Horror comics are
comic book
A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...
s,
graphic novel
A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and Anthology, anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics sc ...
s, black-and-white comics magazines, and
manga
are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
focusing on
horror fiction
Horror is a genre of speculative fiction that is intended to disturb, frighten, or scare an audience. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon, in 1984, defin ...
. In the US market, horror comic books reached a peak in the late 1940s through the mid-1950s, when concern over content and the imposition of the self-censorship
Comics Code Authority
The Comics Code Authority (CCA) was formed in 1954 by the Comics Magazine Association of America as an alternative to government regulation. The CCA enabled comic publishers to self-regulate the content of American comic book, comic books in the ...
contributed to the demise of many titles and the toning down of others. Black-and-white horror-comics magazines, which did not fall under the Code, flourished from the mid-1960s through the early 1980s from a variety of publishers. Mainstream American color comic books experienced a horror resurgence in the 1970s, following a loosening of the Code. While the genre has had greater and lesser periods of popularity, it occupies a firm niche in comics as of the 2010s.
Precursors to horror comics include detective and crime comics that incorporated horror motifs into their graphics, and early superhero stories that sometimes included the likes of ghouls and vampires. Individual horror stories appeared as early as 1940. The first dedicated horror comic books appear to be
Gilberton Publications' ''
Classic Comics'' #13 (August 1943), with its full-length adaptation of
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...
's ''
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'' is an 1886 Gothic horror novella by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. It follows Gabriel John Utterson, a London-based legal practitioner who investigates a series of strange occurrences between ...
'', and
Avon Publications' anthology ''
Eerie
Eerie may refer to:
* Feeling of creepiness
* Eerie (magazine), ''Eerie'' (magazine), an American horror comic first published in 1966
* Eerie (Avon), ''Eerie'' (Avon), a 1947 horror comic
* Eerie (film), ''Eerie'' (film), a 2018 Filipino horror fi ...
'' #1 (January 1947), the first horror comic with original content. The first horror-comics series is the anthology ''
Adventures into the Unknown'', premiering in 1948 from
American Comics Group, initially under the imprint B&I Publishing.
Precursors
The
horror tradition in sequential-art narrative traces back to at least the 12th-century
Heian period
The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...
Japanese
scroll
A scroll (from the Old French ''escroe'' or ''escroue''), also known as a roll, is a roll of papyrus, parchment, or paper containing writing.
Structure
A scroll is usually partitioned into pages, which are sometimes separate sheets of papyru ...
"Gaki Zoshi", or the scroll of
hungry ghosts (紙本著色餓鬼草紙)
[ Bissette, Stephen R., and Rupert Bottenberg]
"Description: ''Stephen R. Bissette's Journeys into Fear''"
FantasiaFest.com, July 16–17, 2005
WebCitation archive
and the 16th-century
Mixtec codices.

In the early 20th-century,
pulp magazine
Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 until around 1955. The term "pulp" derives from the Pulp (paper), wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed, due to their ...
s developed the horror
subgenre
Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...
"
weird menace", which featured
sadistic villains and graphic scenes of
torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...
and brutality. The first such title, Popular Publications' ''Dime Mystery'', began as a straight
crime fiction
Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...
magazine but evolved by 1933 under the influence of ''
Grand Guignol'' theater.
Other publishers eventually joined in, though Popular dominated the field with ''Dime Mystery'', ''Horror Stories'', and ''Terror Tales''. While most weird-menace stories were resolved with rational explanations, some involved the supernatural.
After the fledgling medium of comic books became established by the late 1930s, horror-fiction elements began appearing in
superhero
A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...
stories, with vampires, misshapen creatures, mad scientists and other tropes that bore the influence of the
Universal horror film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...
s of the 1930s and other sources.
[Vassallo, Michael J. "The History of Atlas Horror/Fantasy" in '' Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Strange Tales Vol. 1'' ( Marvel Publishing: ]New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
, 2007), , p. vi
In 1935,
National Periodicals
National Comics Publications (NCP; later known as National Periodical Publications Inc. or simply National) was an American comic book publishing company. It was the direct predecessor of modern-day DC Comics.
History
The corporation was origin ...
published the first story of
Doctor Occult by
Jerry Siegel
Jerome "Jerry" Siegel ( ; October 17, 1914 – January 28, 1996) Roger Stern. ''Superman: Sunday Classics: 1939–1943'' DC Comics/ Kitchen Sink Press, Inc./ Sterling Publishing; 2006 was an American comic book writer. He was the co-creator of ...
(script) and
Joe Shuster
Joseph Shuster ( ; July 10, 1914 – July 30, 1992) was a Canadian-American comic book artist best known for co-creating the DC Comics character Superman, with Jerry Siegel, in ''Action Comics'' #1 ( cover-dated June 1938).
Shuster was involv ...
(Art) in ''
New Fun Comics'' # 6, where he confronts Vampire Master. In ''
Detective Comics
''Detective Comics'' (later retitled as ''Batman Detective Comics'') is an American comic book series published by Detective Comics, later shortened to DC Comics. The first volume, published from 1937 to 2011 (and later continued in 2016), is ...
'' # 31–32,
Batman
Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...
fights a vampire.
By the mid-1940s, some detective and crime comics had incorporated horror motifs such as spiders and eyeballs into their graphics, and occasionally featured stories adapted from the literary horror tales of
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre. He is widely re ...
or other writers, or stories from the pulps and radio programs. The single-issue
Harvey Comics
Harvey Comics (also known as Harvey World Famous Comics, Harvey Publications, Harvey Comics Entertainment, Harvey Hits, Harvey Illustrated Humor, and Harvey Picture Magazines) was an American comic book publisher, founded in New York City by Alf ...
anthologies ''Front Page Comic Book'' (1945), bearing a cover with a knife-wielding, skeletal ghoul, and ''Strange Story'' (July 1946), introduced writer-artist
Bob Powell's character the Man in Black, an early comic-book example of the type of
omniscient-observer host used in such contemporary
supernatural
Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...
and suspense
radio drama
Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, dramatised, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the liste ...
s as ''
Inner Sanctum'', ''
Suspense
Suspense is a state of anxiety or excitement caused by mysteriousness, uncertainty, doubt, or undecidedness. In a narrative work, suspense is the audience's excited anticipation about the plot or conflict (which may be heightened by a viol ...
,'' and ''
The Whistler''.
As cultural historian
David Hajdu notes, comic-book horror:
Early American scene

Issue #7 (December 1940) of publisher
Prize Comics
A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people (such as sporting teams and organizations) to recognize and reward their actions and achievements. ' flagship title, ''Prize Comics'', introduced writer-artist
Dick Briefer's eight-page feature "
New Adventures of Frankenstein", an updated version of novelist
Mary Shelley
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley ( , ; ; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic novel ''Frankenstein, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), which is considered an History of science fiction# ...
's much-adapted
Frankenstein monster
Frankenstein's monster, commonly referred to as Frankenstein, is a fictional character that first appeared in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel '' Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' as its main antagonist. Shelley's title compares the monster's ...
. Called "America's first ongoing comic book series to fall squarely within the
horror genre" by historian
Don Markstein
Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...
,
[Frankenstein (1940)]
at Don Markstein's Toonopedia
Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...
and "
e first real horror series" by horror-comics historian Lawrence Watt-Evans, the feature ran through ''Prize Comics'' #52 (April 1945) before becoming a humor series and then being revived in horrific form in the series ''Frankenstein'' #18-33 (March 1952 - November 1954).
Gilberton Publications' 60-page ''
Classic Comics'' #12 (June 1943) adapted
Washington Irving
Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He wrote the short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and "The Legend of Sleepy ...
's
short story
A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...
"
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" as a backup feature to Irving's "
Rip Van Winkle
"Rip Van Winkle" () is a short story by the American author Washington Irving, first published in 1819. It follows a Dutch-American villager in Colonial history of the United States, colonial America named Rip Van Winkle who meets mysterious Du ...
"
[Watt-Evans, ''Alter Ego'', p. 7] in a package titled ''Rip Van Winkle and the Headless Horseman''. The next issue, ''
Classic Comics'' #13 (August 1943), adapted
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...
's horror
novella
A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most novelettes and short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) ...
''
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'' is an 1886 Gothic horror novella by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. It follows Gabriel John Utterson, a London-based legal practitioner who investigates a series of strange occurrences between ...
'' as the full-length story ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'', making it the earliest known dedicated horror comic book.
[Overstreet, Robert M., ed. ''The Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide'' (37th edition: Gemstone Publishing / House of Collectibles : Timonium, ]Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...
/ New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
, 2007), , p. 499. Notation at ''Classic Comics'' #13: "(1st horror comic?)"
Historian
Ron Goulart
Ronald Joseph Goulart (; January 13, 1933 – January 14, 2022) was an American popular culture historian and mystery, fantasy and science fiction author.
He worked on novels and novelizations (and other works) being published under various ps ...
, making no mention of those earlier literary adaptations, identifies
Avon Publications' ''
Eerie
Eerie may refer to:
* Feeling of creepiness
* Eerie (magazine), ''Eerie'' (magazine), an American horror comic first published in 1966
* Eerie (Avon), ''Eerie'' (Avon), a 1947 horror comic
* Eerie (film), ''Eerie'' (film), a 2018 Filipino horror fi ...
'' #1, dated January 1947
[''Eerie'' (Avon, 1947 Series)]
at the Grand Comics Database
The Grand Comics Database (GCD) is an Internet-based project to build a database of comic book information through user contributions. The GCD project catalogues information on creator credits, story details, reprints, and other information use ...
. ''Eerie Comics'' is the title as per its cover logo; per this source, its title in its postal indicia copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...
information is simply ''Eerie''. Its January 1947 date appears in the indicia though not on its cover, and sold in late 1946, as "the first out-and-out horror comic book". Its cover featured a red-eyed, pointy-eared fiend threatening a
rope-bound, beautiful young woman in a scanty red evening gown, set amid a moonlit ruin. The anthology offered six primarily occult stories involving the likes of a ghost and a zombie. While all but one writer are unknown — Edward Bellin, who teamed with young artist
Joe Kubert
Joseph Kubert (; September 18, 1926 – August 12, 2012) was a Poland, Polish-born Americans, American comic book artist, art teacher, and founder of The Kubert School. He is best known for his work on the DC Comics characters Sgt. Rock and Hawk ...
on the nine-page "The Man-Eating Lizards"
— the artists include
George Roussos
George Roussos (; August 20, 1915 – February 19, 2000), also known under the pseudonym George Bell, was an American comic book artist best known as one of Jack Kirby's Silver Age of comic books, Silver Age inkers, including on landmark early is ...
and
Fred Kida. After this first issue, the title went dormant, but reappeared in 1951 as ''Eerie'', beginning with a new #1 and running 17 issues (1951 - September 1954).
Goulart identifies the long-running ''
Adventures into the Unknown'' (Fall 1948 - August 1967), from
American Comics Group, initially under the imprint B&I Publishing,
[''Adventures Into the Unknown'' (American Comics Group, 1948 Series)]
at the Grand Comics Database as "the first continuing-series horror comic". The first two issues, which included art by
Fred Guardineer and others, featured horror stories of ghosts, werewolves, haunted houses, killer puppets and other supernatural beings and locales. The premiere included a seven-page, abridged adaptation of
Horace Walpole
Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (; 24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English Whig politician, writer, historian and antiquarian.
He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twickenham, southwest London ...
's seminal
gothic novel
Gothic fiction, sometimes referred to as Gothic horror (primarily in the 20th century), is a literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name of the genre is derived from the Renaissance era use of the word "gothic", as a pejorative to mean ...
''
The Castle of Otranto
''The Castle of Otranto'' is a novel by Horace Walpole. First published in 1764, it is generally regarded as the first Gothic novel. In the second edition, Walpole applied the word 'Gothic' to the novel in the subtitle – ''A Gothic Story''. Se ...
'', by an unknown writer and artist
Al Ulmer.
Following the postwar
crime comics
Crime comics is a genre of American comic book, American comic books and format of crime fiction. The genre was originally popular in the late 1940s and early 1950s and is marked by a moralistic editorial tone and graphic depictions of violence a ...
vogue spearheaded by publisher
Lev Gleason's ''
Crime Does Not Pay'', which by 1948 was selling over a million copies a month, came
romance comics
Romance comics are a genre of comic book, comic books that were most popular during the Golden Age of Comics. The market for comics, which had been growing rapidly throughout the 1940s, began to plummet after the end of World War II when military ...
, which by 1949 outsold all other genres, and horror comics. The same month in which ''
Adventures into the Unknown'' premiered, the comic-book company
EC, which would become the most prominent horror-comics publisher of the 1950s, published its first horror story, "Zombie Terror", by the then relatively unknown writer and artist
, in the superhero comic ''Moon Girl'' #5.
[Watt-Evans, ''Alter Ego'', p. 8] Almost simultaneously, Trans-World Publications issued its one-and-only comic, the
one-shot ''Mysterious Traveler Comics'' #1 (November 1948), based on the
Mutual Broadcasting Network's
radio show of that name and including amid its crime and
science-fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, sp ...
stories a reprint of the
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre. He is widely re ...
adaptation "
The Tell Tale Heart", reprinted from
Charlton Comics
Charlton Comics was an American comic-book publishing company that existed from 1945 to 1986, having begun under a different name: T. W. O. Charles Company, in 1940. It was based in Derby, Connecticut. The comic-book line (comics), line was a divi ...
' ''Yellowjacket Comics'' #6.
Street and Smith also published two issues of "Ghost Breakers" in late 1948. (ibid GCDB)
The floodgates began to open the following year with the first horror comic from the 1950s' most prolific horror-comics publisher,
Atlas Comics, the decade's forerunner of
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...
. While horror had been an element in 1940s
superhero
A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...
stories from the original predecessor company,
Timely Comics
Timely Comics was the common name for the group of corporations that was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman (publisher), Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics. "Timely P ...
, through the war years, "when zombies, vampires, werewolves, and even pythonmen were to be found working for the
Nazis
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
and the Japanese", the publisher entered the horror arena full-tilt with ''Amazing Mysteries'' #32 (May 1949), continuing the numbering of the defunct superhero series ''
Sub-Mariner Comics'', followed by the superhero anthology ''
Marvel Mystery Comics'' becoming the horror series ''
Marvel Tales'' with #93 (August 1949) and the final two issues of ''
Captain America Comics
''Captain America Comics'' is a comic book series featuring the superhero character Captain America. The series was originally published by Timely Comics from 1941 to 1950, with a brief revival by Atlas Comics (1950s), Atlas Comics in 1954.
Pub ...
'' becoming the mostly horror-fiction ''Captain America's Weird Tales'' #74-75 (October 1949 & February 1950) — the latter of which did not contain Captain America at all.
[Watt-Evans, ''Alter Ego'', p. 9] Harvey Comics followed suit with its costumed-crimefighter comic ''
Black Cat
A black cat is a Cat, domestic cat with black fur. They may be a specific Purebred, breed, or a common domestic cat of no particular or mixed breed. Most black cats have golden iris (anatomy), irises due to their high melanin pigment content. Bl ...
'' by reformatting it as the horror comic ''Black Cat Mystery'' with issue #30 (August 1951).
EC Comics and the horror boom
Horror comics briefly flourished from this point until the industry's self-imposed censorship board, the Comics Code Authority, was instituted in late 1954. The most influential and enduring horror-comics anthologies of this period, beginning 1950, were the 91 issues of
EC Comics
E.C. Publications, Inc., (doing business as EC Comics) is an American comic book publisher. It specialized in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, nota ...
' three series: ''
The Haunt of Fear'', ''
The Vault of Horror'' and ''The Crypt of Terror'', renamed ''
Tales from the Crypt''.
In 1947, publisher
William Gaines had inherited what was then
Educational Comics
Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education also fol ...
upon the death of his father,
Maxwell Gaines. Three years later, Gaines and editor
Al Feldstein
Albert Bernard Feldstein ( ; October 24, 1925 – April 29, 2014) was an American writer, editor, and artist, best known for his work at EC Comics and, from 1956 to 1985, as the editor of the satirical magazine '' Mad''. After retiring from ''Mad' ...
introduced horror in two of the company's
crime comics
Crime comics is a genre of American comic book, American comic books and format of crime fiction. The genre was originally popular in the late 1940s and early 1950s and is marked by a moralistic editorial tone and graphic depictions of violence a ...
to test the waters. Finding them successful, the publisher quickly turned them and a
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
series into EC's triumvirate of horror. Additionally, the superhero comic ''
Moon Girl'', which had become the
romance comic ''A Moon...a Girl...Romance'', became the primarily
science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
anthology ''Weird Fantasy''. For the next four years, sardonic horror hosts the
Old Witch, the
Vault Keeper and
The Crypt Keeper introduced stories drawn by such top artists and soon-to-be-famous newcomers as
,
,
Jack Davis,
Graham Ingels (who signed his work "Ghastly"),
Jack Kamen,
Bernard Krigstein,
Harvey Kurtzman
Harvey Kurtzman (; October 3, 1924 – February 21, 1993) was an American cartoonist and editor. His best-known work includes writing and editing the parodic comic book ''Mad (magazine), Mad'' from 1952 until 1956, and writing the ...
, and
Wally Wood
Wallace Allan Wood (June 17, 1927 – November 2, 1981) was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, widely known for his work on EC Comics's titles such as ''Weird Science (comic), Weird Science'', ''Weird Fantasy'', an ...
. Feldstein did most of the early scripting, writing a story a day with
twist endings and poetic justice taken to absurd extremes.
EC's success immediately spawned a host of imitators, such as
Ziff-Davis
Ziff Davis, Inc. is an American digital media and internet company. Founded in 1927 by William Bernard Ziff Sr. and Bernard George Davis, the company primarily owns technology- and health-oriented media websites, online shopping-related servic ...
' and P.L. Publishing's ''Weird Adventures'',
St. John Publications' ''Weird Horrors'',
Key Publications
Key Publications was an American comic-book company founded by Stanley P. Morse that published under the imprint (trade name), imprints Aragon Magazines, Gillmor Magazines, Medal Comics, Media Publications, S. P. M. Publications, St ...
' ''Weird Chills'', ''Weird Mysteries'' and ''Weird Tales of the Future'',
Comic Media
Comic Media was a short-lived comic book company owned by Allen Hardy that existed in the 1950s. Its titles were mainly action-adventure, Western, and horror. Its most notable character was Johnny Dynamite, created by Pete Morisi. The main artis ...
's ''Weird Terror'', Ziff-Davis' ''Weird Thrillers'', and
Star Publications
Star Publications, Inc. was a Golden Age of Comic Books, Golden Age American comic book publisher, operating during the years 1949–1954. Founded by artist/editor L. B. Cole and lawyer Gerhard Kramer, ' ''Ghostly Weird Stories''. Others included
Quality Comics
Quality Comics was an American comic book publishing
Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, ...
' ''Web of Evil'',
Ace Comics
''Ace Comics'' was a comic book series published by David McKay Publications between 1937 and 1949 — starting just before the Golden Age of Comic Books. The title reprinted syndicated newspaper strips owned by King Features Syndicate, followi ...
' ''Web of Mystery'',
Premier Magazines' ''Horror from the Tomb''
Harvey Comics
Harvey Comics (also known as Harvey World Famous Comics, Harvey Publications, Harvey Comics Entertainment, Harvey Hits, Harvey Illustrated Humor, and Harvey Picture Magazines) was an American comic book publisher, founded in New York City by Alf ...
' ''Tomb of Terror,'' ''Witches Tales,'' and ''Chamber of Chills Magazine'',
Avon Comics', ''Witchcraft'',
Ajax-Farrell Publications' ''Fantastic Fears'',
Fawcett Publications
Fawcett Publications was an American publishing company founded in 1919 in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, by Wilford Hamilton "Captain Billy" Fawcett (1885–1940).
It kicked off with the publication of the bawdy humor magazine ''Captain Billy's Whiz ...
' ''Worlds of Fear'' and ''This Magazine Is Haunted'',
Charlton Comics
Charlton Comics was an American comic-book publishing company that existed from 1945 to 1986, having begun under a different name: T. W. O. Charles Company, in 1940. It was based in Derby, Connecticut. The comic-book line (comics), line was a divi ...
' ''The Thing'', and a slew from
Atlas Comics, including ''Adventures into Weird Worlds'',''Adventures into Terror'', ''
Menace'', ''
Journey into Mystery'', and ''
Strange Tales
''Strange Tales'' is a Marvel Comics comics anthology, anthology series. The title was revived in different forms on multiple occasions. Doctor Strange and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (feature), Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. made their d ...
''. Indeed, from 1949 through comics
cover-dated March 1955, Atlas released 399 issues of 18 horror titles,
ACG released 123 issues of five horror titles, and Ace Comics, 98 issues of five titles — each more than EC's output.
[Vassallo, p. vii ]
Backlash

In the late 1940s, comic books – particularly
crime comics
Crime comics is a genre of American comic book, American comic books and format of crime fiction. The genre was originally popular in the late 1940s and early 1950s and is marked by a moralistic editorial tone and graphic depictions of violence a ...
– had become the target of mounting public criticism for their content and their potentially harmful effects on children, with "accusations from several fronts
hat
A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...
charged comic books with contributing to the rising rates of
juvenile delinquency
Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is the act of participating in unlawful behavior younger than the statutory age of majority. These acts would be considered crimes if the individuals committing them were older. The term ...
."
Many city and county ordinances had banned some publications, though these were effectively overturned with a March 29, 1948,
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...
ruling that a 64-year-old
New York State
New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...
law outlawing publications with "pictures and stories of deeds of bloodshed, lust or crime" was unconstitutional. Regardless, the uproar increased upon the publication of two articles: "Horror in the Nursery" by
Judith Crist
Judith Crist (; Klein; May 22, 1922 – August 7, 2012) was an American film critic and academic.
She appeared regularly on the '' Today'' show from 1964 to 1973 Martin, Douglas (August 8, 2012)"Judith Crist, Zinging and Influential Film ...
, in the March 25, 1948, issue ''
Collier's Weekly
}
''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter F. Collier, Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened i ...
'',
based upon the symposium "Psychopathology of Comic Books" held a week earlier
by
psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry. Psychiatrists are physicians who evaluate patients to determine whether their symptoms are the result of a physical illness, a combination of physical and mental ailments or strictly ...
Fredric Wertham
Fredric Wertham (; born Friedrich Ignatz Wertheimer, March 20, 1895 – November 18, 1981) was a German–American psychiatrist and author. Wertham had an early reputation as a progressive psychiatrist who treated poor black patients at his Lafa ...
; and Wertham's own features "The Comics ... Very Funny!" in the May 29, 1948, issue of ''
The Saturday Review of Literature,'' and a March 19, 1948 symposium called "Psychopathology of Comic Books" which stated that comic books were "abnormally sexually aggressive" and led to crime.
In response to public pressure and bad press, an
industry trade group
A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry. Through collaboration between compani ...
, the
Association of Comics Magazine Publishers (ACMP) was formed with the intent of prodding the industry to police itself. The Association proved ineffective as few publishers joined and those who did exercised little restraint over the content of their titles.
''Seduction of the Innocent''
In 1954, Dr. Fredric Wertham published ''
Seduction of the Innocent
''Seduction of the Innocent'' is a book by German-born American psychiatrist Fredric Wertham, published in 1954, that warned that comic books were a harmful form of popular literature and a serious cause of juvenile delinquency. The book was tak ...
'', a tome that claimed horror, crime and other comics were a direct cause of
juvenile delinquency
Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is the act of participating in unlawful behavior younger than the statutory age of majority. These acts would be considered crimes if the individuals committing them were older. The term ...
. Wertham asserted, largely based on undocumented anecdotes, that reading violent comic books encouraged violent behavior in children. Wertham painted a picture of a large and pervasive industry, shrouded in secrecy and masterminded by a few, that operated upon the innocent and defenseless minds of the young. He further suggested the industry strong-armed vendors into accepting their publications and forced artists and writers into producing the content against their will.
[Wright, Bradford. (2003). ''Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America''. JHU Press. , . 152–153, 161–166.]
Wertham alleged comics stimulated deviant sexual behavior. He noted female breasts in comics protruded in a provocative way and special attention was lavished upon the female genital region.
A cover by
Matt Baker from ''
Phantom Lady'' was reprinted in the book with the caption, "Sexual stimulation by combining 'headlights' with the
sadist's dream of tying up a woman". Boys interviewed by Wertham said they used comic book images for masturbation purposes, and one young comics reader confessed he wanted to be a sex maniac. Wertham contended comics promoted
homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...
by pointing to the Batman–Robin relationship and calling it a homosexual wish dream of two men living together. He observed that Robin was often pictured standing with his legs spread and the genital region evident.
Most alarmingly, Wertham contended that comic books fostered deceitfulness in children, who might read funny animal comics in front of their parents but then turn to horror comics the moment their parents left the room. Wertham warned of suspicious stores and their clandestine back rooms where second hand comics of the worst sort were peddled to children. The language used evoked images of children prowling about gambling dens and whorehouses, and anxious parents felt helpless in the face of such a powerful force as the comics industry. Excerpts from the book were published in ''Ladies' Home Journal'' and ''Reader's Digest'', lending respectability and credibility to Wertham's arguments.
A 14-page portfolio of panels and covers from across the entire comic book industry displayed murder, torture and sexual titillation for the reader's consideration. The most widely discussed art was that from "Foul Play", a horror story from EC about a dishonest baseball player whose head and intestines are used by his teammates in a game. ''Seduction of the Innocent'' sparked a firestorm of controversy and created alarm in parents, teachers and others interested in the welfare of children; the concerned were galvanized into campaigning for censorship.
Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency
Public criticism brought matters to a head. In 1954, anti-crime crusader
Estes Kefauver
Carey Estes Kefauver ( ;
July 26, 1903 – August 10, 1963) was an American politician from Tennessee. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1939 to 1949 and in the U.S. Senate from 1949 until h ...
led the
Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency
The United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency was established by the United States Senate in 1953 to investigate the problem of juvenile delinquency.
Background
The subcommittee was a unit of the United States Senate Judiciary Co ...
. Dr. Wertham insisted upon appearing before the committee. He first presented a long list of his credentials, and then, in his clipped German accent, spoke with authority on the pernicious influence of comic books upon children. His passionate testimony at the hearings impressed the gathering. Kefauver suggested crime comics indoctrinated children in a way similar to Nazi propaganda. Wertham noted Hitler was a beginner compared to the comics industry.
Publisher William Gaines appeared before the committee and vigorously defended his product and the industry. He took full responsibility for the horror genre, claiming he was the first to publish such comics. He insisted that delinquency was the result of the real environment and not fictional reading materials. His defiant demeanor left the committee (which felt the industry was indefensible), astonished.
He had prepared a statement that read in part, "It would be just as difficult to explain the harmless thrill of a horror story to Dr. Wertham as it would be to explain the sublimity of love to a frigid old maid."
''
Crime Suspenstories
''Crime SuspenStories'' was a bi-monthly anthology crime comic published by EC Comics in the early 1950s. The title first arrived on newsstands with its October/November 1950 issue and ceased publication with its February/March 1955 issue, produ ...
'', issue 22, April/May 1954, was entered into evidence. The exchange between Gaines and Kefauver led to a front-page story in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'':
Though the committee's final report did not blame comics for crime, it recommended that the comics industry tone down its content voluntarily.
Creation of the Comics Code
By 1953, nearly a quarter of all comic books published were horror titles. In the hearings' immediate aftermath, several publishers revamped their schedules and drastically censored or cancelled many long-running comic series.
In September 1954, the
Comics Magazine Association of America
The Association of Comics Magazine Publishers (ACMP) was an American industry trade group formed in the late 1940s to regulate the content of comic books in the face of public criticism during that time. It was a precursor to the Comics Magazine ...
(CMAA) and its
Comics Code Authority
The Comics Code Authority (CCA) was formed in 1954 by the Comics Magazine Association of America as an alternative to government regulation. The CCA enabled comic publishers to self-regulate the content of American comic book, comic books in the ...
(CCA) was formed. The Code had many stipulations that made it difficult for horror comics to continue publication, since any that didn't adhere to the Code's guidelines would likely not find distribution. The Code forbade the explicit presentation of "unique details and methods of crime...Scenes of excessive violence...brutal torture, excessive and unnecessary knife and gun play, physical agony, gory and gruesome crime...all scenes of horror, excessive bloodshed, gory or gruesome crimes, depravity, lust,
sadism, masochism...Scenes dealing with, or instruments associated with walking dead, or torture".
Perseverance
As a result of the Congressional hearings,
DC Comics
DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...
shifted its ongoing horror titles, ''
House of Mystery
''The House of Mystery'' is the name of several horror comics, horror, fantasy comics, fantasy, and mystery fiction, mystery comics anthology, comics anthologies published by DC Comics. It had a companion series, ''The House of Secrets (DC Comi ...
'' (1951–1987) and ''
House of Secrets'' (1956–1966), toward the suspense and mystery genres, often with a science fiction bent. In fact, from 1964 to 1968, ''House of Mystery'' became a mostly superhero title, featuring
J'onn J'onzz, the Manhunter from Mars and, later,
Dial H for Hero
''Dial H for Hero'' is a comic book feature published by DC Comics about a magical dial that enables an ordinary person to become a superhero for a short time, such as an hour, by selecting the letters H-E-R-O in order. Each time it is used, the ...
. Similarly, during this period
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...
produced the titles ''
Strange Tales
''Strange Tales'' is a Marvel Comics comics anthology, anthology series. The title was revived in different forms on multiple occasions. Doctor Strange and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (feature), Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. made their d ...
'' (1951–1968) and ''
Journey into Mystery'' (1952–1966). Each company gradually changed from suspense stories toward fantasy, science fiction and monster stories, and then to related superhero characters during the years after the code came into effect. Charlton Comics' suspense titles, such as Unusual Tales, persisted to the mid-1960s. ACG titles Adventures into the Unknown and Unknown Worlds thrived during this Silver Age period until the company folded in 1967.
The publishers
Gilberton,
Dell Comics
Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1973. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium.Evanier, Mark"Wh ...
, and
Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics was an imprint of American company Western Publishing, created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated from 1962 to 1984.
History
Gold Key Comics was created in 1962, when its ...
did not become signatories to the Comics Code, relying on their reputations as publishers of wholesome comic books.
[(Golden, Christopher; Stephen Bissette, Thomas E. Sniegoski (2000) ''The Monster Book'' Simon & Schuster)] ''
Classics Illustrated'' had adapted such horror novels as ''Frankenstein'' and ''Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'' in comic book form, and quickly issued reprints with new, less gruesome covers. Dell began publishing the licensed
TV series
A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platf ...
comic book ''
Twilight Zone'' in 1961 and publishing a ''Dracula'' title in 1962 (though only the first issue was horror related; the subsequent issues were part of the super-hero genre revival), followed in 1963 by the new series "Ghost Stories." Gold Key, in addition to releasing ''Boris Karloff
Thriller'', based on the TV series ''Thriller'' (and retitled ''Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery'' after the show went off the air), bought the ''Twilight Zone'' license from Dell in 1962.
In 1965 Gold Key put out three licensed horror-themed comics, two based on the TV horror-comedies ''
The Addams Family
The Addams Family is a fictional family created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. They originally appeared in a series of 150 standalone single-panel comics, about half of which were originally published in ''The New Yorker'' between 193 ...
'' and ''The Munsters'', and the other titled ''Ripley's Believe it or Not!'', which had three different subtitles: "True Ghost Stories," "True War Stories" (#1 and #5), and "True Demons & Monsters" (#7, #10, #19, #22, #25, #26, and #29).
Warren Publishing continued the horror tradition in the mid-1960s, bypassing the Comics Code Authority restrictions by publishing magazine-sized black-and-white horror comics.
Under the direction of line editor Archie Goodwin (comics), Archie Goodwin, Warren debuted the horror anthologies ''Creepy (magazine), Creepy'' (1964–1983) and ''Eerie (magazine), Eerie'' (1966–1983), followed by ''Vampirella'', an anthology with a lead feature starring a sexy young female vampire.
The low-rent Warren imitator Eerie Publications also jumped into the black-and-white horror magazine business, mixing new material with reprints from pre-Comics Code horror comics, most notably in its flagship title ''Weird'' (1966–1981), as well as the magazines ''Tales of Voodoo'' (1968–1974), ''Horror Tales'' (1969–1979), ''Tales from the Tomb'' (1969–1975), and ''Terror Tales'' (1969–1979). Stanley Publications also published a line of black-and-white horror magazines from 1966 to 1971, including the titles ''Shock'' and ''Chilling Tales of Horror''.
Resurgence
A number of supernatural mystery / suspense titles were introduced in the latter half of the 1960s, including
Charlton Comics
Charlton Comics was an American comic-book publishing company that existed from 1945 to 1986, having begun under a different name: T. W. O. Charles Company, in 1940. It was based in Derby, Connecticut. The comic-book line (comics), line was a divi ...
' ''Ghostly Tales'', ''The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves'', and ''Ghost Manor (comics), Ghost Manor''; and
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...
' ''Chamber of Darkness/Monsters on the Prowl'' and ''Tower of Shadows, Tower of Shadows/Creatures on the Loose''. At
DC Comics
DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...
, new ''
House of Mystery
''The House of Mystery'' is the name of several horror comics, horror, fantasy comics, fantasy, and mystery fiction, mystery comics anthology, comics anthologies published by DC Comics. It had a companion series, ''The House of Secrets (DC Comi ...
'' editor Joe Orlando returned the title to its horror roots with issue #175 (July/August 1968); a similar transformation was made to ''House of Secrets'' and ''The Unexpected (1968 comic book), The Unexpected'' (formerly "Tales of the Unexpected (comics), Tales of the Unexpected"), with the company debuting a new title, ''The Witching Hour (DC Comics), The Witching Hour''.
In 1971, the Comics Code Authority relaxed some of its longstanding rules regarding horror comics, which opened the door to more possibilities in the genre:
Following this, Marvel returned to publishing true horror by first introducing a scientifically created, vampire-like character, ''Morbius, Morbius, the Living Vampire'', followed by the introduction of Dracula (Marvel Comics), Dracula in ''Tomb of Dracula''. This opened the floodgates for more horror titles, such as the anthology ''Supernatural Thrillers'', ''Werewolf by Night'', and two series in which Satan or a Satan-like lord of Hell figured, ''Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze), Ghost Rider'' and the feature "Daimon Hellstrom, Son of Satan." In addition, following Warren Publishing's longtime lead, Marvel's parent company in List of magazines released by Marvel Comics in the 1970s, 1971 began a black-and-white magazine imprint, which published a number of horror titles, including ''Dracula Lives!'', ''Monsters Unleashed (comics), Monsters Unleashed'', ''Vampire Tales'', ''Tales of the Zombie'', ''Haunt of Horror'', and ''Masters of Terror''. Additionally, Skywald Publications offered the black-and-white horror-comics magazines ''Nightmare'', ''Psycho'', and ''Scream''.
DC during this time continued to publish its existing supernatural fiction and added new horror series such as ''Ghosts (comics), Ghosts'', ''The Dark Mansion Of Forbidden Love, The Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love'' (later titled ''Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion''), ''Secrets of Haunted House'', ''Secrets of Sinister House'', ''Swamp Thing'', ''Weird Mystery Tales'', ''Weird War Tales'', and ''Tales of Ghost Castle''. Charlton continued in this vein as well, with ''Ghostly Haunts'', ''Haunted (comics), Haunted'', ''Midnight Tales'', ''Haunted Love'', and ''Scary Tales (comics), Scary Tales''.
Underground comix, Underground cartoonists, many of them strongly influenced by 1950s
EC Comics
E.C. Publications, Inc., (doing business as EC Comics) is an American comic book publisher. It specialized in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, nota ...
like ''
Tales from the Crypt'', also tried their hands at horror. Titles like ''Skull'' (Rip Off Press/Last Gasp (publisher), Last Gasp, 1970–1972), ''Bogeyman'' (Company & Sons/San Francisco Comic Book Company, 1969), ''Fantagor'' (Richard Corben, 1970), ''Insect Fear'' (Print Mint, 1970), ''Up From The Deep'' (Rip Off Press, 1971), ''Death Rattle (comics), Death Rattle'' (Kitchen Sink Press, 1972), ''Gory Stories'' (Shroud, 1972), ''Deviant Slice'' (Print Mint, 1972) and ''Two-Fisted Zombies'' (Last Gasp, 1973) appeared in the early 1970s.
By the mid-1970s, the horror comics boomlet slowed and various titles were cancelled. Only a few of the DC titles persevered by the end of the decade, the long-running Gold Key mystery comic series ceased during the early 1980s, and some predominantly-reprint Charlton series managed to survive to the mid-1980s. DC's traditional titles sputtered out during the early 1980s, and its transformed anthology "Elvira's House of Mystery" was the final code-approved traditional anthology title to be produced, lasting only a dozen issues around 1987. As these and Warren publications disappeared, new titles from the 1980s onward would all be in new formats (i.e. glossy paper, not code-approved) or sporadically produced by small independent companies.
1980s and 1990s
Beginning in the late 1980s and early 1990s, independent publishers produced a number of successful horror comics franchises. FantaCo Enterprises and Millennium Publications boasted lineups almost exclusively devoted to horror, vampire, and zombie comics. For instance, 1985 saw the revival of Kitchen Sink's ''Death Rattle'', followed a year later by the debut of FantaCo's horror anthology ''Gore Shriek'', edited by Stephen R. Bissette, who also contributed stories to each issue. Bissette also edited the acclaimed anthology ''Taboo (comics), Taboo'', which ran from 1988 to 1995.
In 1982, Pacific Comics produced two series that, while admittedly inspired by the
EC Comics
E.C. Publications, Inc., (doing business as EC Comics) is an American comic book publisher. It specialized in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, nota ...
of the 1950s, foresaw the form that horror comics would take in the coming decades. Printed in color on high-quality paper stock despite a higher cover price, the series ''Twisted Tales'' and ''Alien Worlds'' were short-lived and hard-pressed to keep to a regular production schedule, but offered some of the most explicitly brutal and sexual stories yet to be widely distributed in a mainstream ("non-underground") format. Both series eventually moved to Eclipse Comics, which also produced similar titles such as ''The Twisted Tales of Bruce Jones (comics), Bruce Jones'' and ''Alien Encounters (comics), Alien Encounters'' (which they inherited from Fantaco). Later horror titles from DC's Vertigo (DC Comics), Vertigo line had more in common with these Pacific/Eclipse efforts, and more success, than DC's sporadic efforts to revive or maintain the traditional horror comic title (e.g. ''Elvira's House of Mystery''). Wasteland (DC Comics) was a pre-vertigo, non-Code horror series from DC in the late 1980s.
In 1982, DC Comics revived the ''Swamp Thing (comic book), Swamp Thing'' series, attempting to capitalize on the summer 1982 release of the Wes Craven Swamp Thing (1982 film), film of the same name. In 1984, Briton Alan Moore took over the writing chores on the title, and when Karen Berger became editor, she gave Moore free rein to revamp the title and the character as he saw fit. Moore reconfigured Swamp Thing's origin to make him a true monster as opposed to a human transformed into a monster. Moore's (and artists Stephen R. Bissette and John Totleben's) ''Swamp Thing'' was a critical and commercial success, and in 1988 spun off the ongoing series ''Hellblazer'', starring occult detective John Constantine.
In 1993, DC introduced its mature-readers Vertigo (DC Comics), Vertigo line, which folded in a number of popular horror titles, including ''Hellblazer'' and ''Swamp Thing''. One of Vertigo's early successes was Neil Gaiman's ''Sandman (Vertigo), Sandman'', which reworked a number of DC's old horror characters and added fantasy to the mix. A number of other horror titles carried on at Vertigo, like ''Deadman (Vertigo), Deadman'', ''House of Mystery (Vertigo), House of Mystery'' and ''Haunted Tank'', or were given a horror spin or an update like ''Kid Eternity'' and ''Jonah Hex''.
In the mid-1990s Harris Publications also revived ''Vampirella'', and Marvel, after mostly taking the 1980s off, published its "Midnight Sons" line of horror comics that included such series as a revived ''Ghost Rider'', ''Nightstalkers (comics), Nightstalkers'', ''Darkhold, Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins'' and ''Midnight Sons Unlimited''.
Modernity
North America
In addition to its long-running titles carried over from the 1990s, Vertigo published more conventional horror, like vampires in ''Bite Club (comics), Bite Club'' (beginning in 2004), and ''Vamps (comics), Vamps''. In addition, from 1999 to 2001 they published their own horror comics anthology, anthology, ''Flinch (comics), Flinch''.
At Image Comics, Robert Kirkman has created ''The Walking Dead (comics), The Walking Dead''. Steve Niles predominantly writes horror comics, and his ''30 Days of Night'' has spawned a range of mini-series released by IDW Publishing. At Dark Horse Comics, Dark Horse, Mike Mignola has been working on ''Hellboy'', and has created a large fictional universe with spin-off titles like ''Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, BPRD'' and ''Lobster Johnson''.
There had been also superhero horror comics like with Spawn, Venom, and Ghost Rider.
In the 2000s and 2010s, Marvel produced ''Blade (comics), Blade'' and the Marvel Zombies (comic book), Marvel Zombies franchise. Marvel's adult imprint MAX (comics), MAX, introduced in 2001, has also provided a venue for reinterpretations of Marvel horror characters where more violence can be used, leading to the ''Dead of Night (comics), Dead of Night'' miniseries based on Devil-Slayer, Werewolf by Night and Man-Thing, as well as a reworking of ''Zombie (MAX), Zombie'' and ''Hellstorm: Son of Satan''. Richard Corben has also been writing ''Haunt of Horror (MAX), Haunt of Horror'', a number of series based on the work of
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre. He is widely re ...
and H.P. Lovecraft.
Europe
Great Britain
In the post-World War II period, horror comics arrived in Britain, largely based on reprints of American material. This led to protests similar to those in the States. In 1955, the Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act 1955, Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act was introduced, which led to the horror reprints disappearing from news agents' shelves.
In the early 1970s there were a couple of horror comics — IPC Magazines, IPC's ''Shiver and Shake'' and ''Monster Fun'' — but these were also humour titles pitched at younger children. It was only during the boom in British comics in the late 1970s and early 1980s that there were horror comics pitched at older boys and girls —IPC/Fleetway Publications, Fleetway's ''Scream! (comics), Scream!'' and ''Misty (comics), Misty'', respectively. Whether it was because of fears over the content, or the difficult financial times in the mid-1980s, ''Scream!'' stopped publishing in 1985, with only two of its stories being merged with the ''Eagle (comic), Eagle''. ''Lord Horror'' also was published.
After the Comic book collecting#Bust of the speculator market, comic industry bust in the mid-1990s, the only mainstream venue was ''2000 AD (comics), 2000 AD'', which featured stories like ''Chiaroscuro (2000 AD), Chiaroscuro'' and ''Cradlegrave'', as well as those drawing on the Cthulhu Mythos, like ''Necronauts'' and ''Caballistics, Inc.''.
The British small press comics, British small press also publishes horror comics, like the comics anthology, anthology ''Something Wicked (comics), Something Wicked''.
In 2008, the ''London Horror Comic'' launched, becoming the first full-colour UK horror comic to be shipped worldwide through Diamond Comic Distributors.
Italy
Starting from the 1960s, up until the early 1980s Italy also saw a number of erotic-horror publications usually featuring female characters. One of the first, in 1964, was ''Satanik'', by Max Bunker and Magnus (comic artist), Magnus, which belonged to the first wave of the so-called Fumetti neri, "fumetto nero" characters, alongside Diabolik and Kriminal (also by Bunker and Magnus).
Satanik was quickly followed by a flurry of other horror heroines, such as ''Jacula'', ''Sukia'', ''Yra (vampire), Yra'', ''Zora (vampire), Zora'' (all vampiresses), ''Ulula (comics), Ulula'' (a werewoman), and others. These erotic-horror comics were mostly published by Ediperiodici and Edifumetto, helmed by publishers/writers Giorgio Cavedon and Renzo Barbieri, respectively, and were part of the "pocket erotici" editorial craze, also known as "fumetti sexy". These cheap publications featured the talents of both established and buddying Italian comics artists, such as a young Milo Manara (on ''Zordon''), and featured colourful, gruesome and very effective covers created by commercial illustrators and painters such as Alessandro Biffignandi, Fernando Carcupino, Averardo Ciriello, Pino Daeni, Pino D'Angelico, Ferdinando Tacconi and Emanuele Taglietti, among others. Some of these publications, like Wallestein the Monster, were briefly published in English and the British publisher Korero Press has collected many of the original covers in its ongoing ''Sex and Horror'' artbook series.
Since 2018 Annexia has been publishing one-shots, featuring brand new adventures of ''Ulula'', ''Jakula'', ''Sukia'' and ''Zora'', among others, and in 2020 Editoriale Cosmo has reprinted some of the original stories in their "Classics of Italian Erotica" series.
In the late 1980s, the genre became again popular, spearheaded by the Italian horror comic series ''Dylan Dog'', created by veteran comic-writer Tiziano Sclavi, visually defined by cover artist Claudio Villa (comics), Claudio Villa and published by Sergio Bonelli. It has achieved great success, both in its homeland and abroad, with translations in the US (by Dark Horse Comics, with brand new covers by Mike Mignola), Germany, Spain, Serbia, Croatia, Denmark, Poland, Turkey and India. In the early 1990s, other publishers tried to emulate the success of ''Dylan Dog''. Among them was ACME, which published two monthly horror anthologies titled ''Splatter'' and ''Mostri'', which featured both original stories by promising young Italian artists (such as Bruno Brindisi, Roberto De Angelis and Luigi Siniscalchi, who later went to work for Bonelli, some of them even on Dylan Dog) and translated material. A selection of stories from the Splatter anthology has been collected and reprinted in two volumes, published in 2017 and 2018 by Editoriale Cosmo.
Among the most recent and noteworthy original horror comics series are ''The Cannibal Family'', created in 2013 by writer Stefano Fantelli and artist Stefano Piccioni and published by Edizioni Inkiostro, and the anthology ''Mostri'', published since 2015 by Bugs Comics, featuring work by young artists and later also established ones, such as Elena Casagrande.
Japan
The term "horror" as a genre, only began circulating in Japan in the 1960s in press and everyday language. Prior to this, horror fiction as it may be known was referred to with terms like "mystery", "terror", and "dread".
According to
manga
are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
author and critic Yoshihiro Yonezawa, the first boom of horror manga with the success of the ''Kaiki Shōsetsu Zenshū and the success of the British horror cinema, British horror films from Hammer Films which began circulating in Japan and gaining popularity. In 1958, the first magazine devoted exclusively to horror and mystery was ''Kaidan'' which appeared at ''Kashi-hon'' (lending libraries), which had 101 issues published by Tsubame until 1968. A sister publication to it, titled ''Ōru kaidan'' also began and lasted 84 volumes. Among the authors to these stories were Shinichi Koga, Hama Shinji, Sanpei Shirato, Goseki Kojima, Kazuo Umezu and Miki Ibara. Due to the circulation of these magazines, a growing interest in the supernatural developed, inspired by traditional Japanese ghost stories (''kaidan'') such as ''Yotsuya Kaidan'' as well as classical Japanese woodcut prints with themes of Japanese ghosts. The stories within these publications fall into two stories set in the Tokugawa era and those set in the a Tokyo filled with skyscrapers, amidst murders and eerire demonic presences. These stories began circulating with themes of vengesful spirits or ghosts, storied linked to tragic karmic fate, and both original and retelling of ancient ghost stories. Stories from around the world began influencing the stories, with narratives being set in the United States and France, as well the appearing of other horrific-traits such as bats, lizard-men, Frankenstein's monster-like creatures. American writers such as H.P. Lovecraft was repedeatly paid homage to by Japanese manga authors.
Following the birth and the weekly magazines, and a new style known as both ''kyōfu'' (恐怖) and ''kowai'' (怖い) manga (terror and scary respectively) began appearing that attracted a younger audience than ''Kaidan'' (怪談) and ''Oru kaidan'' (オール怪談) which appealed to teenagers. These included long series such as ''GeGeGe no Kitarō, Hakaba Kitarō'' by Shigeru Mizuki where characters from Japanese folklore coexist with the themes from teenage manga from the period. The popularity of these stories led to similarly styled anime series ''Humanoid Monster Bem'' (1968). Throughou the 1960s and 1970s, different publishers continued horror titles in mainstream magazines, without devoting specific publication to them, with titles like ''Devilman'' (1972). Smaller publishers released Hibari Hit series allowed their authors to complete freedom, in which Hideshi Hino got his start. The influence of these smaller published was felt in late 1980s published magazines such as ''Monthly Halloween, Halloween'' published from 1986-1995, ''Suspiria (magazine), Suspiria'' (1987-2012), and the 1990s with ''Horror M''. As it had in the 1960s and 1970s, the genre returned in magazines aimed at women with young women, with some authors such as Hino and Jiro returning along with newcomers like Narumi Kakinouchi and Kanako Inuki.
In the 21st century, series based around zombies and the undead appeared with titles like ''Highschool of the Dead'' and ''Junji Ito''s ''Gyo''.
Styles and themes
Material in these stories are often drawn from Japanese folklore figures like ''yokai''. This includes several stories involving cats with supernatural powers, cat with metamorphic abilities called ''bakeneko''. Cat in these comics are often black, and have appeared in several stories through decades such as ''Kin'iro hitomi'' (1960), ''Neko to watashi to haha to buta'' (1968) and ''Bakeneko shojo'' (1982). Like the ''bakeneko'', transformation is another key topic, with many stories of foxes, snakes, or cranes that transofmr into beautiful women for either revenge or to ensnare a man and bring him to ruin. Often, the main character also undergoes inexplicable transformation into an animal or monstrous or hybrid creatures. These traits are key in the manga of Kazuo Umezu, which often cycle among the fear that any human being will stop being themselves and turn into something else, such as ''Reptilia (manga), Reptilia'' or often a child will transform into an adult, ill and lacking freedom or autonomy.
Among the sub-genres of comics is the ''guro'', meaning grotesque, bizarre, horrific. Horror manga sometimes dedicated an entire page or two to a ''guro'' scene, as unlike films which can have music to play to enhance a narrative, horror manga often had these pages to shock the reader at the exact moment of turning a page. Among the major ''ero-guro'' (erotic grotesque) manga creators was Suehiro Maruo, described by Thierry Groensteen as "the Marquis de Sade, De Sade of contemporary manga."
Online
Horror comics are also published on the web, with horror webcomics that include the pioneering work of ''Eric Millikin, Eric Monster Millikin'', an anthology webtoon, ''Tales of the Unusual'' and Zuda comics ''High Moon''.
Video spinoffs
Comics have formed part of the media franchise for popular horror movies like ''The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (comics), Texas Chainsaw Massacre'', ''Friday the 13th (comics), Friday the 13th'', ''Halloween (comics), Halloween'' and ''Army of Darkness (comics), Army of Darkness''. They have also been adapted from horror video games, like ''Silent Hill (comics), Silent Hill''.
Horror comics have also been sources for horror films, such as ''30 Days of Night (film), 30 Days of Night'', ''Hellboy (2004 film), Hellboy'' and ''Blade (franchise), Blade'', and, from horror manga, such films as ''Uzumaki (film), Uzumaki'' (2000), ''Z ~Zed~'' (2014)
and two 1980s movies directed by comics creator Hideshi Hino adapted from his manga ''Guinea Pig (film series), Guinea Pig: Flower of Flesh and Blood'' and ''Guinea Pig: Mermaid in a Manhole''. Robert Kirkman's comic-book series ''The Walking Dead'' was adapted in 2010 into The Walking Dead (TV series), an ongoing TV series on the AMC cable network.
Some horror films and television programs have had comic-book sequels, such as ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight'', as well as prequels or interstitial stories, such as ''Saw: Rebirth'' and ''28 Days Later: The Aftermath'', respectively.
Horror hosts
Radio drama horror and suspense anthology series devoted to horror and suspense plays, such as "The Sealed Book", ''Lights Out (radio show), Lights Out'', ''Quiet, Please'', ''
The Whistler'', and ''Inner Sanctum Mysteries'', which broadcast from the 1930s–1950s, had sinister "hosts" who introduced and wrapped up the stories. The tradition was introduced into horror comics, many of which were also anthology titles, with many stories in each issue.
EC Comics
E.C. Publications, Inc., (doing business as EC Comics) is an American comic book publisher. It specialized in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, nota ...
utilized the conceit of a character who "hosted" the book, often starring in a framing sequence at the beginning of each issue. The most notorious EC hosts were the "GhouLunatics":
The Crypt Keeper, The Old Witch, and The Vault-Keeper. In the 1960s, Warren came up with the hosts Uncle Creepy and Eerie (magazine), Cousin Eerie, and DC followed suit with their hosts Cain and Abel (comics), Cain and Abel (as well as such minor hosts as Eve (comics), Eve, Endless (comics), Destiny, Lucien (comics), Lucien, and the Mad Mod Witch). Charlton had a large cast of hosts for their horror/suspense titles. Marvel Comics for the most part did not, though the publisher briefly used the characters of Digger (Marvel Comics), Digger and Headstone P. Gravely.
The following is a list of hosts from various horror comics titles from over the years.
See also
*Lovecraftian horror comics
*Racism in horror films
*Vampire comics
*Weird West comics
*Werewolf comics
*Zombie comics
Notes
Citations
References
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Further reading
* Beaty, Bart. ''Fredric Wertham and the Critique of Mass Culture''. University Press of Mississippi, 2005. .
* ''Juvenile Delinquency (Comic Books) hearings before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee To Investigate Juvenile Delinquency in the U.S., Eighty-Third Congress, second session, on April 21, 22, June 4, 1954''. (OCLC Worldcat link to )
* Nyberg, Ami Kiste. ''Seal of Approval: The History of the Comics Code'', University Press of Mississippi, 1998. .
External links
*Sparrow, A. E
"Top 10 Horror/Thriller Manga" IGN.com, October 30, 2007
WebCitation archive
*[http://www.thecomicbooks.com/1954senatetranscripts.html 1954 Senate Subcommittee Transcripts]
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Horror comics,
Comics genres