RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books Halloween stories

Halloween is arguably my favorite holiday, even over Christmas, with the decorations and the costumes, the scary movies, and the parties. And what's always been a big part of it for me too, the comic books.

One of the great things growing up in the 70's was what a great period it was for horror and mystery titles in comics. SWAMP THING, HOUSE OF MYSTERY, HOUSE OF SECRETS, FEAR, MAN THING, PHANTOM STRANGER, THE DEMON, GHOSTS, WITCHING HOUR, GHOST RIDER, and many well-written stories with a mystery setting in some of the more mainstream books.

A few of my favorites:

BATMAN 227, "The Demon of Gothos Mansion", by Dennis O'Neil, Irv Novick and Dick Giordano. In a story that walks a fine line between a fanatical religious cult, and the true supernatural, that could be explained as either at story's end.

The Demon 1 and 2, by Jack Kirby. In a story that spans the fall of Camelot in the middle ages, Merlin summoning his demon servant, and the spanning centuries where Camelot slips into legend, until Camelot's ruins are rediscovered, in a resurgence of demons and medeival sorcery.

JIMMY OLSEN 142 and 143, by Jack Kirby. "The man from Transilvane" where in an odd and fun story with some science fiction twists and humor, Jimmy Olsen and Superman are confronted with virtually all the classic monsters of Hollywood.

BIZARRE ADVENTURES 33, with "Dracula" by Steve Perry, Steve Bissette and John Tottleben. A truly horrific re-telling of Dracula's origin, in confrontation with Varnae, king of the vampires, selecting Dracula, as Transylvania is on the edge of conquest by the Ottoman Turks. An exceptionally well-written story, with art by the team who a few months later would bring SWAMP THING to the heights of excellence, in collaboration with Alan Moore.

WONDER WOMAN 195. By Dennis O'Neil and Wallace Wood. A wonderful tale of anonymous travelers brought together in an isolated inn, set upon by ghosts and murder, that all present seek to resolve, before they're picked off one by one.

TWISTED TALES # 1. Stories by Bruce Jones, Richard Corben, and Tim Conrad. In this 10-issue series from 1982-1984 , Bruce Jones resurrected the E.C.-brand of horror. In particular this issue, "All Hallows Eve" by Jones and Conrad, beautifully illustrated, it presents a group of trick-or-treaters who are reaching puberty and a bit too old to pass as children, mixing the mundane trick-or-treating ritual we all participate in with a more terrifying intrusion of a tragic accident, the supernatural, and retribution.

I especially enjoy stories from the seventies up to the mid-80's, although there are many from the modern era I've enjoyed as well.

So what are some of your favorites?

I enjoyed that one issue of Young Justice, I think #3, where Impulse, Robin, and Superboy met the young Mr. Mxyzptlk, who was a serious student of the third dimension. Underworld Unleashed I think also came out around Halloween; that was a cool story...

I haven't seen that one, snarf.


Another of my favorites is from 1981, during the Moench/Sienkiewicz run of MOON KNIGHT, issue 5. Where Moon Knight follows three armed bank robbers back to the house where one of them grew up. In some ways it --quite deliberately-- parallels the movie Psycho, but with some very well played new twists.

Ooh! Thought of another good one. That issue of JSA where JJ Thunder and Stargirl fight the Jokerized Solomon Grundy.

Is this the issue you mean, Snarf? (JSA 29)



I haven't read that one.
While I often like the art in the JSA series, Geoff Johns' writing really isn't my style. I read a trade of JSA stories with Hawkman and Black Adam, where the JSA went back in time to Ancient Egypt, where they were inadvertantly the inspiration for ancient mythology of the Egyptians. It had some interesting ideas, but it drifted a lot into less engaging storytelling, and overall was disappointing.

But maybe I'd like the story you list more. If I can find a trade or the issues you mention with Solomon Grundy, I'll give them a look.



Solomon Grundy is a mysterious and Halloween-festive character.
In the recent past, I liked a 2002 Elseworlds GREEN LANTERN: BRIGHTEST DAY, BLACKEST NIGHT one-shot, by Steven Seagle and John K. Snyder.
Despite being a modern-age story, it was very true to the style of a 40's Green Lantern story, with fantastic art by J K Snyder. And Grundy was handled well also. In all his Frankenstein-esque glory.


I also love Solomon Grundy's origin, which I first read reprinted in WANTED # 4, back in 1972:

More recommended Halloween reading:


BERNI WRIGHTSON: MASTER OF THE MACABRE 1-5. Reprinting virtually all of Wrightson's work for the Warren magazines from the early 70's. Only in this 1983-1984 reprint edition, these previously b & w stories are beautifully colored by Steve Oliff for the first time in this series. Some of the very best writing, art and coloring that's ever been done in comics form.


Wrightson's best-known work, SWAMP THING 1-10.
Reprinted three times now in collected trade form, twice as SWAMP THING: DARK GENESIS trade.
And a third printing in a smaller recent digest SECRET OF THE SWAMP THING book last year.

Also previously reprinted in 4 scattered issues of DC SPECIAL series (one issue annually, from 1977-1980)

And in the five-issue ROOTS OF THE SWAMP THING reprint series (1985).




One of my favorites from Richard Corben is his adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher", in Pacific's 1983 one-shot CORBEN SPECIAL.
Which was more recently collected as part of a Corben EDGAR ALLAN POE graphic novel, with other Poe adaptations by Corben from the Warren magazines.

Some other new Poe-inspired stories appeared more recently in Marvel's 3-issue HAUNT OF HORROR Corben anthology, just a few months ago. This was a black-and-white series.

Corben has done many other great horror stories. Another that springs to mind is THE HOUSE ON THE BORDERLAND pulp story adaptation, that Corben did for Vertigo recently.



Finally, an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's "Cask of Amontillado", by Don McGregor and a very early Michael Golden (circa 1977). Even in this early work, Golden has a stylized sophistication, complemented by great McGregor scripting, very true to the original story.

Here's a couple of my favorite issues of HOUSE OF MYSTERY from 1972. The mystery format began with issue 174, edited by Joe Orlando, one of the E.C. artists of the 1950's, who contributed to the horror line of another era.
Then in 1968-1975, Joe Orlando as editor for DC began to form a new era for mystery titles, revitalizing HOUSE OF MYSTERY and HOUSE OF SECRETS, and based on the success of those titles, expanding that line to include THE WITCHING HOUR, GHOSTS, WEIRD MYSTERY, WEIRD WAR, WEIRD WESTERN, SWAMP THING, PHANTOM STRANGER, The Spectre by Fleisher and Aparo in ADVENTURE COMICS, and many other wonderful creations.

The early HOUSE OF MYSTERY issues are mostly by Bill Draut and Jerry Grandenetti, with Neal Adams doing virtually all the covers from 175-200. Adams did two great interior stories stories in issues 178 ("The Game") and 186("Nightmare"). Wrightson began contributing with issue 179, and the talent pool quickly grew to include Sergio Aragones, Alex Toth, Gil Kane, Tony DeZuniga, Alex Nino, Nestor Redondo, and many others.

The two issues I show above (206 and 207) have opening splash pages by Wrightson, stories by William Payne, as well as stories by Starlin(his first pro work?), Sekowsky/Palmer, Ernesto Patricio, and several other Phillipine artists, in some particularly creepy stories.
Issue 200 shows a characteristic opening splash panel by Kaluta.
Issue 213 displays one of the best covers by Wrightson (a playful twist on a Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post cover).

I always loved Cain and Abel as the hosts of their respective titles, and the less explicit nature of DC's mystery stories, as compared to E.C. or Warren.
DC's stories relied on mysterious atmosphere more than shock or gore, combined with charming twists and playful humor, that always resonated more for me. Along with a wide range of very talented artists.

Even after the departure of Wrightson, Kaluta and Adams, the quality of HOUSE OF MYSTERY was consistent up till around issue 260. And even beyond that point, there are many enjoyable issues. Around that point, Kaluta came back and did most of the covers till the series' end.

Even at this late stage, HOUSE OF MYSTERY was a starting ground for many talents such as Michael Golden, Marshall Rogers, Jerry Bingham, Al Milgrom, Bob Layton, Arthur Suydam, Bruce Jones, J.M. DeMatteis, and Mike Nasser. And remained a display case for the talents of Nestor Redondo, Alex Nino, and Alfredo Alcala.

With the horror craze of the 1970s in full swing, Batman, for the first time since "the Monk" in the 1930s (I think) battled an actual vampire, Detective Comics #455 (1976)

Bruce Wayne’s car breaks down near an old mansion, and soon Batman and Alfred are facing the mansion's vampire resident, who had found a way to transplant his heart outside his body. The Darknight Detective must find the heart's location, in order to stake it to death.

It was, even by the 70s' standards, a pretty outlandish story. But that outlandishness was tempered by the fact that it was one of only times that the great Mike Grell drew Batman.

Grell gave the story an appropriately creepy look, which almost made you believe the silly plot twists. He even modeled the vampire on Christopher Lee. Its too bad that Grell didn't stick around the book for longer, but I suppose the fact that DC picked up "Warlord" about the same time made that pretty much an impossibility.

I'm glad you posted that one, G-man.


DETECTIVE 455 was an issue I'd planned to list here later, I'm glad you didn't let it go without mention.

Somehow, that was one of the scarier Batman stories, and as you said, despite some stretched plot devices, it worked well and, tossed in with the supernatural element of fighting a vampire, the heart-transplant thing became plausible within the context of the story.

Grell probably didn't stick around on DETECTIVE because he was busy as GREEN LANTERN artist, and as you said, was doing WARLORD at the same time. So that probaby kept him pretty busy.

Another story that has Batman take on the supernatural is a great Werewolf story in BATMAN 255, by Len Wein and Neal Adams.


Usually bringing vampires and werewolves into the modern era comes across as cheap. But both these stories pulled it off very skillfully.

The Wein/Adams Batman story is one of the all time best.

Besides the fact it was Adams (nuff said), the story actually had something of a scientific basis for the Werewolf. Lupus, was essentially a mutant (though the story didn't call him that), who was created by a scientist's genetic tampering. And, rather than being dispatched with silver or wolfsbane, he was defeated by good old fashioned science, in the form of electricity.

It stands as probably the best example of how to do a classic "monster" story in the world of a semi-realistic character like Batman, avoiding the need to shoehorn him into the world of mysticism and superstition.

I've never it seen it, but I think the Dini-Timm animated series adapted it too.

And from the sublime to the ridiculous we turn to "the Vampire of Steel." As noted on another thread, I consider this both one of the biggest "WTF" stories of all time, both in terms of story and cover:

Quote:

---

the G-man said:
...my LEAST favorite cover: World's Finest 249

There's the dialogue. First Batman says "This man has been murdered...by a vampire!" And the Phantom Stranger, in his best "Count Floyd" imitation says "Yes, my friend, turn and face... THE VAMPIRE OF STEEL!!" (you can almost hear the echo chamber on the last word)

Then there's the sheer absurdity of the scene itself.

You have Batman, oblivious to the fact that Super-vampire is standing above him posing like Bela Lugosi.

You have the Phantom Stranger not lifting a finger to actually HELP Batman, just telling him to "Turn and face" a Superpowered vampire-murderer. Which will be extra difficult given that the Stranger is, if you look closely, STANDING ON BATMAN's CAPE.

And, finally, you have Super-vampire who, for all his kryptonian powers, apparently moves as slow as a [Romero]zombie on prozac.

Add to that the smiling floating heads of the supporting cast (boy, they're happy at the idea of batman being super-vampire bait; they must think his death means they get to headline the book) and the verdict is in...WORST...COVER...EVER...

---

Yeah, the "vampire of Steel" cover is a classic, G-man.


I remember you mentioned it in the WTF stories topic. Along with multiple other abominations from WORLD'S FINEST.



Batman is obviously a character that lends himself to stories that deal with the supernatural. Another favorite of mine is from DETECTIVE 395, "Secret of the Waiting Graves", by Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams, the story that began their collaboration on Batman.



Set at a high society party, at a wealthy couple's mansion in Mexico. A couple who turn out to have their fair share of secrets, that lead into the realm of the supernatural.


Most of the Halloween-atmospheric O'Neil/Adams stories, and Robbins/Adams Man-Bat stories were collected in the Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams Volume 2 hardcover. (reprinting DETECTIVE 395, 397, 400, 402, 404, 407, 408, and 410, along with BRAVE & THE BOLD 93 by O'Neil/Adams. )

Volume 3 actually came out earlier this year, reprinting O'Neil/Adams stories from:


BATMAN 232(first R'as Al Ghul story),
234(Two-Face),
237("Night of the Reaper", set at a Halloween party),
243-245(battling R'as Al Ghul), and
251("The Joker's Five-way Revenge").
Disappointingly, ads for the book do not include the werewolf story from issue 255.
And also disappointingly, the book does not include "Night of the Stalker" from DETECTIVE 439. While illustrated by Almendola/Giordano, it's credited "from an incident described by Neal Adams, and won the ACBA best story of the year, and is very much in the Adams style, so I felt it would be a great concluding story to show the legacy of Adams on the character in the decades since. Plus the cover is by Neal Adams, and a beautiful one at that.



Since I have the original issues, I chose not to purchase the Volume 3 hardcover.

Some inexpensive trades and hardcovers that reprint most of the same stories include BATMAN: TALES OF THE DEMON ( reprinting BATMAN 232, and 242-245, with other stories), and MAN-BAT VS BATMAN (a one-shot reprinting DETECTIVE 400, 402, and 407, the complete Robbins/Adams Man-bat storyline)

Taking a break from comics for a moment, here's a site for a magazine I saw recently, Weird New Jersey. A group of guys who track down real-life legends of haunted houses around NJ, and around the rest of the nation.

http://www.weirdnj.com/

I've been listing a lot of older stories, so I thought I'd mention some newer stuff.


Most recently, I just finished reading the collected trade of the 4-issue series by Kelley Jones for Dark Horse, LAST TRAIN TO DEADSVILLE, which was fun reading.


Kind of in the same mode as Angel, or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a tongue-in-cheek adventure story about a private detective who fights vampires, ghouls and the supernatural.

Much of Kelley Jones' other work was listed in the:

• Whatever happened to Kelley Jones? topic

I especially enjoy Kelley Jones' BATMAN and DEADMAN runs.

An artist who does a lot of sophisticated horror material is Scott Hampton.
I first saw his work appear in 1983, with a beautiful and decorative Frazetta-esque linestyle.

Hampton did a Grimm's "Godfather Death" adaptation in EPIC ILLUSRATED 17, in lavish color.
An earlier black-and-white version of the same story appears in LOST PLANET #1, a series he and his brother Bo Hampton collaborated on for Eclipse.



Bo and Scott Hampton also collaborated on two issues of SWAMP THING, issues 15 and 16, just before Moore, Bissette and Tottleben took over the series.

Scott Hampton also did more science-fiction-type material in NEW TALENT SHOWCASE 1-3, for DC.
And the incomplete 3-issue SILVERHEELS series for Pacific, collected with a new conclusion later in the SILVERHEELS graphic novel.




In the realm of horror, the first really great story Hampton did was "The Ravenant" in TALES OF TERROR 8, in late 1987.

And adaptation of a Robert E. Howard story in the PIGEONS FROM HELL graphic novel for eclipse, in 1988.

Scott Hampton also did two memorable stories in HELLRAISER issues 2 and 4, for Epic Comics in 1989.

And in 1995, Scott Hampton released his THE UPTURNED STONE graphic novel. If when growing up, you ever went out in the woods with your friends, and had one of them tell you some guy was murdered there, and told you the murderer was never found, and then started up with "Hey, what's that sound! Maybe it's him..." and basically scared the crap out of you, then you can relate to and enjoy this story.

THE UPTURNED STONE was also reprinted in its entirety in an issue of HEAVY METAL.

Two memorable stories from artist Jim Steranko:



TOWER OF SHADOWS #1, "At the Stroke of Midnight"
and
NICK FURY AGENT OF SHIELD # 3 "Dark Moon Rise, Hell Hound kill".

Plenty of shadows, castles and mystery, in these two classics by one of the masters of the field.

And some of the best recent fare for several years now, HELLBOY by Mike Mignola.



I had the good fortune to catch up on HELLBOY, and read the five collected editions by Mignola right before the movie came out.

One of the best comic-based movies in recent years too.







Arthur Adams' "Monkeyan and O'Brien" started as a backup in the first series, HELLBOY:SEED OF DESTRUCTION.

I wanted to show covers for Art Adams' CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON one-shot special, and his CREATURE FEATURES trade (collecting the CREATURE special, and his GODZILLA stories).

But I guess I'll have to settle for just showing his ACTION COMICS ANNUAL # 1 cover (1987), presenting a Halloween-atmospheric story, involving vampires in a small rural town.

Just recently released Essential something Horror, basically collects Son of Satan & Satanna series might be good for a Halloween hangover. Not really scary stuff considering the material. Son of Satan was pretty standard superhero fare with some good art here & there. Satanna stuff I haven't gotten to yet but looks like she was sexy & evil.

Thanks for posting that, M E M.

It's one I hadn't heard about.

I looked up the book you listed, and here it is:
ESSENTIAL MARVEL HORROR

Relating a funny story I recall from a Stan Lee interview, one of the editors at Marvel had originally proposed the comics series to him under the title SATAN.
Stan Lee was like: "Oh, come on. We'll never be able to sell that. In the Deep South, they won't even put it on the retail shelves..."

So after some haggling, they decided to soften and insulate it a little bit, and went with SON OF SATAN.




In the same format, over at DC, about 6 months or so ago, They had a SHOWCASE PRESENTS black-and-white trade of the first 20 or so issues of HOUSE OF MYSTERY, starting with issue 174, when the horror/mystery fomat began, with Cain as the book's host. Great art by Neal Adams, Berni Wrightson, Toth, Gil Kane, Nestor Redondo, Tony Dezuniga, Alex Nino, and many others.

If I didn't already have all these issues, I'd go for this trade. And if it was offset printed and in full color, I'd pick it up anyway.

Another of my favorites, a 2-part story from TOMB OF DRACULA, issues 4 and 5, one of the few post-DC Gardner Fox stories for Marvel, with art by Colan/Palmer. A great and eerie mix of vampire-hunting, and time travel by sorcerous means.



To be read only by candle-light, at the stroke of midnight!

Two other greats, JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY 1, that has a Robert E. Howard adaptation "Dig Me No Grave" by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane/Palmer, plus a haunted house story by Englehart and Reese, and a rare one-time collaboration "Show Me Your Dream" by Steve Skeates, pencils by Starlin, inks by Ploog.




Also the atmospheric 10-page origin story of Man-Thing in FEAR # 10 by Gerry Conway, with Howard Chaykin pencils and Morrow inks. The first issue of a regular series for Man-Thing.

In this same issue is one of my favorites, mixing ghosts and pirates, in "Spell of the Sea Witch", by Allyn Brodsky, "Jay Hawk"( a pseudonym for Jack Katz, just before he began FIRST KINGDOM) and "Black Bill" (a pirate-pseudonym for Bill Everett, one of the last stories he did before he died) who I initially confused with Bill Black, publisher of Americomics beginning in the 1980's.

"Spell of the Sea Witch" is a brief but memorable 6 page tale. A remarkably good story from two one-time collaborators.

Rounding out the issue is a Don Heck story, reprinted from TALES OF SUSPENSE 17 (August 1961).

Say what you will about Heck, but he did some great work in the pre-Marvel period of 1959-1963, and I enjoy his stories from this era as much as the ones by Kirby and Ditko. Work I love, especially in the recent Marvel Atlas-era collected hardcovers. All the pre-Marvel TALES OF SUSPENSE and TALES TO ASTONISH issues are available, in three volumes for each of these two titles. Also AMAZING FANTASY (all 15 issues in one hardcover omnibus).

Looks good. Jones draws a good monster.

I got the Vertigo Ghost special that just came out. I mostly got it for the two Dead Boys story. Turns out DC only told a partial Two Dead Boys story and they said they would continue the story IN another Vertigo comic later. COCKSUCKERS!

Kelley Jones drew some particularly sexy women in this series too. In the trade version, he used the phrase "ass cleavage" to describe one particular outfit he designed for one of the female characters. How can you go wrong?

Beyond that, I particularly liked the mixture of zombies, monsters and humor in the storyline.

Another of my favorites, by Robbins/Novick/Giordano. With a great Kaluta cover. It focuses on a robot marionette used to kill people, that ends with some ambiguity whether the robot malfunctions, or whether the supernatural is involved.

The Kaluta cover was re-used as a poster and display page in the "Art of the Comic Book" exhibit in 1982 by Erie Art Center in Pennsylvania, that toured the U.S., the nicest exhibit of comic book original art I've had the pleasure to see, with the original DETECTIVE 427 cover in the exhibit, as well as:
* Wrightson's gigantic original 7 pages of "The Muck Monster" (the version colored in 1975) from EERIE 68,
* Steranko's double-page splash from S.H.I.E.L.D. ("Dark Moon Rise, Hell-Hound Kill"),
* Kirby's double-page splash/collage of the FF looking at a giant TV screen of the Negative Zone in FANTASTIC FOUR 62,
* and great pages of Wood, Williamson, Kurtzman, Adams and many others.
It was the first time I saw comic original art framed and displayed. I was so impressed, I enlarged and framed several of the pages in later years from the ones displayed!

ROB'S BLOG (October 27, 2009)



Scary story about a meeting, a real circus. Here's the entire issue:



http://www.shortpaleandugly.com/author/admin/

Didn't John Byrne do a Superman/Spectre Halloween team-up?

This one?




One I highly recommend is CREEPY PRESENTS BERNI WRIGHTSON, that I recommended before it came out about a year ago.

Collecting all Wrightson's stories from the 1974-1977 era from CREEPY AND EERIE magazines, in an 8 X 11" hardcover. And also concluding with a portfolio of about 3 dozen full page introductory splash pages Wrightson did, most of them suitable for framing. A great and Halloween-festive collection.


I also noticed that there's a collected hardcover of the Fleisher/Aparo WRATH OF THE SPECTRE run from ADVENTURE COMICS 430-440 or so.

Now in paperback. No hero has ever unleashed vengeance on criminals as horrifically as the Spectre!
Sliced and diced, cooked like a microwave dinner, you name it. And some of Aparo's best art.

A new series that started this month. Looks like fun.

Not sure. I remember it had Spectre smiling as he freaked out some kids through a window.

I remeber those Spectre stories with art by Aparo. Spectre chopped up one criminal with a giant pair of scissors, if I remember correctly. You never actually see him do it - just the after-effects.

Hmm, kind of looks like the Spectre is wandering down the muddy track with Superman.

Interesting thing about those Aparo/Fleisher Spectre stories: at one point in the story, Corrigan makes a joking reference to Clark Kent, with the clear implication that he is joking about a fictional character. Did DC ever try to explain that one? Or is this something that was forgotten/ignored post-Crisis?

I read that issue recently and he does exactly that, but it's not a Halloween special. Your memory is crumbling like white, hard stick of poo, Dave.

Bud Root CAVEWOMAN convention sketch, with Frankenstein





A new version of the CAVEWOMAN ONE-SHOT variant cover by Bud Root (2000), with interior art by Devon Massey.
A very fun and Halloween-festive story, with playful inclusion of all the classic Hollywood monsters. This was a great introduction of artist Devon Massey, and I wish the rest of his CAVEWOMAN books were this good.

I remember really wanting this issue when I was a kid. It had a couple of villains from the Superfriends cartoon that I never saw in the regular comics.

Never saw that one, M E M. But a nice lineup of DC mystery characters.

I love the Demon, either in the Kirby series (collected about 4 years ago in a THE DEMON hardcover), and in his Aparo-illustrated BRAVE & THE BOLD appearances.
Likewise SWAMP THING, by Wein Wrightson, Redondo, or in Aparo's B & B.
Man-Bat had a nice series of late-70's stories in BATMAN FAMILY, by both Marshall Rogers and Michael Golden, as well as some great B & B appearances too.
Bizzaro I don't recall in any great 70's stories.
And the last one is Solomon Grundy? I've loved that character in just about every appearance. A compelling character in the Frankenstein mode.

One of my favorite Wrightson splash pages, from HOUSE OF MYSTERY 209.

I consider Wrightson's quintessential work to be his HOUSE OF MYSTERY, HOUSE OF SECRETS, Warren magazine work for CREEPY and EERIE, his 70's posters and prints, and his Frankenstein novel illustrations.

His depiction of Cain in particular was perfect, both playful and malevolent at the same time.

A collection of Wrightson's atmospheric covers for HOUSE OF SECRETS




And one of my favorite early Wrightson stories, from THE SPECTRE # 9 (1969), scripted by Dennis O'Neil. "Abracadoom"

Another classic story about a gentleman's agreement with the devil gone bad.

ANd here, near as I can tell, are all the interior DC splash pages by Wrightson for DC's mystery titles.

Mostly from HOUSE OF MYSTERY and HOUSE OF SECRETS, and the rest DC 100-PAGE SPECTACULAR 4.



This one is the contents page for HOUSE OF MYSTERY 225.

I think she is trying to pick his inside jacket pocket with her prehensile breasts.

Odd, thinking about it, that Gaiman's Sandman never had any Halloween stories given the author's insights into old fairy tales and traditions. then again he is English, and Halloween has not been so much an English tradition as an American one, for whatever reason, so maybe it just never really hit his radar.

I love Budd Root's stuff, especially many of his covers and pin-up pages, the way he incorporates bits of 1960's pop culture, such as the Beetles, classic Hollywood monsters, and his own versions of DC and Marvel characters into the mix.
While having drawn comics since the early 1990's, Root's still arguably an amateur who has never worked for the major publishers. His work is a delightful blend of a skilled artist who is still a bit of a fanboy, who is thrilled to be working in comics, even if he's not working for the major publishers. And he probably enjoys it more because he hasn't worked for Marvel and DC. It's fun to see his playful "what if" version of well-known characters. Frankenstein gets the treatment pretty often.





+Frankenstein "Hide the frauleins" image

I just ran across this blog that was good enough to post the complete 10-page McGregor/Golden adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's "A Cask of Amontillado" that I listed above, from MARVEL CLASSICS COMICS 28 (Dec 1977).
http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2011/07/famous-first-fridays-introducing.html


Another great Halloween-atmospheric early Michael Golden story is in BATMAN FAMILY 17, that teams up Man-Bat with The Demon. Scripted by Bob Rozakis, it's got both supernatural elements, and also at points is very funny. Especially a scene where an Archie Bunker-esque cop confronts our two monster-heroes right after they saved the day.





Another story by Golden portraying the Demon in the first episode of a new "The Demon" series is in DETECTIVE COMICS 482, Scripted by Len Wein, pencilled by Golden, and inked by Giordano. Presenting 15 of the most beautiful paages, Golden has done in his career.
http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2010/04/mining-for-golden-eternity-book.html
Despite being the first chapter of a Demon series in DETECTIVE, it is unfortunately the only chapter of the series pencilled by Golden (the ones in later issues by Steve Ditko) but this first one is still a great story on its own. Golden did a second 6-page "Batmite" story in this same issue, that's really good too.
And DETECTIVE 482 also has the second half of a Jim Starlin Batman story, both parts (481-482) inked by Craig Russell.



Golden did equally atmospheric stories (scripted by either Rozakis or O'Neil) in BATMAN FAMILY 15-20. After the title was cancelled in the DC Implosion, the last Golden stories were printed in DETECTIVE 482 and DC SPECIAL SERIES 15 (a Rás Al Ghul story).

Golden during this time also did several scattered mystery stories and beautiful splash pages for HOUSE OF MYSTERY 257 and 259, HOUSE OF SECRETS 148, 149 and 151, GHOSTS 88, SECRETS OF HAUNTED HOUSE 10, and MISTER MIRACLE 23-25. All casualties of the DC Implosion. After that, with a shortage of work at DC, Golden moved over to Marvel, doing his classic run in MICRONAUTS 1-12.
The only similar mystery-type work Golden did for Marvel is in DOCTOR STRANGE 46 and 55, and "Lady Daemon" in BIZARRE ADVENTURES 25. Plus a number of covers that are suitable for framing on DOCTOR STRANGE, DEFENDERS and other titles for Marvel from 1979-1982.

Here's the original art for Michael Golden's splash page in HOUSE OF SECRETS 151:
https://www.comicartfans.com/ForSaleDetails.asp?ArtId=504462
and in color, as printed:
http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2009/05/mining-for-golden-nightmare.html



And here's another of my favorite Golden mystery stories, a contract with the devil story:
"Hell of a Place", 8 pages, in its entirety from SECRETS OF HAUNTED HOUSE 10, a story with some wild twists, by Richard Morrissey and Michael Golden.

Another of my favorites, from THE SPECTRE 9, in 1969, "Abraca-Doom", a great early story by then-emerging talents Dennis O'Neil and Berni Wrightson.



http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2009/10/famous-first-fridays-bernie-wrightsons.html

The cover is by Nick Cardy. This brief 10-issue series not only featured a number of great emerging artists in its 1967-1969 run, but a tremendous variety of talents for such a brief series. Most noteworthy Murphy Anderson in issue 1, Neal Adams in issues 2-5, and O'Neil/Wrightson in this issue.

The same site yesterday posted some of Wrightson's best splash pages for DC and Warren:


http://diversionsofthegroovykind.blogspot.com/2015/10/making-splash-13-of-berni-wrightsons.html

The Warren ones are all collected in the CREEPY PRESENTS BERNI WRIGHTSON hardcover I listed above.

In order they are from:
1) CREEPY 64, August 1974
2) CREEPY 68, Jan 1975 (Uncle Creepy's head on book)
3) CREEPY 83, Oct 1976 (Creepy in boat, with lantern)
4) HOUSE OF MYSTERY 206, Sept 1972 (close-up of Cain holding book)
5) HOUSE OF MYSTERY 209, Dec 1972 (Cain reading story to monster baby in crib)
6) HOUSE OF MYSTERY 207, Oct 1972 (Cain as indian serpent charmer playing flute, with Gargoyle)
7) HOUSE OF MYSTERY 211, Feb 1973 (Cain playing chess with skeleton)
8) HOUSE OF MYSTERY 203, June 1972 (Cain in atrium with gargoyle and bats)
9) HOUSE OF MYSTERY 225, June/July 1974 (Cain with Gargoyle outside mansion, contents page for a 100-page issue)
10) HOUSE OF MYSTERY 201, April 1972 (Cain with Frankenstein)
11) HOUSE OF SECRETS 106, March 1973 (Abel on couch with beautiful Arab girl)
12) HOUSE OF MYSTERY 205, Aug 1972 (Cain in boat)
13) HOUSE OF SECRETS 92, June/July 1971 (Cain and Abel in graveyard) This last splash is to the issue that gave the first Wein/Wrightson Swamp Thing short story, that a year later evolved into the classic series.

Nice as the work is here by Wrightson, many of these are just a nice plus for issues that I love anyway, for the other stories and artists contained in them.
And what better time to re-read them than on Halloween.

Another reason that vampire story worked, for me at least, was the fact that the vampire was mentioned as having been kicked out of Cornell University (when he was alive) for his insane experiments.

Cornell is, of course, an actual Ivy League university. It was one of the first times I'd seen a place that I had known and visited in the real world mentioned in a comic book instead of the usual fake names like Ivytown university or Gotham College.

It created a sense of verisimilitude in an otherwise wholly fantastical story.

That's pretty cool, to have some elements of the story in your own life, that add to the realism of the story for you. I've had similar elements in comics stories set in Miami and other parts of Florida that made them more "local" for me.

I could have sworn I posted to this topic more recently, but in any case, I'm bumping it.

In the last year there was a full-color HOUSE OF SECRETS Bronze Age omnibus, and coming in Jan 2019, a new HOUSE OF MYSTERY omnibus.

There's a fairly new Wein/Wrightson and Redondo SWAMP THING omnibus. Actually two.
SWAMP THING: THE BRONZE AGE, Vol 1 (hardcover) that collects the complete 1970's run, 1-24, and 1-19 of the 1982-1983 run, right before Alan Moore run began. Obviously, there will be a volume 2!

And in tpb, literally just in the last week, a thinner partial collection, of just 1-13 of the Wein/Wrightson and Wein/Redondo issues.

And not even that long ago, the same material (issues 1-13, and HOUSE OF SECRETS 92) was recently reprinted in ROOTS OF THE SWAMP THING hardcover (2009), and trade paperback (2011).

Since I already have the original 1972-1974 issues, the reprints of them in DC SPECIAL SERIES, the SWAMP THING: DARK GENESIS trade, and the SECRET OF THE SWAMP THING digest of the Wein/Wrightson issues (2005), much as I might enjoy the format of these new editions, I don't see much point of buying another edition of what I already have in so many forms.

But in whatever form, all these are great reading, and very Halloween-atmospheric.

It probably didn't help that, when Grell finally did come back to Batman as its regular artist, they saddled him with David V Reed as a writer and Vince Coletta as an inker.

Enough can't be said about what a dive in quality it was to go from O'Neil Novick/Giordano from roughly BATMAN 217-266, to drop to the low of David V. Reed, who incredibly lasted on the book from 267 (Sept 1975) - 304 (Oct 1978).

As a 12-year old, I was really pissed off, to not only lose O'Neil/Novick/Giordano, but have them replaced by Reed, with Ernie Chan of all people as artist. And adding insult to injury, DC suddenly had Chan doing covers on a large ratio of DC's titles starting at that point.
And while not every issue, Colletta didn't sweeten the deal at all on the issues he inked. Tex Blaisdell as inker didn't help the situation either. I can't recall exactly when I stopped reading, but it was 2 or 3 issues after 266. When I saw it wasn't just a Reed fill-in issue, and O'Neil, Novick and Giordano were really gone.

What the hell were Infantino and Schwartz thinking? Even at that young age, it seemed to me they didn't care about their readers or any semblance of quality, and I stopped buying.

Grell pencilled issues 287 and 288 (inked by Wiacek), and even those I felt were crap storywise, and Grell's art sub-par.
Issues 289 and 290 were inked by Colletta, but at that point I'd already stopped reading.

As I said previously,there were a few issues by Reed I actually liked, toward the end of his run.
Issue 295 is a fill-in by Conway with art by Michael Golden, which is a good issue.
296 is a Scarecrow issue, with art by Almendola.
297 is pencilled by Rick Buckler, and inked by Colletta.
300 is a "Last Batman story" imaginary tale, with art by Simonson/Giordaano. Perhaps because Reed was working with better artists, he did a better job on these stories.

Gerry Conway, who replaced Reed, is I think a talented writer when he makes the effort, but more often than not, particularly in that 1975-1983 era, Conway more often just hacked stories out. So even when Reed was gone, there wasn't much of a rise in quality in those years, through the Don Newton BATMAN era.

I also wasn't a fan of the Moench/Colan/Alcala Batman run, that had this weird mix of Adam West style camp combined with grittiness. The Jason Todd Robin was a completely annoying faggoty brat.
Who WASN'T glad when Starlin and Aparo killed the kid off in 1989's "A Death In The Family"?
Unfortunately, they immediately replaced him with Robin III (or whatever the hell they called him). Robbins and Novick/Giordano sent Robin off to college in BATMAN 217 in Dec 1969, there he should have stayed forever, with no replacement Robin needed.

All of which demonstrates O'Neil and Novick/Giordano were a tough act to replace. I think the only Batman runs I've fully enjoyed since are the Frank Miller Batman:Year One series, DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, and especially the Englehart/Rogers DETECTIVE run. And much later, the Moench/Kelley Jones run (515-552) and their Batman graphic novels.


The saving grace through the late 1970's were the O'Neil/Golden stories in BATMAN FAMILY 15-20, plus in BATMAN SPECTACULAR (DC SPECIAL SERIES 15), and the last Golden and Rogers material in DETECTIVE 481-482. I wondered why DC put those stories in BATMAN FAMILY, a fourth-rate title that almost no one bought, rather than the regular BATMAN and DETECTIVE titles that people would actually see and buy. The DC Implosion finally shifted the last Golden and Rogers material to DETECTIVE 481 and 482, but that was a result of catastrophe, not planning.

As we discussed in the other topic, Colletta became known not only as a fast but lackluster inker that few chose to work with, but one who cut corners and took credit for what his assistants did, and ultimately got fired from Marvel after Shooter's departure, when Colletta lost his last remaining ally.

Grell also did backup stories in DETECTIVE 445, March 1975 (a Robin backup), the above vampire story in 455, Jan 1976 (Grell's best effort on Batman). And "The Calculator" backups in 463-464, Sept-Oct 1977 (both inked by Austin).
When Englehart and Rogers took over DETECTIVE, I couldn't believe the rise in quality, and bought these Grell and early Rogers issues (466-468) as back issues, to see what I missed.

It would have been great to see more Grell Batman stories, but at least we have DETECTIVE 455, to show us what was possible. Grell's best work was on SUPERBOY/LEGION 202-224, the revival of GREEN LANTERN in issues 90-110 (Grell first aspired to become an artist and do comics as a soldier in Vietnam in 1971 when he first saw the O'Neil/Adams run, it must have been a dream to be assigned GREEN LANTERN), and WARLORD.
In the 1980's, Grell also did exceptional work on STARSLAYER, JON SABLE FREELANCE, GREEN ARROW: LONG BOW HUNTERS (on this last one great art, but I thought the story was a bit annoying and lame), and JAMES BOND: PERMISSION TO DIE, the last truly great story I've read by Grell. I thought his new more recent Warlord material was sub-par as well. I guess, like Neal Adams on Batman and Deadman, you can't go home again.

Ernie Chan was...a good Conan inker.

Even on CONAN THE BARBARIAN and SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN, I always preferred other inkers.

I liked him on CLAW, though. A character derivative of Conan, granted, but still interesting thanks to writer Dave Michelinie, and Chan I thought did a great job on the first two issues, diminishing up through issue 7, his last. Even so, the Giffen issues were far more beautifully illustrated.

I took a look through my SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN issues, where I think Chan did his best work. I was surprised, most of the early issues were inked by Alcala or Nebres, or Buscema himself. Chan pencilled and inked issue 29, and did inks or full art on issues 62, 63, 64, 68, 71, 72, 77, 78, 79, 81, 87, 93, 95, 99, and 100 (roughly 1982-1984). Of those, I liked his inks best in issues 77-79, that latter two issues in particular I liked both the story and art. And with the monsters in those issues, quite Halloween festive.
Beyond that point I think Chan lost whatever artistic merit he had, and was just hacking it out from that point forward. An artist named Gary Kwapisz began doing some outstandingly nice stories in scattered but frequent issues from 96-179 (1984-1990), and unfortunately Chan inked about 20 of the 40 or so stories Kwapisz did. And in those issues Kwapisz's style is completely blunted, all you see is Chan.

I'd say I was most enthusiastic about SSOC from 60-100 in the period I began reading, and Dixon, Kwapsisz and a few others breathed new life into the series in the mid/late 1980's.

Of 235 issues of SSOC, my single favorite issue is the Robert E. Howard adaptation "The Haunting of Castle Crimson" in SSOC 12 (and reprinted in CONAN SAGA 36), adapted by Roy Thomas, with art by Buscema/Alcala.

A haunted castle, the dead rising for revenge, a beautiful slave girl who may or may not be a princess, a king ready to wage war to have her back, peppered with romance, humor, and some clever ironies. Great reading anytime, but also Halloween-atmospheric.

Full story online:
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Conan-Saga/Issue-36?id=96565#3

My latest Halloween offering is 17 stories Basil Wolverton did in roughly 1950-1953. They were to be collected in a hardcover several years ago, but that ended up not happening, and the book disappointingly didn't contain any complete Wolverston stories.

I posted a few of them before in another Wolverton topic. Even the more science-fictiony stories are wonderfully horrific. Wolverton has a beautifully detailed linestyle that perfectly lends itself to horror, and to the splicing of horror with S-F.
Perfect Halloween reading.


Here are the Wolverton stories:


1. "Gateway to Horror" 6p ...........................originally in MARVEL TALES 104, Dec 1951

2. "Where Monsters Dwell" 6p....................... originally in ADVENTURES IN TERROR 7, Dec 1951 (r in CRYPT OF SHADOWS 1, Jan 1973) (r in CURSE OF THE WEIRD 3, Feb 1994)

3. "One of Our Graveyards Is Missing" 4p.........originally in JOURNEY INTO UNKNOWN WORLDS 14, Dec 1952

4. "They Crawl By Night" 5p ...................... originally in JOURNEY INTO UNKNOWN WORLDS 15, Feb 1953

(These four are all collected in BASIL WOLVERTON'S GATEWAY TO HORROR, June 1988, in black and white. )




5. "Planet of Terror" 6p...................originally in JOURNEY INTO UNKNOWN WORLDS 7, Oct 1951

6. "End of the World" 6p...................originally in MARVEL TALES 102, Aug 1951 (r in CURSE OF THE WEIRD 4, March 1994)

7. "The Devil Birds" 6p.....................originally in MYSTIC 4, Sept 1951.

8. "The Monster on Mars" 7p..................originally in WEIRD TALES OF THE FUTURE 3, Sept 1952

(These four are reprinted in PLANET OF TERROR from Dark Horse, Oct 1987, all in black and white. )




9. "Brain Bats of Venus" 7p..................originally in MISTER MYSTERY 7, Sept 1952

10. "Nightmare World" 4p.....................originally in WEIRD TALES OF THE FUTURE 3, Sept 1952

11. "Escape to Death" 4p....................originally in WEIRD TALES OF THE FUTURE 2, June 1952

12. "Flight to the Future" 4p...............originally in WEIRD TALES OF THE FUTURE 2, June 1952

13. "Man From The Moon" 4p.................originally in WEIRD TALES OF THE FUTURE 5, Jan 1953

[ All 5 are collected in MR MONSTER SUPER-DUPER SPECIAL 8 (WEIRD TALES OF THE FUTURE), July 1987, all in color with offset printing. ]




14. "Robot Woman" 5p................................... originally in WEIRD MYSTERIES 2, Dec 1952.
(also in MISTER MYSTERY 11, May 1953)
(also in MISTER MYSTERY 18, Aug 1954)
(r in DEATH RATTLE 5, June 1986, with new colors)



15. "The Eye of Doom" 6p............................ originally in MYSTIC 6, Jan 1952
(r in WEIRD WONDER TALES 1, Dec 1973)
(r in CURSE OF THE WEIRD 1, Dec 1993)



16. "Swamp Monster" 6p................................originally in WEIRD MYSTERIES 5, June 1953
(r in MR MONSTER 3, Oct 1985, re-colored by Steve Oliff, offset printing)



17. "The Man Who Never Smiled" 3p............. originally in WEIRD MYSTERIES 4, April 1953
[r in MR MONSTER SUPER DUPER SPECIAL 2 (MR MONSTER'S HIGH-OCTANE HORROR) Oct 1986, re-colored by Steve Oliff, offset printing ]


Where possible I linked to complete online versions of the stories, in most cases in their original colors, in a few cases they were only scanned in black and white from reprints.

"They Crawl by Night" is written by SF author Daniel Keyes, who later won Hugo and Nebula awards for novella, and later book, Flowers For Algernon.

The cover for one of the above reprints:




I just love that title. With a few introductory pages by Michael T. Gilbert, it collects a few wonderfully odd and Wertham-worthy horror stories from the 1950's, including Wolverton's "The Man Who Never Smiled".

There were a total of 8 "Super Duper Specials", all reprinting 1950's horror, SF and crime comics material.

One of my favorite issues, HOUSE OF MYSTERY 186, June 1970, with two great stories:
"Secret of the Egyptian Cat", 10 pages, by Wrightson.
and
"Nightmare", 12 pages by Neal Adams.
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/House-of-Mystery-1951/Issue-186?id=70716

Two great and atmospheric stories to get into the season. One of the best issues of the series.

And also here for you to read online in its entirety, "Tomb of Dracula" from BIZARRE ADVENTURES 33, Dec 1982.
25 pages, by Steve Perry, with Steve Bissette/John Tottleben art. An outstandingly well-written and often overlooked story.
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Bizarre-Adventures/Issue-33?id=105106#39

It also presents the first Bissette/Tottleben collaboration, about a year before they began their collaboration with Alan Moore on SWAMP THING.

I remember reading that one when it first came out. Very memorable story. I especially like the way they portrayed the first vampire, given his age, as an earlier link in the evolutionary change, sort of a homo hablius.

Yes, that Dracula story is one of my absolute favorites, very well written and illustrated. I'm amazed it isn't much more well known, both for its outstanding quality, and for it being the first Bissette/Tottleben collaboration.

I love the sense of an eternal cycle in the story, and the pervading evil. That even the priests in the story are committed to grisly tasks to rid themselves of the vampires and the Ottoman Turks. But even these are portrayed as just part of a larger eternal history of war, violence and struggle against the supernatural.

The BIZARRE ADVENTURES anthology series and preceding MARVEL PREVIEW issues were consistenetly good, and contain many of my favorite stories.

You may or may not know that there was a preceding "Dracula" story by Marv Wolfman and Neal Adams, from the magazine DRACULA LIVES 2, out in 1973:
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Dracula-Lives/Issue-2?id=108702#4

And even with 13 beautiful pages of Neal Adams art on that earlier story, the BIZARRE ADVENTURES 33 version is still far superior.

It’s interesting how it’s practically the same story but told from a different perspective.

Yeah, the weak link in that earlier DRACULA LIVES story was not Neal Adams, it was the stilted writing of Marv Wolfman, overplayed with deadpan screaming melodrama at every turn in the "Mighty Marvel" tradition. It's a perfect example of why I always preferred DC to Marvel.

Stephen Perry wrote a number of good stories. Another was in BIZARRE ADVENTURES 31, "A Frog Is A Frog", 10 pages, also from 1982. In the "Violence"-themed stories issue.
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Bizarre-Adventures/Issue-31?id=105104#49

That entire issue was great, stories by O'Neil/Miller, Moench/Sienkiewicz, Hama, Byrne, a guy named Mark Armstrong whose story I also loved, and then Perry/Bissette, all talents in their prime doing great work.

Perry was actually brutally murdered a few years ago, apparently he had a winning lottery ticket, and one of his neighbors killed him for it.

Listed earlier, this story from WONDER WOMAN 195, August 1971, story by Mike Sekowsky, art by Sekowsky/Wood. Cover by Sekowsky/Giordano.
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Wonder-Woman-1942/Issue-195?id=15528

In a time of uncredited stories, for a long time I thought this was a Dennis O'Neil story, who did work in surrounding issues from roughly 178-202, but not this particular one. Diana Prince and her friend I-Ching are driving in a snowstorm, and their car stalls, so they walk to an old inn, where they meet the hotel owners and several other stranded guests. There are radio reports of escaped convicts on the loose, and later of a bank embezzler, and the guests eye each other suspiciously. And amid that small claustrophobic setting, the supernatural intervenes. An atmospheric ghost story.

I generally was a fan of Wolfman‘s 70s and 80s output. That being said, I always felt like he was a more disciplined writer when he worked at DC.

I think the quality of Wolfman's NEW TEEN TITANS run in 1980-1985 is testament to that.

Although Wolfman's earlier TOMB OF DRACULA run is also highly acclaimed. But that series as well, along with Wolfman's other 1970's Marvel work, suffered from the deadpan stilted pseudo-Shakespearean Marvel style it conformed to. Which is why I always preferred the storytelling on the DC side in those years.



Another offering for your Halloween reading pleasure, of my favorites from FEAR 10, Oct 1972, "Spell of the Sea Witch", 6 pages, by writer Allyn Brodsy, with art by Jack Katz (as Jay Hawk),inked by Bill Everett (as "Black Bill").
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Fear/Issue-10?id=71568#13

A really cool story about ghost pirates seeking redemption for their past evil by helping the living. For a story from 1972, it has a remarkably visual cinematic style in several scenes. I particularly like the fadeout scene at story's end. Plus two other stories, the second Man-Thing origin story (following the first origin story in SAVAGE TALES magazine 1, in 1971), re-told with more vigor by Gerry Conway and Howard Chaykin/Gray Morrow. And a Don Heck story (reprinted from TALES OF SUSPENSE 17, May 1961). All three good stories.

Interesting point. Perhaps ToD is his most acclaimed work at Marvel precisely because the subject and character lend themselves to pseudo-Shakespearan style.

Bugsy Malone???

Yeah, the stilted dialogue is period-appropriate for Dracula (although the series is mostly set in the present, he is a centuries-old character.)

The other series I felt the Shakespearean dialogue worked was in THOR.

And DOCTOR STRANGE. Because again, it manifested ancient spells and occult mysticism.

But mostly, I felt it diminished Marvel. I got more interested in Marvel when that started to fade. One example, the Bruce Jones/Brent Anderson KA-ZAR run abandoned that type of dialogue, and was far better for it.

I was thinking of Warren Beatty in the 1991 movie Buggsy about Buggsy Siegel, and his creation of Las Vegas.

Here's the full two-issue story I mentioned earlier in the topic, online to read, by Jack Kirby.
JIMMY OLSEN 142-143, Oct and Nov 1971. Where a scientist created an entire of planet called Transilvane, a race of people that evolved watching classic Hollywood monster movies projected on the skies of their planet by the scientist who created their world, and thus evolved into a race of monsters, to take on Superman and Jimmy Olsen.
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Superman-s-Pal-Jimmy-Olsen/Issue-142?id=69400

Such a fun Halloween story.

Another of my favorites from GHOSTS 106, Nov 1981. From a time just prior to Giffen taking over as artist on LEGION 285-306, when Giffen was doing a lot of short stories across DC's mystery books, and a Doctor Fate backup series in FLASH 306-314.

GHOSTS 106, Nov 1981, 9 pages, "To Kill A Ghost", by Robert Kanigher, with art by Keith Giffen/Sam Grainger. About an American swordfighting champion who just won a fencing competition in Scotland and meets the ghost of a legendary swordfighting champion who has haunted his former Scottish castle since the 1300's. A modestly great little story, with some interesting twists, that ends on a wonderfully upbeat note.
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Ghosts/Issue-106?id=115263#4

GHOSTS in their later issues had replaced their former eerie host character with a gentleman-ghost character who wore a dandy's suit with a top hat and spectacles, and to me looked more like Mr. Peanut than a ghost. But regardless, a good story he introduces. I miss these anthology titles, a lot of great talent got their start drawing short pieces for these titles, including Wrightson, Kaluta, Aparo, Nino, Redondo, Starlin, Wein, Bingham, Suydam, Golden, Rogers, Hampton and Giffen.

I remember reading that story when it first came out. Scared the crap out of me as a little boy. that being said, still one of my favorite superman stories

One of my favorite parts at the end of issue 143 is Jimmy Olsen wakes up and follows the glow of light into the next room, where where Superman in an effort to push the monster-race of planet Transilvane in a new direction, changes out the horror movies projecting onto the planet's skies with another genre, where Superman and Jimmy, along with the inhabitants of Transilvane, sit down at the end of the story to watch the movie Oklahoma!

Those Kirby issues remain, by far, the best 15 issues of the JIMMY OLSEN series. The covers alone presenting some rare one-time collaborarions.

I also love the cover of 142, that gives a side-by-side contrast of the styles of Jack Kirby and Neal Adams in a single cover image. The Superman figure was erased from Kirby's pencils and completely re-drawn by Adams. The rest is Kirby. You can see Kirby's original cover pencils without the alterations in the latest collected trade of Kirby's complete JIMMY OLSEN run, Just released in April 2019.

Original JIMMY OLSEN 133-148 comics:
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Superman-s-Pal-Jimmy-Olsen/Issue-133?id=69376

Or collected 2019 trade:
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Superman-s-Pal-Jimmy-Olsen-by-Jack-Kirby/TPB-Part-1?id=153882

They’re not just great Jimmy Olsen stories. They're some of my favorite superman stories.

Yeah, there's a small cult following that fully appreciates those issues, but they certainly deserve a larger audience.

The entire Kirby run was recently collected again in another Kirby JIMMY OLSEN trade paperback in April 2019.
As were his MISTER MIRACLE 1-18 run (Oct 2017).
And NEW GODS run (Sept 2018).
And soon FOREVER PEOPLE 1-11 run (originally July 2020, now moved to Nov 2020), in inexpensive trades.

And prior to that, all four series were collected in an expensive and rather disappointing FOURTH WORLD OMNIBUS hardover (Dec 2017).

The Kirby story in FOREVER PEOPLE issue 1 is also a great Superman story.
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Forever-People-1971/Issue-1?id=66504



(by the way, the 12comic.com site appears to be permanently down, so I replaced the previous links with ones from readcomiconline in my above posts. I hope some of you out there haven't read these stories before, and benefit from great reading at the links I took the time to provide here.)

I've read a number of H.P Lovecraft adaptations in comics, not all of which I can recall offhand.

The first I ever heard of Lovecraft was the Wrightson story "Cool Air", reprinted with beautiful colors in BERNI WRIGHTSON: MASTER OF THE MACABRE 2, in 1983 (originally published in EERIE 62, Jan 1975 in black and white).
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Berni-Wrightson-Master-of-the-Macabre/Issue-2?id=122025#12

Here's the black and white version, with the complete hardcover of Wrightson's Warren work in its original form:
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Creepy-Presents-Bernie-Wrightson/TPB?id=142558#86



There were a number of good Lovecraft adaptations in the underground SKULL COMICS in 1971-1972, issues 4-5 (and issue 6 is an original story, but in the Lovecraft flavor).
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Skull-Comics/Issue-4?id=170815

SKULL COMICS issues 1-3 are more underground-ish, with sex, drugs and hippies, but also capture and are tribute to the unrestrained 1950's E C horror comics. I like the more sophisticated turn the series took in issues 4-6. With some nice art on multiple Lovecraft stories, from an unholy host of underground artists, including Spain Rodrigues, Jaxon, Corben, Sheridan, Dallas, and Dietch.

NYARLATHOTEP (2007)
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Nyarlathotep/Full?id=176827


A more recent Lovecraft adaptation. This one looks to me like an english translation to a European publication.

.


Two more underground series that ran concurrent with SKULL COMICS in the 1970-1972 period:

FANTAGOR 1-4, and a much later 5th magazine-size issue published in 1983
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Fantagor/Issue-1?id=165756

Richard Corben's self-published underground, with an E.C. style host chaqracter "Gurgy Tate" introducing the stories.
I especially like the opening and closing splash pages of the two-headed Fantagor and Gurgy Tate in issue 5.
Issue 1 is black and white, issue 2 is partial color, and 3 and 4 are full color. Issue 5 is partial color, and I think black and white works better on the horror stories presented.

And
GRIM WIT, he other E.C.-styled underground horror book by Corben from that period, hosted by Horrilor
https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=573741

These issues aren't online to read yet. There's a back cover house ad/poster on issue 2 that shows all 3 E.C.-styled horror hosts in one ad together, promoting the whole line.


Corben also did intro splash pages of another host character in WEIRDOM COMIX 14 and 15, more of a sexy Vampirella-type host character.
https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=23512857

In 1973, Corben began doing work for Warren in CREEPY, EERIE, and VAMPIRELLA, and at that point his underground work mostly stopped.



A CORBEN SPECIAL, released in 1984 by Pacific Comic, is a pleasant addition, reminiscent of Corben's work on all these earlier horror/gothic offerings, adapting Edgar Allen Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher"
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/A-Corben-Special/Full?id=170995#1

.

Even though it's after the fact now, I'm still feeling a bit Halloween-y this morning.
Another selection from Richard Corben, WEREWOLF :



One of about 15 magazine-size collected albums of Corben's work.

The stories in this one collected from:

1) "Dead Hill", 6 pages, from the underground WEIRDOM COMIX 14, July 1971.

2) "The Beast of Wolfton", 25 pages, from GRIM WIT 1, 1972.

3) "Spirit of the Beast",8 pages, from HEAVY METAL, May 1980.

4) "Roda and the Wolf", 8 pages, from HEAVY METAL, Feb 1984.

5) "Lycanklutz", 8 pages, from CREEPY 56, Sept 1973

6) "Change Into Something Comfortable", 8 pages, from CREEPY 58, Dec 1973

7) "Fur Trade", 8 pages, new story first printed here in 1984, later r in DEN comic series 5, 1989.

I forgot to link the book!

WEREWOLF (1984)
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Werewolf/TPB?id=165592#21

.




A great Halloween-festive cover by Berni Wrightson, from SECRETS OF HAUNTED HOUSE 44, Jan 1982

Which is kind of odd, because it is dated 1972. So a cover this beautiful just sat in inventory for 10 years and was finally given the visibility it deserves, on this issue.



And here's Wrightson's only other cover on the series, SECRETS OF HAUNTED HOUSE 5, Jan 1976
By odd coincidence, another Halloween-themed cover.