80-Page Thursdays: House of Mystery #255!

I wasn't sure I had enough Thursdays left in October for another one, but also wasn't sure I had another one; but in the same pile, sure enough! From 1977, House of Mystery #255. Cover by Bernie Wrightson.

Another framing sequence in this one, as the House is crashed by first a gaggle of "Hollywood" monsters, then reporter Harvey H. Harvey. Despite being ready for bed, Cain is forced to entertain them, opening with "Small Wonder." In 1915, just before Christmas, young Danny is sent to the state orphanage, which is of course run by the cheapest bastard available at the time. Still, Danny was able to change things, magically creating a tree, coal, and toys for the other kids. (Coal doesn't sound great, but it was cold! And he brings all three? Suck on that, Santa!) The orphanage director, Denning, then kills the accountant to keep the secret; and tries winning Danny over as a friend. Which works, and Denning is able to convince the gullible kid into making money for him. Still, after he tries to keep another witness quiet the cops are on him, and Denning runs to Danny to hide him, which he does, by swiping from "It's a Good Life" turning Denning into a jack-in-the-box. That hides him from the cops, but like we said, it was cold: another child had burned some wooden soldiers and a jack-in-the-box to stay warm, since he has assumed Danny could make more, right? Um...(Framing sequence written by Paul Kupperberg, pencils by Ric Estrada, inks by Wayne Howard; "Small Wonder" Written by Jack Oleck, pencils by Ernie Chan, inks by Vince Colletta.)

"The Evil Half" is another deal-with-the-devil number, although it's visually interesting, as the devil appears as Flo, a flapper girl, to tempt suicidal bookkeeper Homer with power and money and dames. Honestly, any one of them probably would've done for him. (Written by Jack Oleck, art by Rubeny.)

Then, "Sometimes Leopards Can..." with story and art by Gray Morrow: animal tamer Erik Braden is on top of his game and the world, but was constantly pushing to stay that way, struggling to find new animals for his act. In Africa, he's stricken by the dancer Fera, and tries to buy out her contract...or her, if it came to that. Fera's manager reveals, she was actually a were-leopard, kept in check by the silver choker she wore; and he gives Erik the key; which is of course like giving him rope. Erik was mean to the animals, then jealous when they responded better to Fera; so he decides to unlock her choker: taming a were-leopard would be a great act, unless of course you got bit and turned into one yourself.

Next, a visit to Abel at the House of Secrets: unsure if he's speaking to the readers, an "imaginary friend," or no one; Abel opts to get a public relations guy for the HoS, and calls DC's own Mike Gold! Who doesn't have time for Abel's numbskullery, but maybe still helps. ("Is Anyone Listening?" Written by Jack C. Harris, pencils by Ric Estrada, inks by Wayne Howard.)

"When You Wish Upon a Star" is the cover story: the GCD notes, it was an older piece by Wrightson, and the story written later to tie into it. A somewhat incompetent witch has some skills and a helpful cat familiar, but can't conjure herself up a guy: her last attempt brings an unappealing creature from space, but he might have been incompetent himself! (Based on the Wrightson cover, written by Cary Burkett, art by Frank Redondo.)

"Bed of Roses" finds a young girl, Lila, rich after her parents' deaths, pursued by a small town reporter; who's using her for her money. After the reporter seems to get what he wants and disappears with a nightclub girl, Lila is seemingly left with only flowers to remind her, but on her deathbed confesses there was something more...(Written by Robert Kanigher, art by Alex Nino.) "The Killing" follows hack magician and gambler Mason the Magnificent, who accidentally kills his boss after he gets fired for missing too many shows, then flees into the jungle. Eventually collapsing, Mason is taken in by an unknown tribe, with a strange god, and ample gold jewelry; but while they know poker, they won't let him in the game, since his money was literally no good there. Mason uses his tricks, to finally convince the tribe he should be allowed to join, and the tribe leader lets him; although if you've ever read any of these you know Mason is just digging his own grave. (Written by Jack Oleck, art by Bill Draut.) 

 After the one-pager "The Victim," Cain still hasn't gotten anyone to leave, and opts to vacate for the graveyard, to see if he could get a good night's sleep there.

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I knew this had an adaptation, but I wouldn't have believed you if you had told me it ran so long.

My Youngest son has been on a David Cronenberg kick: he'd just watched Videodrome, although now I think I need to ask him if he recognized video tapes. Or Debbie Harry. I keep telling him he'll like eXistenz, but he had also just watched Nightbreed, which features Cronenberg as serial killer Dr. Philip K. Decker. In fact, the serial killer angle might have been played up in that movie's ad campaign: marketing maybe tried to push it as a slasher, which it wasn't, really. Back in 1990, I remember some ads in DC's higher-end titles for the film, with detailed portraits of some of the monstrous Night Breed; but Marvel/Epic would get an adaptation of the film. Then, like Star Wars before it, that series went on to original stories, starting here: from 1990, Clive Barker's Night Breed #5, "The Blasphemers - Prelude: Scattering Seeds of Damnation" Written by Dan Chichester, pencils by Jackson "Butch" Guice, painted colors by Alfred Ramirez.

Picking up where the movie ended, after the destruction of the Nightbreed's refuge Midian, several of the 'Breed were re-entering the world: a world that hated and feared them as monsters, although sometimes not without reason. Six of them rob a nearby gas station, but leave the attendant to round up a small posse to go after them. One, Aello, stays behind to slow down pursuit, by seducing one of the pursuers. That leaves their leader, Mulciber, free to argue with the bland-looking Oral: Oral was struggling to abide by the commandments of their god Baphomet, which maybe involved not killing and eating people. Mulciber argues, it was natural...and tasty. (Aello kills hers, by flying him up and dropping him: she had large angel wings, unusual eyes and eyebrows, and a spectacular rack. Her victim probably only noticed one of those things...) Mulciber gives Oral some rocks; setting up a great scare on the next page! I don't want to spoil it more than that.

Meanwhile, another Nightbreed girl was travelling with a piece of Baphomet, who blows a farmer's mind with a quick recap of their history. And the Nightbreed's possible savior, Aaron 'Cabal' Boone, and his crew take down a drug dealer; to shake him down for one of their own, that didn't go to Midian but had remained in the 'natural' world...

I had seen the movie again fairly recently, and while Cronenberg quite sells his role, it still wasn't really a slasher movie. It's maybe more about finding the people that are like yourself, even if you sometimes even find them disturbing. There's also the notion, can you deny what you really are, even if society doesn't approve? Also, I got seven issues of this over the weekend; and I wouldn't have been surprised if you told me it only ran seven issues: nope! It ran for 25, although that synopsis of the last issue makes it seem like the Nightbreed would find their new Midian, probably the one place you would expect if you've read a fair amount of X-Men comics. Read more!

80-Page Thursday: House of Mystery #259!

No cover scan this time, this copy only has a smidge barely hanging on! From 1978, House of Mystery #259. Cover by Joe Orlando and Dick Giordano.

This time, the framing sequence is fairy queen Stardust, who has crashed in front of the House; but will die without belief to sustain her. Abel believes in her, and surprisingly, so does Cain, who opens with "The Miracle at San Sebastian." (A real place I suspect drawn with no reference! I almost think the town and mission were taken from an episode of Have Gun, Will Travel.) The town is being sucked dry by a vampire, and the local priest laments, even as he's able to save a little girl, that he was too old and frail to stop the monster. He might have a little help coming, though. (Framing sequence written by Paul Kupperberg, pencils by Ric Estrada, inks by Romeo Tanghal; "The Miracle at San Sebastian" Written by Roger McKenzie, art by Noly Panaligan.)

Next, another voodoo number, "Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow!" These probably aren't especially culturally sensitive, but this one at least has art from the great Michael Golden! (Story by David Manak and David Michelinie.) A murderous treasure hunter tries to use a young boy, to extort the treasure from his grandma, a voodoo witch. (No prizes for guessing it doesn't go great!) Then, a somewhat rare sci-fi number, "Return to Camelot Seven," in which two space cops visit said planet, only to find the human colony destroyed, and the local natives on the warpath. Still, the natives had been in the right, as the humans had been infected--literally--with greed, for the native's local metal. (Written by Steve Clement, pencils by Don Newton, inks by Bob Layton.)

"Do You Believe In..." finds a Victorian mugger, dismayed that his young daughter spent too much time listening to a kindly couple's fairy tales, when she could be earning her keep. Yeah, she was probably like six! Lazy freeloader...of course, he'll get his, sure enough. (Written by Greg Potter, art by John Fuller.) Abel then gets to tell some stories, starting with "Never Steal from a Blind Man." (Story idea by Michael Pell, script by Maxene Fabe, art by Flor Dery.) After nearly getting nicked, mugger Nicky Pardon considers changing his ways, but doesn't want to give up the fun, so he decides to limit his robberies to the blind. Less eyewitnesses; but again, he'll get his.

"Fire Sale" finds a nightclub owner planning arson, not only to cash in on the insurance money, but also to get the secrets of magic out of the Incredible Santini: the owner believed, at least some of Santini's act was legit magic. The fire kills about forty people, which I feel like would cut into any insurance payout; but the owner drags Santini away and ties him up, to get the secrets of his power, and to make a deal with the devil...(Written by Bob Toomey, art by George Ruppert and Frank Chiaramonte.) Then, in "Vampiress of Central Park," Lady Zarko takes a nighttime stroll in Central Park, looking for a drink: she is of course the titular vampiress, and drains the first mugger to cross her, although he then returns as a vampire himself, more quickly than expected. With his gang, the new vampire then tries to take Zarko, but they had forgotten vampires' other powers...and weaknesses. (Written by Don Glut, pencils by Juan Ortiz, inks by Vince Colletta.)

Finally, a young chump blows his savings at cards, when he misses drawing the "Jack of Diamonds." His wife is disappointed, but understanding; which probably just makes him feel worse, which leaves him open to a deal with the devil. The chump is not up on the legalese in the contract, but the devil explains the main clause: for the rest of the night, he would win at gambling without fail, but tomorrow would forfeit his soul. Sure enough, he then cleans up, but the devil returns for his soul in the morning. Luckily, his wife was able to parse out the conditions of the contract, and points out a contradiction: if he wins without fail, technically that wasn't 'gambling,' so...The devil concedes, rather graciously, y'ask me; while the chump promises to never gamble again. He looks real dumb, though; I'm not sure even that took. (Written by Bob Toomey, art by Rubeny.)

The framing sequence ends with Stardust rescued, of course. House of Mystery was an 80-page Dollar Comic from #251 to this issue: #251 had a Neal Adams cover I remember from a house ad, as moderately terrifying, since it was barely a glimpse! I thought I had grabbed that sometime, but so far we've seen #253 last week, and #256 a few years back. Read more!

80-Page Thursdays: House of Mystery #253!

It's spooky season, and we should have a couple of these: from 1977, House of Mystery #253. Cover by Neal Adams.

In the framing sequence, Cain just wants a quiet evening in with the family photo album, but is interrupted by the arrival of his brother Abel and the witch Eve. Then, "Grave Labor!" is a fun opener, as Koslov from the Eastern Bloc visits Haiti and isn't impressed with the tourist voodoo show, he wants the real deal. Finding a bocor, Koslov pays well to observe the process to create a zombie, learning the formula and recording the ritual drumbeats; but leaves without bothering to learn the antidote; since why would he want to cure them? He wanted them to work, but this isn't an anti-capitalism number but anti-communist: lamenting the waste of simply killing enemies of the state, Koslov wanted to put them back on the job. He creates several, in a test run, to work in a mine; and they do fine...for a while, before turning on Koslov: in Haiti, the bocor muses Koslov should've listened to his warning. The slightest taste of salt would free the zombies from their master's control; so maybe Koslov shouldn't have put them to work in a salt mine. (Story by E. Nelson Bridwell, art by Bill Draut.)

"Images of the Dead" has a Twilight Zone feel: a scientist has finally perfected his process, to make a perfect duplicate of even a dead man. Unfortunately, his 'benefactor' took her revived husband and skipped the country; leaving him broke. But, an opportunity knocks, as his landlord asks for a replacement for his son; who was still alive but wanted for murder. They wanted a dupe to serve his sentence, and for a mere ten thousand the scientist obliges. But, the landlord worries about leaving him as a loose end, and sends a hitter to take the scientist out, which he does...or does he? (Story by John Albano, art by Tony DeZuniga.)

The cover story, "Demon Child," finds a babysitter thrilled with the opportunity: not to take care of a baby, but to get out of her house so she could read the Necronomicon. She summons a demon, which possesses the baby...or does it? (Story by Doug Moench, art by Alex Niño.) Then, "Photo Finish" ties into the framing sequence, as Abel tries to get some photography tips from DC VP Jack Adler, so he can get a nice pic of his brother. Yeah, that goes well.

"The Face of a God!" is a shaggy-dog western story, from Denny O'Neil and Gil Kane. (Inks by Bill Draut.) After a bank robbery goes south, the robber rides a horse hard to get away, but after finding a weird tribe of Aztecs he gets his. "More than Human" begins seemingly at the end, as an expedition to the north has captured a wolfman-creature, that is said to never die. The expedition's financier then begins his experiments on the creature, namely hacking bits off of it, to see if it heals up; since he was only interested in curing his own cancer. While his scientists disapprove, they are able to create a serum, but the financier is badly hurt when the creature escapes: with little alternative, the scientists inject him with the serum. It doesn't have much effect on a crushed skull...or does it? (Written by Jack Oleck, art by Romeo Tanghal and Bob Smith.)

"A House is for Haunting" is a variation of the old dared-to-spend-the-night-in-the-haunted-house story, as young Lacey is dared into it by Porter, who then stays behind to make sure Lacey is scared to death. It doesn't quite work! I feel like I've watched several haunting movies this year already; like those, this one seems to go fake-scare, fake-scare, real scare. (Written by Jack Oleck, pencils by Sandy Plunkett, inks by the great Klaus Janson!) 

Finally, Destiny arrives with a tale of his own, "The Actor," wherein a hack Victorian actor turns to crime, before meeting a little girl with magic powers. He promises to adopt her, if she makes him famous, but doesn't come through, and receives the traditional ironic punishment. (Script by Michael Fleisher, 'script continuity' by Russell Carley, art by Frank Redondo.)

For good measure, have an ad for some Batman stuff! Thirty-nine cents for postage and handling, if you can believe it.

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A lucky find; I wish there were more of these as well!

We'll wrap up the week with another one that'd be tough to scan: from 1981, Shocking Tales Digest #1, cover by Ernie Colón, although some images might have been taken from Bob Powell and Jack Kirby.

This was a Harvey comics reprint digest, a one-off, made up of stories from the 1950's, from titles like Black Cat Comics, for Bob Powell's "Colorama!" Alarming Tales is also strongly represented, with nine Jack Kirby shorts, making up almost half the book! "The Cadmus Seed!" and "The Last Enemy! both seem like precursor, test versions of his later DC work: "Enemy" is very Kamandi. Despite the little "TERROR" skull in the corners, most of these aren't super scary; but still not bad. 

I hadn't seen this one before, but if you're ever somewhere with a bunch of Archie digests, give 'em the once-over: every so often you'll find an oddball like this! I think from the same shelf at EntertainMart I got a Disney digest a bit ago; I'm hoping I luck into say, DC's Plop! digests at some point.

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Is it spooky-season yet? Well, I did have some picked-at-the-peak-of-freshness Boo Berry last week, so sure, why not? From 1978, Ripley's Believe It or Not #83. Cover by George Wilson, although it and the lead story are re-used from 1967's Ripley's #6.

In fact, this whole issue would be reprints, all from over ten years prior: pretty sure Gold Key assumed the readership would've turned over by that point, so why not? I had to look up if Ripley's was still a franchise: per Wikipedia, "To be included in Ripley's Believe It or Not books, museums or television shows, items must undergo scrutiny from the staff and be 100% authenticated" and they used to have research staff that worked like dogs to find interesting items. Aside from the 80's TV show, I would occasionally see the panel in newspapers when visiting relatives; but I assumed both were maybe 60-40 crap fiction to true facts. (Jack Palance's sinister hiss was like a challenge to "...believe it or not!") So, this series was ghost stories, presented as fact, because ostensibly somebody at the time believed it...or were they completely, made whole-cloth fiction? Let's see what the internet finds...honestly, lately the internet feels less trustworthy than a comic book old enough to get AARP mailings, but here goes.

"Testimony of the Ghost" features Joe Certa art, he also drew "The Dark Rider" and "Hounds of Death" here. And, a quick search did find the below video, regarding the murder of Mary Walker, and the testimony of her ghost against her murderer, her uncle. Hey, that's a good start!  

The titular "Ship of Doom" was the Great Eastern, which was real; but did it really have a jinx? Namely, a riveter and his mate (partner, in this case!) trapped inside the double-hull? Wikipedia does mention it, after more serious discussion about the engineering innovation and legacy of the ship, under "Trapped worker legend" and while experts downplay the possibility, either of it actually happening or later being covered up, the notion did enter the public consciousness. Sting sang a ballad about it! (Art by Tom Gill and John Verpoorten.)  

"The Dark Rider" is the tale of one of Napoleon's finest officers, Steingel, who predicted his own death before a battle: he claimed to have seen a "giant cuirassier," that was revealed to him as Death himself. Steingel went bravely to his fate, and was allegedly killed by a mounted cuirassier of unusual size, that was also allegedly not seen again. The story also, allegedly, haunted Napoleon for years.

"The Thing With Claws" is based on 50 Berkeley Square in London, which may to date still be considered the most haunted house in that city. Again, all the stories about it may be lies, but there were stories. This one reminds me of the Hammer classic, Quatermass and the Pit, or Five Million Years to Earth.

I did not find anything for "Hounds of Death," at least in a brief search: a farmer, fed up with the neighbor's hounds tearing through his fields, poisons them, then is later chased to his death by their ghosts. (At least, that's what rescuers said his wife said, so...) "The Haunted Villa" is based on a fairly well-known story, from Roman Pliny the Younger. A man stays in said villa, that had already supposedly driven several previous renters to madness and death; and he follows the ghost to his grave, where he had been buried in chains. The body is unchained and buried properly, seemingly freeing the ghost. ("The Haunted Villa" art by André LeBlanc.)

Finally, "The Lady in White" would have been another 'known' ghost, of the Hohenzollern castle, that allegedly appeared before the death of King Frederick William. The king did appear to be handier than most monarchs, as he built coffins for himself and his queen; which I'm pretty sure was a King of the Hill episode. (Art by Al McWilliams.) 

I'm mildly surprised most of these panned out as, if not 'true,' then at least based on supposedly real events. Or known lies, maybe. Perhaps it was DC's Ghosts title that was not as, shall we say, diligently sourced? It's up to you if the research method delivers better results than the tried-and-true 'make crap up' approach.

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This one I've barely made a dent into.

Well, maybe I'll make some more headway during scary-season: the complete Warren Comics Creepy.

(From Creepy #1, "Werewolf!" Written by Larry Ivie, art by Frank Frazetta.) Dark Horse reprinted the entire classic horror magazine, which had run for 145 issues. I'm on, um, issue 4? Back in 2023, Humble Bundle offered the whole shebang, and maybe the week before had done likewise with Eerie, for another 139 issues! Ooh, better get started.

(From Creepy #1, "The Success Story" Written by Archie Goodwin, art by Al Williamson. Perhaps not intentionally, it reads like a middle finger to Bob Kane.) The introduction of the first volume describes Warren's attempt to re-create the EC Comics they loved, with as much of the original staff as they could get, but in magazine form to get out from under the eye of the Comics Code. A lot of credit goes to editor/writer/maybe sometimes artist? Archie Goodwin, for shepherding the whole thing and generally being just cool as hell to work for. (Among a million other things, Goodwin also wrote a couple years of Marvel's Star Wars, some of my earliest comics!)

(From Creepy #3, "Tell-Tale Heart!" Written by Edgar Allan Poe, adapted by Archie Goodwin, art by Reed Crandall.) The Humble Bundle is a great way to get these on the cheap--the first Archive alone is six bucks digital now, maybe sixteen for the paperback, in the fifties for the hardback: I paid like twenty for the Bundle. But the absolute best way to read Creepy (or Eerie!) is a random issue you find somewhere: even now they feel mysterious and forbidden somehow. That said, I don't know if I've ever seen this particular Bundle offered again.

(From Creepy #4, "Moon City!" Written by Larry Englehart, art by Al McWilliams.) So far there's been more sci-fi horror than I'd expected; I wonder if that holds true for the whole run? Read more!

One story has a pretty good message! And one foresees, um, TRON.

Aw, that's still pretty good! From 1979, House of Mystery #268. Cover by Michael Wm. Kaluta.

The first story, feels like a riff on the movie Tron but predated it by three years! In "Night Call, Collect" a terminally ill man funds a program, to turn a man into a program; breaking a person down into data, then adjusting and correcting it, to return them to perfect health. The man isn't about to be the first test monkey for that, though, and zaps one of his scientists into it instead, in a bit that seems to predict "de-rezzing" in Tron. But he starts to get strange calls at night...and the tape the scientist was supposed to be encoded onto, was blank! (Written by Wyatt Gwyon, art by Ruben Yandoc.)

"Dead Buddy" is a brief bit of CB radio nonsense, as was the style at the time; then "The Man Who Spoke With Spirits" is a very nice object lesson. Endlessly seeking knowledge, a king invokes spirits for their wisdom: the spirits oblige him, but say he must obey their every command. Every command? Yeah, every command! First: build a fancy monastery. Sure, why not? Then, start gathering up all the gold in the kingdom: it's rough on the peasants, but it'll teach 'em "the virtue of poverty." When the peasants are ready to revolt, the spirits help the king summon demons, then advise him to imprison random citizens to keep the rest from getting uppity. So desperate for wisdom is this king, that he goes along with everything the spirits order, like 'give your daughter to the barbarians to get them to lay off' and 'eat garbage to learn humility.' Let's just say, it takes a long time for this guy to get wise...(Written by T.Casey Brennan, art by Jess Jodloman.)

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No, I didn't take my monicker from that lead story.

I don't think I had mentioned it yet, but the most recent comicon here really delivered on the cheap book front: I got another couple metric tons of $1-2 books. Like working in a quarry lugging them around, though...One thing I grabbed pretty much on instinct, was a big run of Wasteland, which I've mentioned before here. It was a more experimental horror/existential dread book from DC; pre-Vertigo but would've been more at home there; from John Ostrander and Del Close. A friend was getting that, back when it first hit shops (maybe Waldenbooks, back in the day?) and I read his: the stories weren't all hits for me but some are still memorable, even years later. From 1987, Wasteland #1, all stories by Ostrander and Close, cover by George Freeman.

"Foo Goo" is a standout; as two bored and tired detectives investigate a rather Victorian looking crime scene, four corpses around a sitting-room table, another 'foo goo' party. The titular mushroom was supposed to deliver a high like seeing god, but would immediately kill the taster: so, did the mushroom actually deliver the high, or the painless death? The only way to find out for sure, was to taste it for yourself. In flashback, we see the four party-goers take their bite, for various reasons: doubt, chasing that high, entered a pact, and boredom. The cops, not seeing any of that, can only speculate: one seemingly accepts that the world doesn't make sense and people are dumb, while the other seemingly considers taking a bite of foo himself...(Art by David Lloyd.)

"R.ab." is a bit of a shaggy-dog/Future Shock number: in a techy, overpopulated future, a vapid young woman is tired of the crowds and wants to marry and improve her station in life. She finds a suitable mate, equally shallow but rich: they seem happy enough until the husband gets a friend at the Child Center to move their names up the list, getting them a child...that neither seems to have any interest in taking care of, which drives a wedge into their marriage. Discussing divorce with an official, neither wants to take custody, so an "R.ab." is suggested, as easier for everyone...except the kid, of course. (Art by William Messner-Loebs.)

Finally, "Sewer Rats" is "a bit of autobiography" from Del Close, which largely involves him tripping balls beneath the streets of Chicago, with what appears to be a butane torch taped to his head for light. That feels unsafe...(Art by Don Simpson.)

A weird, massively idiosyncratic title; some of which you can probably find in quarter bins anywhere, but the distribution was maybe off for a couple issues. Progressive Ruin mentions, there had been an error misprinting all of issue #6 as #5. From the show, I have #1-2, #4, #6-10, #12, #14, #16-18. We'll see if any more turn up!  

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Sometimes when they say 'locals only' you maybe should listen.

Also this issue: a woman goes about becoming a b-girl the wrong way--wait, I think I mean something else. From 1975, House of Secrets #129. Cover by Luis Dominguez.

"Almost Human" is a spin on a fairly typical horror plot: the hidden village of mysterious tribesmen, who may have secrets unknown to modern man. In this case, it's a tribe of bee people, somehow evolved from insects: an entomologist thinks their royal jelly could be a cure for most diseases and aging, and is willing to sacrifice her party to get it if need be. She kills a guy to keep him from hurting one, then gets captured by the bee people, who give her exactly what she wanted, which doesn't turn out exactly as she expected. (Written by Jack Oleck, art by Franc Reyes.)

After some Sergio Aragones' shorts, we then get "The Lottery," which isn't Shirley Jackson's version but it's close. A businessman says goodbye to his beloved wife and kids before getting on the train for a business trip, but ends up on the wrong train and instead of Springfield (not that one...well, maybe) he gets stuck in small town Plumber's Junction. Stranded until the next train comes through, at least the town was having some kind of festival, complete with a lottery with a $50,000 prize! The man wants a ticket for that action, but is warned this was usually just for the locals...well, it'll probably be okay. Of course he wins, and the prize is legit, but it's going to his family, since the man is clonked on the head, and left trussed up in a cemetery for the local vampire! The locals feel kinda bad about it, but overall one victim a year was better than the vampire picking people off all willy-nilly and such, and the family was taken care of, so...They maybe should put some of that on the lottery tickets, in the fine print maybe. (Written by Michael Fleisher and Russell Carley, art by Ernie Chan.)

That page is pretty good, although I feel like you could write like a dozen of these that use it! All roads lead to the graveyard, I suppose. Read more!

There's a ghost right on the box, what did you think would happen eating it?

From 1982, DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #17, featuring "...the best of Ghosts and other tales of terror!" But, it doesn't actually reprint any stories from DC's Ghosts title! These stories were mostly from House of Secrets or House of Mystery, but with the host from Ghosts, the Gentleman Ghost-lookalike "Squire Shade" drawn in to present them instead of Cain or Abel. Still, it's a killer lineup this 100-pages, with art by Neal Adams, Berni Wrightson, Mike Kaluta, Wally Wood, and more!

I didn't have this before, but recently got it while buying DVD's! Anyway, no scans from this little one, I'm afraid, but if you hit your local shop, you might be able to get the facsimile reprint of the Limited Collector's Edition #C-23, better known as the House of Mystery treasury. It'll be easier to read and includes Neal Adams's "The Widows Walk" and "Nightmare" from this one. 

Right about when this posts I'll probably be starting a busy Halloween of horror movies and Boo Berry! Ooh, I've been eating lower carb and am just dying for a big blue bowl of sweetness; in typical horror comic twist-ending fate it'll probably blow the top of my head off! If I survive the experience, there's a toy show Sunday; and we'll see you next week!

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