THE WITCHING HOUR
Vol. 1 No. 12
December 1970-January 1971
National Periodical Publications, Inc. (DC Comics)
Editor: Dick Giordano
Cover: Nick Cardy
Writers: Steve Skeates
Artists: Alex Toth; George Tuska; Gil Kane
Pages: 36
Cover price: 15 cents
NOTE: Third-party ads have been removed.
I always enjoyed Alex Toth's work on these issues of THE WITCHING HOUR, both on the "host segments" and the stories. That first appearance of the witch riding a storm cloud is a lulu!
ReplyDeleteGeorge Tuska's work is also solid here, and Gil Kane delivers a wild array of distorted angles and hysterical faces to depict poor Mrs. Coburn's demonic ordeal. (And note the YOGA book on page 3, "by Eli Katz"-- Gil Kane's birth name!)
For some reason, until I read these issues again here, I never picked upon this-- though I'm sure others have spotted it long before:
Mordred, Mildred and Cynthia are direct parallels to Warren's trio of "hosts"-- tall and craggy Uncle Creepy, short and roly-poly Cousin Eerie, and curvy femme fatale Vampirella! However, Vampi's first appearance didn't come until months after the first issue of TWH.
OTOH, they *also* parallel Archie Comics' original versions of Aunt Hilda, Aunt Zelda and Sabrina, the Teen-Age Witch-- so maybe that was the actual inspiration (and early versions of Sabrina had "spooky" eyes and V-shaped blonde bangs plus a hairband).
Anyway, thanks again for this nostalgia trip, John! Love this blog!
-- hsc
These types of anthology comics literally teem with hosts. They can be traced all the way back to the 1930's when they were seen introducing "creepy mysteries" (not yet called "horror" stories).
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