, from a reader who wondered why the colors couldn't be more muted/blended better on the reprints.

[adamstrange]

Also what I find interesting is that the coloring is so much more detailed in the original than the 80's copy.

I think they are going for a more realistic, subtle color scheme on the reprint but I like the lurid colors of the original. They are a better fit for the art.

[Darth Corgi]

Ever since I bought this issue back in the late '80s I loved the cover.

 

 

I can now say I picked up the original!

 

 

Well done Jayman! A fine copy indeed!

[Cimm]

Ever since I bought this issue back in the late '80s I loved the cover.

 

 

I can now say I picked up the original!

 

Beautiful copy, Jayman. Nice find!

[Darth Corgi]

Let's keep the Harvey Horror train a chugging......

Feet and Rats.... ....

[Mio]

Sweet books! I haven't seen that Witches Tales I don't think. Grim cover! The interiors?

[MedicAR]

How did I not know there was a thread devoted to these books?

 

A big "thank you" to everyone for sharing their books! I'm a novice in this area but I'm really getting into them now!

[Jayman]

Let's keep the Harvey Horror train a chugging......

Feet and Rats.... ....

 

Christian, I have to admit that this cover never did anything for me. I always thought:"Wow...a big foot! "

But now seeing a nice big scan (and a beautiful copy btw), I just noticed the rat "chews" on the foot and that ups a level of creepiness to this book for me!

Nice!

[Jayman]

Sweet books! I haven't seen that Witches Tales I don't think. Grim cover! The interiors?

 

There's a couple ok stories including a Mutiny on the Bounty parody story.

The one titled Eye Eye, Sir with Sid Check art has a cool ending (you can guess by the title!)

Sadly the cover image has nothing to do with the story Undertaker.

[Darth Corgi]

Let's keep the Harvey Horror train a chugging......

Feet and Rats.... ....

 

Christian, I have to admit that this cover never did anything for me. I always thought:"Wow...a big foot! "

But now seeing a nice big scan (and a beautiful copy btw), I just noticed the rat "chews" on the foot and that ups a level of creepiness to this book for me!

Nice!

 

Yeah Jay, I felt exactly the same way about this issue too. That is until I read this issue's feature story in the Pre-Code Horror retrospective "The Horror The Horror!"

Below is a scan of the opening splash of that story. One look at that first page had me wipe the drool from my mouth and send this one to the top of the wantlist! Covers get most of the praise but my favorite part of comics are the stories inside. SO much great stuff in there.

 

Side note: When my wife was little, her family had a mouse loose in the house. While laying on the floor watching the TV....a mouse ran across the top of her bare feet. Today, she doesn't hate mice but she has a good healthy fear of them. When I opened the book to share it with her she gave me her tolerant "comic book smile" and quickly left the room. All is well though. She got flowers the same day.

[Jayman]

That's a great story and yeah, I get that tolerant "comic book smile" from my wife too. Usually followed by "So you're gonna disappear for the rest of the night with your books?"

 

You say something about a horror train?

 

[Jayman]

Oh, you said Harvey Horror train, didn't you?

 

[Darth Corgi]

Oh, you said Harvey Horror train, didn't you?

 

All aboard!

 

Both great books I don't have yet. What are the insides like on that Mysterious Traveler? Are they strictly "horror" or are they one of the hybrids? I love the way Powell drew and I think he's got some art in there.

[Jayman]

I really bought the MT for the The Tell Tale Heart story adaptation but was disappointed with it on story and art (not Powell).

 

Powell's got a couple of stories in there but I can't remember, I haven't looked at it since we moved, and that's over a year ago now.

[BOOT]

I really bought the MT for the The Tell Tale Heart story adaptation but was disappointed with it on story and art (not Powell).

 

Powell's got a couple of stories in there but I can't remember, I haven't looked at it since we moved, and that's over a year ago now.

 

The cover story "Five Miles Down" is great mystery/horror. Similar to the radio show on which the comic was based. But it's more suggestive than later explicit horror comics. The idea I suppose was that suggested horror could let each reader or listener's imagination create more powerful fear than when everything was clearly shown.

[selegue]

Flotsam and jetsam won here and there.

Sellers' scans. Many of you recognize the BLUE background.

 

Black Cat in horror book mode.

 

 

Classic cover!

 

 

A surprise win, graded FN- by a trusted seller.

 

 

Jack