The Horror Comics

From the Golden Age of the 1940s, through the Silver Age of the ’60s, up until the early ’80s—the end of the Bronze Age. Included are the earliest series, like American Comics Group’s Adventures into the Unknown and Prize Comics’ Frankenstein, and the controversial and gory comics of the ’40s, such as EC’s infamous and influential Tales from the Crypt. The resurgence of monster-horror titles during the ’60s is explored, along with the return of horror anthologies like Dell Comics’ Ghost Stories and Charlton’s Ghostly Tales from the Haunted House.
The explosion of horror titles following the relaxation of the comics code in the ’70s is fully documented with chapters on Marvel’s prodigious output—The Tomb of Dracula, Werewolf by Night and others—DC’s anthologies—Witching Hour and Ghosts—and titles such as Swamp Thing, as well as the notable contributions of firms like Gold Key and Atlas. This book examines how horror comics exploited everyday terrors, and often reflected societal attitudes toward women and people who were different.

William Schoell is the author of numerous books about the performing arts and pop culture, and the writer of the blog Great Old Movies. He lives in New York.

William Schoell
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 288
Bibliographic Info: 27 photos, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2014
pISBN: 978-0-7864-7027-3
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1835-7
Imprint: McFarland

Preface 1
Part I: The Golden Age, Pre–1956 3
One: American Comics Group (ACG) 5
Two: EC Comics 19
Three: Prize Comics 42
Four: Atlas, Timely and Marvel 52
Five: DC, Fawcett, Charlton and Harvey 67
Six: Ace and ­Ajax-Farrell 92
Seven: Avon, ­Better/Nedor, Comic Media and More 105
Eight: Key, St. John’s, Story, Quality, Smaller and Canadian Publishers 119
Part II: The Silver Age, 1956–1969 137
Nine: Marvel, DC and Charlton 139
Ten: Dell and Gold Key 158
Part III: The Bronze Age, 1970–1983 173
Eleven: Dracula, Frankenstein and Werewolf by Night 175
Twelve: Man-Thing, Morbius and More 193
Thirteen: DC’s Horror Anthologies 209
Fourteen: More Sinister Houses 223
Fifteen: Phantom Strangers and Swamp Things 237
Sixteen: Charlton, Gold Key and Atlas 248
Bibliography 271
Index 273

• “Valuable…excellent addition to the shelves or tablets of any horror scholar”—Dead Reckonings.