A Classic TV Christmas- Advent 2017 Day 19

If you are a regular reader of my blog, then you would know that I am a big comic book collector. While I am a devotee to superhero books, one of my all-time favorite line of comics are the old EC Comics from the 1950s. These books were filled with sensational and quite controversial material that lead to a series of Senate hearings and eventually a comic book code of ethics being enforced. 

Despite their ages, EC Comics aren't hard to find as they are highly sought out by collectors. However, they are not cheap. Just this year, I was able to finally join the Original Issue Club when I purchased a copy of Shock SuspenStories #18. The title isn't one of EC's most well known titles, but I didn't care. I just wanted a copy of something EC to call my own.

Titles you, the average person not familiar with comics, might recognize are ones like Weird Science, The Vault of Horror (my all-time favorite), and Tales From the Crypt. Oh, you remember that show from HBO and layer aired in syndication on Sci-Fi Channel? Well before it was a TV show, Tales was a comic book.

The episode for today is called And All Through The House. Directed by Back to the Future's Robert Zemeckis, this episode, while a Christmas one, didn't air during the holidays. Instead, it was broadcast during a balmy evening in June, 1989. 

The episode is based on a story of the same name from The Vault of Horror #35. In both the TV show and comic (as well as 1970s movie starring Joan Collins), a woman kills her husband on Christmas Eve. Desperately trying to remove the body, she is stymied by her young daughter who just can't go to sleep because of the excitement of Santa coming. 

As the woman goes to work on disposing of hubby, the radio makes an announcement that a patient from a local mental hospital has escaped. He's wearing a Santa suit and brandishing an axe. Already having killed several people, he's considered armed and very dangerous. By the end of this classic thriller, the woman discovers that her daughter let Santa in and for some reason, he's carrying a bloody axe with him...

Well as luck would have it, for today's Advent, I present to you the complete 1989 episode, minus the opening credits and Crypt Keeper intro, for your enjoyment. Be advised, this is not for kids! But if you are old enough to enjoy a cup of holiday fear, then by all means ENJOY! And until next time- Scary Christmas!

The Vault of Horror #14

• A pair of con men use a medium to swindle an old lady out of her inheritance. But the spirits have other plans. 
• In a play on an old urban legend, an African butler misinterprets the desires of his master and puts the man's fiance out for display.
• An animal loving wife is pushed beyond her limits when her cantankerous husband takes up a new hobby- taxidermy!
• A rising star in the boxing circuit must throw the match of his life or else never see his baby son ever again.

This issue of the Vault of Horror offers a score of terrifying treats. Everyone's favorite EC horror host is the Crypt-Keeper. But mine is the Vault-Keeper. I don't know why. His stories just seemed more interesting to me while CK's stuff, while good, just didn't seem so believable. 

No, that's not right. Something's missing with what I am trying to say, just like some of the details of Crypt-Keepers report of the boxer with the kidnapped child. The story jumps six months at one point but it's never revealed if the kid returned home safely or not. 

I usually am not big on the Old Witch's stuff at all. I'm just not a Ghastly (Graham Ingels) fan. But the story about the wife and her taxidermist hubby was a creepy story that actually begged for Ghastly's distressed touch. Plus, as an animal lover myself, I would be destroyed if I came home to find that my spouse did to- Oh, NO! You're not getting a spoiler out of me. I don't care if the stories reprinted are over 60 years old!

A fantastic addition to my EC Comics collection. I'm still a long ways off from completing it, but I get closer all the time.  

Featuring the art of the legendary Johnny Craig, this issue is a gem!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

A Madman's Halloween 2017 Reading List... (Part 2)

Halloween is soon to be here. In order to get into the holiday spirits, er spirit, I selected a number of Halloween and horror themed comics from my vast collection.

In part one, I examined the more kid friendly comics available to put the fun in funeral. Okay, I'm not the Crypt Keeper, but I'm really trying folks. Anyways, part two looks at the more adult and classic horror titles that I plan to read over the next several weeks. Hopefully, these selections will inspire you to develop a Halloween reading list. So let's begin, shall we?

Modern Scares

The following are some selections from the past 30 years. They may not be classics, but they show promise to set an eerie tone to a cold October night...

Batman: Masque

This graphic novel is an Elseworlds. The premise is what is Bruce Wayne was the Phantom of the Opera. I hope there's no singing as I hate singing in comics. I never know the tune...

The Phantom of Fear City #10

Do I know how to segue or not? I have no idea if this book is scary. But I got it in a grab bag and since it's by Captain America legend Steve Englehart, I thought I would give it a try. By the long now defunct Claypool Comics, their website still stands like an abandoned cyber ghost town...

The Troll Halloween Special

I really don't know much about this shorter, grumpier version of Wolverine from Image. But I read the Troll Christmas Special a while back and it was really funny. So when I found this at a con, I just had to have it. Plus, it has a Maxx story and I really dug that mind-bending cartoon series when it was on MTV in the 90s.

Weird War Tales Special (Vertigo 2000)

There were two series that my dad would regularly read as an adult. Sgt. Rock and Weird War Tales. I'm more of a Howlin' Commandos kinda guy but I love Weird War Tales. I know I should have picked a classic story. But I just finished reading a large collection of those (Showcase Presents Weird War Tales Volume 1), so I went for the modern take.

Tomb of Dracula Presents: Throne of Blood

Another classic horror title that got a modern make-over. This 2011 one-shot from Marvel promises to integrate the Dracula mythos with feudal Japan. I'm not sure how they're going to do that. But hey, it was only a buck when I got it!

Classic Horror Titles

For my final selection of spooky reads, I'm going to look at some of the all-time greats known and beloved to horror comic fans nationwide.

The Twilight Zone #47 (Gold Key)

Rod Serling's spooky anthology series is not only perfect for a good scare, but it was gosh darn good TV. Gold Key held the rights for decades after the show was cancelled, publishing an anthology series that included some of the earliest works by Bernie Wrightson and Neal Adams. If you don't mind condition, tons of these issues can be found in bargain bins at cons and your favorite LCS.

The Demon #2 (1972-74)

Since we celebrated the 100th birthday of Jack Kirby this year, I thought it would be appropriate to read an issue from The King's horror title from his days at DC. The Demon in my opinion one of the most visually appealing characters Kirby ever designed in terms of colors and how the character just looks some much more menacing when drawn in the King's blocky style. Fun Fact- Kirby's Demon didn't start rhyming all of his lines until years later when Len Wein used the character in a Superman team-up story.

Scary Tales #11

For some, the horror titles of Charlton Comics are amongst some of the best of the 70s and 80s. By far, horror titles are what kept Charlton in business for as long as they did considering how DC and Marvel were slaughtering them in the superhero genre. Featuring the work of greats like Steve Ditko, Joe Staton, and Dick Giordano, I had to include one of these books here, especially as a Charlton horror book was the first comic I ever bought.

Crypt of Shadows #10

This short lived horror anthology isn't one of Marvel's most reknown compared to titles like Where Monsters Dwell. But the series has a sizable cult following on Facebook groups devoted to classic horror comics.

Adventures of Bob Hope #87

The classic Hollywood comedian isn't really known for horror. That's more suited for Jerry Lewis or Abbott & Costello. But when I saw this cover, I just had to have it. 1) It's a classic DC title and 2) it looked like it would be a fun Halloween read. Plus, the doggie just seemed so darn cute.

The House of Mystery #250

The creme de la creme of the DC horror anthologies. It's host Cain is considered one of the all-time great horror hosts. The series was so popular and so beloved by fans and artists alike that in 2008, Vertigo not only revived the title but managed to add Cain back into the mix as well.

The Vault of Horror #14

Last but not least, it wouldn't be a Halloween comic book reading list if I didn't included an EC Comic. The brain child of William Gaines, EC's titles were the catalyst behind the comics scare of the 1950s. As a result, the industry created the Comics Code Authority and for almost 20 years, horror comics were virtually non-existent. Because of the acclaimed HBO series, most people tend to favor Tales from the Crypt. But my favorite of the EC horror books is Vault of Horror.

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...And that's my reading list for Halloween 2017.

Over the month of October, check out my personal blog Madman With a Book where I will be posting my reviews of these books as well as many other titles.

I hope this list will inspire you to seek out some comic and graphic novel frights in time for Halloween. If you have any suggestions of you own for what makes the perfect Halloween reading list, please post theme in the comments section below...

The Vault of Horror #22 (Banned Comics Week)

 This issue has stuck with me for years since I first read it back in 1990. The cover bears the image of a group of child carrying a scratch made coffin down a dirt path. The story is titled ‘Let The Punishment Fit The Crime.’ In this tale, a group of children hold a mock funeral through a small town. The town’s folk then recall how the kids asked them each questions about justice and capital punishment. It’s only on the last page do we learn that these kids have found one of their peers guilty of a criminal offense (kidnapping a girl’s dolly) and had him killed by pushing him onto a live wire and then buried.

   Now my biggest peeve is if kids pushed someone onto a live wire, how did they get the child off the electricity and into a coffin without killing themselves in the process? But in the 1950s, child advocacy groups hit a conniption fit with this issue, saying it encouraged children to exact vigilante justice. (Interestingly enough, when Dr. Wertham attacked the most well-known vigilante superhero, Batman, he didn’t criticize his sense of justice. No, Dr. Wertham implied that since Batman hung around with a young boy who wore hot pants, he must’ve been a homosexual! - Don’t believe me- look it up on Google!)

Anyway, back to this comic. I mentioned that civic groups saw this issue as a prime example of being a bad influence on children. But I would argue that it would be the advocates for children who did more damage than these comics. Wertham skewed his research by twisting around the responses of the children he interviewed until they forcefully admitted that they were deviants and in need of therapy thanks to the damning influence of comics.

  There’s another instance that I cannot remember how I found out about this but I both read about it in the great book about the comic book scare of the 50s called “The 10-cent Plague” and I saw a video of the episode somewhere and I just cannot recall it for citing purposes. But the program I recall was a 1950s news show that devotes one episode on juvenile delinquency. In the episode, it showed kids reading EC Comics and then smoking, playing with knives, and then tying up a chum and beating him up.

The newscaster’s narration blames comic books for this wanton behavior. What he does not mention is that producers of his show hired kids off the street, and filmed them while encouraging them to use weapons and hog-tie one of their friends. The only thing the kids reportedly did on their own volition was to read the comic books. It was a bunch of so called responsible adults who put the kids up to acting like a bunch of thugs.

There are 3 more really good stories in this issue. First up is ‘Together They Lie,’ a creepy story of a man who discovers that his wife may not have been as faithful to him as he originally believed. The ending of this story seems to me might have heavily influenced the first vignette in the classic Stephen King tribute to EC Comics, Creepshow.

  After the cover story, we join old Doc Swanson as he tracks down a killer in a small town in a story called “A Slight Case of Murder!” I was on edge trying to guess who the killer was and I admit I was shocked when I found out. But looking back, I can see that this issue must have inspired the film Men In Black in a way. I won’t spoil it, but if you read this tale, you’ll know I am right. Lastly, a marionette artist spends his final night on earth reflecting on his art and his marriage that suddenly went sour. It’s got a gruesome ending, but in my opinion the weakest of the 4 stories.

This issue reprints Vault of Horror #33. It’s a favorite of mine and a spooky classic.

Worth Consuming

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Tales from the Crypt Presents the Vault of Horror #5 (Banned Comics Week)

The main horror titles of EC Comics were Tales from the Crypt, the Haunt of Fear, and the Vault of Horror. The most well-known of these titles is obviously Tales from the Crypt thanks to a 1990s TV series on HBO, hosted by the delightfully funny, Crypt Keeper. But my favorite of the EC horror anthologies was the Vault of Horror.

It was hosted by the Vault Keeper and featured tales of deception, corruption, passion, murder, and intrigue. There was always a twist ending to these tales but the bad guys didn’t always get their just desserts. Sometimes, the hero took the fall! For the American government, that just couldn’t do! Thus, when the Comics Code Authority was established, titles were required to tell stories in which the villain got punished for his crimes. An allowance was allowed for stories to have cliffhangers throughout several issues as long as the villain received punishment before the story was captioned ‘The End.’

In this issue, a young wife who’s trapped in a loveless marriage takes advantage of a sinkhole on their family farm. We then meet a talented surgeon who loses his arm and conducts dangerous experiments in an attempt to make himself whole again. Then a young man meets the woman of his dreams at a masquerade ball. But when it’s time to unmask, it becomes his worst nightmare.  Lastly, a weight loss remedy bears some dangerous fruit.

The masquerade story, entitled “the Mask of Horror” is such an example of a story in which a rather innocent man meets a tragic demise. The man is spurned by his finance whose is cheating on him with an older gentleman. Determined to get over the harlot, the bachelor goes to a party only to take his troubles off his failed relationship. It’s when a drunken friend introduces him to a woman dressed as a miserly vampire does things go sour. The guy forgets his troubles and feels that this woman is his true love. But the only thing he feels at story’s end is her fangs in his neck.

  The only thing that guy did was fall in love with another woman. But, I don’t see him as immoral because his first relationship was destroyed by his fiancé. Just because the guy didn’t end the relationship while his girl was in another man’s arms, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t kaput. Still, I am sure that the message of the story was a misogynistic “beware of wanton women” that was the moral of many of EC’s stories involving passion. In the sinkhole story, the woman falls in love with a handsome health inspector but he turns out to be married. The wife had previously killed her husband, faking his death in a sinkhole, but she is forced to be with her loveless hubby forever, when his bloated corpse rises from the household well and snatches her into the underground river below that formed the giant crevice.

EC was as nourish and ghoulish as they come and I loved it. I still do. My dad until he died took pride in how I saved my money doing odd jobs to buy the complete Vault of Horror Collection from Gemstone in the late 80s. It was the first time I ever set a financial goal and made smart decisions with my hard earned cash. Nowadays, I continue to save my money trying to collect the entire EC library that Gemstone reissued continuously from circa 1988-2000.

Along with the reprint of Vault of Horror #18, this edition also reprints Weird Science #11. In those pages, the great Wally Wood regales us with a futuristic story in which a uranium company condemns both the earth and the moon with its questionable mining practices. Then a computer system learns about love for the first time and gets terribly confused. Then a ship is stranded on a planet of giants while a man goes back in time and ends up becoming his own father in a head-scratcher that makes Terminator seem plausible.

Worth Consuming

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.