"The End" Week: the Witching Hour #85!

Pretty sure this was in my pile of Halloween comics, but it just so happened to be the last issue, so it ends up here! From 1978, the Witching Hour #85, cover by Luis Dominguez.

I wonder if the Three Witches--Mildred; Mordred; Cynthia--still had jobs after this in DC's other horror books, or if any horror stories had to have the host sections redrawn to be Cain, Abel, or Destiny. The first story, "Rat Bait" hinges on a pretty big coincidence: a destitute and widowed zoologist seeks shelter, at the home of Dr. Rackow, who is experimenting-slash-tormenting rats. The rats have to suffer challenges that should be beyond them, but Rackow has been implanting brain cells from higher species in them...which higher species, Rackow? The zoologist is convinced to hang out a while, but notices he feels worse and worse as the rats seem to improve by little leaps and bounds: of course, Rackow had been taking bits of his brain! But, the rats aren't just getting smarter, they also wanted revenge...I mean, they probably wanted revenge before, right? Ah, let's move on. (Story by George Kashdan, art by Fred Carrillo.)

Next, "Has Anybody Seen My Head?" (Story by Carl Wessler, art by Jerry Grandenetti.) This story is set in 1920's France, but Jean dresses like a leprechaun, including a green derby. Still, I guess if you're the executioner, you can wear what you like! Jean plots against his romantic rival, the handsome murderer Paul Bonnard, for the hand of the lovely Marie. Paul had killed a guy, pushing him off a bridge, but had been acquitted and couldn't be retried. Jean murders a drunk in their boarding house, pins it on Paul, and gets to lop of his head in le guillotine. Then, Jean has Paul's body taken to a local mad scientist, and has his head transplanted onto it! Now tall and handsome...or at least tall? He could now ask Marie to marry him, but she has some bad news about a pre-existing condition...

"Dirge for a Deadly Duet" is a short, hackneyed number with hitmen trying to change their faces, with less than ideal results; then the cover story, "Our Subject for Tonight is Fear." (Story by George Kashdan, pencils by Ernie Patricio, inks by Ernie Santiago.) Michael Bannion gets an untimely midnight phone call, that the Rathkill School will accept his nephew Steven. The kid knows his uncle is trying to ditch him, but the school is both exclusive and odd, with oddly robed teachers, and a no-contact policy during the school semester. Steven is issued a pet raven, in an off-brand but seemingly egalitarian witch's school; and returns to avenge his dead dad. Well, at least it didn't take seven books to do it. (I did like Steven telling his aunt sure, he heard his uncle getting murdered, but he wasn't allowed in his study!) Read more!

I don't think I had read this title at all before finding a couple in the quarter bin, so here's another: from 1974, the Witching Hour #40, featuring "The Tunnel of Sorrow" Written by Carl Wessler, art by Ernie Chua (Chan); "The Devil Will Get You If You Don't Watch Out" Written by George Kashdan, art by Bernard Baily; and "The Madwoman of Marshwood Lane!" Story credit unknown, art by Alex Nino.

This is a touch better than the last of these we saw: in "the Tunnel of Sorrow," Silas Markham mourns his late friend Clarence by scrambling to find his diary, since he's positive it contains the dying declaration of a woman he murdered. Unlocking Clarence's safe through a grandfather clock, Silas goes through the hell-like Tunnel of Sorrow and has to relive committing the murder, then is trapped in the clock when he leaves. Can you even do a dying declaration secondhand, even if you're dying? Maybe he should've thought this through.

In "The Devil Will Get You If You Don't Watch Out" a devil-suited young singer confronts his manager for embezzlement, so the manager runs him over. It doesn't stop the singer from making their next gig, though: you love to see that level of professionalism. Lastly, in "The Madwoman of Marshwood Lane!" a horrible son gaslights the hell out of his elderly mom. That's it. I don't think there's even a twist in that one. We'll see some better quality gaslighting later this month, though...
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Like, there isn't even a hitchhiker story this issue.

Traditionally, I take Halloween off from work and spend the day watching horror movies and eating Boo Berry; but this year I'm supposed to be watching my carbs and will probably be in the middle of moving. So, we're pre-loading the blog with whatever scary comics I had lying around. DC, Marvel, Gold Key and more: it's mostly mild horror, with the occasional kick. And we're starting with this little something from 1976, the Witching Hour #63, featuring "Face of Fright" Written by George Kashdan, art by E. R. Cruz; "Sweet Dreams, Bitter Nightmares" Written by Murray Boltinoff [as Wesley Marsh], art by Gerry Talaoc; and "the Thing in the Teakwood Chest" Written by Carl Wessler, art by Fred Carrillo.

Did horror comics have hosts before EC Comics? Or did they just cement the notion; because like so many after the Crypt-Keeper and all, there are three hosts presenting today's stories. We've got chunky witch Mildred, the more traditional looking hag Mordred, and younger blonde Cynthia; the latter of whom narrates like she's auditioning for the part of Metamorpho. Shake a leg, pussycats, you haven't heard patter this hip since they cancelled Binky. Huh, which hadn't actually been cancelled at that point, but I'm not looking up another book for the sake of that joke.

We're talking about the hosts, because the stories aren't great in this one; although I feel like E.R. Cruz drew like eight million stories for titles like this. I think we've got a better one from this series later, though.

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Reading this issue gave me an idea of a comics pitch: CSI investigator of crime scenes from these old horror comics! "Another naked dead guy with a silver bullet in his heart...some rich guy hates them some nudists, I guess." There would be more chalk outlines from this one: from 1977, the Witching Hour #68, cover by Rich Buckler and Vince Colletta.

In "When Time Ran Out" two crooks duck out of the rain into a clock shop, and figure the owner must have some cash somewhere. They murder him when they can't find it, but the owner curses them to die when the clocks stop. (Story by Carl Wessler, art by E. R. Cruz; Cruz also did the art for the horror hosts' Christmasy intro page.)

Next is "Lam to the Slaughter," in which a scientist is pursued by a monstrous creature that appears whenever he was alone. "Don't be alone," would seem to solve that problem, but easier said. (Story by Jack Kelly, art by Fred Carrillo.) Finally we have the murder mystery "Young Man in a Shroud," written by Carl Wessler, art by Rubeny (Ruben Yandoc). A father brings his son's body to the police, blaming his death on a rival from a feuding family; when actually it's the rival's body and the dad is covering a murder for his son. Or is he? The sheriff pieces it together after the father steals the body, intent on ditching it, and the chase is on. "Lam" was really short, while "Young Man" was only a page longer than usual; it feels like it could've used a little more.
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By this point, I've set up a couple weeks worth of horror comics posts for Halloween; and we'll see a few issues of this series, which I still don't think I read before pulling them out of the quarter bin. I also don't think this was the best of the lot, but here we go: from 1977, the Witching Hour #74, featuring an E.R. Cruz cover for "A Tiny Bit of Torment" Written by George Kashdan, art by Fred Carrillo. (I've noticed most of these DC horror shorts only give the one art credit, implying the artist inks their own pencils.) A failing puppeteer touring south of the border stumbles across a tiny tribe; natives only a foot high due to "something in local waters." So of course the puppeteer enslaves them for his show. You kind of figured those natives were gonna get exploited one way or another; I'm thinking they're lucky they weren't found by a plumber or something. ("Why, your tiny hands could reach clogs undreamt of! Get right in there...")

Next is "Death Can Be Contagious," written by Carl Wessler, art by Abe Ocampo. An aging lothario finds out his new girl is actually old: a witch with a potion keeping her young. He sweet-talks his way into getting some of the potion for himself, but the witch isn't his only conquest; and he may not realize he now has the kiss of death. Accordingly, his demise is profoundly stupid. Still, some spooky visuals in this one.

Finally, "A-Haunting We Will Go" brings us probably not the only example of gaslighting we'll see in these books. (Written by George Kashdan, art by Leopold Duranova.) A murderous couple arrange to have their uncle Arthur killed in a mining accident. Now they just need to get rid of uncle Wallace, who was already sick with guilt that his brother died in the diamond mine he was responsible for safety for. The husband disguises himself as Arthur to haunt Wallace, while the wife pretends not to hear the 'ghost.' Events are complicated when the 'ghost' turns on the wife, and she realizes if her husband was willing to kill his uncles, he'd probably be onboard for getting rid of her as well...but there were still a couple twists to come.

As I write this, I've got half the month filled up with whatever horror comics I had lying about. Wednesdays will still be homemade strips, but we'll see if we can get the whole month ready for Halloween!
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The Return of Son of Update to Index of "The End" Week:

Urg, I hadn't updated this in like four years? This'll be fun...Behind the break, links to "The End" posts, going back to 2009!



Action Comics Weekly #642

Adventures of the X-Men #12

Agent X #15

Alf #50

The All-New Batman: the Brave and the Bold #16

All-Star Squadron #67

All-Star Western #34

Alpha Flight #130

Alpha Flight #20


Anarky #8

Aquaman #13

Aquaman #63

Aquaman and the Others #11

Area 88 #42

Arrgh! #5

Astro City #52

Atari Force #20

Avengers Arena #18

Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes #7

Avengers West Coast #102

Aztek #10

Babylon 5 #11

Badger #4 (Capital)

Batgirl #24

Batgirls #19

Batman #713

Batman Aventures #17

The Batman Adventures #36

Batman and Robin Adventures #25

The Batman Chronicles #23

Batman Confidential #54

Batman: Gotham Adventures #60

The Batman Strikes #50

Batman '66 #30

Battlestar Galactica #23

Black Cat #10

Blackhawk #273

Black Widow #12

Blood of the Demon #17

Bloodhound #10

Blue Beetle #24

Blue Devil #31

Bongo Presents Futurama Comics #81

Booster Gold #25

The Brave and the Bold #200

Buck Rogers #16

Cable & Deadpool #50

Captain America #19

Captain America #454

Captain America: Steve Rogers #19

Captain Atom #57

Catwoman #82

Chase #1,000,000

Claw the Unconquered #12

Challengers of the Unknown #87

Champion Sports #3

Cloak and Dagger #11

Conan #11

Conan the Barbarian #275

Conan the King #55

Contest of Champions #10

Creatures on the Loose #37

The Creeper #1,000,000

Crystar #11

Daken: Dark Wolverine #23

Daredevil #18

Daredevil #380

Daredevil #512

Daredevil #36/LEG #648

Dazzler #42

DC Super-Stars #18

Dead of Night #11

Deadpool #63

Deadpool #69

Deadpool Team-Up #883

Deathlok #34

Death's Head II #16
Defenders #152, #12

the Demon #16

the Demon #58

Detective Comics #881

Doctor Doom #10

Doctor Strange #81

Doom Patrol #22

Doom 2099 #44

D.P.7 #32

Drax #11

Dread of Night #2

Dreadstar #64

Eclipso #18

Edge of Spider-Verse #4

Elektra #19

Eternals #19

Excalibur #125

Exiles #4

Exiles #100

Extraordinary X-Men #20

Extreme Justice #18

Fantastic Four #416

Fantastic Four #611

Fantastic Four #16, 645

Fear #31

Fell #9

Fillerbunny #3

Firearm #18

Firestorm #5

Firestorm #100

Flash #52

Flash #230

Flash #350

Flinch #16

Force Works #22

Freedom Fighters #15

Gen 13 #77

Generation X #75

Ghost Rider #81, #94

G.I. Joe Special Missions #28

Godzilla #24

Goofy Adventures #17

Gotham Central #40

Gotham City Sirens #26

Grave Tales #3

Green Arrow #50

Green Lantern #67

Green Lantern #181

Green Lanterns #57

Green Lantern Corps #63

Green Lantern: Mosaic #18

Grimjack #81

Guardians of the Galaxy #27

Guardians of the Galaxy #62

Guardians of the Galaxy #18 (LEG #180)

Guardians 3000 #8

Guy Gardner: Warrior #44

Harley Quinn #75

Hawk & Dove #28, #8

Hawkgirl #66

Hawkman #17

Hawkman #33

Hawkman #49

Hawkworld #32

Herc #10

Heroes for Hire #19

The Hulk #27 (magazine)

Human Torch #12

Immortal Thor #25

Impulse #89</>

Incredible Hulk #474

The Intimates #12

Invaders #15

Invaders #41

Iron Man #332

Iron Man #89/434

JLA #125

JLA Classified #54

John Carter, Warlord of Mars #28

Jonah Hex #92

Jonah Hex #70

Journey Into Mystery #521

Judge Dredd #18

Justice League Odyssey #25

Justice League of America #113

Justice League Task Force #37

Justice League Quarterly #17

Justice League Unlimited #46

Justice League 3001 #12

Justice Society #10

Kamandi #59

Ka-Zar #20

Ka-Zar the Savage #34

Kobalt #16

Kull #10

Kull the Destroyer #29

Legends of the DC Universe #41

Legion Lost #16

Legion of Super-Heroes #23

Legion of Super-Heroes #63

Legion of Super-Heroes #50

Major Bummer #15

Manhunter #24

Marvel Adventures #18

Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four #48

Marvel Adventures: Spider Man #24

Marvel Comics Presents #175

Marvel Fanfare #60

Marvel Spotlight #33

Marvel Super Action #37

Marvel Super-Heroes #15

Marvel Tales #291

Marvel Universe #7

Master of Kung Fu #125

Masters of the Universe #13

Micronauts #11

Micronauts #11 (IDW)

Micronauts #20

Micronauts #59

Mockingbird #8

Moon Knight #12

Moon Knight #17

Moon Knight #38

Moon Knight #30

Moon Knight, Fist of Khonshu #6

Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #15

Motormouth & Killpower #12

Mutant X #32

Mystery in Space #117

New Mutants #50

Nexus #80

Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #47

Nightcrawler #12

Nightstalkers #18

Night Thrasher #21

Nomad #25

Nova #25

Nth Man #16

OMAC #8

Orion #25

Over the Edge #10

Outsiders #28</>

Power Girl #27

Power of the Atom #18

Power Pack #62

Punisher #103/Punisher War Zone #41/Punisher War Journal #80

Punisher #18 (1997)

Punisher #12 (2023)

Punisher War Journal #26 (Not #29, I had to edit that!)

PunisherMAX #22

Quasar #60

The Question #36

R.E.B.E.L.s '96 #17

R.E.B.E.L.s #28

Red Hood/Arsenal #13

Red Lanterns #40

Red Sonja #2 (1983)

Robin #183

Robocop #23

Rune #7

Sam Slade, Robohunter #31

Savage Avengers #28, #10

Scavengers #14

Secret Defenders #25

Secret Six #36

Sergio Aragonés Funnies #12

Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #167

the Shadow #19

the Shadow #25

She-Hulk #15

Shogun Warriors #20

Silver Surfer #14

Silver Surfer #146

Solo #12

Spider-Man 2099 #46

Spidey #12

SpongeBob Comics #85

Starman #45

Star Trek #56

Star Trek #60

Star Trek #80

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine #15

Star Trek #18/Star Trek: the Next Generation #80/Star Trek: Deep Space Nine #32

Star Wars #107

Star Wars #20

Star Wars #50

Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #42

Static #45

Stormwatch #50

Strikeforce Morituri #31

Suicide Squad #66

Suicide Squad #15

Superboy and the Ravers #19

Superboy #100

Superior Foes of Spider-Man

Superior Iron Man #9

Superman Family Adventures #12

Superman: the Man of Steel #134

Super-Villian Team-Up #17

Tales of Suspense #104

Tarzan #29

Team Titans #24

Teen Titans #100

The Terminator #17

The Thing #36

Thor #502

Thunderbolts #32

Thunderbolts #81

Thunderstrike #24

Transformers: Generation 2 #12

The Twilight Zone #4

Unbelievable Gwenpool #25

Uncanny Origins #14

Unexpected #222

Unknown Soldier #25

Unknown Soldier #268

Valor #23

Vigilante #50

Warlock and the Infinity Watch #42

Warlord #16

Warlord #133

Wasteland #18

Web of Spider-Man #129

Weird War Tales #124

Werewolf by Night #6

What The--?! #26

The Witching Hour #85

Wolverine #13

Wonder Woman #329

World's Finest Comics #323

Xander in Lost Universe #8

X-Men #41

X-Men: Evolution #9

X-Men: Gold #36

X-Statix #26

X-51: the Machine Man #12

Young All-Stars #31

Young Justice #25

Young Justice #55

2000 A.D. Showcase #54

2099: World of Tomorrow #8

And the rest! There are still somehow a few that weren't blogged year-end.

Double ugh: the next task, besides maybe clearing a few extra line-breaks, would be putting the year behind each entry; to justify things like why "Suicide Squad #66" is ahead of "Suicide Squad #15." Although you can just click through and figure it out, so...

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