TERROR ILLUSTRATED NO. 1 (PART 1)

TERROR ILLUSTRATED

Vol. 1 No. 1

November-December 1955

I.C. Publishing Company, Inc.

Publisher: Bill Gaines

Editor: Al Feldstein

Cover: Reed Crandall

Pages: 60

Cover price: 25 cents

The cover title read "Adult Tales of Terror Illustrated" but shortened up on the indicia for this first of another bold experiment by Bill Gaines. This was printed in a magazine-size format to skirt the Comics Code Authority which had seized censorship power over the comic book industry the previous year. A part of the "picto-fiction" line, it lasted for only two issues; a third was prepped but not printed because EC's distributor went bankrupt. You can get the reprinted collection, including the unpublished third issue at many of the usual sources including HERE.

CONTENTS

"The Sucker"

Script: Al Feldstein (as Maxwell Williams)

Art: Reed Crandall

"Sure-Fire Scheme"

Script: John Larner

Art: Joe Orlando

"Rest in Peace"

Script: Jack Oleck

Art: George Evans

"The Basket"

Script: Al Feldstein

Art: Graham Ingels

"The Gorilla's Paw"

Script: Al Feldstein

Art: Johnny Craig

COVER MYSTERY UNMASKED!

UPDATE: The two comments from "Anonymous" below got me thinking again about a detail that was knocking around in my head when I wrote this post but couldn't come up with an answer: not only was it the face in these images, but it was also that clawed hand springing up from the ground. I knew I'd seen it somewhere but until the comments came in it just wasn't coming to me.

I have a copy of the MASTERS OF HORROR anthology and after digging it out from the back of one of my bookshelves I scanned it. The image is a match, and after considering the possibilities that the comments brought up, I'm incline to agree.

I haven't bestowed one of these for a while, so, "Anonymous", consider yourself a WOM Certified Monsterologist!

ORIGINAL POST:

I recently came across this image from the September 1946 issue of BLACK MASK and something tickled my brain. There was something decidedly familiar about it and after a few seconds of thinking I remembered it -- or something close to it -- on an early CREEPY cover.

Turns out I was right and the image indeed was used on the cover of CREEPY #24 with the art credit going to Brazilian artist Gutenberg Monteiro. The image shows up again on a 1954 British detective pulp called DETECTIVE STORY MAGAZINE. I posted something about this HERE.

It didn't take a brain transplant from Dr. Frankenstein to figure out that the original image was from the BLACK MASK cover by the esteemed pulp artist Rafael De Soto. I believe we can now call this mystery "case closed".

See more Sinister Simulacra HERE.

MONSTER TIMES NO. 12

THE MONSTER TIMES

Vol. 1 No. 12

June 28, 1972

The Monster Times Publishing Company, Inc.

Publishers: Larry Brill; Les Waldstein

Editor: Joe Kane

Managing editor: Joe Brancatelli

Copy editor: Allan Asherman

Associate editors: Mark Frank; Phil Seuling; Steve Vertlieb; Jim Wnoroski

Cover: Wendy Wenzel (Gorgo)

Pages: 32

Cover price: 50 cents

Called the bridge between FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND and FANGORIA, THE MONSTER TIMES was nevertheless an anomaly in the history of monster magazines. Created by Sol Brodsky and Israel Waldman, the bi-weekly (later monthly) newsprint 'zine was quite popular among monster fans. Several editors passed in and out of its office doors but with issue #11 Joe Kane took the position and remained there until the last issue. Kane also had a successful journalism career and wrote for the NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, as well as THE VILLAGE VOICE, HIGH TIMES and SCREW. His book, THE PHANTOM’S ULTIMATE VIDEO GUIDE is a seminal reference book of B-movies.