The Best of FROM THE TOMB is published by TwoMorrows Publishing, 10407 Bedfordtown Road, Raleigh, NC 27614. Phone: (919) 449-0344. Fax: (919) 449-0327. Peter Normanton, Editor. John Morrow, Publisher. Website: www. twomorrows.com. All characters are TM & © their respective companies unless otherwise noted. All editorial matter © the respective authors. Editorial package is © 2012 Peter Normanton and TwoMorrows Publishing. All rights reserved. All illustrations contained herein are copyrighted by their respective copyright holders and are reproduced for historical reference and research purposes. No material from this book may be reproduced in any form, including print and digital, without the express permission of the publisher.
TwoMorrows Publishing 10407 Bedfordtown Drive Raleigh, North Carolina 27614 www.twomorrows.com e-mail: store@twomorrowspubs.com First Printing, October 2012 Printed in the USA ISBN: 978-1-60549-043-4 Captain America, Fantastic Four, Thing, Gorgon, Journey Into Mystery, Strange Tales, Amazing Fantasy, Invaders TM & ©2012 Marvel Characters, Inc. • Mr. District Attorney, Mystery In Space, Spectre, Adventure Comics, Secrets of Sinister House TM & ©2012 DC Comics • Tales from the Crypt, Vault of Horror, Haunt of Fear, Shock Suspenstories, Weird Science, Weird Fantasy, Crime Suspenstories, Panic TM & ©2012 Wm. M Gaines Agent • Police Trap, Young Romance, Black Magic TM & ©2012 Joe Simon and Jack Kirby Estates • Creepy, Eerie TM & ©2012 Warren Publications. All other characters and properties TM & ©2012 the respective owners.
Cover by The Gurch
A Word From the Tomb ..................................................................................................................................... Page 4 The Dark Age of Comics by Peter Normanton (FTT #1) ................................................................................... Page 6 Ghost Gallery by Frank Motler (FTT #22) ...................................................................................................... Page 12 Bad American Comics: Gender Bender by Frank Motler (FTT #20) ............................................................... Page 24 Horror Comics Spotlight: Journey into Mystery Atlas Era Archives by Barry Forshaw (FTT #27)................... Page 25 The Archie Goodwin Years by Peter Normanton (FTT #26) ............................................................................ Page 32 The Covers That Made Them Fry by Richard Byard (FTT #13) ...................................................................... Page 41 The Joe Sinnott Interview by Mark Sinnott and Peter Normanton (FTT #17) .................................................. Page 50 Burn Witch, Burn by Peter Normanton (unpublished FTT #29) ...................................................................... Page 59 Rudy Palais: The Dance of Death by Frank Motler (FTT #3) .......................................................................... Page 64 The Return of The Gurch by Peter Normanton (FTT #28) ............................................................................... Page 68 Jerry Grandenetti Interviewed by Richard Arndt (FTT #26) ............................................................................ Page 76 Bad American Comics Presents: Unreformed by Frank Motler (FTT #14) ...................................................... Page 80 Petty Crime Part 3: The Comic Books by Frank Motler (unpublished FTT #29) ............................................. Page 82 The Weird Worlds of Matt Fox by Peter Normanton (FTT #2 & #7) ............................................................... Page 90 Out of the World: Steve Ditko Gallery (unpublished FTT #29) ....................................................................... Page 95 Frank Frazetta by Frank Motler (unpublished FTT #29) ................................................................................ Page 100 Vampire and the new Teutonic Horror Shockers! by Peter Normanton (unpublished FTT #29) ..................... Page 104 Let’s Drop The Big One Now! by Frank Motler (FTT #5) ............................................................................. Page 108 Conversations with an Unsung Editor! An Interview With Al Feldstein by Jim Vanhollebeke (FTT #9) .........Page 114 John Bolton: The Curse of the Werewolf by Peter Normanton (FTT #28) ..................................................... Page 124 Remembrances of the Gargoyles at Large by Alan Hewetson (FTT #12) ....................................................... Page 127 Bad American Comics Has a Panic Attack by Frank Motler (unpublished FTT #29) ..................................... Page 131 Mars Is Heaven by Frank Motler (FTT #16) ................................................................................................. Page 135 The Plague of Plagiarism by Sid Jones (FTT #21) ........................................................................................ Page 142 Comic Book Killer by Carl Alessi (FTT #12) ................................................................................................ Page 144 The Spectre Calls by John Fennessy (FTT #11) ............................................................................................ Page 151 A Gallery of Grotesques: The Horrific Art of Bernard Bailey by Frank Motler (FTT #6) ............................ Page 157 Secrets of Sinister House by Mike Howlett (FTT #17) .................................................................................. Page 167 In the Dead of Night by Peter Normanton (FTT #27) .................................................................................... Page 171 Terrorvision: Interview with Shane Oakley by Paul H. Birch (unpublished FTT #29) .................................. Page 177 My Dealings With Legend: John Craig by David Burlington (FTT #28) ....................................................... Page 184 Subterranean Nightmare by Frank Motler (FTT #6) ...................................................................................... Page 187 3
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As the golden age of the superhero faded from sight in the years immediately after WWII, there followed a period in comic publishing now tainted in infamy, one now looked upon as the dark age of comics. With the Axis powers having put to flight, the costumed superheroes no longer commanded the multi-million dollar comic book publishing market; in their wake came a plethora of genres each vying to become the next four-colour sensation. Initially the newsstands were engulfed by tales of hard-bitten criminals and the lovelorn before an unholy breed started to spread its contamination across the length and breadth of North America. Their content was a far cry from the heroic splendour of the early 1940s and yet their dubious narrative was to inspire a generation of creators whose works would find their way into music, film, literature, and, of course, the comic book. However, while the seductive allure of these comics enthralled their young readership, they also attracted the attention of certain misguided groups who considered this grisly cabaret a threat to the very fabric of society. It was very late in the day when the publishers finally recognised the threat posed by these overly zealous groups. The excess they had perpetuated in this comic book grand guignol was the to become the precipitant for the industry’s ruin and brought about seven years of fruitless stagnation. HORROR COMICS IN 1943!
It was 1943 when Classic Comics #13 first put a tingle along their readers’ spines with their interpretation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, an adaptation widely acknowledged as the earliest fully-fledged horror comic. This was not an attempt to test the market nor was it the catalyst for other publishers to follow suit, although a macabre set of evil doers were quite often plying their foul trade in the pages of Timely’s Captain America Comics and Marvel Mystery Comics and Continental’s Suspense Comics. Capitol’s Yellowjacket Comics ventured with graphic retellings of the works of Edgar Allan Poe, although their presence never made it to the cover. The appearance of Avon’s aptly named Eerie Comics, dated January 1947, was to a prove a landmark, as for the first time the entire content of a comic book was dedicated to original tales of terror. As it lay in wait on the shelves, the cover to this chilling debut would have carried a memorable impact, with its lewd staging of a scantily clad girl helplessly bound before the menace of an approaching Nosferatu-styled villain. Surprisingly, this diabolical scene did not stimulate a boom in sales, and the title was summarily axed. Four years later when the horror comics had secured a stranglehold on the market, Eerie Comics would make a welcome return for a run that would last for seventeen issues. It was a company not readily associated with these debased tales that laid claim to being the first to launch an on-going supernatural series: none other than the American Comics Group. As the nights drew in during the fall of 1948, Adventures into the Unknown made its debut. Whether the American Comics Group was more patient than their counterparts at Avon, or it was simply a matter of timing, Adventures into the Unknown embarked upon a staggering twenty-year run. Sepulchred within the pages of its third issue were the uncanny renderings of the then unknown Al Feldstein. Al had already acquitted a reputation as a dedicated professional, but even his insight could not have predicted the dark tide that was soon to follow. A few months later, taking up on a concept suggested by Sheldon Moldoff, he and the legendary Bill Gaines forged the ideas that would introduce the Crypt Keeper into the pages of EC’s Crime Patrol with its
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Mysta and Mrs
We introduce this edition of Bad American with a mid-period edition of Fiction House’s science fiction classic, Planet Comics #46, January 1947. A plucky female, possibly Mysta Of The Moon, is clutching onto a ladder with one arm, whilst the other has snared a hapless male, rescuing him from certain doom. But wait a minute, shouldn’t this be the other way round. Now you mention it, doesn’t she have unusually broad shoulders! She also seems remarkably tall, in comparison to the hapless male. I wonder what might have happened here to inspire this redrawing? The cover teaser offers no clue, as Auro, Lord Of Jupiter has lead billing. Maybe it was an early example of women’s liberation at work. The title was quite liberated, as Frances “Fran” Hopper and Lillee Renee Peters (nee Wilhelms, wife of artist Eric Peters) drew several of the continuous strips. Hopper’s art was exceptional. She drew strips for all of Fiction House’s titles, between 1943 and 1947.
The Hidden Valley
Spurs Jackson emerged fully formed with Charlton’s Space Western #40, September/ October 1952. It was the first issue, as its precedent was Cowboy Western #39. The entire concept was wacky. The origin as such saw Spurs and the rest of his Space Vigilantes oppose The Saucer-Men Of Mars. Later editions would see them fighting The Cactus Men Of Venus, before Hitler and some Nazi stragglers ended up on Mars in a two-part special,
Cowboy Western #44 and 45. As if this weren’t enough, a whip totin’ Spurs Jackson appears on the cover to the premiere wearing natty red hot-pants, not ideally suited for hard-riding across the American plains. Yet, they do contrast nicely, with a stitched buckskin top that allowed room for his ample cleavage! For the rest of the series, he is more conventionally attired in jeans, shirt and neckerchief. Maybe he disliked the cosmetic surgery and had it reversed, after posing for the cover.
“Bumps and Bulges”
Old friend, Dr. Fredric Wertham was troubled by the male bonding of Batman and his youthful ward, “Robin looks something like a girl. He has only trunks on.” Yet, it was for the female variety he reserved his harshest criticisms, “Superwoman (Wonder Woman) is always a horror type. She is physically very powerful, tortures men, has her own female following, is the cruel, “phallic” woman. While she is a frightening figure for boys, she is an undesirable ideal for girls, being the exact opposite of what girls are supposed to want to be.” We are spared his pronouncements on the merits of Planet Comics #47 and Space Western #40. Here, at FTT supreme headquarters, we do not judge. Our fondness for Velcro tops, with black trousers tucked into zip sided bootees, leaves us sympathetic to their plight. Phasers set to stun…. Beam me up, Scotty! This has been: A Fatboy Production
May 2006
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By Frank Motler Maniacs, demons and femme fatales frequent the horror art of Rudolph “Rudy” Palais. Unable to contain themselves, his characters chaotically overlap the panel borders in their fevered exertions, sweating and drooling as they plot and scheme under the hands of this master of comic book art. Using close ups and extreme angles made popular in contemporary cinematic noir thrillers, his characters are ultimately trapped under glass and bound to their hapless fate. The early years of his career saw Palais employed as a designer of theatre fronts before moving into comics where he went on to perfected his style in this darkest of genres. The horror comic was killed off with the introduction of the Comic Code in 1955, forcing Harvey to fold their line of horror titles and at the end of 1954 Comic Media ceased publication altogether. However, between 1951 and 1954, Rudy Palais completed some of his finest pieces for each of these two companies. Who’s Who of American Comic Books lists Rudy as the brother of Walter, a man who seemed destined for
the priesthood before he too became an artist, albeit more modestly talented. It was Walter who introduced Rudy to Jerry Iger when he was taken on as a letterer. Rudy worked for the Iger Shop circa 1941-42 mainly on the Fiction House line before finding a placement with Everett “Busy” Arnold and around 1946 for the Chesler shop, probably on their selection of in-house titles. Between 1944 and 1946, he was in the employ of L.B. Cole, who had taken over the Holyoke (Continental) range. Their work was to invigorate the pages of Captain Aero, Cat-man, Contact, Suspense Comics and Terrific Comics with a newfound energy. Rudy’s work also appears in Harvey’s hero titles from 1945 on, culminating in his horror work between 1951 and 1953 when he left their employ. In his time freelancing for Ace (1945-49), he contributed to their hero/adventure comics, producing the now notorious and the highly collectible Super Mystery cover (Volume 6/3 December 1945) depicting a “Good Girl” in peril. His style would lead him to many other companies, including Gilberton (1947-54), Avon, DC, Fox, Fawcett, Gleason (1944-47) and Quality (1942-44), in all more than twenty companies before he joined Charlton,
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Fire Brand
Previously, in this three-part journey, we have looked at the rise of the American teenager and America’s most iconic teen, Elvis Presley (FTT #26). FTT #27 tarried, investigating Hep Cats and their arcane jive-talk, via the many popular publications of the period. Triggered by perceptions of delinquency and youth crime, the anti-comics campaigns of Dr. Fredric Wertham, MD, the US Senate and New York Legislative committees became the subject of FTT #28. In this concluding instalment, we look at the four-color crime comics themselves. How they stuttered with the arrival of the “Comics Code” and breathed their last a few months later, when New York State prohibited the word ‘crime’ in the title of a comic. Elsewhere, our Electric Chair Special Issue with emphasis on shocking covers plus St. John’s crime comics, Bad American’s Stir-Fry (featuring Crime Does Not Pay), or Jack Cole and Co’s True Crime are also recommended (see FTT #13, 15, 20 respectively. The first issue of Crime Does Not Pay debuted in 1942 (#22, dated July; formerly Silver Streak Comics) as the first genre comic. Immediately, it established a dark malevolent style befitting the real-life gangsters often portrayed. In the formative period, Charles Biro epitomised this with violent cover renditions of: Tommy-gun execution, prison breakouts, drowning, hatchet killing, bloody shootouts, or an infamous head-in-the-gas-flames portrayal (#25, #23, #28 and #29, #48, #33, #30 and #36, or #24). Until 1947, Gleason’s comic had the field to itself, when it was joined by delinquent sister Crime and Punishment (#1, April 1948), plus competition from Harvey (Green Hornet Fights Crime), Magazine Village (True Crime), Martin Goodman’s company (see index, note 5) and elsewhere. As the comics-code loomed, Gleason’s young sibling dabbled with fake 3-D and delinquency themes (notably the Alex Toth illustrated Crime and Punishment #67 and “Dope Crazy Kids,” #69). Uninspired, the elder statesman meandered, despite artistic invention from Joe Kubert and Pete Morisi. From 1950, Avon also produced comics, including: Crime On the Waterfront, Gangsters and Gun Molls, Murderous Gangsters, Police Line-Up, Prison Break and Prison Riot. Several were enhanced by painted covers first-seen on various Avon paperbacks (the company’s first line of business). Both Goodman and Avon’s crime comics were cancelled in 1952, as was the Star title Crime Fighting Detective. Meanwhile, Star’s All Famous Crime mutated into All Famous Police Cases, surviving until 1954 (all featuring L.B. Cole covers). Avon’s one-shot giants from 1952, All-True Detective Cases and Sensational Police Cases returned in 1953 for brief runs as regular comics.
Enlightening Strikes, Twice…
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Publisher Archer St. John also produced crime comics, in the formative period (1948 on). Several of these reprinted Chesler art and were censured by Wertham, unaware of their original source (see FTT#13). Only Authentic Police Cases sustained a run until 1955, expiring as the code commenced. It benefited hugely from the input of African-American Matt Baker (1921-1959), a supremely talented artist who worked extensively for St. John. In 1953, Authentic expanded to 100-page giant format (#24-27), part of an experiment embracing several ongoing titles. It had been preceded by All-True All-Picture Police Cases #1-2 (October & November 1952), which contained rebound unsold comics, minus original covers, as did all St. John giants to this point. The 1953 releases were mostly new. Authentic Police Cases #25 included an expurgated, reworked and colorized version of “The Case of the Winking Buddha” (32 pages, Charles Raab art). Originally, Buddha had been a 132-page black-and-white, feature-length story, which debuted in a 1950 comics digest of the same name. It was contemporaneous with another uncommon St. John digest, It Rhymes With Lust; Matt Baker art throughout. Luckily, Lust was reprinted in its original form by Dark Horse, 2007 and is available still (it also appeared reformatted, in The Comics Journal #266, July 2006). Elsewhere, Baker’s spot illustrations improved the looks of several story digests, including St. John’s own Manhunt (unrelated to the Magazine Enterprise comic), Goodman’s Justice and several Arnold Magazine titles.
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When, in 1973, Jerry Bails was assembling the entries for his invaluable Who’s Who of American Comics, it was Matt Fox himself, who came forward with a set of biographical notes. It would appear Matt had been all but forgotten, and in researching this piece, I have been able to come up with few if any anecdotal references on his time in comics. The word deranged immediately springs to mind when beginning to assess his nightmare vision, and further investigation reveals he was an artist whose hideous imaginings had already unsettled a readership whose appetite took them way into the beyond. However, his body of work as a comic book artist is frustratingly diminutive, the majority
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of which saw publication in Atlas’s range of weird titles, occasionally inking John Forte, with another three exceptional appearances in the employ of one the minor publisher house’s of the day, Youthful. There are no known interviews with the man behind these lunatic images, but prior to terrorising the covers of Youthful’s Chilling Tales, his woodcut style pen and ink renderings had shocked the avid readers of the science fiction and fantasy pulp magazines of the 1940s. This intriguing phase in his career continues to arouse the interest of many comic book purists, many of whom would have never have bothered with these wordy publications. Between 1943 and 1950, Matt painted eleven covers for the foremost magazine of the period, the mythical Weird Tales. In May 1948, his name would appear alongside Ray Bradbury in that month’s edition of Weird Tales; an issue that would one day become a highly sought after collector’s item.
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Manhattan Project
As WWII drew to a close in Europe, U.S. Four Star General George S. Patton wasn’t fooled and stated that “we would have to fight them sometime and we might as well do it now while we have the men and machinery over here!” They (them) were the Russians or more accurately The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). WWII had finally been brought to an end with the vaporising humanity and blinding flashes at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The massive $2 billion “Manhattan Project” (1942-5), which had worked towards the development of the atomic bomb and its deployment in the belief that it would put an end to the war with Japan, was shrouded in a veil of secrecy. Great Britain, who had contributed significantly to the research and development of this nightmare weapon, was to be excluded, for fear of their leaking Top Secret information. Even J. Robert Oppenheimer, the Chief Scientist of the Los Alamos-based “Manhattan Project”, had been impugned if not entirely discredited and his citizenship called into question owing to his pacifist left wing views. The “Hollywood Ten”, a group of film screenwriters, directors and a producer, had been in 1947 imprisoned for refusing to answer the U.S. Senate’s questions, in particular “Are you now or have you ever been a
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In the early to mid-1950s at the notorious EC comics... Al Feldstein created, wrote, illustrated and edited a line of titles, which are now legendary. They included horror titles such as Tales from the Crypt which was adapted in the ‘90s for HBO television, plus science-fiction, suspense, and other genres still being copied today. In 1955, he became editor of EC’s Mad magazine when Harvey Kurtzman (with most of his artists) abruptly left the helm. Feldstein took the mag’s then circulation from 375,000 to a high of almost 3 million. He gathered a new staff of talented artists and writers, supervised its operations, editing and re-writing stories, designing layouts, and creating a consistent format that led to Mad’s historic success. In 1984, Al retired from Mad and went back to his original love, painting. He moved to Paradise Valley, Montana and now enjoys painting that state’s ranch life, fauna and beautiful scenery. He’s been represented by numerous galleries in the Northwest and received many awards. In 1999, Jim Vanhollebeke, a long time fan of Al and the legendary EC Comics in general, conducted his first interview with Mr. Feldstein for
an internet Mad magazine website. In 2002, Jim received this second interview. Al was very gracious and candid. In this session, he reveals publicly his disappointment in the “bad blood” that developed between him and Mad’s publisher Bill Gaines. Following is the interview (edited):
Jim Vanhollebeke: Al, I recently discovered an interview with William Gaines (Qua Brot #1) in which he stated his hopes of getting together with you to put together ...”ONE MORE WHOPPING ISSUE of Tales From The Crypt, just to get it out of my system.” This was, perhaps, 1985. He’d hoped it to be his final comment on (and to) the code. He had the artists picked out and a bunch of story ideas to “spring” at you! I’ll bet you know about this interview, but I wanted to tell you JUST IN CASE you didn’t. You guys! Wotta’ team! AL FELDSTEIN: No...I’m not familiar with the interview you quoted. I retired as Editor of Mad on Dec. 31st, 1984. My leaving Mad was not very well accepted by Bill...and our relationship was rather strained. I suspect that his statement was pure BS...since he knew that I would not be receptive to
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of a grave robber and the dead. He wasn’t in search of the plentiful cadavers this graveyard had to offer, just their hidden treasures. This tale has been mentioned before in these pages, for it has aroused the most devoted of EC’s followers owing to a series of panels shown here containing brush strokes all too similar to those of Ghastly Graham Ingels. Swipes they may indeed be, but they certainly capture the grim mood of this eight-page mini classic. In an attempt to stop such crimes from happening mad inventions were produced to deter these debased villains. Philip K. Clover of Columbus, Ohio, patented a device that was to “prevent the unauthorized resurrection of dead bodies.” It was known as the coffin-torpedo. Buried underground, the torpedo would fire several lead balls into any would be thief. If robbers were to ever try digging up the coffin containing this contraption, the shell would explode, injuring or killing those in close proximity. Such was the hostility directed toward those who would defile the dead. There was worse to come in the darkness of these graveyards. As early as Vault of Horror #17 (February-March 1951) Johnny Craig was rendering a cadaver eating ghoul in “Terror on the Moors.” He also scripted this atmospheric piece, which he remembered so favourably many years later. In their use of a ghoul this was something of a departure for the boys at EC, but this tale also contained elements that would come to the fore a few years down the line when Johnny took over the editorial reins of Vault of Horror. There was also “The Ghoul at Eldritch Manor” in the pages of Fawcett’s Beware! Terror Tales #8 (January 1953). Ribage’s Crime Mysteries #15 as late as September 1954 unearthed another ghoulish creature in an unusual crime based tale “Feast of the Dead.” This tale was quite graphic in it s display in a title that could never make up its mind as to whether it wanted to give itself over to crime or horror. Only months before the introduction of the Comics Code, Trojan’s Beware #12 (November 1954) presented “The Voices from Beyond” which proved to be something of a strange affair, a love story that worked to keep the grave robbers at bay. Only in a comic book! Before I send you away to the comfort of your nightmares there is one other tale from the past that never made it to these pre-Code terrors concerning the body of a lady’s departed husband found in a surgeon’s house soon after it was buried. Apparently, after having obtained a search warrant, she found something worse than she could have ever expected. She looked inside a big pot “which was almost full of boiling water...she took a stick and stirred it when to her great surprise she saw the head and part of the body of her husband.” I for one really couldn’t say what was going on there, but it certainly doesn’t sound like anatomy, although some experts would disagree claiming this was how the cadavers were prepared for the trainee doctors and surgeons. I think someone else has been reading too many of those nasty old comic books!
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