THOSE LITTLE MONSTERS!

Fans of the American Comics Group pre-Code horror comics know that, as horror comics went back in the day, ACG's titles were quite a bit tamer than say, Harvey, Stanley Morse or numerous others, for that matter.

But hold on -- there is one very notable exception: In an apparent attempt to jump on the bandwagon of the excessive horror that was oozing from comic pages circa mid-1950, Norman Fruman was the editorial custodian of one of the most gruesome and grisly comics of the late pre-Code horror era. 

With a cover date of July-August 1954, THE CLUTCHING HAND #1 hit the stands like the wet slap of a blood-soaked towel on a morgue tile floor. The entire issue is cover-to-cover violence, brutality and death.

Selected for you today is one of those stories: "The Tiny Heads", a crazy little tale drawn by Sheldon Moldoff -- yes, the same Shelly Moldoff who ghosted on Bob Kane's BATMAN, worked on the Golden Age HAWKMAN and HAWKGIRL, and co-created  Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy and Bat Mite? Yep, the very same.

Moldoff was actually on the leading edge of pre-Code horror comics and appeared to have a lot of ideas and the imagination and drawing talent to go with it. He was famously ripped off when he pitched two titles he created, TALES OF THE SUPERNATURAL and THIS MAGAZINE IS HAUNTED to EC's Bill Gaines, who reneged on their financial agreement and then went ahead and published them anyway!

ACG pulled THE CLUTCHING HAND after just one issue, probably feeling the heat from Dr. Fredric Wertham's bubbling cauldron of comic book contempt, as well as the impending restrictions of the Comics Code Authority. Consequently, ACG was one of the few major comic book publishers that survived the fiasco.

YOUR GRAVE IS READY!

Standard Comics was the comic book imprint of Pines Publications, formed by Ned Pines in 1939. Standard was the parent company of two other Pines comics imprints, Better Publications and Nedor Publications.

The comic seen here today, THE UNSEEN, is listed in the indicia as being published by yet another company, Visual Editions, Inc.

Here's a full issue of fearsome frolics featuring such delightful tales as a boy raised by wolves who can't keep his bloodlust under control when he is adopted into normal life, an exterminator who has other ideas about rats besides killing them and a painting that foreshadows a man's doom. Plus, plenty of mayhem, shrunken heads. the Mexican spirit-woman La Llorna and more.

NOTE: Third-party ads have been removed from this scan.

THE UNSEEN

Vol. 1, No. 9

March 1953

Standard Comics (Pines)

Editor: ?

Cover: Art Saaf

Cover price: 10 cents

CONTENTS

"Your Grave is Ready"

Script: ?

Art: Ross Andru

"The Rat Man"

Script: ?

Art: Jack Katz

"The Wailing Woman" (one-page story about Mexico's La Llorona spirit)

Script: ?

Art: George Roussos

"The Painted Prophecy" (text story)

Script: Mickey Marks

Art: Jack Katz

"Til Death Do Us Part"

Script: ?

Art: Ralph Mayo

"The Bleeding Platter"

Script: ?

Art: Ross Andru; Mike Espositio (signed as "MikeRoss")

"The Phantom Hitch Hiker" (one-page story)

Script: ?

Art: Art Saaf

JACK OF HORROR!

One of the better team-ups during the pre-Code era were Bob Powell and Howard Nostrand. On their own, both were good artists, but I think together they complemented each other.

"Jack of Horror" from BLACK CAT MYSTERY #34 (Harvey, April 1952) is so crazy, I consider it an almost psychedelic story. It was reprinted in BLACK CAT MYSTERY #52 (October 1954) during the last gasp of horror comics brought on by the Comics Code Authority.

NOTE: Some of the panels in this story may look familiar; I used them in a previous post.