Posted By Dan Greenfield on Oct 25, 2024 | 6 comments

FRIGHTFUL FRIDAYS FINALE!

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Hey, thanks for making our first Halloween FRIGHTFUL FRIDAYS so much fun! Every Friday before Halloween — this is the last one — our pal Jim Beard has been diving into 13 horror covers from a given title. This year, the theme has been offbeat Marvel in the Bronze Age. Next year? Whoooo knooooows? Dig it. — Dan

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By JIM BEARD

And…we’re back for the last comics grave to be dug up, the final cover crypt to be opened for FRIGHTFUL FRIDAYS. This time aroundm I’ve got something a little special for you. Still shocking, of course, but also special…

Weird Wonder Tales was another of the bi-monthly 1970s horror-thriller mags Roy Thomas was editing, a series that reprinted tons of the spooky, scary material Atlas was cranking out in the 1950s, but also a launching pad for two cool concepts that would make a small mark on the larger Marvel Universe.

What are they, you rightfully ask? Well, read on, my fiends, and just like the mirrors in which we see ghosts, goblins, and ghouls, all will be made clear!

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Weird Wonder Tales #1 (Dec. 1973). Art by Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia. Remember, folks, it’s “as huge as the universe itself…” That’s gonna hurt.

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Weird Wonder Tales #2 (Feb. 1974). Art by Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia. This one reminds me a lot of a beloved comic from my childhood, UFO Flying Saucers #4 from Gold Key, also in 1974… except these aliens are so boss.

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Weird Wonder Tales #4 (Apr. 1974). Art by Jack Kirby and John Romita. There’s a fascinating team-up here, in the Mighty Marvel style! It’s a 1950s Kirby image with a redrawn monster by Romita in ’74.

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Weird Wonder Tales #6 (Oct. 1974). Art by Larry Lieber (attributed) and Mike Esposito. Fear of skeletons? Fear of heights? Fear of sunsets? Check, check, and check. You’re doomed, pal.

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Weird Wonder Tales #7 (Dec. 1974). Art by Larry Lieber and Vince Colletta. Okay gorilla surgeons with scalpels, yeah, yeah, but this issue is even cooler because wunderkind writer Steve Gerber took characters from its 1950s reprint tales to create the villainous Headmen in his Defenders #21 in 1975!

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Weird Wonder Tales #8 (Feb. 1975). Art by Arvell Jones and Tom Palmer. These skeletons are really getting out of hand. Pretty sure there’s a law against this.

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Weird Wonder Tales #10 (June 1975). Art by Gil Kane and Mike Esposito. I like to see monsters fighting monsters, but let’s leave the girl out of it, OK?

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Weird Wonder Tales #11 (Aug. 1975). Art by Ron Wilson and Mike Esposito. Yeah, well, I got news for ya, buddy…

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Weird Wonder Tales #13 (Dec. 1975). Art by Ed Hannigan (attributed) and Al Milgrom (attributed). Why this one? C’mon! How many freaky totem-tiki monsters do you normally see on comics covers?

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Weird Wonder Tales #14 (Feb. 1976). Art by Gene Colan (attributed) and Ed Hannigan (attributed). Listen, Mr. Fire-Demon—dude is not returning to Hell, he’s returning with you to Hell. Geez.

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Weird Wonder Tales #16 (June 1976). Art by Rich Buckler and Dan Adkins. There should be an entire book of all the comics covers and stories influenced by the 1975 Jaws film. Just sayin’.

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Weird Wonder Tales #18 (Oct. 1976). Art by Jack Kirby and Klaus Janson. I love this: a then-new Kirby cover, not a reprint from the 1950s. Jack was really covering a lot of books during his 1976-78 second Marvel life.

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Weird Wonder Tales #19 (Dec. 1976). Art by Jack Kirby and John Verpoorten. Speaking of Kirby… for the last four issues of Weird Wonder Tales, Roy Thomas resurrected a 1950s character named Doctor Droom and renamed him Doctor Druid, complete with some new and redrawn interior art by such 1970s Marvel stalwarts like John Byrne and John Tartaglione. I just love this cover.

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MORE

— FRIGHTFUL FRIDAYS: Dig These 13 Creepy Marvel CHAMBER OF CHILLS Covers. Click here.

— FRIGHTFUL FRIDAYS: Dig These 13 Crypt-Kickin’ Marvel CRYPT OF SHADOWS Covers. Click here.

— FRIGHTFUL FRIDAYS: Dig These 13 Chilling Marvel VAULT OF EVIL Covers. Click here.

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When JIM BEARD’s not editing and publishing through his two houses, Flinch Books and Becky Books, he’s pounding out adventure fiction with both original and licensed characters. In fact, he’s put words in the mouths of Luke Skywalker, Superman, Fox Mulder, Carl Kolchak, Peter Venkman and the Green Hornet… and lived to tell about it. His most fitting books for the season?  The Sgt. Janus: Spirit-Breaker Saga!