DEATH BY WIG

A tale of revenge from another inanimate object. It shouldn't be alive . . . but it is!

"The Wig" is from OUT OF THE SHADOWS #11 (Standard Comics/Pines, January 1954) with art by Mike Roy.

THIS ONE'LL FLOOR YOU!

Here's another twisted tale from TORMENTED #2 (Sterling, September 1954). It seems apartment building janitor Cyrus Madden is a bit obsessed with cleanliness and his landlady has scolded him for chastising her tenants for mussing up his floors. There's no love lost between them and Madden has had enough, killing her with a knock on the head with a shovel. Madden's conscience gets the better of him and he ends up a victim of his own fixation.

The art is by Mike Roy.

HEADLESS AND LOVING IT

Mrs. Van Dell is the financial sponsor of Leopold, a very talented ceramic artist who is also very insane. She rejects everything he makes because it is not "lifelike" enough. Leopold finally develops a technique that he's certain she'll lose her head over in this wicked little tale called "Design for Death" from TORMENTED #2 (Sterling, September 1954), published just before the release of the Comics Code Authority.

The prolific pulp and comic book artist Bill Ely illustrated the story. Ely worked in the comics industry from the 1930's into the 1960's for publishers such as DC, Dell, Charlton, Fiction House, Marvel, Ziff-Davis and others.

THE MOON WAS RED

Lou Cameron drew this bizarre tale of seafarers being menaced by a weird-looking creature in WEB OF MYSTERY #18 (Ace, May 1953). Who would believe them? The proof is in the last panel.

Lettering is by Jim and Magaret Wroten using the Leroy lettering device, the same mechanical tool they used for EC comics and many others. While the Grand Comics Database is most often a reliable and accurate reference, they have a habit of classifying Leroy Lettering as "typeset". This is incorrect as the technique was done manually by hand.

Cover art by Kenneth Rice.

MARCHING ZOMBIES!

Here's a frightful fearjerker for you: "Marching Zombies" from BLACK CAT MYSTERY #35 (Harvey, May 1952). A wild and bizarre tale about zombies in -- of all places -- Asia. Illustrated by the incomparable Rudy Palais, this is one of those stories that helped give pre-Code horror comics a bad rap.

All the stories in this issue were reprinted in BLACK CAT MYSTERY #53 (December 1954).

CHAMBER OF CHILLS NO. 21 (HARVEY)

Here's the complete first issue of Harvey's CHAMBER OF CHILLS with numbering continued from BLONDIE COMICS MONTHLY.

CHAMBER OF CHILLS

Vol. 1 No. 21 (First issue)

June 1951

Witches Tales Inc. (Harvey Comics)

Editor: Leon Harvey

Cover: Al Avison

Pages: 36

Cover price: 10 cents

CONTENTS

"The Old Hag of the Hills"

Script: Bob Powell?

Art: Bob Powell; Howard Nostrand

"Darker Than Death!"

Script: ?

Art: George Appel?

"The Chieftain of the Dead"

Script: ?

Art: Vic Donahue

"The Ghost of the Rue de Morte"

Script: ?

Art: Rudy Palais