Haunted House Reading Room JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "House!"

Here's a late Halloween...or on-time Dia De Muertos treat...

...one last haunted house tale to wrap up our Haunted House Reading Room series!

And it's a never-reprinted story at that!

In 1971, the Comics Code loosened restrictions on many of the banned horror comics tropes that caused the "Seduction of the Innocent" witchhunt of the mid-1950s that almost destroyed the comics industry.

Vampires, werewolves, maniac killers, and their ilk, limited to b/w magazines for the last couple of decades, returned to four-color comics...along with adaptations of classic horror stories and new tales by enthusiastic writers and artists who were big EC Comics fans and never thought they'd have a chance to create similar color comics again!
Marvel jumped back into the horror comic business with a slew of new titles like Tomb of Dracula, Monster of Frankenstein,  Marvel Spotlight (which featured Werewolf by Night, Ghost Rider, and Son of Satan, all of whom got their own books),  Man-Thing in Adventures into Fear and then his own title, a revival of Strange Tales with The Golem and Brother Voodoo, and a trio of anthologies, Chamber of Chills (a title used by Harvey Comics in the 1950s), Supernatural Thrillers, and a revival of Journey into Mystery!

Quite a bit of the new material from these anthologies (all of which went reprint in a year or so) has never been reprinted, so when we searched through the archives for rare haunted house-themed stories, this long-unseen tale from Marvel's Journey into Mystery V2#1 (1972) all but jumped up at us!

Enjoy this half-century old bit of long-lost comics history!

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Horror Comics of the 1950s

Haunted House Reading Room TALES OF SUSPENSE "I Speak of the Haunted House!"

This haunted house tale features two Silver Age greats...

...taking a twice-told tale, and proving "third time's the charm!"

Since it was backing up an Invincible Iron Man story in Atlas/Marvel's Tales of Suspense #42 (1963), this tale remained unseen for almost 50 years (unless you had this issue) until finally reprinted in the book available below!

You'll note the comic book fanboys of the previous two versions (HERE and HERE) are replaced with adults, one of whom looks amazingly-like a middle-aged Peter Parker!

Not suprising, since writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko co-created Peter and his costumed alter-ego, The Amazing Spider-Man!
Note: When I first ran this post years ago, reader Rowdie Richie pointed out "...it was reprinted around 1970 in a British UK Annual hardcover.
I am really hoping to find it also in a cheap early 70s reprint comic, since Marvel was heavy into horror at the time."
Sadly, it didn't appear in any of the 1970s Marvel horror reprints, and the UK reprint in IPC's Fantastic! #5 (1967) was cut to 3 1/2 pages (eliminating the kool splash page) and ran in black and white!

The hardcover UK annual he mentions, IPC's Fantastic! Annual (1970)...

...shows this edited version...but in black and white with red tones added, not full color!

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Atlas-Era Marvel Masterworks
Tales of Suspense
Volume 4

Haunted House Reading Room JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "I Spent the Night in a Haunted House!"

Last Thursday, we saw the first version of this haunted house story...

...now let's look at how Stan Lee, his brother, and a Silver Age superstar artist re-told the tale a decade later!

Stan Lee turned the previously-used plot over to his brother, writer Larry Lieber and artist Don Heck who modified it slightly for this story from Atlas' Journey into Mystery #80 (1962).
Trivia: When this story was reprinted in Marvel's Monsters on the Prowl #26 (1973), the comics the kids were reading were updated to then-current titles...

...but the last panel still showed the kid reading Journey into Mystery...because that title had just been revived!

Be here Thursday for one more version of this tale...by Stan Lee and another Silver Age superstar!
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Marvel Masterworks: Atlas-Era
Journey into Mystery
Volume 4

Haunted House Reading Room UNCANNY TALES "I was Locked in a...Haunted House!"

Here's a tale that was so kool...

...Stan Lee and the artists at Atlas/Marvel told it three times...with variations, of course!

Written by Stan Lee, illustrated by Joe Maneely, this story from Atlas' Uncanny Tales #7 (1953) featured comic book fanboys as the protaganists.

(Note they only read Atlas titles like Mystic, Marvel Tales, and Uncanny Tales!

None of that EC crud for these guys!)

Be here Tuesday when Stan Lee and another Silver Age great re-tell this tale!

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MasterWorks: Atlas-Era

Menace

Haunted House Reading Room ADVENTURES INTO WEIRD WORLDS "House of Horror!" / DEAD OF NIGHT "House of Fear!"

While today's haunted house tale was the cover feature...

...the art, by the amazing Bill Everett, didn't quite get it right...as you shall see!

Why Everett did a demon/werewolf on the cover instead of the Jim Mooney-rendered skeleton shown is unknown!

When this story from Atlas' Adventures into Weird Worlds #6 (1952) was reprinted as the cover featured tale in Marvel's Dead of Night #1 (1973)...

...artist John Romita Sr got the skeleton right!

Thanks to early 1970s revisions in the Comics Code, the tale was reprinted almost verbatim!

But for some reason, the title was altered...

Nobody knows why...

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Marvel MasterWorks: Atlas-Era

Menace

Haunted House Reading Room TORCHY "Haunted House Party"

We end this week's Haunted House Reading Room-fest with one of the most popular...

..and politically-incorrect female characters of the Golden Age!

Torchy Todd wasn't quite a stereotypical blonde bombshell!
She did have a brain, and could extricate herself from most situations!
But her main attribute was how often she could end up in "cheesecake" poses, usually showing off her legs!
Created by noted good-girl writer/artist Bill Ward, Torchy had a long career during the Golden Age as a back-up strip in Quality's Modern Comics, Doll Man Quarterly, and her own 10-issue title!
Eventually, Ward moved away from the strip and others (including Gill Fox, who wrote and illustrated this never-reprinted tale from Modern Comics #98 [1950]) tried to fill his high-heeled shoes!

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Glamour Girls of Bill Ward

PG-13/NO Nudity

Haunted House Reading Room JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY "I Don't Believe in...Ghosts!"

Behind this never-reprinted Jack Kirby/Dick Ayers cover...

...lurks a rarely-reprinted haunted house tale that's so darn good, I couldn't resist re-presenting it!

Plotted by Stan Lee, scripted by Larry Lieber, penciled by Jack Kirby and inked by George Klein, this cover-featured story from Atlas' Journey into Mystery #77 (1962) has only been reprinted once, in Marvel's Fantasy Masterpieces #9 (1967)...

...which is where I first read it as a kid!

Since it hasn't seen publication in over 50 years, I thought it was time to dig it up and dust it off for a new generation of Kirbyphiles and other comics readers!

The lead character's name, Mr Jordan, is an in-joke and a clue as to what he is!

L-R Evelyn Keyes, Robert Montgomery, Claude Rains (Mr Jordan), Edward Everett Horton

"Mr Jordan" was the title character of Here Comes Mr Jordan (1941), an angel (Claude Rains) sent to guide a recently-deceased boxer who died before his time and was returned to Earth in a different body since his own was creamated!

The movie was running on tv pretty regularly at the time, so either Lee or Leiber was inspired to give the protagonist the "Jordan" name in tribute.

Note the little banner at the bottom of the final page promoting The Fantastic Four?

#2 of that series had just come out!

In addition, Hank Pym (who would later become Ant-Man/Giant-Man/Goliath/YellowJacket/Wasp) had just been introed in "Man in the Ant Hill" in Tales to Astonish #27!

Within a couple of months both Spider-Man and The Hulk would debut!

And Mighty Thor would premiere in Journey into Mystery itself six issues later!

Bonus: the original art for the splash page....

Kool, ain't it?

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Marvel Masterworks

Journey into Mystery

Vol 4