EERIE NO. 1 (1951)

The beginning of the 1950's saw a major change in the appearance of pulp fiction magazines when most titles were converted from the standard, 7 x 10 size that had been used since the 1920's to the smaller, digest-size (5.5 x 8.25). One holdout was Joseph Meyers, publisher of Avon Books, who tried a new combination science-fiction pulp/comic book after a suggestion by his printer, J.W. Clements. The editor was noted science-fiction writer/anthologist Donald A. Wollheim, who was not apparently thrilled with the idea.

Hampered by generally uninspired stories, the title only lasted for two issues due to weak sales (July, 1950/December 1950). The first issue is noteworthy, however, for its cover by James Bama. The comic portions were inserts of Avon's EERIE COMICS and the recently-published OUT OF THIS WORLD. Both contained the John Giunta-drawn Conan swipe, "Crom the Barbarian".

Sol Cohen began working for Avon in 1947 and edited their comics division from then until 1956. Coincidentally, Cohen was the circulation and business manager for EC Comics from 1947 until 1949. After a few years at Avon, he was promoted to vice-president. In addition, Cohen was an associate of ex-girlie magazine publisher Harry Donenfeld, now best known as the head of of National Periodical Publications/DC Comics. The two assisted in forming attorney Bill Friedman and his wife Sophie's Youthful Publications in 1949. Youthful published two Pre-Code horror titles, BEWARE and CHILLING TALES. While not credited, Cohen might have been the editor of the first all-original, all-horror comic book, EERIE COMICS in 1947.

There was no tip-toeing with these stories as some publishers did with their first try at horror comics for reasons of either caution in producing anything too violent or terrifying or they hadn't gotten the hang of it yet! EERIE, on the other hand, went full-tilt; the only thing missing was actual bloodletting and gore. Otherwise there is a full complement of werewolves, zombies, and other unsavory characters. The book is also peppered with sadism, bondage and provocatively-posed and transparently-dressed females, making it for a splendid read for those so inclined.

NOTE; Ads have been removed from this scan.

EERIE

Vol. 1 No. 1

May-June 1951

On-sale date: February 16, 1951

Avon Periodicals Inc.

Publisher: Joseph Meyers

Editor: Sol Cohen

Cover: Unknown artist illustrating "King of the Living Dead"

Pages: 36

Cover price: 10 cents

CONTENTS

"The Werewolf of Warsham Manor"

Script: ?

Art: Moe Marcus; Rocco "Rocke" Mastroserio

"King of the Living Dead"

Script: ?

Art: Martin Thall

"The Subway Horror!" (originally titled, "The Strange Case of Henpecked Harry" from Eerie Comics #1)

Script: ?

Art: Fred Kida; Bob Fujitani?

"The Monster from the Pit"

Script: ?

Art: ?

WALLACE WOOD'S JEKYLL & HYDE

This is the second of several comic book adaptations of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale, "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", usually shortened to "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (the first was Gilberton's CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED in 1947). It was published under the title A STAR PRESENTATION #3 (Fox, May 1950). It was a one-shot, preceded by MY SECRET ROMANCE and followed by SPECTACULAR STORIES. It was reprinted in STARTLING TERROR TALES #10 (Star, May 1952) and THIS IS SUSPENSE #23 (Charlton, February 1955). The inside front cover splash page was removed in both reprints.

Cover art by L.B. Cole.

The script writer for the adaptation is unknown. Wallace Wood drew the cover and interior art, including the 3-page filler story, "The Repulsive Dwarf". Over the course of his career, Wood often cited Hal Foster, Alex Raymond, Milton Caniff and Will Eisner as his major influences. It is easy to see that his Eisner influence shows through the most in this strip.

Cover art by Ted Galindo.

Wood was 22-years-old when he drew the story while working at Fox Comics in 1949. In THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF WALLACE WOOD by Bhob Stewart, et al (Fantagraphics, 2016), Wood's collaborator Harry Harrison recalled working for the shady publisher, Victor Fox:

"The art director would say, 'Well, yeah, this is great stuff but we don't pay very much. Know what I mean? I think the rate at Fox was $23 per page for ten-page stories. And while he was talking, he'd slip you a note saying something to the effect that they also expected kickbacks of $5 a page. This made a big difference to us in the rates, of course. But all these guys took kickbacks, and if you didn't go along with it, you wouldn't get any work...We would slide in this ten-page pile of crap with a real good splash page for the first page on top. He would look at only the first page and count the other nine, flipping through them fast. Nobody really cared about the quality. Nobody looked at these books, no one read the things very carefully. So he'd count the pages. We'd give him the $50 or whatever it came to----$5 a page in kickbacks---and then we'd get our check in the mail from Fox, not necessarily in a week or two but in a month or so, sometimes slower than that. The money owed would add up..."

Just a short time later, Wood's art would explode -- fully-formed -- in the pages of Bill Gaines' EC Comics.