THE THING! NO. 5 (CHARLTON)

THE THING!
Vol. 1 No. 5
October-November 1952
Capitol Stories, Inc., An Outstanding Comics Publication (Charlton Publications)
Editor: Alfred V. Fago
Cover: Lou Morales
Pages: 36
Cover price: 10 cents

Known as "An Outstanding Comic" for the last few issues, THE THING! also saw a change in its publisher colophon to "Capitol Stories, Inc.". Still, with all the technical changes, the contents and creators remained the same. Notable this issue is the story, "Murderer's Row", drawn by Tex Blaisdell. Blaisdell who worked on newspaper comic strips such as LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE and MARY PERKINS ON STAGE, inked numerous titles for DC Comics, and was a long-time instructor with the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art.

Also in this issue, the title begins to take a turn into the more gruesome with its "headless" cover and various violent and gory images inside. Still, nothing like what would come later...