Crypt of Horror #20

This go-around, the CRYPT OF HORROR microscope focuses in on material from several publishers NOT primarily noted as horror purveyors, but that generated some very interesting material just the same. Fawcett Comics is a name synonymous with the Marvel Family- Captain, Junior, Mary, and the rest were among THE biggest selling titles of the 1940′s, but as that decade waned and horror comics became the rage, Fawcett was one of the first to jump on the bandwagon. This volume of COH will showcase a number of stories from Fawcett’s BEWARE! TERROR TALES title, including “The Black Candle of Life”, “The Crawling Horror”, and the trully bizarre “Revolt of the Fingers”. A. A. Wynn’s Ace Publications was a pulp powerhouse dating back to the 1930′s that got in on the 1940′s comics comics boom with a line of tepid superhero comics like SUPER-MYSTERY, LIGHTNING, OUR FLAG and FOUR FAVORITES. When the “long-underwear” crowd fell out of fashion, Ace went with other genres, including horror. Their top horror title was WEB OF MYSTERY, represented in COH 20 with “The Night The Statues Walked” and “Death Is A Star Sapphire” ( both illustrated by Lou Cameron) and Lin Streeter’s classic “Villa Of The Vampires”. The short-lived publishing concern helmed by artists Ross Andru and Mike Esposito, MikeRoss Pubs turned out a number or weird little scare-tales, such as this issues’s “The Executioner”. Another esoteric comic house of the Precode era was Superior Publications. From that line’s JOURNEY INTO FEAR, check out “Killer’s Payoff” and “Death Is My Hobby” this time out. And originally released by a plethora of 1950′s publishers and drawn by artists including Bob Powell, Joe Certa, Robert McCarty, Sal Trapani, Art Gates, E. E. Hughes, Maurice Gutwirth, Ellis Erringer, Dick Beck, Ed Moline, G. H. Appel and Charles Tomsey; look for these twisted tales as well- “The Threat”, “Eternal Death”, “Last Supper”, “The Spirit In The Stone”, “Out of Focus”, “Terror of the Deep”, “Wall of Coahuila”, “Spectres of the Dam”, “The Witches’ Curse”, “Death Takes A Holiday”, “The Phantom Fountain”, and “The Other World”; all in the big, 20th volume of CRYPT Of HORROR, now available!!