With Halloween only a few days away I thought I would amuse myself with a look back at some of my favourite bronze age horror and mystery covers from the 1970’s. I suppose that when anyone mentions comic books and horror in the same breath the first thing that comes to mind are comics featuring grotesque monsters, tortured souls , witches and Zombies. Of course that is true in many cases but the good old superhero comic has also produced some gory stories and shocking covers to get the pules racing over the years .One of my favourite covers from this time is “Detective Comics” issue 413 (above) by Neal Adams. This issue was heavily advertised on the inside cover of many DC comics back in 1971 along with a couple of other comics (one of which will be shown in part 2 of my favouritre horror/mystery covers) sadly, while I managed to pick up the other 2 comics I never managed to obtain this one. Despite that the memory of this amazing Adams cover has remained with me over the years and is still on my “want list”.
Next up is Marvel’s “Vault of Evil" issue 7 (1973) by Rich Buckler and Ernie Chan. Vault of Evil (from my limited 4 issue collection) was an all reprint title which I generally avoided but when I saw this cover I just had to buy it (it also reminds me of some dates I've had!)
DC’s “House of Secrets” along with its sister title “House of Mystery” produced some of the best mystery/horror comic book covers of the entire genre with contribution from artists including Bernie Wrightson, Mike Kaluta, Nick Cardy and of course Neal Adams. This cover comes from 1970 at a time when Adams was regularly producing some truly stunning covers for DC. Strangely the cover story itself was actually drawn by Don Heck (although Adams may have penciled the first page). On the plus side Adams inked Gil Kane's pencils on a beautifully illustrated tale “Second Choice”. One truely strange strip from this comic is a 2 page “funny animal” story called “Reggie Rabbit….” by Ralf Reese - just weird!
Speaking of the great Gil Kane my next selection is Marvel's “Supernatural Thrillers” issue 6 from November 1973 featuring the “Headless Horseman Rides Again”. Although Kane didn’t draw the actual story itself George Tuska and Jack Abel provided some nice artwork on a really entertaining (but pretty daft) tale.
House of Mystery 221 is probably one of the most iconic horror/mystery covers of the 1970's and no wonder it’s a classic from the macabre mind of the late great Bernie Wrightson. In addition to producing this amazing cover Bernie also drew (along with Michael Kaluta) the associated 8 page strip “He who laughs last..”
Probably my favourite horror/mystery title from the 1970’s was DC’s “The Witching Hour” . This comic regularly featured the work of the best artists of the time including Gray Morrow, Jim Aparo, Bill Draut, Neal Adams and Bernie Wrightson all wrapped up in an amazing 4- 8 page framing tale by the legendary Alex Toth. This cover is by Nick Cardy one of the best comic book cover artists of all time. Part 2 of my favourite horror/mystery covers will follow on Thursday featuring the cover I consider to be the best in the genre, and shock horror it’s not by Neal Adams or Bernie Wrightson.
I was probably about seven years old when I walked into my local newsagents in Cambuslang (near Glasgow) with my pocket money firmly he...
Following on from my last post featuring some of my favourite Marvel comic book covers from 1973, I thought I would show some of DC's ...
Nearly a half-century on I still consider 1973 to be the year that cemented my destiny in becoming a lifetime comic book fan. It was a yea...
Out of all those comics, the only one I think I may've had is the first one. I'm wondering if I might have it in a reprint volume, as I'd like to read it again (?) solely because the cover intrigues me so much. Incidentally, your post has only just shown up in my sidebar, so there seems to be a delay between you publishing a post and it appearing in my blog list.
ReplyDeleteIt may have been reprinted in the London Editions Super Hero magazine Kid. I have read it but I was naughty and read it online 😋. When I updated my blog a few days ago I checked yours and it was showing there.
DeleteShows you how bad my memory's getting these days, eh, McS? I'll jump over to my own blog and take a look.
DeleteI took a look, but although I found The Super Heroes covers, I couldn't find that particular story. What was its title again?
DeleteDetective 413 - superb cover, and incidentally the only official DC 5p price variant issue I have. Flippin’ brilliant, and the yellow highlighting of Batman’s cape from the storm lamp is a fantastic coloring contribution.
ReplyDeleteNever read Vault of Evil, although i’m currently on a kick of picking up back issues of Chamber of Chills and other Marvels of its ilk.
House of Secrets and House of Mystery - I loved those books for the Adams covers. I also had those House of Mystery paperbacks by Jack Oleck which contained some great Berni Wrightson illustrations.
Never had HoS #85 back in the day, and it still remains a gap in my collection. Found a digital copy - it will do until I’ve tracked down a paper copy. I see what you say about an Adams influence on page 1 of the Heck story. Certainly Heck upped his game on that story; the layouts with the angled sides to panels are not standard Heck. On the other hand, perhaps Adams was influencing a lot of artists those days?
I also like the Gil Kane/Neal Adams artwork in the last story. A very interesting combo that preserves both of the artists’ styles.
I had HoM #221 back in the 70s, but have no recollection of it. Re-reading it now, it is a great comic. Frank Thorne on the first story and Mike Kaluta on the second. Great stuff. Pages 2 &3 showing the pickup and death of the innocent hitchhiker are especially effective.
Looking forward to you next selection. I have some favourites which are spooky/halloween themed, but will not mention them lest I influence you.
Detective 413 really is a wonderful cover. As soon as I saw this advertised in the inside cover of DC comics in 1971 I wanted it but as noted I never manged to find a copy on the spinner racks. it's also a comic I haven’t seen in any of back issue shops I have visited recently either - I may be forced at some point to try and find it on eBay.
DeleteThat’s strange as I’m on a bit of a kick of picking up some of those old Marvel reprint comics as well. I recently bought a few issues of “Where Monsters Dwell” and a couple of “Uncanny Tales” comics as they are largely still quite cheap and have great covers. The House of Mystery was one of my go to comics as a kid/teenager as they always had some great artists and there always seemed to be copies on sale. I remember seeing those Jack Oleck books advertised in DC mags (and I thought they were also advertised in Warren magazines as well, but that might not have been the case) but I never saw them in the shops.
I have a really tatty issue of HoS issue 85 that I picked up in Liverpool about 7 years ago FOR £1 (it's really poor quality) but I need to get a nicer copy as its one of my favourite Neal Adam covers and it's a great comic book. Adams/Kane were a good art team I remember an excellent "Savage Sword of Conan" tale that they did together that I still have somewhere.
Yeah HoM 221 is a pretty nice comic but didn't the last story have art by Wrightson and Kaluta? I’ll need to dig my copy out again to check as I noted it as solely Bernie’s work but if its Kaluta I'll need to change it as well.
Go lets see your list of favourite spooky comic covers I’ve already completed my part 2.
My error, McScotty. The second story was both Wrightson and Kaluta, although I think that Kaluta's style dominates the faces (I'm looking at page 2 now) although Wrightson's famous shading lines are to be seen throughout. I wonder if the work was more a collaborative exercise, rather than Wrightson penciling and Kaluta inking? Re-reading it, it also reminds me of Kaluta's work on Shadow #2, "Freak Show Murders".
DeleteI think your right it certainly looks like Kaluta was the main artist perhaps ax you say doing some pages and Bernie doing others ( mostly Kaluta). Yeah I see what your saying about Shadow issue 2 .
DeleteHas anyone tasted a pumpkin pie? I haven't.
ReplyDeleteYup - every year. Not my favourite at Thanksgiving, though.
DeleteHi Colin, I had Pumpkin Pie last year for the first time -it was ok but maybe that was because it was covered in cream.
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