DEATH KISS

Prof. Casper Skeezer invents a beautiful robot woman with the murderous desire to kiss everyone to death! She goes on a kiss/kill spree until Skeezer knocks her over the head. He soon finds that it takes something more than that to kill a killer.

"Death Kiss" appeared in HORRIFIC #5 (Comic Media, May 1953). The GCD lists the art as by the Iger Shop, but it sure looked like something by Rudy Palais to me. Palais, whose work is sometimes compared to EC's Graham "Ghastly" Ingles, did work for Jerry Iger, but it was for only about 9 months in 1941 and he wouldn't have been drawing stories like this back then. By chance, I came across this hidden on the splash page.

So, there you have it-- drawn by Rudy Palais. GCD is an excellent research tool, but nobody's perfect, as this proves.

PLAY A SONG OF DEATH!

In this "ghostly yarn of weird terror", violinist Henri Marleau is ticked because his rival, Ricco, has aced the music audition over him. Marleau quickly dispatches him via strangulation to assume the top spot. Ricco, of course, comes back to haunt him and drives him insane. Marleau meets the kind of end we expect to see in a pre-Code horror comic.

"Death Song!" appeared in Comic Media's (Alan Hardy Associates) WEIRD TERROR #2 (November 1952) with art by Don Heck.

JUST EARNING A LIVING . . .

Henry Mason gets caught up in a web of terror after he murders his wife (strangulation again!) for a beautiful woman that he "accidentally" hits on a remote road. Thinking he's got it made with a new babe, he quickly finds that her lustful designs have nothing to do with romance.

"The Wage Earners" appeared in WEIRD TERROR #1 (Comic Media, September 1952) with art by Chuck Winter.

A GLIMPSE OF THE PIT

Besides all the werewolves, vampires and ghouls, the devil himself is probably the most recurring villain during the pre-Code horror comics era.

Doris Duncan becomes a nasty bit of work after she is lured by money to commit murder. A quick trip through Hell with the Devil as her guide has her changing her ways after she is sent back to the land of the living for another chance. Usually, these stories don't turn out so well!

The story, "A Glimpse of the Pit" appeared in Comic Media's HORRIFIC #9 (January 1954) and was illustrated by Pete Morisi.

LOVECRAFT ADAPTED (PART 1)

Over the years, H.P. Lovecraft's "weird fiction" as he often referred to it, has been adapted many times in comic books. Sometimes he was not credited (especially in the pre-Code days) or his basic premise and plot were lifted to make another, supposedly original one.

In this case, one of his most well-known short stories, "Pickman's Model" was appropriated into "Portrait of Death" from the first issue of WEIRD TERROR (September 1952), illustrated by Rudy Palais.

HAVING A FRIEND FOR DINNER

Ol' Billy Boy gets a little more than he bargained fer when he gives a lift to a beautiful young girl in the backwoods of the Smoky Mountains. Ya' see, a beautiful young girl alone and a remote country road do not add up to a good end to whoever falls for the age-old trick.

Introduced by "The Teller of Tales", "The Deadliest Witch", drawn by Rudy Palais appeard in Comic Media's HORRIFIC #12 (July 1954).

AN EXTRA SHOT IN THE HEAD

Any fan of pre-Code horror comics will be familiar with the infamous cover shown above by Don Heck for HORRIFIC (Comic Media, January 1953). What you may not know is that Heck recycled the "horrific" image from a cover he did just a few months before for the first issue of Comic Media's WAR FURY (September 1952).

Heck added an extra touch of horror for this war comic with the G.I. giving the North Korean soldier a shot of burning petrochemical by way of his flame-thrower.

Some images are just too good to be used only once!