The Hitchcock Project-James P. Cavanagh Part Nine: Coming, Mama [6.26]

by Jack Seabrook

Poor Lucy! Her bedridden mother is very demanding, insisting that her daughter tend to her every need and complaining all the while. Lucy would like to spend more time with her boyfriend, Edward, who complains that Lucy's mother's habit of cutting news items out of the paper makes it hard to read and sometimes changes the meaning of what words remain. Edward proposes marriage, not for the first time, suggesting a honeymoon at Niagara Falls. He also lives with his aging mother, and he suggests finding boarders for her so that she can support herself and he and Lucy can have their own home together.

"Coming, Mama" was first published here

Dr. Larson makes a house call and notices that Lucy looks tired from constantly attending to her mother. Feeling like a prisoner, Lucy thinks that she will only be free when her mother is dead. The doctor gives her medicine to help put her mother to sleep so Lucy, nearly 40 years old, can get some rest, and he encourages her to accept Edward's marriage proposal.

In the days that follow, as she takes care of her mother's every need, Lucy begins to fear that she will miss her chance at happiness with Edward. Her mother threatens to cut Lucy out of her will, and Lucy asks her mother to write a letter to Edward, as follows:

My daughter Lucy has told me she will never marry while I live. I am not well and my days are numbered. I love my daughter and want her to be happy.

Lucy then gives her mother twice the recommended dose of sleeping medicine and invites her neighbor, Mrs. Evans, to come over for lemonade. Lucy tells Mrs. Evans that her mother wants her to marry Edward but Lucy says that she will never stop caring for her parent. After Mrs. Evans leaves, Lucy falls asleep, waking at dawn and rushing upstairs to find her mother dead. She screams, Mrs Evans comes running over, and Dr. Larson later arrives to pronounce the death a suicide, based on the mother's note.

Madge Kennedy as Mrs. Baldwin

In the weeks that follow, the estate is settled, the house is sold, and Lucy prepares for a prompt wedding. They are married, but before they leave he reveals that his mother fell a few days before and is now an invalid. Knowing Lucy to be a skilled caretaker, he brought his mother to the new home that he had bought for himself and his bride. He tells Lucy that they must postpone their honeymoon and she enters the house to hear her new mother-in-law calling her impatiently. Lucy tells Edward that she will need to get Dr. Larson to prescribe some strong sleeping medicine and she heads upstairs.

"Coming, Mama" was first published in the September 1960 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Frederic Dannay writes in his introduction that the story was written by Henriette McClelland as part of a creative writing course taught by the editor. He remarks on the story's "cleanness and clarity, both of characterization and content, not found too often in 'first stories.'" He adds that Ms. McClelland is married and has two children, and that this is her first published story. The FictionMags Index lists two other stories by McClelland, one each in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine in 1961 and 1962, but other than that she does not seem to have any published writing.

Don DeFore as Arthur

James P. Cavanagh adapted "Coming, Mama" for Alfred Hitchcock Presents not long after it was published, and the episode aired on NBC on Tuesday, April 11, 1961, near the end of the sixth season of the half-hour series. The teleplay follows the general outline of the short story, with one major change. The show opens ominously, as Lucy and Arthur (as Edward has been renamed) rush back to her house in the dark, with suspenseful music on the soundtrack creating a sense of urgency. Once inside, however, the lights are bright and there is no crisis. Both Mrs. Evans, the neighbor, and Dr. Larson are present, and Mrs. Baldwin (Lucy and her mother have been given a surname) reassures her daughter that she is fine.

We first see Mrs. Baldwin reflected in a dresser mirror next to Lucy as the daughter enters her mother's bedroom. Dr. Larson does not disguise his disdain for the mother's behavior, telling Lucy that her mother staged an attack for her benefit to punish her for going out. In a seemingly unimportant comment, Mrs. Baldwin sets up the show's final scene by asking about Arthur's mother and commenting that she's "'such an active woman.'" Dr. Larson gives Lucy the medicine to help her mother sleep and tells her, "'One teaspoon only--it's strong stuff.'"

Eileen Heckart as Lucy

After the doctor leaves, Arthur gives Lucy an ultimatum, telling her that she must decide by tomorrow if she wants to marry him or not. Lucy brings tea to her mother and they argue; Lucy is 34 years old and she is tired of her mother's selfishness and controlling behavior. Mrs. Baldwin responds by telling her daughter that Arthur does not love her and is only after the money she stands to inherit when her mother dies. After her mother threatens to cut Lucy out of her will, the younger woman leaves the room and looks at the bottle of medicine the doctor gave her.

Arthur telephones and, as she speaks to him, we see two images of the conflicted woman, one straight on and one reflected in a mirror next to where she stands. Lucy is being pulled in two directions by her boyfriend and her mother and the dual image illustrates her internal conflict. After Arthur repeats the next-day deadline, Lucy hangs up and returns to her mother's room, where she apologizes and administers the fatal dose of sleeping medicine. Unlike the story, Cavanagh's teleplay does not include the incident where Lucy asks her mother to write a letter to her boyfriend explaining that she cannot marry him. In fact, the idea of the written word having two meanings is absent from the TV show.

Jesslyn Fax as Mrs. Evans

In another meaningful shot, on the pillow next to Mrs. Baldwin's head we see the shadow of Lucy's hands pouring the medicine. There is then a close up of Lucy pouring "'two tablespoons,'" followed by ominous music on the soundtrack as we observe her mother drink the spiked cup of tea. Lucy starts to put the cap back on the bottle but then stops and leaves it off. Next morning, Lucy takes a tray of breakfast up to her mother as Mrs. Evans visits downstairs. Mrs. Evans hears the tray crash and rushes up to the bedroom, where Lucy's mother lies dead. Lucy notices that the cap is off the bottle and says that she gave her mother one teaspoon and then closed the bottle. She asks, "'Why would she take more? I warned her not to...Why would mother want to die?'" Mrs. Evans concludes that Mrs. Baldwin ended her own life so that Lucy could marry Arthur and be happy.

Robert Karnes as Mr. Simon

Why did James P. Cavanagh make such a significant change to the story? In McClelland's tale, the idea of a note that can have two meanings is set up early by Edward's complaint about Lucy's mother's habit of clipping items out of the paper. He says that missing words can change the meaning of what is left. In much the same way, Lucy dictates the letter for her mother to write and, to her mother's ears, it clearly tells Arthur that Lucy does not intend to marry him because she must care for her mother. However, after she is found dead, the same sentences are clearly interpreted as a suicide note.

The plot point in the story seems forced, making Lucy ask her mother to deliver the answer to Edward's question in the form of a missive that Lucy dictates. Perhaps Cavanagh, either on his own or at the behest of the producers, decided that having Mrs. Baldwin write a suicide note was something that might not pass muster with the censors in early 1961. In any case, the TV script works better and handles the situation more adeptly.

Arthur Malet as Dr. Larson

After Lucy's mother is found dead, Lucy speaks with a man named Mr. Simon at some later date. He reveals that her mother had been living off an annuity that stopped at her death, so Lucy inherits nothing. Lucy (and the viewer) now realize that her mother's threat to cut off her inheritance was a lie, since there was no money to pass on after the mother's death. Arthur arrives and cheers Lucy up by telling her that he has arranged for them to be wed that Saturday. Lucy admits that she is broke and he responds by reassuring her that he loves her and that the money makes no difference. They plan to enjoy their honeymoon together.

Unfortunately, Saturday comes and, after they are wed, Lucy and Arthur return to his home, where she is surprised to find his mother bedridden from a fall down the cellar steps. Arthur's mother, Mrs. Clark, thanks Lucy for giving up her honeymoon in order to care for her. Lucy learns that Mrs. Clark fell a day or so before Lucy's mother died, suggesting that, when Arthur made his ultimatum, he knew that his mother would need care, even if he could not have known of Mrs. Baldwin's impending death. Lucy says that they will need to get some sleeping medicine from the doctor and the show ends on a close up of Lucy's face, a knowing smile spreading across her features.

Gail Bonney as Mrs. Clark

"Coming, Mama" is a fairly entertaining short story that is improved by James P. Cavanagh's revisions for the TV version. It is unusual in that none of the characters are particularly likable or honorable. Mrs. Baldwin is a selfish, controlling old woman who puts her own needs ahead of those of her daughter and who threatens to cut the young woman out of her will, all the while lying about money that she does not have. Her daughter, Lucy, is a murderer and a liar, and at the end of the show it is suggested that she will commit a second homicide. Arthur is a middle aged man who conceals important facts from the woman he professes to love, lies to her, and conspires with his mother behind her back in order to save money on hiring a private duty nurse.

"Coming, Mama" is directed by George Stevens, Jr. (1932- ), son of director George Stevens and an important Hollywood figure in his own right. He started out as a production assistant to his father, directed training films while in the Air Force, and directed a few TV shows, including two episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, before being put in charge of film and TV output in 1961 for the U.S. Information Agency. Stevens later founded the American Film Institute in 1967 and served as its director until 1980.

Lucy's dual nature is suggested by this mirror shot

Starring as Lucy is Eileen Heckart (1919-2001). Born Anna Eileen Herbert, she had a long career on Broadway, from 1943 to 1990, as well as on film and television. She won an Oscar for her role in Butterflies Are Free (1972) and she also won two Emmys. Though she was on screen from 1950 to 1998, this was her only appearance on the Hitchcock show.

Familiar-faced Don DeFore (1913-1993) plays Arthur; he was on film beginning in 1934 but is best remembered for his TV roles on two long-running sitcoms: The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952-1957) and Hazel (1961-1965). He managed to fit in this one episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents in between those two series. A website devoted to DeFore is here.

Madge Kennedy (1891-1987) plays Lucy's mother and gives a strong performance as a manipulative, bedridden harridan. Kennedy was on Broadway from 1912 to 1932 and appeared in films from 1917 to 1928. She retired for two decades, then returned to acting in 1952 and made many appearances on TV and film until she returned for good in 1976. In addition to parts on The Twilight Zone and The Odd Couple, she was seen in no less than six episodes of the Hitchcock show, including "A True Account."

In smaller roles:

• Jesslyn Fax (1893-1975) as Mrs. Evans, the neighbor; she was on screen from 1950 to 1969, had a small part in Hitchcock's Rear Window (1954), and was seen in five episodes of the Hitchcock TV show, including "The Woman Who Wanted to Live."
• Robert Karnes (1917-1979) as Mr. Simon, who speaks to Lucy about her mother's estate; he was on screen from 1946 to 1979 and played countless bit parts. He was on The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, and The Night Stalker, and he can be seen in eight episodes of the Hitchcock TV show, including "A Little Sleep."
• Arthur Malet (1927-2013) as Dr. Larson; he was on screen from 1956 to 1997 and played many small roles, including one in Mary Poppins (1964). He was on Night Gallery and appeared on the Hitchcock TV show twice.
• Gail Bonney (1901-1984) as Arthur's mother; born Goldie Bonowitz, she was on screen from 1948 to 1979 and played many bit parts. In addition to roles on Night Gallery and The Night Stalker, she was one of the most prolific actresses on the Hitchcock TV show, appearing in eleven episodes in all.

Thanks to Peter Enfantino for providing a copy of the story, which does not appear to have been reprinted. Watch "Coming, Mama" for free online here or buy the DVD here.

Sources:

"Coming, Mama." Alfred Hitchcock Presents, season 6, episode 26, NBC, 11 Apr. 1961.
Galactic Central, philsp.com/.

Grams, Martin, and Patrik Wikstrom. The Alfred Hitchcock Presents Companion. OTR Pub., 2001.
IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/.

McClelland,Henriette. "Coming, Mama." Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, September 1960, pp. 73-80.

The FictionMags Index, www.philsp.com/homeville/FMI/0start.htm.

Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, www.wikipedia.org/.

In two weeks: A Jury of Her Peers, starring Ann Harding and Philip Borneuf!

The Warren Report Issue 7: July/August 1966

The Critical Guide to 

the Warren Illustrated Magazines

1964-1983

by Uncle Jack

& Cousin Peter

Gray Morrow

Eerie #4 (July 1966)

"House of Evil!" ★1/2
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Jerry Grandenetti and Joe Orlando

"Hatchet Man" ★★★1/2
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Gene Colan

"Gnawing Fear!" ★
Story by Ron Parker
Art by Rocco Mastroserio

"Shrieking Man!" ★★
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Steve Ditko

"Undying Love!" ★
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Norman Nodel

"Island at World's End!" ★★1/2
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Gray Morrow

"House of Evil!"

Lee Hargraves heads to his brother's moldy estate, answering an urgent telegram from Richard, but finds nothing but dust, cobwebs, and rot when he enters the huge house. Luckily, Richard had begun using the tape recorder Lee had sent him and, once the tape begins, Lee hears his brother's voice relate the macabre story behind the cursed house. The previous owners, the Japes, were a "barbarous clan of maniacs" who robbed and murdered until the nearby villagers tired of their shenanigans and did the full-out mob scene. The Japes were wiped out but the house survived. Richard's voice takes on a tone of panic as he admits that the Japes still hold court in this house. Just then, a rotting creature shambles through the door and Lee beats it to a pulp. At that point, the tape explains that anyone entering the house will develop rot. The creature, Richard, melts into a pool of muck and, as Lee looks at the mold developing on his hands, he knows he will meet the same fate soon.

"House of Evil!" sure feels like a story that needed to breathe; it's rushed and we only get bits of the information we need to set up a satisfactory conclusion (for instance, was there an occupant in the Japes house just before Richard took hold?). According to the GCD, Jerry Grandenetti ghosted this one for Joe Orlando (who receives credit and signed it). Truth be told, both artists are so awful by this time that either could have been responsible, but I suspect Grandenetti penciled and Orlando inked (or maybe vice versa), as it doesn't totally look like a Grandenetti job. It's a moot point, though, because the art here is truly dreadful, about as moldy and rotten as Richard himself.

There's a "Hatchet Man" terrorizing the city, slicing up women and leaving a bloody message for the cops to decipher: "Harry did it stop him before he kills more," but all Phyllis's husband Harvey can worry about is the missing button on his shirt. Phyllis scolds Harvey before he heads to work and this gets the guy thinking (as guys will do sometimes), "Why couldn't the Hatchet Man take care of Phyllis?" So, Harvey clocks into work, stops at the store to buy gloves and a hatchet, and heads home to sort things out with Phyllis. Once Phyllis is sorted into different pieces on the floor, Harvey leaves the telltale message on the wall and walks back to work. The next morning, Harvey comes home to a house full of police. Unfortunately, the detectives are liking Harvey for this and the other Hatchet Man murders. It doesn't help when they find a suitcase containing a blood-stained hatchet. As Harvey is hauled away, he tries to plead his case but then his other personality, Harry, materializes and gives away the show.

A fabulously layered script and dazzling illustrations propel "Hatchet Man" into the stratosphere of Eerie classics. Gene Colan never struck me as a "Warren artist," perhaps because of his crowning achievements at DC and Marvel (not to mention his incredible work in the pre-code Atlas bullpen). "Hatchet Man" is so cinematic you could mistake it for a set of storyboards. And that splash is a marvel. Archie outdoes himself here with twists and double-twists (when the hatchet surfaced in Harry's bedroom closet, I assumed we were going to get a groaner reveal like "Phyllis did it!") that trick the reader at every turn. Perhaps it's already a cliche and we should stop comparing the Warren work to EC, but this really does feel like a story that could have fit nicely in Shock SuspenStories!

"Gnawing Fear!"

With the aid of his assistant, Edward, Dr. Hahn has been working on and perfecting a serum that would wipe out the rodent population on Earth and make mankind safe again. One night, after a particularly grueling session in the lab, Edward is awakened by screams from the den. When he races downstairs, he finds Hahn missing, with bloodstains leading to the cellar. A huge hole in the wall leads to a series of vast tunnels under the house and Edward heads in to look for the missing professor. Over a mile in, he discovers the chewed and mutilated body of Professor Hahn, covered with rats. He empties his revolver into the vermin but the shots set off a cave-in and Edward is buried up to his neck. The commotion attracts hordes of rats, who make a quick meal of the unlucky assistant. Ron Parker's script for "Gnawing Fear!," like his first published story ("A Vested Interest" in Creepy #8), is nothing more than an EC rip-off (or homage, if you want to be polite). It's got the requisite obsessed professor, animal hatred, and ironic climax, but it's missing logic. Why are these huge caverns under Hahn's house? Surely these normal-sized rodents didn't dig tunnels large enough for a man to walk through. And is Ron Parker suggesting that these same normal-sized rodents carried the professor off to his doom? What's missing here are the equally illogical giant rats, a solution that would tie up all the loose ends. Al Feldstein would never let such a sloppy script see print.

"Shrieking Man!"

Colbert has been assisting Dr. Mandrell at the insane asylum, but the old man doesn't seem to listen to much Colbert has to say. For instance, there's that "Shrieking Man!" in the padded cell who just won't shut up. Surely, the new experimental LSH-90 drug will help ease the mind of the disturbed inmate, but Mandrell insists he's tried everything. When Mandrell takes a night off and heads down into the nearby village, Colbert takes it upon himself to experiment on the Shrieking Man and it doesn't turn out well. Unnecessarily complicated and wordy, "Shrieking Man!" is a boring dirge redeemed only by the chaotic art of Steve Ditko, who always could work wonders with bad scripting. It's revealed that Mandrell has been experimenting on corpses, resurrecting them from the other side, but motivation is not provided and the hoped-for twist in the climax never materializes. Yep, this one ends with a whimper, not a "shriek."

Count Renaldo is in love with the beautiful Esmerellda, but the comely maiden won't give the nobleman the time of day, so Renaldo does what any smitten man would do: he pays a sorcerer to enchant Esmerellda. The wizard assures Renaldo that Esmerellda will love him to the end of time and the Count rides away, happy as a clam at high water. It's only when he gets to Esmerellda's place that the bad side of black magic rears its ugly head; the beautiful girl is dead, murdered by a vampire, and now she rises from her grave to sup on local villagers. At first, the revelation shocks and sickens Renaldo but, soon, he realizes that his love will never age or wrinkle and he settles into wedded bliss with a bloodsucker. That bliss doesn't last, though, since sleeping with a woman as cold as a fish (literally) is not Renaldo's cup of tea, so he drives a stake in her heart and cuts her head off as she lies in her casket. Unfortunately, the wizard's magic works too well. "Undying Love!" is a pretty silly story with a predictable wrap-up and sluggish, by-the-numbers art by Classics Illustrated mainstay Norman Nodel (as by Donald Norman). This would be the first of five contributions to Eerie and Creepy by Nodel.

"Island at World's End!"

The Celtic, a whaling ship, rescues a man named Sturgis, set adrift for months and barely alive, who tells an amazing story of how he came to be stranded at sea. Sturgis was a victim of mutiny who managed to escape the ship he was on and make it to an uncharted "Island at World's End!" There, Sturgis is set upon by half-human creatures who take him to a volcano, ostensibly to be sacrificed to their god. Up from the depths of the volcano comes a gorgeous woman by the name of Cthylla, borne on the hand of a hideous giant, the God known as Shoggath. The goddess deems that Sturgis should be her mate and she saves him from certain death, but Sturgis can't stand idly by when the God demands sacrifices. He pulls a gun and fires at Shoggath but hits Cthylla instead, killing her. Sturgis escapes the island in a small boat, destined to be rescued by the crew of the Celtic, but he can't escape the ire of Shoggath, who rises from the sea for his revenge. "Island at World's End!" is a weird one; it's very much in the Jules Verne adventure vein with more than a dash of Lovecraft thrown in (makes you wonder why Archie didn't go whole hog and adapt an HPL story or two, but maybe the rights were cost-prohibitive). I like it, it's never boring, and Gray Morrow's art is perfect for this sort of thing. Oh, and about Gray Morrow: he's no Frazetta but I gotta say that his covers are pretty darned atmospheric. -Peter

Jack: I'll agree with you about the cover, but my dislike for Lovecraft made me yawn as I read "Island at the World's End!" I assumed it was an adaptation from HPL, what with all of the "y" and "h" names (Cthylla and Shoggath), but I guess it's just a warmed-over imitation. I thought the main character in "Undying Love!" proved himself to be a "glass half full" kind of guy when he looked at the bright side of his gal pal becoming a vampire and reasoned that at least she'll always be hot. "Shrieking Man!" has prime Ditko art and I thought the whole story was original and creative, though no classic. "Gnawing Fear!" was not bad, and the finish reminded me of "Blind Alley," but the art was only so-so. "House of Evil!" was a weak story with the usual mediocre art by Jerry G, though one three-panel sequence--the one where the camera gets closer with each panel until there's just an eye and a nose in the frame--reminded me of Grandenetti's early mentor, Will Eisner. Best in show has to be Gene Colan's "Hatchet Man"; Colan's page designs and panel layouts are like no one else's, and his shadowy work here already looks ahead to the fantastic job he'd later do in Tomb of Dracula. I did not see the end coming and found the story thoroughly enjoyable.

Frazetta

Blazing Combat #4 (July 1966)

"Conflict!"★★★
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Gene Colan

"How It Began!"★★
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by George Evans

"The Edge!"★★★1/2
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Alex Toth

"Give and Take"★★★1/2
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Russ Heath

"ME-262!"★★★
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Wally Wood, Ralph Reese, and Dan Adkins

"The Trench!"★★★★
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by John Severin

"Thermopylae!"★★★
Story by Archie Goodwin and Reed Crandall
Art by Reed Crandall

"Night Drop!"★★★
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Angelo Torres

"Conflict!"

A Black medic in Vietnam stops to aid a wounded Viet Cong soldier. A white racist named Remick asks why he bothered and complains that the Black medic is uppity. Land mines tear up the squad and the medic rescues Remick, who is completely unappreciative and who later complains that the medic nearly killed him. When asked why he risked his life to save such a man, the medic responds that it's his job and he doesn't differentiate by skin color.

Once again, Gene Colan turns in excellent work and elevates what could have been a run of the mill lesson in tolerance from Goodwin. It's interesting that Warren was confronting issues of racism in Vietnam in a 1966 comic book; "Conflict!" is a more adult treatment of war than we saw around the same time over at DC, where the war comics--even the good ones--were aimed at a younger audience.

"How it Began!"

"How it Began!" is a two-page quickie in which Goodwin and Evans explain how the first fighting planes were developed during the Great War. It's interesting stuff and Evans is at his best when drawing aircraft.

In the Korean skies in 1952, Major Lowell Tucker, pushing forty and still flying combat missions, leads a squadron of four planes into MiG Alley, where the U.S. fighters encounter Chinese jets. Thrilling battle action follows and Major Tucker's years of experience allow him to anticipate enemy movements, giving him "The Edge!" he needs to avoid being shot down, destroy the Chinese jets, and return home safely with his squadron.

It's no surprise that Alex Toth can do anything, and here he demonstrates how to make a story about high-speed jet fighting both exciting and instructive. Goodwin shows plane mechanics commenting that Tucker is "pushing forty" at the start of the story and remarking that flying jets is a young man's game; at the end of the tale, those same mechanics boast that it is Tucker's experience that helps him defeat the enemy. As a person who has been working in the same field for a quarter century, I empathize with the worry about keeping up with young folks and welcome the conclusion that experience is valuable.

Pushing forty? ("The Edge!")

During the Allied push up through Italy in the spring of 1944, American soldiers watch a farmhouse being destroyed by mortar shells and then inspect it to see what's left. One of the Italian-American soldiers finds a bottle of high quality wine intact in the cellar, but before he can get away safely, Nazi soldiers appear and there is a gun battle. The German troops are too numerous, so the Americans are forced to race for their own ditch, but the wine-loving soldier realizes he forgot his precious bottle of wine and races back to the farmhouse to retrieve it. Despite covering fire provided by his fellows, he is shot down on the way back to safety. American mortars once again provide cover, but before he heads back to the farmhouse one more time, the dead soldier's friend smashes the wine bottle on the ground, angry at the loss of life it caused.

"Give and Take"

Four stories in, and this is shaping up to be a stunning issue of Blazing Combat with one of the finest group of War Comic artists ever assembled. Russ Heath, who was a mainstay in the DC War books, provides gorgeous art in "Give and Take," using a highly realistic technique whose name I don't know. Of course, the soldier was going to get killed retrieving that bottle of wine, but the art is just so darn good that any cliches in the story can be overlooked.

"ME-262!"

Early May 1945, and the end is near for the Third Reich, with the Russians approaching Berlin from the east and the Americans closing in from the west. One slim hope remains: the "ME-262!" is a new fighter jet much faster than anything the Allies are flying. Going back as early as 1938, the German government did not put a priority on jets, insisting that bombers were more necessary to the war effort. Even in 1943, when the tide was turning against the Germans, Hitler insisted that the planes be developed as bombers rather than fighters. Finally, in 1945, there are but a few of the jets available, and they are wiped out by the superior Allied air numbers.

More great work by Wood, Reese, and Adkins marks yet another terrific tale of air war, only this time the historical aspects are more interesting than the human aspects. It's fascinating to look back at wars and see the bad decisions that seem to have made victory or defeat almost inevitable; reasonable minds surely differed at the time, but hindsight is always 20-20.

"The Trench!"

During WWI, "The Trench!" was a place where soldiers waited and waited and slowly went mad. One man grows tired of waiting and climbs out, only to be shot dead by German bullets. His friend is assigned to a night patrol to find a German listening post. A flare goes up and a sergeant is shot, but the man and another soldier survive and find the German hideout, at which point brutal hand to hand combat erupts. The other man is wounded and, despite our hero's best efforts at keeping the injured man quiet, moans of pain alert nearby German soldiers. The Allied soldier shoots and runs, barely making it back to the trench, alive but now gripping the sides of the beloved, safe gash in the earth.

Wow! The soldier may love the trench, but I have grown to love John Severin's war stories! In a tremendous issue, I vote this story the best so far. The tale is thrilling and the art matches it perfectly, demonstrating humanity, brutality, fear, and relief in black and white.

Just one of Crandall's terrific
pages from "Thermopylae!"

In 1941, as Allied soldiers fight a delaying action at "Thermopylae!," one soldier tells another the story of King Leonidas and his 300 men, who guarded the same pass against the superior army of Persian king Xerxes in Ancient Greece. Just as Leonidas and his men delayed the Persian advance long enough to buy time for the rest of Greece to prepare for invasion, so do the soldiers in WWII hold off advancing Nazis in order to allow for Athens to be evacuated.

Reed Crandall is given co-writing credit along with credit for the art, and this story is stirring and instructive, with nary a rippling abdominal muscle in sight. Crandall must have done a fair bit of research for this tale, as his depictions of the ancient forces are brilliant. I really liked how the modern battle was compared to the ancient one.

A group of American paratroopers are dropped from a plane over Nazi-occupied France and soon, the Americans who survive the initial landing are huddled in a farmhouse, surrounded by German soldiers. After some grenades are thrown, only one soldier remains alive, but when the Nazis are summoned elsewhere in a hurry the prisoner of war is quickly executed by an enemy soldier who hates his job but reasons that he is just doing his duty.

"Night Drop!" is exciting but seems to end abruptly and doesn't quite get it's message across as successfully as it might. I think Archie is trying to tell us that soldiers on both sides are capable of evil deeds in the name of duty, but he doesn't accomplish this in the short space allotted to him. On the other hand, Angelo Torres ends the issue with more superb art, capping off one of the most consistently excellent comic mags we're likely to see.-Jack

"Night Drop!"

Peter: There's no warning to dedicated Blazing Combat readers that the fourth issue would be the last. In fact, Archie ends a response to a letter from a member of the West Virginia Comic-Collectors Association (who had informed Goodwin that Creepy had won the group's Best Regularly Published Fantasy Comic Award and Blazing Combat had finished in the top five), "Hope our efforts this year will produce something to represent us in next year's awards." Jim Warren had been able to continue publishing BC for four issues despite a staggering drop in circulation, thanks to the continuing success of Famous Monsters and the initial strong numbers for Creepy. The bottom finally dropped out and Warren was forced to axe his favorite child. There's some decent stuff here, but perhaps Archie was running out of steam. "Give and Take" and "The Trench!" fit in with those ironic little ditties Harvey used to pump out for Frontline; "ME-262!" and "Thermopylae!" could pass as two of Harvey's Two-Fisted history lessons; and "Conflict!" is well-meaning but a bit forced (certainly not as forced as Big Bob's 1970s takes on Ebony and Ivory Go To War). I think the most powerful story in the final batch is "Night Drop!," even though it seems oddly incomplete thanks to a very abrupt ending. Angelo Torres's work has never looked so good. Though Blazing Combat lasted a mere four issues, its reputation grew through the subsequent decades. Warren would publish a compendium of 17 of the best BC tales in 1978, and further reprintings would occur in 1993 and 2009 (by Apple Press and Fantagraphics).

Frazetta

Creepy #10 (August 1966)

"Brain Trust!"★★
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Angelo Torres

"Into the Tomb!"★1/2
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Joe Orlando

"Monster!"★★
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Rocco Mastroserio

"Midnight Sail"★★
Story and Art by Johnny Craig

"Backfire!"★★1/2
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Gray Morrow

"Thing of Darkness!"★★1/2
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Gene Colan

"Collector's Edition!"★★★★
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Steve Ditko

"Brain Trust!"

Dr. Elliot just wants to help, so why won't Chester Holcomb let the doc enter his home? Elliot thinks back to when he first met Holcomb, at the funeral of the prior town doctor. Holcomb was unshaven yet drenched in shaving lotion. Soon, Holcomb smelled so bad that the town grocer refused to serve him. A week before the old doctor had died, Holcomb was hit by a truck and thought dead, yet he surprised everyone when he survived. Soon, a very smelly someone is stealing food all over town and Elliot rushes to the Holcomb house, determined to help Chester before a mob takes matters into its own hands. Elliot is turned away and goes back to the old medical files and diaries, where he learns the horrible truth. Returning to Chester's house, Elliot insists on switching on the light, but before he can do so Holcomb shoots himself. The light reveals what the doctor had learned from the diaries: Chester was a twin, the other twin was a giant head whose massive brain controlled both bodies, and the body that stunk had been dead and decaying for some time.

"Brain Trust!" is one of those, "there's something weirdly wrong here and I'm gonna find out what it is!" stories that horror comic writers love so well. The storytelling is rather convoluted, and it took me a little thinkin' to figure out what happened, but what really struck me was the (to me) obvious swipe of at least the last panel's imagery from a 1954 story by Jack Kirby called "The Head of the Family!" I read it when it was reprinted in Black Magic #1 by DC in 1973 and it's one of those gross images that always stuck in my head, even 46 years later. I don't think Goodwin and Torres came up with the idea all on their own. Uncle Creepy even refers to Chester as "head of the family" in his closing comments.

The shading around the eyes is classic Grandenetti, but
we can't be sure..."Into the Tomb!"

On an archaeological dig in Egypt in 1908, Professor Peters disappears! His daughter Laura and another archaeologist named Armand had gone to Cairo to fetch Laura's fiance Alan, but when they got back to the site of the dig Professor Peters was gone. Armand leads them down ancient stone steps into the long-hidden burial chamber of Pharaoh Amen-Thet, where they find Professor Peters dead and installed in a sarcophagus. Armand reveals that he is the reincarnation of the pharaoh, but when he tells his faithful servant Horuta (a shambling, bandaged mummy himself) to kill Laura and Alan, Horuta instead turns on Armand, ensuring that the reincarnated pharaoh is once again sealed "Into the Tomb!" for eternity.

Whew! This moldy bit of mummy nonsense stinks worse than Chester Holcomb did in the story before it! I guess this must really be Joe Orlando's art, since it's not obviously ghosted by Grandenetti, but the art is no treat. The story makes very little sense and I only gave it one and a half stars rather than one star because I always liked mummies.

"Monster!"

A "Monster!" emerges from his hiding place in the sewers, anxious to learn what awaits him above. He wanders through the streets of a deserted village and comes to the cemetery, where he hears a couple discussing how he murdered a man named Paul. The monster's memory is jogged and he recalls carrying Paul's corpse and being chased and attacked by villagers. One man helps him hide in the sewers and he recalls that the man had created him in a lab. That same man, a scientist, had used him to murder and dispose of Paul's body. The monster grabs the scientist and carries him to a bog, where they both sink in quicksand. The scientist's last words reveal that Paul was fatally injured in a lab accident and his brain was transferred into the monster's body, so the monster is actually Paul, the man everyone thinks he killed.

Got that? If I mixed anything up, please forgive me. The story is somewhat convoluted and it doesn't help that the pages appear to have been printed out of order! The scientist--or at least I think it's the scientist--at one point wears a hat with a buckle, like something out of the 1600s, but later seems more like Victor Frankenstein. The whole thing doesn't make much sense and the twist is pretty weak. Mastroserio's art is in the lower end of the middle of the pack of Warren artists.

"Midnight Sail"

Some young folks can't seem to get their sailboat going until a salty old sea dog happens along and is more than willing to take the helm and head out on the water. He relates a tale of when he was on the good ship Kilgore, where all but a handful of crew members had died mysteriously. Felton (the old sea dog) insisted on keeping hold of the ship's wheel and when the captain tried to take it from him, Felton killed the man by tearing out his throat with his own teeth! With just a cabin boy and a woman left alive, Felton steered the ship off the end of the Earth and was killed. Luckily, the other two jumped overboard in time to safety. It turns out that, in the present, the old sea dog steered the ship over some falls and was killed, while the young folks survived.

"Midnight Sail" is hardly Johnny Craig's best work, but it's pretty cool when the ship seems to sail off the end of the Earth. It's too bad that the story as a whole makes little sense and the time shifting back and forth from the present to the past of the story is so clumsily handled. Did the storyteller really kill everyone on the other ship? Was he a vampire or a ghoul? And what happened to the other two people on the sailboat?

"Backfire!"

In the Old West, gunfighter John Terrell rides into a town and enters a saloon, where an old man tells him that a trial is about to begin in the back room as soon as the twelfth juror arrives. There are 11 notches on Terrell's gun for the 11 men he's killed, but he reveals that he just killed the twelfth--a young plowboy--in a nearby town. A funeral coach pulls up and disgorges the final juror, who is the dead plowboy. The jury of 12 ghosts sentences Terrell to death and carries out the sentence with gunfire. Terrell again rides into town, thinking he had a nightmare, but soon learns that the sentence will be carried out a dozen times.

One of Colan's great pages from
"Thing of Darkness!"

At least "Backfire!" makes sense from start to finish, something I can't say about the two stories that came before it. Morrow's art is fairly good but not up to his usual standard. The story yields no surprises but gets an extra half star for being coherent.

A "Thing of Darkness!" frightens New York City subway worker Sid Avery one day while he's below the city inspecting the tracks. The creature turns Sid's hair white and he barely avoids being run over by a train. After spending a month in the hospital, Sid goes home, afraid of the dark and certain that light is the only thing that will keep the monster away. Unfortunately, the lights start to flicker, the monster pushes at his door, and everything goes dark in the big blackout of 1965.

Once again, Gene Colan's spooky art and dynamic page layouts take a run of the mill story and make it a page-turner, at least until the fizzle of a finish, where we have to assume that the monster got Sid. Goodwin was so pleased with himself for using the blackout as a twist ending that he forgot to show or tell us what happened to his main character.

Danforth is an obsessive collector of strange books, and Murch is the dealer in rare items who usually finds what he needs. When Murch mentions that he might have a lead on a volume called Dark Visions by the Marquis Lemode, Danforth can think of nothing else. Lemode was an artist and devil-worshiper in the 17th century who collected all of his knowledge in one book before being executed at the guillotine. All copies of his book were meant to be destroyed but a few survived, and Danforth will pay any price to get his hands on one. He takes all the money from his wife's emergency fund and is shocked to learn that Ramsey, the man whom Murch suggested might possess the rare book, has been murdered.

"Collector's Edition!"

Danforth rushes to Murch's shop and forces his way in, killing the dealer when Murch refuses to part with the book. Danforth races home to peruse his new treasure and is in for a surprise--the pages show recent events, such as Murch killing Ramsey, Danforth killing Murch and, a few moments hence, Mrs. Danforth cleaving her husband's skull with an axe. Sometimes the collecting bug is unhealthy!

A tepid issue of Creepy ends with classic work by Goodwin and Ditko. The story is gripping, especially to those of us who tend to collect rare items, and Ditko's art is at its best. Not only does he propel the story along, but he also adds little horizontal panels (reproduced below) with closeups of eyes, and I think they're meant to show the deteriorating mental status of Danforth. Bravo!-Jack

Peter: I think this must have been the very first issue I picked up on the newsstands (or rather my dad picked it up, since I would have been about five), and I have several fond memories, but nostalgia can be a double-edged sword when you look at something fifty years later. "Brain Trust!," for instance, has an expository so detailed and complicated that I'm still trying to wrap my head around all the "nuances." So, Chester was a walking corpse who smelled funny but, otherwise, showed no signs of decay until the second he pulled that trigger? And there must have been a disconnect between Archie and Angelo, since Archie's prose clearly pronounces Doc Elliot a "young man" on page one. "Into the Tomb!" and  "Monster! are equally unimpressive. "Tomb" suffers from a banal plot and awful Orlando art, while "Monster" is insufferably confusing (and not only because its pages were published out of order). I'm going to start sounding like a parrot but Johnny Craig's "Midnight Sail" confounded me, since there doesn't seem to be any transition from flashback to present during Felton's monologue. As with past Craig contributions to Warren, I find no fault with his penciling. The Creepy Fan Page serves up an early illo by future Warren contributor, Frank Brunner.

"Backfire!" is an okay "weird western," and "Thing of Darkness!" has fabulous Gene Colan art (and thank goodness for that, because Archie's script is thread-bare), but Creepy #10 really only offers up one masterpiece this issue and that's "Collector's Edition!" I've probably read Archie's story of an obsessed occult book collector dozens of times over the last half-century and it never gets old. Goodwin is in full-on Lovecraft mode here (a speed I wish he'd have shifted into more regularly at Warren), crafting two very oily and cutthroat bibliophiles and a whopper of a climax. All through the story, we're treated to Ditko's prescient bottom-page panels, and we wonder what's up with this guy. A little too much brandy? Up late reading his forbidden tomes? When Steve delivers that reveal, the reader can't fail to smile and whisper: "Got me!"

Next Issue...
Our picks for
Best DC War Stories of 1974

From Creepy 10

Journey Into Strange Tales! Atlas/ Marvel Horror Issue 33

The Marvel/Atlas 
Horror Comics

Part 18

April 1952 Part I

 Journey Into Unknown Worlds #10

"The Undertaker" (a: Fred Kida) ★
"The Thing in the Cellar" (a: Harry Lazarus) ★★1/2
"The Old Man" (a: George Tuska) ★
"Blood on the Moon" (a" Dick Ayers) ★
"The Man Who Didn't Exist!" (a: Werner Roth) ★

No one knows how "The Undertaker," Cyrus Scroggins can bury the dead for free but we know ol' Cyrus has discovered a serum that enslaves the spirit of the corpse and he uses the ghosts to steal valuables from their families. Writer Hank Chapman sews together several elements from old horror stories and crafts a tedious story almost impossible to finish, replete with lazy art by Fred Kida (who has done better); Cyrus resembles a cackling old witch in every panel he's involved with, as if he's had some disabling stroke.

Dog breeders Myra and Jim suspect there may be something untoward about the only surviving pup of a new litter. Sure enough, the whelp begins growing at an alarming rate and soon begins feeding on anything nearby. An unusual tale of werewolfism with a stark, disquieting art job by Harry Lazarus. Though werewolf are a dime a dozen in the pre-codes, "The Thing in the Cellar" has a little something different to keep us turning those pages.

Unfortunately, "The Thing in the Cellar" is the only ray of light offered this issue as the final three stories are all awful. "The Old Man" is a silly "Let's Go Get Those Commies" quickie about a booking agent who runs into an old man in a bar who turns out to be a drummer from the Revolutionary War who's off to Moscow to spread independence. "Blood on the Moon" is a Dick Ayers-illustrated tale of a London werewolf that only strikes when the moon has the appearance of dripping blood. A local hood wants to take advantage of the superstitious bobbies and begins a streak of robbing and killing. His partner turns out to be the monster and, for some loony reason at the 11th hour, a vampire makes an appearance in the guise of a giant bat. Here, Ayers apes Will Eisner's unique style but ports over none of Eisner's intelligent choreography. In "The Man Who Didn't Exist!," a census taker is given a pen by a strange man, a pen that has a unique power. Every time the census man writes a name down, that person disappears and all traces of his history vanish. Of course, the joke's on the clumsy taker when a co-worker borrows the pen. Goofy tale makes not a whit of sense; the magical old man tells the census taker that the vanished will enter the "realm of nothing" and add to "our ranks of thousands" and then disappears from the story before explaining what this elaborate scheme grants him.

 Astonishing #12

"The Torture Chamber" (a: Gene Colan) ★★1/2
"Date With Death!" (a: Manny Stallman) ★
"Horror Show!" (a: Sy Grudko) ★★1/2
"The Man Who Was Afraid!" (a: Tom Gill) ★
"A Playmate for Susan" (a: Bill Everett) ★★★★

Eric Grimm is the most popular horror writer in the world, but his publisher has just delivered some sobering news: the public wants something new. No more werewolves, mummies, or vampires. This throws Eric into a bit of a tizzy and he slumps in front of the wax monsters he uses for inspiration. Suddenly, an idea hits him and he heads out the door, recruiting a hobo to come to Eric’s house at midnight and visiting his favorite antique store for some necessities. When the hobo arrives, Eric locks him into a giant box, starts a mechanism that lowers daggers from the ceiling of the cube, and begins to write as the vagrant screams in terror. Once the man has fainted, the bestseller releases him and goes back to his writing, but the wax monsters have become jealous (!) and lock their master into “The Torture Chamber.” Or has Eric Grimm’s mind finally snapped? At first read, this is a bit on the silly side. Second go round, it’s still silly… but there’s the hint of deception at the climax. Could writer Stan Lee actually have delivered a scary story with a subtle second layer? No, you’re right, Stan probably meat it to be a wax monster climax, but Gene Colan does his best to nudge us down that other side street, with his frightening final images of Eric in the dark.

A man has a “Date With Death” when he runs into the Grim Reaper in the park and, for some reason, believes that if he flies to Alaska, he can elude that fateful day. He can’t. George and Grace (Burns and Allen?) settle down for a comfortable evening in front of the boob tube to watch the “Horror Show,” a weekly variety program devoted to hats and scares. This week, the host creates a monster, but the creature gets loose and cuts a path of destruction through the town, eventually right to George and Gracie’s living room! The climax is quite a letdown (the monster emerges from the screen rather than through the front door, obscuring the device that was holding the plot together through the previous pages), but the story itself is a clever one, obviously borrowing heavily from Welles’ War of the Worlds broadcast, but also serving as a quasi-sequel to "Horror on Channel 15" (from Mystery Tales #1), “Horror Show” follows the action from the other side of the screen in this installment. There’s a genuine tension in the pages that lead up that disappointing finale.

Millionaire Barry Trevor has an obsession with germs and takes his wife and son off on a sea cruise to escape “the plague” of the city. Of course, once in the Tropics, the crew comes down with Bubonic plague and is wiped out, leaving Barry to fend for himself. Commandeering a small boat, he heads to a small nearby island where he discovers… a leper colony! Absolutely ludicrous in the extreme, “The Man Who Was Afraid” contains more (I assume) unintentional humor than a dozen of these Atlas horrors, as in this dialogue delivered by Barry to one of the crewmen toting the rich man’s luggage:

“Be careful, you fool, that box contains my cold tablets and nasal sprays!”

Unrepentant hoodlum Slug Mears has been left in charge of a pre-teen named Susan, who sits in a shack all day and wishes for a playmate. Slug robs a toy store and, just before gunning down the shop-owner, grabs a doll off the shelf to keep the kid quiet. His choice turns out to be a bad one. Equal parts scary and sleazy, “A Playmate for Susan” appears years before the similar Twilight Zone episode starring Talky Tina, but this one is actually much creepier. Lots of hints as to the origin of the doll, but no answers are given and, in this case, that’s the right choice. Who is the doll? Why does the toy shop owner die with a smile on his face? Why does a strange vapor trail lead from the shop to Slug’s shack? What does he see when the doll loses its temper?  Where will the two girls, one made of plastic, go now that they are free? What a fabulously freaky fable!

Heath

 Marvel Tales #106

"The Monster" (a: Paul Reinman) ★★★1/2
"Don't Turn Around!" (a: Bill Everett) ★1/2
"Two is a Crowd!" (a: Allen Bellman) ★
"The Grinning Skull!" (a: Bill Everett) ★★
"The Dead of Night!" (a: Bernie Krigstein) ★★1/2

Horror movie director Ralph Murdock is tired of of the same ol' same ol' dull monster pic, so he grabs hold of his stars and crew and flies them all out to Castle Frankenstein for some atmosphere. The scene is set for star "Boris" to enter as the monster, but even Ralph isn't ready for how realistic the make-up is -- that is, until the monster shambles all the way into the scene, dragging Boris' dead body behind him! As the crew runs screaming from the castle, Ralph (ever the artiste) keeps the camera rolling to get as much footage as he can (as Milius once said, after all, "Pain is temporary, film is forever!"). When the monster grabs the director and pulls him into the swamp, Murdock's last thought is how pissed he is that no one is catching this scene on film! What begins as yet another cliched Hollywood monster tale evolves into a sly, winking put-on, capped with a laugh-out-loud final panel. Reinman liberally uses Universal's version of the monster, which shows how little the studio was paying attention in those days. I assume the company's later diligent defense of their trademarked make-up is the reason why this gem has never been reprinted.

Tough goon Harry kills an undertaker and then goes looking for a hideout. "One-Eye" Garcia recommends someone who can help but there's a catch. "Don't Turn Around" and look at his face. But, of course, Harry can't help himself and he turns around to face... the undertaker. Nonsensical bit of fluff with the usual nice job by Bill. In "Two is a Crowd," George Kills his wife and walls her up in the cellar, but still can't get rid of her. Dreary, derivative script and excruciatingly bad art by Bellman (who's been floating my boat lately but takes two steps back here).

A sadistic diamond importer has a native's head chopped off for insubordination and is then haunted by "The Grinning Skull." We've seen this same "vengeance on the heartless hunter" story before (probably by scribe Hank Chapman), but at least the art chores were handled by the able-bodied Bill Everett, who portrays the nasty importer as a toothless cousin of Bluto (not to mention, a twin to Slug Mears in "A Playmate for Susan"). In the finale, "The Dead of Night," cemetery watchman Saul Hopkins sneaks back into the graveyard at night  to rob newly-dug graves of their valuables, but he struggles with the vicious moles that tear into the coffins and steal away with the bodies! When the richest man in town dies and is buried, Saul digs him up and watches in horror as the vicious creatures drag the corpse (adorned with priceless rings!) deep into their tunnel. Saul ain't gonna let this stand and he follows the critters down into the hole to get his stolen booty back. Bad idea, Saul! Though "The Dead of Night" is incredibly dumb (these moles travel in hordes and can dig a hole into a grave in a matter of minutes!) but also very creepy and works well evoking a claustrophobic atmosphere.

"The Grinning Skull!"

Burgos

 Adventures Into Weird Worlds #5

"Don't Bury Me Deep!" (a: Bill Everett) ★★★
(r: Crypt of Shadows #6)
"Where?" (a: Joe Maneely) ★1/2
(r: Monsters on the Prowl #26)
"The Terrible Trunk" (a: Joe Sinnott) ★★
(r: Vault of Evil #8)
"You're Going to Die Yesterday" (a: Gerald Altman) ★
(r: Uncanny Tales #6)
"I Crawl Through Graves" 
(a: Dick Ayers & Ernie Bache) ★
(r:Vault of Evil #17)

The whole town was under the grip of the Macombers family, owners of the casket factory, especially Charles Beecher, the local undertaker. Beecher can't wait for the matriarch of the Macumbers to shuffle off and line Beecher's pockets with the riches needed to get out of this ghost town. At last, the old man dies and his body is brought to Beecher's parlor for preparation. Alas, the old man is not cooperating and he sit-up in his coffin, very much alive. Beecher's not taking this lying down, however, and he slams the lid on the coffin and listens to the old man pound wildly for two days straight. Once the pounding has stopped, Beecher tales a look, but trips and falls into the casket, its lid closing with a dull thud. The next day, at the funeral, the pallbearers hear a mad beating from inside the box but agree the old man should have died years before and go about their business.

The climax is pretty predictable, but I liked the fact that the writer spent the first five pages studying the Beecher character (a treat we're not often granted in these six- and seven-pagers), giving us an appreciation, and even sympathy, for the undertaker before he does his dirty deed. Bill Everett's fabulous visuals (reminiscent of Wolverton's here) are perfect for this type of story; that splash is gorgeous and Everett's bulbous-eyed undertaker is a wonderful character (think Abe Vigoda).

In "Where?,"a man wanders the village of Rakusc in a state of amnesia, when an eerie hearse driver pulls up and tries to coax the man into the vehicle. Frightened, the man runs away and stumbles onto a poster proclaiming tonight "the night of the vampire." The hearse driver returns, midnight strikes, and the amnesiac vampire returns to his crypt for another year. Nice Maneely art distracts from a script  that not only cheats  but leaves a few details to the imagination (like, ferinstance, why is the vampire amnesiac and has it only happened this year?).

"Where?"

Hoodlum Harry Deevers is on the lam from the cops and ducks into an auction house. Before he knows it, he's bid on and won a useless old trunk. Just in time, as it turns out, since the cops have found Harry and he dumps the loot into the trunk and asks the auction house owner to ship the box to Harry's boss, Mr. Pinelli. When Harry gets to Pinelli's, the Don is a bit peeved since the trunk arrived empty. A scuffle ensues and the mob boss trips and falls into the trunk and disappears. Harry, being more of a conman than a thinker, immediately imagines ways he can dough on this phenomenon but never gets a chance when he himself stumbles into "The Terrible Trunk."

Bottom-of-the barrel drivel closes out this issue. In "You're Going to Die Yesterday," Tom Milo is so smart, he's built a time-machine, but so dumb he's a bank clerk. But never mind that, Tom has an intense hatred for co-worker Ben Keen, so much so that the scientific teller is planning to take a trip into the past to murder Ben's dad so he'll never be born! Instead of, I don't know, patenting the machine and making so much money he could buy the bank and fire Ben. So, the dope takes the trip but, instead of killing Ben's dad, he kills his own pop. "I Crawl Through Graves" is a nonsensical quickie about a grave-robber who steals the wrong jewels from the wrong corpse.

Heath

Adventures Into Terror #9

"The Dark Dungeon" (a: Ogden Whitney) ★
"Second Floor Rear!" (a: Bernie Krigstein) ★★1/2
"Ghouls Rush In" (a: Dick Ayers) ★
"Off With His Head" (a: Manny Stallman) ★
"Talking Corpse" (a: Joe Sinnott) ★★

Jerome waits, hand and foot, on his rich uncle for years, hoping the old crow will kick the bucket and leave Jerome his millions. The young man grows tired of slaving and helps his uncle to an early grave via the old man’s vicious dogs, kept hungry in the basement. Soon after, Jerome inherits the estate, a strange hooded figure comes knocking, telling Jerome he knows all that happened. “The Dark Dungeon” is a disjointed, completely boring read, with by-the-numbers art by Ogden Whitney.

Much better is “Second Floor Rear!,” a creepy little ditty about a nosy landlady who snoops around the room of a tenant who’s bringing rolls of carpet home with him at night. Looking through the keyhole, she discovers the man has smuggled some of his friends in with him. Outraged, she opens the door and is shocked to discover the other men are made of straw, but then further shocked when the straw men come for her! An eerie, disquieting tale with a very disappointing climax. The final panel has the landlady confronted by her tenant, who reveals himself to be one of the straw men. Or at least I think that’s what’s going on as the message is a bit vague. Still, the creep factor is high and the art, by Bernie Krigstein, is disquieting as well.

Two really dumb quickies follow that pleasurable experience. “Ghouls Rush in” is, essentially, “The Dead of Night” (from Marvel Tales #106) minus the moles and any semblance of quality. This one finds a ghoul being dragged down into a hole by rats and the final panel, inexplicably, reveals the man has turned into a giant rat. Why? I don’t know. Awful Dick Ayers art. “Off With HIs Head” is no better. An executioner with bad dreams and then finds his own head in a basket when he runs into Death.

Joe Sinnott is the star of the final story this issue, “Talking Corpse,” about a fake swami who bilks a naive man hoping to contact his dead sister. The man discovers the seer is a phoney and promises to contact the authorities but is shot dead before he can do so. At that point, the bust of his dead sister, used to fool him, comes to life and kills the swami. No explanation is given as to why the statue has deadly, otherworldly properties (or why it sprouts tentacles) but sometimes the illustrations are just good enough to get us through the pages and this is one of those cases.

Next Issue...
You'll meet best-selling author,
Mr. Morbid!