''Midnight Tales'' is an American

horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction **Psychological horror, a subgenre of horror fiction **Christmas horror, a subgenre of horror fiction **Analog horror, a subgenre of horror fiction * ...

-suspense

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

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 ...

series created by

Wayne Howard Wayne Wright Howard (March 29, 1949 – December 9, 2007) was an American comic book artist. He is best known for his 1970s work at Charlton Comics. Although many other artists had signed their cover artwork, he became American comic books' fir ...

that was published by

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 ...

from 1972 to 1976. The book was "hosted" by Professor Coffin (a.k.a. the Midnight Philosopher) and his niece Arachne (the book followed a standard formula where each issue's first story was a framing sequence divided up among the other stories).''Midnight Tales'' entry
Grand Comics Database. Accessed April 3, 2011. The setting, Xanadu University, was a tie-in with the Charlton series

E-Man E-Man is a comic-book character, a superhero created by writer Nicola Cuti and artist Joe Staton for the American company Charlton Comics in 1973. Although the character's original series was short-lived, the lightly humorous hero has become a cul ...

. Charlton took the unusual step of giving Howard a "created by" credit on each issue's cover, providing a precedent for such credits eventually becoming common years later beginning with DC's

Vertigo Vertigo is a condition in which a person has the sensation that they are moving, or that objects around them are moving, when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. It may be associated with nausea, vomiting, perspira ...

imprint.Cooke, Jon B., "Lest We Forget: Celebrating Four that Got Away": ''Comic Book Artist'' #12 (March 2001), p. 112. Charlton writer/editor

Nick Cuti Nicola Cuti (October 29, 1944 – February 21, 2020), known as Nick Cuti, was an American artist and comic book writer/editor, science-fiction novelist; he was the co-creator of '' E-Man'' (with artist Joe Staton) and Moonchild, Captain Cosmos, ...

described Howard's credit being granted because the book, "... was his idea, his concept, his everything". In addition, each issue shared a theme: "One time it would be blob monsters, and I wrote three stories about blob monsters, and another time it was vampires ... and that sort of thing".Nicola Cuti interview, ''

Comic Book Artist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the literary ...

'' #12 (March 2001), p. 41-42. Howard penciled and inked every cover and virtually every story, and occasionally scripted stories as well. According to critic Mark Andrew:

Publication history

''Midnight Tales'' was part of a wave of new horror and suspense comics published by Charlton during this period. Its sister titles were the Charlton anthologies ''

The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves ''The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves'' is an American supernatural-anthology comic book that was published by Charlton Comics, often featuring stories by writer-artist Steve Ditko. The eponymous Dr. M. T. Graves was a fictional character who hosted ...

'' (with host Dr. M. T. Graves), ''

Ghostly Tales ''Ghostly Tales'' is a horror-suspense anthology comic book series that was published by Charlton Comics from 1966 to 1984 (though it was primarily a reprint title from 1978 onward). The book was "hosted" by Mr. L. Dedd (later changed to I. M. D ...

'' (with host Mr. L. Dedd, later I. M. Dedd), '' Ghost Manor'' (with host Mr. Bones), ''

Ghostly Haunts ''Ghostly Haunts'' is an American horror-suspense anthology comic book series that was published by Charlton Comics from 1971 to 1978. The book was "hosted" by Winnie the Witch, a " moddish" blue-skinned witch. ''Ghostly Haunts'' was part of a w ...

'' (with host Winnie the Witch), ''

Haunted Haunted or The Haunted may refer to: Books * ''Haunted'' (Armstrong novel), by Kelley Armstrong, 2005 * ''Haunted'' (Cabot novel), by Meg Cabot, 2004 * ''Haunted'' (Palahniuk novel), by Chuck Palahniuk, 2005 * ''Haunted'' (Angel novel), a 200 ...

'' (with hosts Impy and then Baron Weirwulf), and ''

Scary Tales "Scary Tales" refers to several different versions of a Halloween-themed compilation of Walt Disney shorts, as well as an alternate and condensed version of "Disney's Halloween Treat" (1982) by the same name or derivation debuting in different yea ...

'' (with host Countess R. H. Von Bludd). ''Midnight Tales'' appeared bimonthly; altogether, it published 18 issues. In Oct. 1985, Charlton briefly revived the title as a reprint book, changing its name to ''Professor Coffin'', and continued the numbering for three more issues before finally ceasing publication in 1986. Besides Howard, other contributors to ''Midnight Tales'' included

Nicola Cuti Nicola Cuti (October 29, 1944 – February 21, 2020), known as Nick Cuti, was an American artist and comic book writer/editor, science-fiction novelist; he was the co-creator of '' E-Man'' (with artist Joe Staton) and Moonchild, Captain Cosmos, ...

Don Newton Don Newton (November 12, 1934 – August 19, 1984) was an American comics artist. During his career, he worked for a number of comic book publishers including Charlton Comics, DC Comics, and Marvel Comics. He is best known for his work on The Pha ...

Joe Staton Joe Staton ( born January 19, 1948) is an American comics artist and writer. He co-created the Bronze Age Huntress (Helena Wayne), as well as the third Huntress (Helena Bertinelli), Kilowog and the Omega Men for DC Comics. He was the artist o ...

, and

Tom Sutton Thomas F. Sutton (April 15, 1937 – May 1, 2002) He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force after graduating from high school in 1955, and worked on art projects while stationed at Fort Francis E. Warren, near Laramie, Wyoming. Later, stationed at Itam ...

George Wildman George Wildman (July 31, 1927 – May 22, 2016) was an American cartoonist most noted for his work in the comic books industry. From 1971 until 1985, he was a top editor at Charlton Comics, where he also became the long-time regular artist o ...

edited the book for its entire run.

References

External links

* *{{comicbookdb, type=title, id=13057, title=''Midnight Tales'' 1972 comics debuts Horror comics