Monday Mars Madness: a Twice-Told Tale INVASION!

One of the best-known Mars invasion tales is Orson Welles' War of the Worlds radio show...

Edited version

...which this twice-told tale "updates" to the television era!

But, it's radically-altered from it's first appearance, and that the original version had never been reprinted!

First the toned-down version, then the original, scarier version...

Original version

 Note in the original version, both the wife and singer on tv show a lot more cleavage!

Edited version

Original version

Again, more cleavage in the original version...

Edited version

Original version

Oddly enough, the wife's cleavage is unchanged, but the look of terror in the last panel is toned down!

Edited version

Original version

Panel four in the original version is much more gruesome than the edited version.  Note the dialogue balloon is unchanged, even though there's no actual weapons fire in the edited version!

Edited version

 This last page is radically-different! Prepare yourself!
Ready?
Proceed...but remember, I warned you...

Original version

Wow!

The edited pages were from Race for the Moon #1 (1958), which was reprinted in Shocking Tales Digest #1 (1981)

The original story was from Witches' Tales #21 (1953)

As you can see, the Comics Code Authority insisted on some major redos, including most of the last page!

What do you think, fans!

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The Chilling Archives of Horror Comics: Volume 2

Bob Powell's

Terror

Reading Room BLACK CAT MYSTERY "Halloween Nightmare"

Here's a re-presentation of a topical terror tale about Halloween from Harvey's Black Cat Mystery #34 (1952).

Penciled by Manny Stallman and inked by John Giunta.
The writer is unknown.

Unlike many other Harvey Comics horror stories (as shown HERE), when this one was reprinted in Black Cat #52 (two years later), nothing was altered!

Happy Halloween!

Reading Room VOODOO "Goodbye...World!"

Tuesday we presented an odder (than usual) Silver Age tale...

 ...with a cover that seemed as if was from another story entirely.

Well, it was...sort of.

The story in Ajax's Midnight #4 (1957) was a reprint of a tale from Ajax's Voodoo #7 (1953), which was published during the height of the horror comics boom!

And, let's just say that Ajax's editorial packager, the Iger Studio, was not noted for its' subtle (or even tasteful) stories.

The heavy hand of the Comics Code Authority forced quite a few changes from this wild original version, as you will see from the splash panel onward...

Beyond little things like making the duo who are sent into space to spawn the new human race a married couple instead of a pair of unmarried co-workers, the harpies were redrawn as insect-like humanoids (which made a certain amount of sense), and the ending was totally-redone as a happy ending with humanity surviving the alien onslaught!
Personally, I prefer the original!

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Four Color Fear

Forgotten Horror Comics of the 1950s

Reading Room MIDNIGHT "Project Final X"

Will the world end in an ecological disaster...

...or will it be something much more sinister?

Now that you've read this story from Ajax's Midnight #4 (1957), you might be asking yourself if it seems like it was a tad...disjointed, and that it didn't make much sense at a couple of points.
There's actually a good reason for thinking that.
The clues are in the cover for that issue...

Look carefully at the differences between the alien you see on the cover and the ones in the story itself.

There is a reason behind it all!

Be here Thursday for the surprising, shocking explanation!
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Four Color Fear
Forgotten Horror Comics of the 1950s

Reading Room: "Supreme Penalty" Versions 1.0 & 2.0

A couple of months ago, we presented two different versions of the same tale...

...and we're doing so again!

This version appeared in Harvey's Black Cat Mystery #47 (1953) during the height of the horror comics boom.

It was re-presented in Harvey's Race for the Moon #1 (1959) after the Comics Code went into effect.

Let's see how things have changed...

Almost every panel has a change from the original, either in art or balloons!

Panel 4 has an interesting change in dialogue indicating the condemned survive in space...

Only change is dialogue in the first panel, which indicates the exiled criminals are still alive, but in orbit.

The figure of Judge Krenk being murdered in Panel 6, and his corpse in Panel 7 have been removed!

Panel One: Judge Krenk is said to be wounded, not dead!

Panel Six: Frances' face redrawn to look less maniacal and his sentence altered to confine him to his lab!

Interesting to note the alterations inflicted by the Comics Code Authority!

Art (and probably story) by Bob Powell.

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Reading Room STRANGE JOURNEY "Space is a Secret"

Before you read this tale, go HERE...

..because this is the second version of this story!

Like almost all other comics publishers, Ajax/Farrell was hit hard by the Seduction of the Innocent witch-hunt of the 1950s.

They survived where many others didn't by kow-towing to the sometimes inane restrictions placed on them by the censor agency created by the industry itself...the Comics Code Authority!

This story, from Ajax/Farrell's Strange Journey #2 (1957) is a classic example of how extreme the Code took matters.

Every page has alterations, including changing the ending (in the original version, the Earthmen never escape)!

The final version, taken back to it's original level of horror...and beyond...can be found on our "brother" RetroBlog, Seduction of the Innocent!

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Four Color Fear

Forgotten Horror Comics of the 1950s

Reading Room WORLD OF FANTASY "If...!"

Ever think men and women are from different worlds?

Our pre-Valentines Day offering proves you right!

Writer Carl Wessler had already used the basic plot for this story twice before:

1. "If!" in Atlas' Suspense #27 (1953), with the girl and her family being werewolves and vampires (talk about a blended family)! BTW, you can read that version of the tale HERE!
2. "Out Cold" in EC's Haunt of Fear #25 (1954), with the girl and family shown to be ghouls!

But, by the time this never-reprinted story in Atlas' World of Fantasy #2 (1956) was published, the Comics Code had been implemented, banning "creatures of the night".

So Wessler went with aliens.

Sci-fi was experiencing a resurgence, so it was the logical way to go.

The illustrator was Jay Scott Pike who ended up specializing in romance comics.

You can see some of his work on our "sister" blog True Love Comics Tales.