Favourite horror comics: Tales of the Zombie '#7 - Alfredo Alcala & Doug Moench

Back in 1973, the Zombie was not the pop culture icon it is today, they did not run in packs of maniacal flesh-eating cadavers rampaging through the streets munching on the brains of innocent bystanders. In 1973 the Zombie was portrayed as a solo drone under the control of a voodoo priest or priestess as was the case with Simon Garth, the Zombie in question who appeared in Marvel's “Tales of the Zombie” magazine which ran for 10 issues and one annual from March 1973 to October 1975. In this series Simon Garth is cursed to rise from the dead controlled by a mystic amulet that leads him on a quest to find the amulet of Damballah which when combined with his own amulet would free him from the curse. I only managed to purchase this copy of “Tales of the Zombie” (from September 1974 - cover above by Earl Norem) around 1979 and even as a 19-year-old the stunningly spooky art by Alfredo Alcala freaked me out. Below are a few of the excellent pages by one of comics true masters - enjoy, but don’t have nightmares:

In this issue Simon Garth wanders through the bayou but takes a detour after fighting an alligator as you do, to a house in the swamps where a murder mystery is taking place during the reading of a will. Deciding to help protect a young girl at risk from the murderer the Zombie shuffles into action. When the will reader, a man named Ralston is called to read the will, it states that the entire estate is to be divided among the surviving family members. However, one-by-one the surviving family members are murdered, until it becomes clear that Ralston is the man responsible. The Zombie, watching the entire event unfold, decides to get involved, killing Ralston before vanishing into the night. After a police investigation of all the murders, they find fingerprints belonging to Simon Garth, which puzzles them because their records show that Garth has been dead for two years. This is a pretty strong horror story by Doug Moench expertly illustrated by Alfredo Alcala.

Above, some of the excellent house ads for "Tales of the Zombie" that appeared in various Marvel colour monthlies at the time - Have a happy Halloween!

Page Turners: Russ Health's (mini) Marvel Dracula Portfolio

Marvel's original foray into the black & white magazine format was with the wonderful "Savage Tales" #1 in May 1971. However, this was not an immediate success as the second issue took more than 2 years to produce when it was eventually published in October 1973. Thankfully Marvel reconsidered the black and white magazine market and produced no less than four horror magazines along with a revived "Savage Tales" magazine in 1973. The first of the black and white horror magazine to be launched was "Dracula Lives" in June 1973 no doubt chosen because of the success of the excellent "Tomb of Dracula" colour monthly. Although the first b&w issue only contained around 35 pages (out of 72) of original material it's success meant that more all new marterial would soon follow and some of it was horrifically wonderful as can be seen by the stunning Russ Heath Dracula protfolio that appeared in "Dracula Lives" #13

Sadly interest in horror and the black and white magazines started to wane and "Dracula Lives" #13 (1975) was the last issue. In the UK a weekly comic called "Dracual Lives" managed an impressive 87 issue run (October 1974 to July 1975) featuring tales from the colour monthly before merging with "Planet of the Apes" (with #88) and then appearing in the "Mighty World of Marvel".

Milestones: The Titans - A different type of comic!

The UK "Titans" comic was launched 48 years ago on 25 October 1975. In common with most British Marvel titles the "Titans" was a black and white anthology, however unlike almost any other comic the "Titans" was printed in a landscape format (bound around the short edge rather than the long edge). This meant that each 32 page comic contained up to 60 pages of reading material. The "Titans" ran for 58 issues before being merged into the “Super Spider-Man” title (with # 199) which itself had moved to the landscape format with issues 158. By issue 228 "Spider-Man and the Titans" had reverted to the more traditional portrait format and with issue 230 the"Titans" name was taken off the "Super Spider-Man" title.

Above, The Inhumans (originally published in “Amazing Adventures” #1, August 1970 ) as presented in the landscape format. Despite the abundance of comic material on offer each week including Captain America, Captain Marvel, Inhumans, Sub-Mariner, S.H.I.E.L.D, X-Men, Ghost Rider, the FF and many more, the Titans was never a big favourite of mine. This was not just because of the format but also due to the fact that the title never seemed to have a settled cast or any regular "star"feature.

As was the case with most British comics the first issue featured a free gift. In this case, the "Titans" featured one of my all time favourite free gifts the above full colour John Buscema poster. This was originally used for the 1975 "Mighty Marvel Comic Con" - I only ever kept the first issue of the "Titans" and few scattered issues and can't recall if there were any other free gifts with issue 2 or 3? - poster image from ebay.

The new landscape format also meant that when the title used the original US covers a lot of cut and pasting was required along with the redrawing of the background art in order for the original illustration to fit the new format as can be seen by the above issue of "Titans" (#27) and the orignal cover from FF #84 (cover from the Grand comic database). This may explain why most Titans covers were (for the most part) pretty poor originals.

The "Titans" spawned 2 annuals in 1977 and 1978 (published in the traditional portrait format). In 1980, the title was briefly revived under Dez Skinn when it was published as a monthly pocket book (featuring Captain America, Iron Man and Thor).This series ran for 13 issues between September 1980 and November 1981 before the title was eventually returned to comic book limbo.

Marvel Monsters - Part 2

As can be seen from my previous post, Atlas comics (pre-Marvel) published a staggering amount of science fiction /horror-based monster characters. Some, like Groot (image above from the "True Believers" facsimile) would be revised in the late 1970’s as an adversary for the Hulk, Avengers etc while others would disappear into comic book oblivion. In the case of Groot he (it?) was of course later revamped as a member of the "Guardians of the Galaxy” and became a major film character before returning to his roots (so to speak) as a comic book hero. Who knows perhaps one day one of the other Marvel/Atlas Monsters below may join Groot as a box office sensation:

"Where Monsters Dwell" #16 (1972) - Featuring Googam son of Goom! - Both Googam and "his old man" Goom have appeared in recent Marvel monster books, and both would be my favourite to be the next Marvel/Disney monster superstar.

"Where Monsters Dwell" #7 (1970) featuring Rommbu.

"Where Monsters Dwell" #5 (1970) featuring Taboo.

"Monsters on the Prowl" #29 (1974) - Featuing the "Monster at my Window"

"Where Monsters Dwell" #27 (1974) - featuring Groog

"Monsters on the Prowl" #15 (1972) - Featuing It!

"Monsters on the Prowl" #11 (1971) - Featuring the living Titan - this monster was originally called the Hulk when he first appeared in "Journey into Mystery" #62 (below).

Above the original splash page from ""Journey into Mystery" #62 (1960) - Image from Marvel Wiki. In later years (the mid-1970s) the character was renamed (again) as "Xemnu the living Titan".

Any finally, from "Where Monsters Dwell" #2 (1970) Sporr!

Marvel Monsters - Part 1

Before Marvel/Atlas comics entered into the superhero arena they produced a plethora of giant monster stories in titles like "Journey into Mystery", "Strange Tales", and "Tales of Suspense". These stories were later reprinted during the early/mid 1970's comic book horror revival in iconic titles including "Monsters on the Prowl, "Where Monsters Dwell" and "Creatures on the Loose". Each of these comics featured formulated but fun tales of amazing monsters like Fing Fang Foom (above from "Monsters on the Prowl" #21) the Chinese Dragon who wakes from his centuries long slumber to rampage through the world. As a 10-13 year old I loved these monsters and stories which still retain a special place in my "comic book world". Below are some of my favourite of these fun Marvel/Atlas monsters, most by team of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

"Fear" #3 featuring Zuttak (1971). This was one of the first Marvel monster reprint comics that I purchased as a 10/11 year old. Sadly I lost my original copy but managed to track down a replacement a few years ago.

"Monsters on the Prowl" # 28 (1974) featuring Monsteroso - One thing that confused me when I revisited these comics was that some were from 1974/5 as my memory of reading these tales seemed to come from a few years previous. This was probably due to the fact that many of these tales were first reprinted in the UK in various Alan Class titles and in the Odhams POW!, Smash!,and Wham! comics of the the mid/late 1960's.

"Monsters on the Prowl" # 17 (1972) featuring Colossus - Similar to Fing Fang Foom, Colossus was not restricted to a single tale and appeared in several other stories.

"Where Creatures Roam" #4 (1971)- Featuring Vandoom

Where Creatures Roam" #7 (1971)- Featuring Glop.

"Monsters on the Prowl" #19 (1972) Featuring "The creature from the Black Bog (the cutest looking monster ever ) art by Steve Ditko.

"Where Monsters Dwell #10 (1971) - Featuring Gigantus. Like so many monsters "they walk like a man!!"

Monsters on the Prowl" #20 (1972) Featuring Oog.

Fear # 8 Featuring "It crawls by Night"

Top Thirteens: The mystery covers of Neal Adams

As we move closer to Halloween, I thought I would take a look at 13 of Neal Adams' covers for DC's horror/mystery line of titles. Neal Adams first involvement with the "House of Mystery" is an interesting one starting with issue 175 and ending with issue 192. However, this story starts with issue 174 (cover below by Joe Orlando and George Roussos) when editor Joe Orlando moved the title back to its mystery story roots after a period of featuring the superhero-based strip "Dial H for Hero". Orlando's iconic cover to #174 featured three young children who he asked Adams to include in as many of his 18 covers as possible, something he did for literally every issue he drew. Not only would the children appear on the covers but in some instances the 3 children, 2 boys and a girl (the girl being based on one of Neal's daughters) would also appear in an actual story. The reason for adding the children to the covers was simple, Joe Orlando knew his audience and that was kids, so why not include them in the comics themselves. Neal Adams also provided covers for many of DC’s other mystery titles including "House of Secrets", "The Unexpected" and "The Witching Hour" - some of my favourites are shown below:

Above the cover to "House of Mystery" #174 (June 1968) by Joe Orlando and George Roussos. Cover from DC Wiki. Cover at header "Brave and Bold" #93 (Oct 1970) which also features some classic Neal Adams internal art.

House of Mystery #178 (Feb 1969).

House of Mystery #181 (Aug 1969).

House of Mystery #184 (Nov 1969). An excellent issue featuring Alex Toth and Gil Kane art.

House of Secrets # 88 (Nov 1970)

House of Secrets # 90 (Mar 1971) - This issue also features some nice Gray Morrow art.

House of Secrets # 91 (May 1971) - One of a my all time favourite Neal Adams covers.

The Unexpected #124 (May 1971).

The Witching House #10 (Sept 1970) - Another truly stunning Adams cover

The Witching House #11 (Nov 1970)

In 1977 Adams returned to the "House of Mystery" as the cover artist for 4 issues (#251-#254) when the title moved to the 80 page "Dollar Comics" format. Above "House of Mystery" #251 (April 1977) featuring the 3 children.

House of Mystery #252 (June 1977)

House of Mystery #253 (Aug 1977) - Sadly I no longer have #254.