We begin with "Mask of the Red Fox" by Robert Kanigher and Alex Toth. This story is interesting in how much Cain is an active participant in a portion of it. The real treat of this story though, it Alex Toth's amazing artwork. As a kid, I was enamored of the flashy guys, Neal Adams, Al Williamson, Bernie Wrightson, and dismissive of guys like Toth. Too simplistic I thought, but I was 13, what the hell did I know.
We begin learning that the ugly witch Gretig so hated Baron Stefan's wife Sylvia, that she cursed her, tying her fate to that of a beautiful red fox. The Baron and his group of hunters is after the fox and meet Cain at the House of Mystery, the Baron's hounds sniffing and barking at the caretaker. Unable to gain satisfaction from Cain, the Baron and his group continue the hunt. Once they have left, Cain let's the fox out of his house.
Let loose, the red fox heads for the Baron's castle, while the Baron continues his hunt, him bagging a fox, but a grey one, not the red he is searching for. Returning home the hounds again pick up the scent of the red fox, but the Baron is none to happy when they return him to his castle. At the after-hunt feast, the Baron retell the story of how he first laid eyes on the red fox and how, when chasing it, he instead found, Sylvia with a sprained ankle. The Baron was infatuated and it was not long before he and Sylvia were wed and now is even more consumed by his pursuit of the red fox.
The next day, in the pouring rain, the Baron resumes his hunt for the red fox (amazing rain sequences by Toth). It is the Baron's lucky day and he corners and kills the fox. Arriving back at the castle he hands the animal over and demands that the head be mounted by dinner. Heading up stairs to tell Sylvia the good news, he finds her dead in her bed and wonders how it happened.
Next is a Room 13 gag page by Sergio Aragones.
That is followed by "Appointment Beyond the Grave" drawn by Wally Wood protégé, Wayne Howard, his third strip for DC. It is December 1943. A meeting of Manhattan Project scientist is being convened, but one scientist, Dr. Brody, is missing. As they discuss how late Brody's plane is, Brody steps from the shadows, letting them know that he is there after all. Saying he lost his briefcase on the plane, Brody sits down and recalculates the neutron emission rates during fission of uranium. When he is completed, the scientists want to go out and celebrate, but Brody is missing again. Yeah, you guessed it; he died in a plan crash on the way to the meeting. I guess not even death could keep you away from helping to kill hundreds of thousands of Japanese.
Next is a Cain's Game Room gag page by Sergio Aragones.
We continue with "An Aura of Death" drawn by John Celardo and Mike Peppe. Herman, the abused assistant of funeral director Wurtz, gains the ability to see the angel of death hovering over people who are about to die and uses his ability to bring in business. When he asks Wurtz to make him a partner, Wurtz tells him to get out because he doesn't need him or his recommendations. He tells Herman that the townspeople refer to him as the angel of death since he is always offering his services at the scene of a death. Herman responds director that he is not the angel of death, because the angel of death is swooping down on the funeral director. We end with Herman having a new sign installed in the business he now runs.
Finally, we end with another Cain's Game Room gag page by Sergio Aragones. The entire book was reprinted in Showcase Presents: The House of Mystery Vol. 1 TPB.
Edited by Joe Orlando.
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