Monday, December 31, 2007

New Years Evil

A toast from all of us at The Horrors of it All, wishing everyone a safe, fun, and Happy New Years Eve! We hope you had a great year, and look forward to seeing you all here each and every day in 2008 for another 365 days of endless terror...



And coming next in 2008…

The Strange Room

Well, here we are on the last day of the month, on the last day of the year, and our last story post comes from the very last pre-code issue of Strange Tales... it's a fitting tale submitted by Brian Hirsch to help us end 2007 with a shiver!

From the February 1955 issue of Strange Tales #34




Sunday, December 30, 2007

Game For a Mad Huntress

Some pre-code stories are thinly veiled re-workings of classic popular fiction tales. Like today’s post, The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell is the obvious influence here, but thankfully Ace knew enough at this point in the pre-code horror game to add a few weird twists of their own including the undead, voodoo witchcraft, and of course transforming the savage hunter into a sexy, cold blooded huntress!

From the July 1952 issue of The Beyond #13







Saturday, December 29, 2007

Meet the Bride

Italian artist Maurizio Ercole has been dying for another Matt Fox story, so here you go my friend… savor this tasty terror tale like you would a finely cooked piece of delicious meat.

From the May 1953 issue of Adventures into Terror #19





Marriage of Death

Just when you think I’ve posted too many ACG yarns, along comes another instant classic from the bowels of my collection. This one is about a woman who marries Death… literally! There’s some exceptionally nice angles and eerie moments here, particularly those that take place in the morgue sequence.

From the July 1950 issue of Adventures into the Unknown #11








Friday, December 28, 2007

The Last Dance

Here’s one for all the ladies planning to go out dancing tonight without their dead fiancĂ© (bloody tomahawk in the forehead optional.) You have been warned!

From the December 1953 issue of Adventures into Darkness #12

Trophies of Doom

Feel like you got enough DOOM yesterday? No? Well then maybe a little more DOOM to finish off our work week is just what the executioner ordered. Plus some “Thank God it’s Friday” decapitations…

From the September 1953 issue of Adventures into Darkness #11






Thursday, December 27, 2007

Serpent of Doom

If you like watching a woman in nothing but her bra and panties murder her husband with a pillow then this is your lucky day. Pretty risquĂ© for a 50’s comic, but it seems to me that Adventures into Darkness (the series) always found a way to go the extra odd step by adding a little something something to their stories to make them uniquely different than the other publishers. Anyone know for sure if this really is Toth or not? [GCD now seems to think it is John Celardo. -- Nequam]

From the December 1953 issue of Adventures into Darkness #12







Rider in the Storm

A classic story you’ve likely heard before in some form or another: the hitchhiking ghost girl haunting a lonely stretch of highway. I love old legends like this, even if it does star the same exact dead girl (now a blonde) swiped from Russ Heath’s Village Graveyard story that I posted back in November HERE. Don’t believe me? Compare the very last coffin panels from both stories.

From the September 1953 issue of Adventures into Darkness #11

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

The Frozen Death

For the next three days we’ll be taking an adventurous detour straight into the very heart of darkness… and to start things off let’s head up to the mountains for a shivery winter tale of love after death, and vice versa.

From the June 1954 issue of Adventures into Darkness #14







The Finger of Guilt

Standard Comics' Adventures into Darkness series is full of great little terror tale quickies that run one page and sometimes two pages long. So to accompany our main scan posts this week I’ll also include one of these each day for you as a bonus. Some of them are actually quite good, and usually along the lines of an "urban legend."

From the September 1953 issue of Adventures into Darkness #11