Four Color Fear: Forgotten Horror Comics of the 1950s #1

Of the myriad genres comic books ventured into during its golden age, none was as controversial as or came at a greater cost than horror; the public outrage it incited almost destroyed the entire industry. Yet before the watchdog groups and Congress could intercede, horror books were flying off the newsstands. During its peak period (1951-54) over fifty titles appeared each month. Apparently there was something perversely irresistible about these graphic excursions into our dark side, and Four Color Fear collects the finest of these into a single robust and affordable volume.

EC is the comic book company most fans associate with horror; its complete line has been reprinted numerous times, and deservedly so. But to the average reader there remain unseen quite a batch of genuinely disturbing, compulsive, imaginative, at times even touching, horror stories presented from a variety of visions and perspectives, many of which at their best can stand toe to toe with EC.

All of the better horror companies are represented: Ace, Ajax-Farrell, American Comics Group, Avon, Comic Media, Fawcett, Fiction House, Gilmor, Harvey, Quality, Standard, St. John, Story, Superior, Trojan, Youthful and Ziff-Davis. Artist perennials Jack Cole, Reed Crandall, George Evans, Frank Frazetta, Jack Katz, Al Williamson, Basil Wolverton, and Wallace Wood contribute both stories and covers, with many of the 32 full-sized covers created by specialists Bernard Baily, L.B. Cole, William Eckgren, and Matt Fox. (See below for a link to the full Table of Contents.)

Editors John Benson and Greg Sadowski have sifted through hundreds of rare books to cherry-pick the most compelling scripts and art, and they provide extensive background notes on the artists, writers, and companies involved in their creation. Digital restoration has been performed with subtlety and restraint, mainly to correct registration and printing errors, with every effort made to retain the flavor of the original comics, and to provide the reader the experience of finding in the attic a bound volume of the finest non-EC horror covers and stories of the pre-code era.

Table of Contents

• The Strange Case of Henpecked Harry - Fred Kida
• Pit of the Damned - Bob Powell
• Corpses...Coast to Coast - Iger Studio
• A Pact with the Devil - Jack Cole
• The Corpse That Came to Dinner - Reed Crandall & Mike Peppe
• The Maze Master - Lou Cameron
• Swamp Monster - Basil Wolverton
• Discovery - Manny Stallman & John Giunta
• Death Sentence - Sid Check
• Death Deals a Hand - Iger Studio
• Custodian of the Dead - Jack Cole
• Servants of the Tomb - Bob Powell
• Nightmare - Harry Lazarus
• Me, Ghost - Jack Katz
• Dust unto Dust - Howard Nostrand
• Drum of Doom - Al Williamson & King Ward*
• The Body Maker - Warren Kremer
• Green Horror - Iger Studio
• Cover Section
• Puppet Peril - Ernie Bache & Harry Harrison
• Mother Mongoose’s Nursery Crimes - Howard Nostrand
• Chef’s Delight - Dick Beck* & Bill Savage*
• Colorama - Bob Powell
• The Thing from the Sea - Wallace Wood
• The Flapping Head - Al Williamson, et al.
• Amnesia - Warren Kremer
• Vision of the Gods - Everett Raymond Kinstler
• The Man Who Outdistanced Death - George Evans
• I, Vampire - Howard Nostrand
• Experiment in Terror - Iger Studio
• Art for Death’s Sake - Rudy Palais
• A Safari of Death - Bob Powell
• Night Screams - Iger Studio
• Here Today... - Sid Check & Frank Frazetta
• Cat’s Death - Joe Kubert
• The Wall of Flesh - Bob Powell
• Nightmare World - Basil Wolverton
• What’s Happening at... 8:30 P.M. - Howard Nostrand
• Valley of Horror - Jack Cole
• The Slithering Horror of Skontong Swamp - George Evans
• Evil Intruder - Iger Studio
• Notes
• Cover Section Key
• The Pre-Code Horror Comics

* Attribution not certain