pre-code horror Archives

Kramer launched Star Publications in 1949 before the Pre-Code Horror era had become a boom.  It's clear from looking at the first three years of Star Publications title launches that horror wasn't really on their radar.  And of course, the inventory they acquired from Curtis/Novelty Publications contained very little real horror, and the business plan[...]

Lasting for for 21 issues 1951-1955, Strange Mysteries was a successful Pre-Code Horror title by any standard Its publisher Superior Publications was a Canadian company that reprinted a wide range of material from U.S publishers but also created original material for distribution in both the U.S and Canada.  Strange Mysteries was one of these original[...]

It's become something I noodle with and take a fresh look at once or twice a year.  But when I saw that there's a CGC FN- 5.5 copy of Tim Holt #30 (Magazine Enterprises, 1952) in this 2024 October 24 – 25 Pre-Code Horror & Crime Comics Showcase Auction #40272 at Heritage Auctions, I couldn't[...]

And his crime comics also became more extreme.  Fight Against Crime #20 might just be the most sought-after crime cover of the later Pre-Code era, and there's a CGC VG/FN 5.0 copy up for auction in the 2024 October 24 – 25 Pre-Code Horror & Crime Comics Showcase Auction #40272 at Heritage Auctions. Fight Against Crime #20 (Story[...]

As the first horror-only comic book, 1947's Eerie Comics #1 from publisher Avon is widely considered the true beginning of the Pre-Code Horror era.  Perhaps Avon's Joseph Meyers was inspired to this by editor Donald A Wolheim's pitch for the Avon Fantasy Reader pulp digest, which would launch a month later and contain plenty of[...]

Stoner and the legendary Joe Kubert among others, and ran for four issues 1945-1946.  The entire series is tough to get, but there's a high-grade CGC VF 8.0 Off-white pages copy of Challenger #2 up for auction in the  2023 July 13 – 14 Pre-Code Horror & Crime Comics Showcase Auction #40227 at Heritage Auctions. The[...]

Legendary creator Bill Everett contributed nearly 100 covers to the Marvel/Atlas Pre-Code era, most of them highly sought-after by collectors today, and his cover for Venus #19 is considered the best of the bunch, and one of the best Pre-Code Horror covers ever created.  The story behind the cover, also written and drawn by Everett,[...]

The title's 19 issue run from 1948 to 1952 and spans a time of major change in the American Comic book industry.  Superheroes were on the decline, and other genres such as romance, horror, and science fiction were on the rise on America's newsstands.  Venus started as a sort of light-hearted superhero/romance hybrid, with the[...]

Our recent post about the 1950 Ace Magazines release Challenge of the Unknown #6 reminded me of the unusual nature of that one-issue title.  Looking at it in the context of horror comics history, it is Ace's "proper" debut into Pre-Code Horror, after dabbling in the horror genre in Super-Mystery Comics and Four Favorites a[...]

Strange Stories from Another World #4 from Fawcett is a Norman Saunders Pre-Code Horror classic Saunders is best remembered for his pulp magazine covers for a variety of publishers, but he also painted over 100 comic book covers, primarily for publishers Fawcett and Ziff-Davis.  Many of these are ridiculously underappreciated, but there's a very nice[...]

A foundational creator of the Golden Age, Bill Everett is best known for his creation of Namor the Sub-Mariner in that era and his co-creation of Daredevil in the Silver Age.  But Everett excelled at an astonishing range of material, and his work between those two ages for Marvel/Atlas during the Pre-Code era on science[...]

There's a high-grade CGC FN/VF 7.0 copy up for auction in the 2024 October 24 – 25 Pre-Code Horror & Crime Comics Showcase Auction #40272 at Heritage Auctions. Exposed #2 Pedigree (D.S Publishing, 1948). Exposed #2 includes one of the most gruesome and notorious stories in the series with "The Case of the Giggling Killer," about a boy who[...]

With a little over 25 known credits in the comic book industry from 1951 to 1955, Vince Napoli is not the first name that comes to mind when it comes to Pre-Code Horror comic book art But Napoli is considered an important pulp illustrator of the 1930s through the early 1950s.  Best remembered for his[...]

Chilling Tales #16 is the best of both worlds when it comes to Pre-Code Horror.  It's got a wonderfully creepy cover, and some classic horror interiors to match.  While we don't know who drew that cover, the contents here appear to have been assembled by Adolphe Barreaux's Majestic Studio.  Barreaux was a longtime associate of[...]

Zombies were a staple part of the Pre-Code Horror era, and of course, there had been comic books that featured the living dead long before that.  The Master of Corpses in More Fun Comics #31 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster is one early Golden Age example from 1938 Tarpé Mills Purple Zombie (Heroic Comics[...]

Witches Tales #25 (Harvey, 1954) is a classic among two different groups of people for two different reasons that involve the same story.  Pre-Code Horror collectors love that classic terrifying yet fascinating cover by Warren Kremer, which purports to represent the interior feature named "What's Happening at… 8:30 PM," while there's been a lot of[...]

The Davis Crippen CGC FN+ 6.5 copy of Horrific #1 (Comic Media, 1952) is up for auction in the 2024 October 24 – 25 Pre-Code Horror & Crime Comics Showcase Auction #40272 at Heritage Auctions. Horrific #1 (Comic Media, 1952) Comic Media was founded by former Harvey Comics circulation manager Allen Hardy, whose primary artists Don Heck and[...]

Harvey Comics regular Warren Kremer had them well-covered on this one, and that helps make this Black Cat Mystery #37 (Harvey, 1952) Condition: VG- a Pre-Code Horror gem It's well worth your attention in the 2024 May 26-28 Sunday, Monday & Tuesday Comic Books Select Auction #122422 at Heritage Auctions. Black Cat Mystery #37 (Harvey, 1952) Cover[...]

And most of the debut issue and some other early issue stories were written by horror and science fiction legend Frank Belknap Long.  There's a nice group of the Pre-Code Horror era of Adventures of the Unknown, including an Adventures Into The Unknown #1 (ACG, 1948) up for auction in the 2022 March 31 The Black[...]

Farrell Publications published some 321 issues of 62 titles from 1951-1958, which is to say that most Farrell series were short lived.  The company put out a wide range of genres from romance to war comics, but might be best remembered for their Pre-Code Horror line and their underappreciated mid-1950s superhero line which included former[...]

Heritage's auction blurb for Dark Mysteries #19 almost reads like a checklist of elements that soon brought Pre-Code Horror comic books to the attention of critics like Fredric Wertham and to the United States Senate:  "classic bondage, skull, water wheel torture cover surrounds an injury-to-eye panel and art."  It almost seems like the publisher or[...]

According to GCD data, they published Kelly Freas' very first work in comics, and it's a doozy.  There's a nice copy of the Pre-Code Horror gem which features that classic Kelly Freas painted good girl cover on Witchcraft #5 (Avon, 1953) CGC FN- 5.5 Off-white pages up for auction in the 2023 July 13 – 14 Pre-Code[...]

Although he is best remembered for his DC Comics work, legendary comic book creator Sheldon Moldoff made important contributions to the Pre-Code Horror genre with a number of publishers of the early 1950s For example, Moldoff contributed heavily to Fawcett Publications' brief foray into horror, and his April 1953 cover-dated cover and story for This[...]

Perhaps best known for titles such as Exciting Comics and Startling Comics, publisher Ned Pines put out 1211 comic book issues across 117 titles from 1939 to 1959, using imprints including Better, Nedor, and Standard.  As those numbers imply, many of those titles were short-lived, and like many comic book publishers, Pines was quick to[...]

The Pre-Code Horror period of 1950s comics is full of weird and underappreciated gems While we've recently discussed how the ACG series Adventures into the Unknown is considered the first ongoing horror title, the first issue of that series is not considered the first horror comic book.  That distinction belongs to Eerie #1 from publisher[...]

Dick Ayers' Magazine Enterprises Ghost Rideris a stand out example of the artist's work, combining western, supernatural and herioic themes.

The incredibly obscure Mysteries Pre-Code Horror series is very tough to get, even by PCH standards.  Its publisher Superior Publications was a Canadian company that reprinted a wide range of material from U.S publishers but also created original material for distribution in both the U.S and Canada.  Mysteries was one of these original material titles,[...]

Heritage's auction blurb for Dark Mysteries #19 almost reads like a checklist of elements that soon brought Pre-Code Horror comic books to the attention of critics like Fredric Wertham and to the United States Senate:  "classic bondage, skull, water wheel torture cover surrounds an injury-to-eye panel and art."  It almost seems like the publisher or[...]

Wild Bill Hickok became Avon Publications' longest-lived series, but the title character took a back seat to Calamity Jane on his series debut

In 1946, the New York Times reported on tons of missing Uranium ore in Brazil, a historical incident forgotten by everyone, except for The Shadow.