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

Halloween's the Time for HORROR! (Horror COMICS, that is!)

Before videogames came along, comics (and tv...and movies) were said to be the contributing factors to...gasp...
JUVENILE DELINQUENCY!

I say...CELEBRATE the stuff your grandparents said would warp your parents' minds!

After all, they turned out OK, didn't they?

Didn't they?

Oh, well...

What could be more appropriate for Halloween than the frightening images of Horror Comics of the 1950s on t-shirt, hoodies, mugs, and other kool kollectibles?

Are you ready to be scared? Click Now...if you dare!

Friday Fun CALLING ALL KIDS "Twinkle...Helps on Halloween"

Here's a character you've likely never heard of....

...in a tale from Parents Magazine Press' Calling All Kids #13 (1947).

And, yes, he's an actual star, like our own Sun, except he's now manifesting as a humanoid with limited mystical abilities.

Just go with that...

Debuting in the second issue of Calling All Kids, Twinkle not only ran for the remainder of the book's existence, but was reprinted in the same publisher's Childrens' Digest and Humpty Dumpty Magazine in the 1950s and 60s!
Once the Halloween season is over, we'll re-present his "origin" story!
BTW, despite the indicia above saying Quality Comics was a subsidiary of Parents Magazine Press, it wasn't.
Quality was only the editorial content packager and printing agent for Parents' comic book line, nothing more.

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

Monday Madness ADVENTURE INTO MYSTERY "World Gone Mad!"

Here's a little ditty about how homogenized America (especially the suburbs)...

...became during the post-World War II era...ironically created during that era!

Illustrated by Jim (Supergirl) Mooney and scripted by an unknown writer, this tale of suburban prefab housing tract development and how it could confuse the unaware from Atlas' Adventure into Mystery #3 (1956) rang true for many during that era who actually fell for that sort of trick, especially around Halloween!

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Adventure into Fear Omnibus

(which presents this tale from its' reprint appearance in 1975)

Though It's Scary to Think About It, the Pandemic Ain't Quite Over Yet, Kiddies...

 ...whether you're answering the door to trick-or-treaters...

...or traveling about (for whatever reason)...

...you can look kreeply-kool in one of our exclusive PPE masks!

Each double-layer mask is reusable, washable, and built for comfort.

And, the one-size-fits-all mask features a pocket for optional filter use. 
PLUS: Each mask includes a free 2-pack of carbon filter inserts!

Whatta Deal!

Just Go HERE and see 15 exclusive designs!

Space Hero Saturdays REX DEXTER OF MARS "SpaceShip of the Living Dead"

This Rex Dexter adventure truly goes where no space hero has gone before...

...battling interplanetary zombies!

This terrifying tale by creator/writer/artist Dick (Frankenstein) Briefer is from Fox's Mystery Men Comics #21 (1941)!
Rex Dexter of Mars was an ongoing feature in Fox Features' anthology Mystery Men Comics, which featured Rex, the original Blue Beetle, and The Green Mask, among others.
It's possible Rex was the first comic character to have his origin revised/altered within a year of his premiere!
HERE'S his origin (and premiere) in Mystery Men Comics #1 (1939).
And HERE and HERE is the expanded/revised/somewhat contradictory new origin tale, from the one-shot Rex Dexter of Mars comic from 1940...a year later!
(To make things even weirder, his first origin tale was reprinted in the Rex Dexter of Mars comic...starting the next page after the revised origin!)
The entire Rex Dexter series has been posted on this blog, and you can read the rest of his awesome adventures by clicking HERE!

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