WEIRD TALES OF THE MACABRE NO. 2

WEIRD TALES OF THE MACABRE
Vol. 1 No. 2
March 1975
Seaboard Periodicals
Publishers: Martin Goodman, Charles Goodman
Editor: Jeff Rovin
Cover: Boris Vallejo
Pages: 68
Cover price: 75 cents

To recap my entry for the first issue of WEIRD TALES OF THE MACABRE...

Since the concept of a magazine-sized horror comic was hatched in 1964 in the form of CREEPY by Warren Publishing, there have been many others since then who haven taken their best shot, most recently, THE CREEPS, by "Warrant" Publishing. CREEPY is the last mag standing from the earlier days, and only because it was "rebooted" a few years ago by Dark Horse, this time into a comic book-sized comic. With few exceptions, all the others over the years have been kicked to the curb, most of them falling through the grate into the storm drain of magazine history.

Seaboard's WEIRD TALES OF THE MACABRE was one of them. Lasting for just two issues, it was one of the magazine titles by breakaway publisher Marty Goodman that appeared, along with a couple of dozen comic books in the 1970s designed to take on the Juggernaut that was Marvel. The "Atlas/Seaboard" line as it became known, had its roots in the pre-Marvel days before the 60s explosion of super heroes, publishing crime and horror/sci-fi/fantasy titles such as CRIME CAN'T WIN, STRANGE TALES, and TALES OF SUSPENSE.

Whatever the combination, WTOM and the rest of Seaboard's titles couldn't stay above water. In retrospect it would have instead been interesting to see what could have been if Seaboard could have gotten out of the shallow water of the comic business.

Posted today is the second and last issue of Seaboard's WTOM. This 'zine was as good as any "illustrated horror" 'zine at the time, but it appears that distribution was the problem which led to its demise. Kashdan and Severin's "Who Toys With Terror!" is a standout.

NOTE: This scan is a stripped-down version of the issue and only contains the comic stories.

CONTENTS
"The Bog Beast"
Story: Gabe Levy
Art: Badia Romero

"Dr. Mercurio's Diary"
Story: Al Moniz
Art: Xirinius

"Carrion of the Gods"
Story and art: Pat Boyette

"Who Toys With Terror!"
Story: George Kashdan
Art: John Severin

"The Staff of Death"
Story and art: Leo Summers

The Films of Edgar Allen Poe: text article by Karl Macek (not included with this post)