JOHNNY CRAIG ORIGINAL EC ART

Johnny Craig was one of the EC Comics illustrators whose career was revived in the Warren magazines. Here is his original auction art from VAULT OF HORROR #16 (December 1950-January 1951). The story, "Werewolf Concerto", was both scripted and drawn by Craig. It is the only story where the Vault Keeper appears on every page. Monsterologists may recognize the twist ending of this tale to be the reversed in one of the stories that appeared in the first issue of CREEPY, which was illustrated by another EC alumnus. Besides the story, Craig's art was used for the cover. Oddly, the cover for VAULT OF HORROR #17 (see above) was by Craig as well, and could have easily been used for the cover of #16.

NOTE: The pages that follow the original art is the color story from the Russ Cochran reprint (VAULT OF HORROR #5, October, 1993).

OH, WHAT A BEAUTIFUL SHE CREATURE!

Although she only starred in a handful of B-movies in the 1950's, Marleine Gaile English (January 4, 1935 – December 10, 2012) made her mark as one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood at the time. Making just two genre films, THE SHE CREATURE (1956) and VOODOO WOMAN (1957), she married and retired after the latter at the age of only 21!

Also active in a modeling career, here she is a a pictorial in the men's adventure magazine, BATTLE CRY (April, 1957), complete with insipid captions.

BALLANTINE PAPERBACK INDEX 1957-1978

If you're a "vintage" Monster Kid like me, you'll remember all those great Ballantine paperbacks from the yesteryear. Their horror story collections, science-fiction novels, as well as their Tarzan series and the "authorized" Tolkien books kept our imagination fired up, to say the least.

The May, 1978 issue of the fanzine, SCIENCE FICTION COLLECTOR (#6) included an index of all the Ballantine titles from 1959 through 1976. It's a fascinating look back at just how prolific these were, and their influence on genre literature cannot be underestimated.