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

Yesterday we saw the first version of this haunted house story...

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

Stan Lee turned the previously-used plot over to 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 Monday for one more version of this tale...by Stan Lee and another Silver Age superstar!
Tomorrow is Friday Fun...Dracula vs Zorro!
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Marvel Masterworks: Atlas-Era
Journey into Mystery
Volume 4

Holiday 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 tomorrow when Stan Lee and another Silver Age great re-tell this tale!

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MasterWorks: Atlas-Era

Menace

Holiday Reading Room MADHOUSE "Going-Going-Real Gone!"

Though it doesn't look like it...

...this cover is actually the opener of a haunted house story spoofing both horror and then-current pop culture!

The Iger Comics Studio produced this tale for Ajax-Farrell's MadHouse V1N4 (1954), showing teen/young adult hipsters/hepcats encountering ghosts (apparently of middle-aged/older people) who didn't realize their attempts at creating ugly art and terrifying music resulted in cutting-edge popular culture!

When MAD became a surprise hit in 1953 (after the early issues lost money!) other comics publishers were quick to jump onto the bandwagon, eventually bringing out more than a dozen imitations with titles like FLIP, WHACK!, NUTS, EH!, UNSANE!, MADHOUSE/BUGHOUSE, and GET LOST!

These copiers realized that Will Elder’s cluttered “chicken fat” layouts were a major part of MAD’s success, and their pages were also densely-packed with all sorts of outlandish and bizarre gags!

Trivia: While most companies (like Ajax/Farrell) published just a single MAD imitation title, Atlas (the predecessor to Marvel) dove head-first into the fad, with no less than four titles, Snafu, WILD, RIOT, and Crazy!

These “parody comics” are uniquely 1950s catching the popular culture zeitgeist through a dual lens: not only reflecting '50s culture through parody but also being typical examples of that culture...ironically, in a way that MAD wasn't!

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The Sincerest Form of Parody

The Best 1950s MAD-Inspired Satirical Comics

Holiday Reading Room ADVENTURES INTO WEIRD WORLDS "House of Horror"

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 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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MasterWorks: Atlas-Era

Menace

Design of the EEK! HALLOWEEN PAJAMA PARTY!

Each week, we post a limited-edition design, to be sold for exactly 7 days, then replaced with another!
This week...The perfect design for a sleep-over during the Halloween season, an only slightly-scary Jack O Lantern interrupts a sleep-over!
Order it now, before this Halloween treat ends up as a too-late-for-Halloween trick!