St. John's STRANGE TERROR was strange indeed. Comprised of mostly reprints from Golden Age titles from Chesler's Dynamic and Red Seal Comics, these stories miss the mark for being truly "horrifying", but they exemplify the use of mystery, suspense and the supernatural as precursors for what was to come in the next decade. The addition of creepy-looking characters helps put them over the edge of the usual mystery stories of the time.
Don Perlin illustrates the cover and the story, "Zombies March By Moonlight", erroneously (and hilariously) misspelled "Zoombies" on the cover. Perlin worked into the Bronze Age by drawing -- among others -- WEREWOLF AT NIGHT for Marvel. He was also the co-creator of Marvel's Moon Knight. Mr. Perlin passed away just this year at the age of 94.
Rafael Astarita began his career in comics in 1935. He worked for the Chesler and Eisner & Iger Shops and Fiction House, and after World War II drew illustrations for various pulp magazines. In 1949, he was hired as art director for Ned Pines. After working for Avon Comics in the early 1950's, he formed his own advertising agency.
Paul Gattuso worked at Chesler and Red Seal Comics and drew horror strips for Avon and romance strips for Harvey in the 1950's. Gattuso's specialty was drawing crime comics and one of his panels became infamous when it was included in Dr. Fredric Wertham's SEDUCTION OF THE INNOCENT with the caption, "Children told me what the man was going to do with the red-hot poker" from CRIME REPORTER #2 (St. John, October 1948).
Al Plastino is best known for his stint drawing SUPERMAN for DC in the 1950's, but he also was the go-to artist to assist Bill Everett and Jack Kirby. He drew CAPTAIN AMERICA for Marvel before he went to National/DC where -- along with working on SUPERMAN until 1968 -- he co-created SUPERGIRL with Otto Binder.
Ralph Mayo drew the story "The Ghost of Castle Karloff" with a tip-of-the-pen to the great horror actor, He was the art director for the Golden Age AC Comics and also worked for Fiction House, Marvel, Lev Gleason and Dell. Note the bondage splash panel that begins the story and panels on the fifth page of the story.
STRANGE TERRORS
Vol. 1 No. 1
June 1952
St. John Publishing Company
Editor: ?
Cover: Don Perlin (illustrating the interior story, "The Ghost of Castle Karloff")
Pages: 36
Cover price: 10 cents
CONTENTS
"Vampires Dance At Dusk"
Script: ?
Art: Rafael Astarita
"Terror Strikes At Randall's Rock"
Script: ?
Art: Paul Gattuso
"Zombies March By Moonlight"
Script: ?
Art: Don Perlin; Abe Simon
"Haunt of the Howling Beast"
Script: ?
Art: Al Plastino
"The Ghost of Castle Karloff"
Script: ?
Art: Ralph Mayo
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