Posted By Dan Greenfield on Oct 15, 2023 | 1 comment

When the Joker and the Green Goblin just aren’t frightening enough…

By CHRIS FRANKLIN

Comic readers of the early 1970s must have been spooked every time they went to the newsstand. There was something… sinister in the air during that period. Monsters, ghosts, ghouls, demons and other nightmare creatures plagued not only the dedicated horror comics, but also titles that were home to long-underwear types. In the Bronze Age, superheroes would have to contend with their usual archenemies, and supernatural foes as well. But what raised these undead menaces from the grave?

The monster craze that had started in the late ’50s with the release of the classic Universal horror films to syndicated television in Screen Gems’ Shock Theater package had ebbed and flowed but was still influential. Monster merchandise began to fill and fly off the shelves, most notably the mega-popular series of Aurora model kits, which were constantly advertised in comics, especially DC titles.

The burgeoning craze had kickstarted the rise of James Warren’s magazines, including Famous Monsters of Filmland, edited by Forrest J. Ackerman, and the comics anthologies Creepy and Eerie, as well as the somewhat racy Vampirella. These comics mags bypassed the puritan-like Comics Code Authority, which had deemed monsters and horror verboten, after the witch hunt of the early ’50s ran the gory but entertaining genre out of business.

Famous Monsters Chronicles cover, featuring James Warren and Forrest J. Ackerman, by Greg Theakston

In mid-1968, the mainstream comic crypt door creaked open once more, and the ghouls and ghosts were unleashed. Editor Joe Orlando reinvigorated DC’s House of Mystery and later, House of Secrets, adding true terror tales, with cheeky hosts not unlike those from the best of the ’50s horror comics, William M. Gaines’ EC Comics line.

Carmine Infantino, Joe Orlando and George Roussos

This was around the same time that daytime TV became the nation’s home for Gothic horror, thanks to the meteoric rise of soap opera Dark Shadows. The somewhat spooky but rather uneventful romance show was saved from cancellation by the arrival of Jonathan Frid as the vampire Barnabas Collins, and a shift to supernatural storylines. Kids couldn’t get enough of the undead anti-hero and raced home from school to see what devilment plagued Collinwood each day, from Frankenstein-like monsters to Lovecraftian creatures. The series would spawn a merchandising frenzy, including a spin-off comic title from Gold Key.

While still the masters of horror, the salad days of England’s Hammer Studios were behind them, with their greatest films produced from the late ’50s to the mid-’60s. But as a new decade dawned, their output became more lurid, and enticing to young filmgoers, amping up the sex and nudity. Homegrown chillers from small studios like American International Pictures also packed drive-ins.

Artist Thom Chantrell

Horror had become more mainstream, and so the stuffy Comics Code Authority got with the times, at least somewhat. While relaxing restrictions which allowed comics to address relevant issues like drug use, the Code also loosened up the hangman’s noose on horror. Vampires, werewolves, zombies (although sometimes they had to go by other names, like Marvel’s “zuvembies”), and the like were once again allowed to terrorize four-color haunts. Even the word “horror” and similar synonyms were allowed back on covers.

Marvel introduced character-oriented horror, turning classics like Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster, and the werewolf into protagonists in their own titles. DC continued to add “mystery” titles to their lineup, and also created series starring supernatural heroes, such as Deadman, Swamp Thing and the Demon. Publishers found out that their readers were just asking to be frightened. The spooky atmosphere and nightmarish creatures from those frightful tales began infiltrating the titles belonging to their brightly hued champions of justice.

Neal Adams

For the past 10 Halloween seasons, my wife Cindy and I have chronicled some of our favorite super hero vs. monster brawls on our Super Mates podcast, over on the Fire and Water Podcast Network. In our House of Franklin-Stein series, each episode we cover a classic-themed horror film, and a superhero comic where a similar monster battles our favorite crimefighters. It should come as no surprise that most of these stories have hailed from the fertile time of the early Bronze Age.

By the end of the ’70s, the horror had somewhat retreated to the tomb, but even up until the opening salvos of the Copper Age, vampires, werewolves and undead beasts could still be found occasionally disrupting the lives of our favorite heroes. Let’s take a look at 13 SPINE-TINGLING COVERS from superhero titles, that just begged kids and collectors to plop down their hard-earned bones, in chronological order!

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Detective Comics #395 (Pubdate Jan. 1970) “The Secret of the Waiting Graves.” Cover by Neal Adams. Batman’s Bronze Age adventures began in earnest with this issue, with an interior tale by the primary architects of his “Creature of the Night” revamp, writer Denny O’Neil, artists Neal Adams and Dick Giordano, and editor Julius Schwartz. This game-changing cover by Adams makes it seem like Batman has somehow stumbled into a House of Mystery issue, but readers would soon learn that the Dark Knight mixes well with the horror genre.

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Teen Titans #34 (Jul/Aug 1971) “The Demon of Dog Island.” Cover by Nick Cardy. The Teen Titans title practically became a horror comic in this period, and longtime series artist Nick Cardy proved he could transition from ginchy teens to Gothic mansions. All of his covers in the title’s later run are spooky fun, but this one, with a possessed Wonder Girl menacing her teammates, is a true standout.

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The Amazing Spider-Man #101 (Oct. 1971) “A Man Called… Morbius.” Cover by Gil Kane and John Romita. Yes, Spider-Man has six arms, but the real shocker on this Gil Kane/John Romita cover is the introduction of Morbius, the Living Vampire, announcing to all the world that the Marvel Age of Monsters was upon us. Even if they tested the waters with a living fiend, first.

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Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #143 (Nov. 1971) “Genocide Spray.” Cover by Jack Kirby and Mike Royer. The previous issue, writer/artist Jack Kirby had introduced the tiny planet of Transilvane, full of synthetically created humanoids, raised on monster movies! The concept is Kirby at his wildest, and this cover shows the King’s knack for innovation, with the monsters in ghostly green and white surprint. Even more amazing, this cover seems to be one of the few times DC allowed Kirby’s version of Superman to go unaltered by Neal Adams, Al Plastino, or Murphy Anderson!

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Batman #237 (Dec. 1971) “Night of the Reaper.” Cover by Neal Adams. That blood red sky. The massive figure of death, swinging his scythe at Robin while Batman swoops in, perhaps too late to save him. This powerful cover by Adams evokes a mood worthy of a “Haunting Halloween Novel.” And the story inside by O’Neil, Adams and inker Dick Giordano is a poignant tale of how real-life horrors shape us, making good men capable of evil deeds.

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The Amazing Spider-Man #124 (Sept. 1973) “Mark of the Man-Wolf,” Cover by John Romita. Spider-Man had just lost his love Gwen Stacy a few months prior, but readers were still shocked to see a very lupine werewolf bursting onto the John Romita cover of ASM #124. Even more shocking was his connection to Spidey’s old adversary, and Peter Parker’s boss, J. Jonah Jameson! This epic image got extra mileage from the widely distributed Power Records book and record adaptation, which included an edited version of this issue and the next beneath this memorable cover.

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Detective Comics #455 (Jan. 1976) “Heart of a Vampire.” Cover by Mike Grell. Batman meets Christopher Lee’s Dracula! Well, that’s what artist Mike Grell was going for, but editor Julius Schwartz made him tone down the vampire’s Lee-like appearance. It still shines through on the  interiors, though. The story by Elliot S! Maggin has a nightmare-like quality, and this cover is just a wonderful Halloween treat.

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Superman #344 (Feb. 1979) “The Monsters Among Us.” Cover by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez. Who doesn’t love a monster rally? Superman finds himself in the middle of a Dracula/Frankenstein sandwich, and the Man of Steel has rarely looked this fearful. But the magically powered Prince of Darkness just may take a bite out of that muscular neck, courtesy of master anatomist Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez! The interior story by writers Len Wein, Paul Levitz and artists Curt Swan and Frank Chiaramonte, has a guest appearance by another spooky DC hero, who rode the line between superhero and mystery stories, the Phantom Stranger.

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Super Friends #28 (Jan. 1980) “Masquerade of Madness.” Cover by Ramona Fradon and Bob Smith. What a face off! Five of DC’s greatest heroes vs. some of their most monstrous characters? “A Hair-Raising Halloween Chiller” indeed! Ramona Fradon’s and Bob Smith’s powerful cover image offers a potential monster bash no kid could resist. If I was that band, I think I’d scram! Writer E. Nelson Bridwell does cheat the readers just a bit inside, as we learn these aren’t the REAL Demon, Man-Bat, etc., but just party goers transformed by the Justice League’s old foe, Felix Faust. But that cover is still killer!

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Captain America #254 (Feb. 1981) “Blood on the Moors.” Cover by John Byrne and Josef Rubenstein. It was hard to choose between this cover, and the previous issue. The cover to #253 is moodier, but this one shows Cap in mid-battle with the sickening vampire Nazi, Baron Blood, and that fight is central to what makes this story more memorable. As great as the John Byrne/Josef Rubenstein cover is, with its dynamic layout and evocative color hold background, the interiors, by the artists and co-plotter/scripter Roger Stern is even more fantastic. And that ending… CHUK!!!

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Batman #350 (Aug. 1982) “Nightmare in Crimson,” Cover by Gene Colan and Frank McLaughlin. Batman kicked off this list with a cover that made it look like he’d stumbled into a DC mystery title. Well, his last entry here has him falling cowl first into an issue of Tomb of Dracula! The original creative team on that title, writer Gerry Conway and artist Gene Colan had reunited at DC, and brought their Gothic storytelling expertise with them. A retelling of Batman’s Golden Age encounter with the vampiric Monk, this cover gives us a truly frightening monster by Colan and inker Frank McLaughlin. These covers, and this storyline proved too much for young me. I skipped buying Batman and Detective during this period!

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Moon Knight #29 (March 1983) “Morning Star.” Cover by Bill Sienkiewicz. Despite its minimalist composition, this cover by Bill Sienkiewicz is probably the most chilling on this list. Sienkiewicz and writer Doug Moench reintroduced Marvel’s anti-hero Werewolf by Night as true lupine terror, no doubt inspired by the more horrific lycanthropes of contemporary movies like An American Werewolf in London. The implication on the cover is that the titular hero has met his end at the claws of this beast, and it’s not hard to believe!

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Best of DC Digest #38 (July 1983). Cover by Ed Hannigan and Bob Smith. What a perfect way to wrap things up, with an image that encapsulates what we’ve been discussing here. Comics’ first superhero, the Man of Steel, surrounded by supernatural wraiths, on a cover where Ed Hannigan and Bob Smith seem to be intentionally channeling horror master Bernie Wrightson. This digest comic reprinted many of Superman’s encounters with the unknown, and of course, many of the stories were from this haunted Bronze Age period!

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MORE

— The TOP 13 Spookiest NEAL ADAMS COVERS — RANKED. Click here.

— POWER RECORDS Is Back — on VINYL and Complete With Expanded Classic NEAL ADAMS Halloween Comic. Click here.

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Regular 13th Dimension contributor Chris Franklin is a graphic designer, illustrator, writer, and podcaster, who co-hosts and produces several shows on the Fire and Water Podcast Network, including JLUCast, discussing Justice League Unlimited, and Super Mates, with the annual House of Franklin-Stein series, covering classic horror films, and comics featuring super heroes versus classic monsters. For more spooky fun, give it a listen! All treats, no tricks!