I LOVED A ZOMBIE!

This two-timer gives two-timers a bad name -- he's married not one, but two women! Both of them are rich and both of them are . . . hungry. Find out why in this story called "Two for the Money" from MYSTERIOUS ADVENTURES #22 (Story Comics, October 1954).

REVENGE IS SWEET

You've heard the old saying, "First come, first served"? That's the title of this story from MISTER MYSTERY #18 (Stanley Morse, August 1954) with art by Tony Mortellaro. It proves that the tables can be turned on a husband who seeks the help of Mr. Morte to quickly dispatch his wife who has fallen for another man. But a twist of fate proves that revenge can be sweet as candy.

EC COMICS VIDS

Today's post features two YouTube videos about EC Comics. The first is a short documentary that chronicles the company from its beginnings with Max Gaines and the rest of the famed comics' history until their demise after the Comics Code Authority.

There is at least one error in the narrative: Bill Gaines was not subpoenaed to appear before the Senate Committee Hearing on Juvenile Delinquency as the narrator explains; for good or bad, he appeared voluntarily and was skewered by Senator Estes Kefauver and Co. during the proceedings

The second is a shorter tale of EC Comics. In this, we see and hear Bill Gaines, Al Feldstein, Joe Orlando, Russ Cochran and others. The image quality is very poor, but it's worth getting through it to see these luminaries while they were all still alive.

As in the first video, there is at least one error that I noticed. The Senate Subcommittee Hearings were in 1954, not 1953.

DEATH OF A 'HEAD' HUNTER

Thaddeus Stevens is a hunter who collects exotic specimens and mounts their heads on his walls as trophies. When he comes upon a strange pool in Africa that seems to have weird properties, he isn't prepared for what happens when he accidentally falls into it.

"The Collector" appeared in CHAMBER OF CHILLS #17 (Harvey, May 1953). Art is by Joe Certa.

EXTRAS!

A 1953 Harvey house ad:

Harvey calendar for 1953 (you'll be able to use it again in 2027!):

What would PETA say?

A ROSE IS A ROSE . . . ?

"Roses are red . . . and blood is red . . . and when you hate hard enough you see red, too. Little Tommy got them all mixed up when he heard the blossoms sobbing, he didn't believe . . . a rose is a rose."

And so begins this twisted little tale of a brilliant young boy who was so sensitive he could hear flowers talking. Well, if you've ever wanted to know if plants have feelings, this ought to clear things up. Just don't ask Little Tommy to mow your lawns and trim your hedges!

Al Eadeh (b.1913 - d.2005) is an artist you don't hear too much about, but he was actually quite prolific during the Golden and Silver Ages, and his versatility can be seen in many different types of comics from crime to Westerns to romance. His largest output was with the Simon/Kirby Studio and Marvel/Atlas. Eadeh's style in this story from Harvey's TOMB OF TERROR (July 1953), to me, vaguely reminiscent of Graham Ingles.

HAUNTED THRILLS: A PRE-CODE HORROR DOCUMENTARY

On the hunt for something entirely different on YouTube, I happened to come across this short film that should be of interest to horror comics fans.

HAUNTED THRILLS (U.S., 2021) is a documentary written and directed by Mike Lyddon. Lyddon is a writer, producer, director and special makeup effects artist who has won numerous awards for his work, including three for HAUNTED THRILLS the year it was released: Best Documentary Short (American Golden Picture International Film Festival, Best Documentary (Horror Bowl Movie Awards) and Best Documentary Short (Indie Suspense Horror Sci-Fi Film Festival.

Lyddon had the good fortune of tracking down and interviewing Vince Carrabotta, Everett Raymond Kinstler and Joe Sinnot, three surviving artists from that period who were still alive at the time (they have sadly all passed since).

I highly recommend you watch this short-but-sweet look at the pre-Code horror comic phenomenon as seen through the eyes of a devoted fan and a few that were actually there when legends were made, 

HAUNTED THRILLS was also screened internationally at the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival, in Southend-on-Sea, U.K. on January 13–15 and 20–22, 2023. 

THE KISS OF DEATH!

The natural progression of Romance, Western and other themed comic books was to evolve into horror titles. This was repeated many times over when horror was noticed gaining popularity with a larger number of readers over other books that had traditionally sold well during the Golden Age.

One example that changed with the trends is EC's Moon Girl, who started off as a super-heroine in MOON GIRL AND THE PRINCE, then became MOON GIRL, then MOON GIRL FIGHTS CRIME! and finally A MOON, A GIRL . . ROMANCE.

In his excellent book, A HISTORY OF UNDERGROUND COMICS, Mark James Estren explains further:

"A trend toward crime and adventure comics was developing, and E.C. was in the forefront—staying in the field of love comics and Western stories as well. But the special E.C. style was emerging fast as the forties waned. It was a style that never took itself completely seriously; when an adventure comic did not make it after three titles were tried (Moon Girl and the Prince, then simply Moon Girl, then Moon Girl Fights Crime), the book was changed to a love comic with completely different settings and characters, but with an oddly familiar title: A Moon, a Girl... Romance. Moon Girl #5, by the way, had a story with a title that looked forward to the great horror comics of a few years later: 'The Corpse with Will Power'."

Moon Girl would finally merge with WEIRD FANTASY with issue #13.

Similarly, VENUS began as a romance title, then began a run of "Strange Stories of the Supernatural" with issue #11 (November 1950).

Today's story appeared in the last issue of the original VENUS series. The next time we see her is in Marvel's SUB-MARINER #57 (January 1973). The story and art is by Bill Everett. He also did the knock-out cover and you can see his signature obscured by one of the skeleton's shrouds in the background. A horror comic cover if there ever was one!

Coincidentally, Stan Lee must have liked the title as it was used again later in ADVENTURES INTO WEIRD WORLDS #23 (October 1953).

Read it HERE.

THE HORRIBLE ENTITY

A lot of discussion about pre-Code horror comics focuses on EC (of course) and other publishers who had the talents of artists such as Lee Elias, Warren Kremer, Bob Powell, Bernard Baily and others illustrating outrageous covers and stories for them. But one artist seems to often elude those praised for their work: Jay Disbrow.

Disbrow concocted some of the most vile and hideous monsters in the pages of Star Comics' STARTLING TERROR TALES. This story appeared in their second time around with the title (Vol. 1, No. 10, August 1954) with a cover by L.B. Cole. 

In this story, a mysterious fluid morphs into something both terrifying and deadly. "Finally, it resolved itself into a horrible entity of titanic proportions, with rippling tentacles, and an extremely grotesque head protruding from its enormous mass"!

See more Jay Disbrow monstrosities HERE.

ART OF LEE ELIAS -- BEST SELLER OF 2025!

Word just came out from Bud's Art Books that LIGHT AND DARK: THE ART OF LEE ELIAS is the second best-seller in his catalog's "Artists & Illustration" category thus far in 2025. 

As you know, Elias created some of the most legendary and notorious covers and stories during the pre-Code horror comics era. But he was much more than that -- read on.

Plant wrote:

"Looking at the first half of 2025, here are the most popular items--in case any have passed you by. We've broken them into categories which reveal the top 60 or so sellers. As always, we've combined the units sold for hardcovers and softcovers, as well as variant covers, to create one bestselling item.

I’ve added my personal comments to nearly all the items. I find many of these are my own favorites. I try to offer some perspective on why it’s done so well as well as more details." Bud

Here's a description of the book:

Lee Elias drew comics for several decades from the 1940s to the 1980s, first with Fiction House (Planet, then he became the #1 to-to cover artist for the Harvey Horror pre-code comics. His lush brushstrokes were equally matched by his fine pen line. Now at last, his body of work can be fully appreciated in this book devoted entirely to him. Includes many of his gory horror comics covers in full color and full page; original art, a lengthy interview from 1970 and a fine Appreciation  by Michael  J. Gilbert.

Finally, a long overdue book on one of the greatest artists that emerged to prominence during the horror comics scene of the 1950s. He did his first comic art work in 1943 for Fiction House illustrating such comics such as Planet (Space Rangers, Gale Allen), Wings (Captain Wings, Phantom Falcon) and Firehair. At DC around 1948-50, he drew some of the last issues of All Star Comics, co-created with Robert Kanigher the classic Flash villain The Fiddler, and worked on the last issues of The Flash and Green Lantern, also co-creating Star Saphire.

In 1946 he started a long association with Harvey Comics as principal artist on the cute young Black Cat from the first issue of her own title, right through to when it became the horror title Black Cat Mystery, where his artwork truly excelled. He was often the cover artist and always a steady story artist for the Harvey Horror titles Tomb of Terror, Chamber of Chills, and Witches Tales!

Elias’s work for Harvey Comics rivaled the EC comics of the time and today many issues number amongst the most collectible of the Pre-Code horror era, particularly for their wild covers—acid or radiation in the face, rats eating human, vampires, rotting corpses, skeleton covers, devils, aliens, spacemen etc. Even his romance work at Harvey was steamy and his girls were pretty and appealing. DC later on in the sixties also had him doing romance work because of his ability to drawing appealing ladies. Leon Harvey even let him sign his work, a rarity for their creators in the fifties.

Several of the pre-code Harvey covers, both horror and romance, are accompanied by their original roughs and studies! These are really fun to see how he worked out both artwork and color! Many printed covers are also shown along the original artwork (thanks to Heritage Auctions).

Like many artists of the era, he was strongly influenced by one of the very greats, Milton Caniff. But Elias took that as a starting point and excelled beyond even Caniff.

He illustrated the well-known and excellent space comic strip Beyond Mars from 1952 to 1955. And continued working for Harvey. In the 1970s, he added Marvel (Marvel Fanfare and Epic Magazine) and Warren’s magazines to his portfolio. Upon retiring from comics, he became an instructor at the School of Visual Arts and the Joe Kubert School.

Sometimes overlooked and underappreciated, this fine new book will nicely address that issue!

There’s a massive 25 page interview with Lee Elias from 1970. This was originally printed in a low print run British fanzine of the time. Half of it then appeared in an early issue of Alter Ego magazine, #14. The full interview is printed here in its entirety for the first time since 1970.

The interview is fascinating. Elias was one of the top rated artists in the early 1950s; DC offered him top page rates but Harvey didn’t want to lose him and matched the rates, then only asking him to pencil! He’s also a man who was passionate about doing well-drawn comics, doing the best job possible whether for horror, Black Cat, romance, mystery adventure (his DC work included Strange Adventures, Unexpected, House of Mystery, Eclipso,Tommy Tomorrow, etc). He knew all the players, writers, editor and artists, and had forthright and quite respectable opinions about whoever he worked with. It like a black from the past, an interview with a still-in-demand artist about his work from 19460 to 1970, one in 1970. Carmine Infantino had just become DC’s Editorial Director at this time, which was quite a signficant time for DC.

There are dozens of full page examples of Lee’s cover art, both printed and original art versions. The book also features examples of the thumbnail layouts by fellow Harvey Comics artist Warren Kremer which went into producing many of the covers.

And comic strips too!

Lee Elias was a master of the comic book medium. Equally adept with swathes of black ink applied with a sable brush as he was with fine line pen work drawn with a steel nib dip pen. His horror comic covers were so gruesome that several of them were shown in Dr. Frederick Wertham’s book The Seduction of the Innocent as examples of comics that were (supposedly) corrupting the youth of 1950s America.

To order the book and browse his site, click on THE ART OF LEE ELIAS cover on the sidebar of this page.