Random Happenstance

I'm not sure when this will post--god forbid closer to Halloween--but the Twilight Zone marathon is on and it's going to be a million degrees here in a day or so. ("The Midnight Sun" comes closer every year!)  Let's see if that negatively affects my opinion of this issue! From 1977, Secrets of Haunted House #5. Cover by Michael Wm. Kaluta. Spoilers for this one, so it's going after the break there. (Can I really spoil a 47-year old comic? I mean, really, you snooze, you lose.)

Suburbanites try their hands at demon-summoning, in "Raise the Devil!" So far they haven't had any luck, although the men still dream about the power they hope to obtain, while one of their wives frets a demon could get at their kids. Which is poo-poohed by her hubby: the demon wouldn't be able to get out of the pentagram, silly goose. The wannabe Anton Lavey gets his hands on a new book, and a demon appears--then flies straight up, into the kids' room! That would often be the final twist, but there's one more: the kids have their own pentagram, and now have a demon under their control! The parents immediately realize; they are just boned. ("Raising the Devil" Plot by Michael Pellowski, script by E. Nelson Bridwell, pencils by Bernard Baily, inks by Win Mortimer.)

Then, "The Strange Case of the Sloop 'San Mateo'": written by Sergio Aragonés and Steve Skeates, pencils by Romeo Tanghal, inks by Bob Smith. Skeates may be translating here; as the Coast Guard finds the ship unlit and adrift, and has no idea what happened to its owner. Luckily, we have Cain to give us the goods: the owner of the 'San Mateo' dinged it up on some rocks, but then rather than cough up for repairs opted to pull some good wood from a shipwreck, despite a warning from an ominous old sea captain. The wreck had originally been the Oreo, a slave ship that had dumped prisoners, and then misfortune had befallen its owners and sailors many times since. No points for guessing what comes next, although Cain does warn the reader, if you get a good deal on a used boat, maybe check the paint and make sure it doesn't say 'San Mateo' under it.

Not great, but readable. Feels a little short even for the era, though. (There's a opener with the horror hosts, and a witch's broomstick gag page as well.)