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