1st Horror Comic?

EERIE COMICS No. 1, published by Avon and released for January 1947, holds the distinction of being the first stand-alone horror comic published in the United States. SPOOK SHOW readers were thrilled with its premiere, but disappointed that there was no follow-up...until 1951, when Avon restarted the numbering of EERIE COMICS with another issue #1. The 1947 EERIE COMICS comprised six horror stories, a two-page non-comic drawn tale--all in a 52 pager. We hope to upload several contents in the near future!

The Other Side of the Macabre Mirror

SPOOK SHOW and its readers were in 7th Heaven with the advent of horror comics in the 1950s. Mentions and even reviews of these comics were standard in the pages of the magazine. Here's a sample story, "The Other Side of the Macabre Mirror," from the May 1952 issue of THE BEYOND, published by Ace Comics.

(click on graphic to make it bigger)

Cover of THE BEYOND, May 1952:



"The Other Side of the Macabre Mirror":

Enough Chills to Freeze an Eskimo!

One of the great things about SPOOK SHOW was that the publication would print ad mats from newspapers. Here's one from THE DETROIT NEWS, Friday, June 6, 1941. It's a double-bill of KING OF THE ZOMBIES and INVISIBLE GHOST.

As it may be hot where you are during this July 4th Weekend, you would be advised to step into the air-conditioned Adams Theater and watch this program. Don't forget "Even Frankenstein and Dracula Would Tremble at this Carnival of Terror!" The double-bill was recommended by The Horror Club, a contemporary of SPOOK SHOW.

Below are trailers for this chilling program. (Note: The KING OF THE ZOMBIES trailer has low sound.)

The Green Lantern was Crafted by a Lunatic!

Having seen the GREEN LANTERN movie the other day, I recollected that a couple of issues of SPOOK SHOW did mention the character--the original character in the comics, who first appeared in the Golden Age ALL-AMERICAN COMICS #16, July 1940. This "Green Lantern" was not the Hal Jordan of the 2011 film or the "Silver Age" era, but Alan Scott, railroad engineer.

SPOOK SHOW kept a vigilant watch on the comic book scene, hoping to see the emergence of the supernatural and macabre in them. Their hope would be answered eventually in the 1950s, but early on there was very little of horror in comic books.

The 1st issue of the Green Lantern's own comic contained this introduction, which summarized the incidents in the 16th issue of ALL-AMERICAN COMICS:



"Into the humdrum reality of everyday life, into a world harassed by crime, there comes a fantastic being with strange supernatural powers.... A being determined to stamp out evil and bring justice where it has never been before.... This is the man called -- GREEN LANTERN!"

"Strange supernatural powers" contained much potential to the staff of SPOOK SHOW, particularly as the lantern itself was fashioned from a green lamp by a lunatic! Yes, a madman found the green genii-type lamp that had been fashioned in earlier times in China (from a meteor containing a weird green flame). This lunatic, in turn, made a lantern, of the type used by railwaymen, and it was this magical lantern that saved Alan Scott when the train he was riding met with sabotage. The lantern then tells Scott the story of its progression on earth, from meteor flame to lamp to lantern, and the power that now will reside with Scott, who is told to fashion a ring from the lantern and activate the power of this ring by touching it to the lantern every twenty-four hours.

To SPOOK SHOW's disappointment, however, the series appears to never have genuinely ventured into the supernatural zone, and it certainly did not investigate the fantastical plot possibilities of a lantern being crafted by a madman. Instead, the Green Lantern character fought crime and, understandably for the time, the Axis powers of the Second World War.

Introduction

This, a promo for Steven Warren Hill's SILVER SCREAM books, is an excellently assembled video, showcasing many classic horror moments and so appropriate as the start of this SPOOK SHOW blog.