THE CREEPING DEATH

I've always enjoyed plant horror stories and there were plenty of them during the pre-Code era. In this second issue of ADVENTURES INTO TERROR (Atlas, February 1951) with art possibly by Allen Bellman, a botanist receives a strange plant from a colleague in South America. As expected in a story like this, it soon grows out of control until . . .

MENACE, ANYONE?

While artists like Lee Elias, Warren Kremer and Don Heck were designing horrific covers that would become legendary in pre-Code horror comics, over at Atlas, Stan Lee was cranking out reams of stories. While they eventually became formulaic, no one can deny that they were nearly always well-written.

Publisher Martin Goodman was a harsh taskmaster and kept his staff at Atlas busy. As a result, the imprint sold more titles (18) and released almost 400 single issues (see FIFC reference page HERE) than any other publisher during the pre-Code years. One of them was called MENACE and ran for 11 issues from 1953-1954 before it was cancelled, another casualty of the Comics Code Authority.

MENACE

Vol. 1 No. 1

March 1953

Hercules Publishing Corp. (Atlas Comics)

Editor: Stan Lee

Cover: Bill Everett

Pages: 36

Cover price: 10 cents

CONTENTS

"One Head Too Many!"

Script: Stan Lee

Art: Bill Everett

"The Man Who Couldn't Move"

Script: Stan Lee

Art: George Tuska

"Poor Mr. Watkins"

Script: Stan Lee

Art: Werner Roth

"The Wait In Their... Dungeon!"

Script: Stan Lee

Art: Russ Heath

EC HALLOWEEN MASKS

It's not too late to order up an officially-licensed EC Comics character mask for Halloween.Available from various web shops, including MONSTERS IN MOTION.

Trick or Treat Studios is proud to present the officially licensed EC Comics Collection - The Crypt Keeper. The Crypt Keeper was the host of EC Comics most popular comic book, Tales From the Crypt. In addition to hosting Tales From the Crypt, he would occasionally appear as a character and these appearances gave readers a glimpse of his biography. "The Lower Berth" (Tales from the Crypt #33) gives an account of the circumstances surrounding his birth. "While the Cat's Away" (The Vault of Horror #34) conducts a tour of his house above and below ground. "Horror beneath the Streets" (The Haunt of Fear #17) tells how he and his fellow Ghoulunatics got their EC publishing contracts. The founders of Trick or Treat Studios, being huge fans of EC Comics, were thrilled when we were awarded the license to EC Comics, directly from the Gaines Family. Without further ado, allow us to introduce The Crypt Keeper. Become the Crypt Keeper and spend your Halloween telling tales of horror to all the little kiddies in the neighborhood.

Trick or Treat Studios is proud to present the officially licensed EC Comics Ghastly Zombie mask. If you know the founders of Trick or Treat Studios, you know that they are huge fans of EC Comics, especially Tales From the Crypt, Haunt of Fear and Vault of Horror. So when we were given the license for EC Comics directly from the Gaines Family, we just about lost our minds. So without further ado allow us to introduce the Ghastly Zombie, which is the third of three masks to kick off our EC Comics collection for 25. Collect them all!

Sculpted by Justin Mabry.

TOP 50 PRE-CODE HORROR COMICS

I came across these YouTube videos that I thought might be interesting to readers here at FEAR IN FOUR COLORS. They reside under the video tab at Simpleman's Comics channel. In the two episodes, Simpleman discusses what he believes to be the 50 most collectible pre-Code horror comics.

I think he does a pretty good job as he spends about a minute on each title and briefly discusses the cover art and any notable interior stories, as well as market value and sales figures.

These were done six years ago, so some of the info will have changed by then. Still, it's a nice overview of 50 of some of the best titles the era had to offer.

TOP 50 PRE-CODE HORROR COMICS PART 1:

TOP 50 PRE-CODE HORROR COMICS PART 2:

NIGHTMARE ABBEY NO. 9 NOW SHIPPING!

Besides having first-class, top-shelf fiction from award-winning authors such as Steve Duffy and Steve Rasnic Tem, this latest issue of NIGHTMARE ABBEY from Thomas English's Dead Letter Press includes the sixth installment of my series Fear in Four Colors: The Hideous History of American Horror Comics. "Indictments and Indignities" discusses the fallout after the Senate Subcommittee Hearings on Juvenile Delinquency and how it turned the comic book industry into a near-barren wasteland.

Also included is a look at the classic film, HANGOVER SQUARE, lots more quality fiction and another parcel of art from Allen Koswzoski, as well as the Abbey's house artist, Natu Shabbey.

From the publisher:

• 9th gigantic volume of this critically-acclaimed horror magazine/book.
• Creepy GHOST STORIES & other weird tales!
• Horror Comics on Trial! (History of American Horror Comics, part 6)
• Horror Delve's list of great HALLOWEEN HORRORS
• Classic horror movie: Hangover Square
• 11 terrifying tales by today's top writers!
• A new Magnus Supernatural Dog Tale
• Another chilling visit to Bone Street!
• Indy (the Horror Husky) makes the cover of Time!
• Art by World Fantasy Award-winner Allen Koszowski
• Heavily illustrated: movie stills, comic book covers, cool facts!

Publication date: October 12, 2025

146 pages

Single copy price: $16.95

Order HERE.

THE FAT MAN STRIKES!

Painter Leo Main hatches a plan to get rid of his pesky, domineering landlady with disastrous results, of course! Introduced by host Dr. Death, "The Fat Man" is from THIS MAGAZINE IS HAUNTED #10 (Fawcett, April 1953) with art by Leonard Frank.

A (PERMANENT) VISIT TO WEREWOLF CASTLE

Here's another story of a doomed couple from Farrell's VOODOO #18 (November-December 1954) with art by the Eiger Shop. This one has an introduction by an old crone that looks suspiciously like another one from a certain Bill Gaines line of horror comics.