GRAVE'S END

A popular theme in pre-Code horror comics was the "revenge from the grave" tale. This story from CHAMBER OF CHILLS #24 (Harvey, July 1954) exemplifies that, but has a strange twist to it: the dead person kills her murderer without coming back to life as a moldering, skeletal revenent. Art is by Bob Powell.

MAD KILLERS MENACE OUR SAFETY!

This comic's title, WHO IS NEXT? (#5, Pines/Standard Comics, January 1953) says it all as the stories are some of the most nasty and brutal you're bound to come across. One in particular is especially violent, as a teenager works his way through murdering two women in "Don't Let Me Kill", illustrated by Mike Sekowsky.

Alex Vorple is not only a troubled kid, he's also ugly. Turning his anger toward women, he follows a girl home from a dance, sneaks through her bedroom window and bashes her head in with a table lamp. He meets a girl at another dance that actually pays attention to him, but he goes a little too far with his amorous intentions. Feeling rejected again, he strangles her to death.

This story doesn't end well for Vorple, but in the meantime, it aims right at the heart of teenage angst, uncertainty and peer pressure. Isn't that horror enough?

FOZZMO'S ROBOT WOMAN

Poor Fozzmo. The brilliant scientist has got everything going for him except his looks. In an aha! moment he decides to emulate Dr. Frankenstein and create his own mate. But remember, this is a pre-Code horror comic and things usually don't go as planned. The typical bizarre and superior art is by Basil Wolverton. Although the author for this story, "Robot Woman", goes uncredited, with a main character named "Fozzmo", I have a sneaking suspicion Mr. Wolverton may have had a hand in it.

From MISTER MYSTERY #18 (Stanley Morse, August 1954).