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.

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.

A HECK OF AN ARTIST

Don Heck (January 2, 1929 – February 23, 1995) may be better known for his work with Marvel, such as being the long-time illustrator for the original Avengers and co-creating characters including Iron Man and Black Widow, but he was also a first class story and cover artist for a long list of Pre-Code horror comics, specifically for Comic Media.

He originally went to work for Harvey Comics in 1949 and one of his assignments was to modify Milton Caniff's newspaper strips TERRY AND THE PIRATES and STEVE CANYON into comic book form. He was a big fan of Caniff and incorporated some of his style into his own work. When friend and fellow-artist left Harvey to go freelance, Heck went with him and found assignments at Quality, Hillman and Toby.

In 1952, Allen Hardy, a staffer at Harvey, left to form his own comic book company, Comic Media. Knowing Heck's work, he called him up and offered him a job. Heck accepted and his two earliest works for Hardy were a story for WAR COMICS #1 (September 1952) and the cover and story, "Hitler's Head" for WEIRD TERROR #1, also in September (see below).

Heck hit his stride with the Comic Media horror comics line and produced some of the most memorable (and controversial) covers and art of the Pre-Code period, including his infamous bullet-hole to the head cover for HORRIFIC #3.

Here are a few more examples of his startling cover art for Comic Media:

Horrific #4.

Horrific #6.

Horrific #12.

Horrific #14.

Weird Terror #3.

Weird Terror #4.

Weird Terror #5.

Weird Terror #6.

Weird Terror #8.

Weird Terror #12.

This is Heck's original art for the cover of WEIRD TERROR #12. It is rendered in ink over graphite on 14" x 21" Bristol board. It was auctioned from EC expert Roger Hill's collection and the text paste-ups may be from Mr. Hill himself since restoration of comic logos and cover texts were an area of his expertise. This affords an excellent opportunity to observe Don Heck's exquisitely fine line work.

Source: Heritage Auctions.