Witching Hour #17

Witching Hour #17 (On Sale: August 10, 1971), has a cover by Nick Cardy.

We begin with a framing sequence drawn by Geroge Tuska. The witches move into a new house in the city. At first, they miss their old house, but the smog and view of the polluted river raise their spirits, inspiring them to tell stories.

Our first tale is "This Little Witch Went to College" by George Kashdan and Don Heck. When a college coed goes missing, the campus coven attempts to get a new initiate, Claire, to stop Frederick Stokes from investigating a death that will lead him straight to the witches.

Next up is "Fingers of Fear" by Gardner Fox, Carmine Infantino, and Sy Barry and reprinted from Sensation Comics #109 (1952). Albert Tisdale kills the other members of his expedition, but then their faces begin to appear on his fingers and try to take their revenge.

Our next reprint is "The Second Life of Simon Steele" drawn by Howard Sherman and reprinted from House of Secrets #46 (1961). The ghost of a lawyer who relied on sorcery returns after 150 years to take revenge on the descendant of the person who stopped him originally.

That takes us to "The Corpse Who Carried Cash" by Murray Boltinoff, John Calnan, and Vince Colletta. A funeral home employee embezzles from his boss and decides to hide the money in the casket of a recently dead person overnight. He realizes the error of his ways when his boss informs him the following morning that the man had been cremated.

We end with "The Man in the Cellar" by Carl Wessler and Jerry Grandenetti. Miser Ephraim Dark meets a kind stranger through a mirror that he keeps in his cellar. The stranger pulls Ephraim through the mirror and offers him a meal but Ephraim can only think he's being spied on so the stranger can steal his money. When Ephraim notices a painting ajar, he knows that he's located the man's safe. He steals the money and flees back through the mirror, but he panics that they might be able to follow him through the mirror so he burns the money. 

Still not satisfied that he is safe, he breaks the mirror. When he checks his own money hiding place he is shocked to discover his money is gone. The face of the stranger appears and Ephraim realizes the stranger is himself living another life if he had not been a miser. Ephraim realizes that the money he stole and destroyed was his own.

All new material reprinted in Showcase Presents: The Witching Hour Vol. 1 TPB (2011).

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Witching Hour #16

Witching Hour #16 (On Sale: June 10, 1971), has a cover by Nick Cardy.

We begin with a framing sequence drawn by George Tuska, and that leads us to "Never Kill a Witch" by Carl Wessler, John Calnan, and Bernie Case. Harry and Stella approach an old house that Harry believes has money hidden away inside but Stella is frightened as she has heard a witch lived there. Harry tries to reassure the frightened Stella that they can make money for their wedding by robbing the old woman who lives in the house, but Stella is still frightened. 

Harry and Stella are confronted by the old woman who lives in the house, accusing them of being thieves. Harry attacks the old woman and Stella thinks that he has killed her, but she appears again and warns them to leave her house. Harry makes sure the old woman is dead this time. Stella wants to leave, but Harry refuses to leave without the money and finds its hiding place. The witch refuses to stay dead and when Harry confronts her, a fire breaks out. Harry gets the burned Stella out of the house and asks a passerby to call an ambulance. 

The old woman burns up in the house and Harry and Stella are brought to the hospital where they have an extended stay. When the bandages from their faces are removed, Stella screams when she sees that Harry's face now resembles that of the old witch. This is the only credit for Bernie Case at DC, though there are three issues of Black Diamond Western by Lev Gleason from 1949 that has Case listed as a penciler and inker.

Next up is "The Spell of Sinner Ella" by Murray Boltinoff and Gray Morrow. The Cinderella story retold where Cinderella pushes one of the stepsisters off a cliff for attempting to rival the prince's affection and the prince tracks her down with the glass slipper and has her hung. A stupid story with great artwork.

That is followed by "You Can't Hide from Death" by Murray Boltinoff and Tony DeZuniga. One man fires a shot in a duel and misses and the other refuses to fire saying that he will pick the time and place. The story leads the reader to believe that the first man in the duel spends years fleeing the pursuit of the other, but the end of the story reveals that the pursued man is the one who refused to take the shot. At the end of the story, the pursuer catches up with the pursued and hands over his gun, demanding that he take the shot. The man fires into the ground.

Next up is "The Wondrous Witch's Cauldron" drawn by Lee Elias and reprinted from House of Secrets #58 (1963). A witch's cauldron that brings its owner fame, fortune, and long life passes from owner to owner.

We end with  "The Curse of the Cat" by Howie Post and Bill Draut and reprinted from House of Mystery #177 (1968). A beggar tells Mr. Fleming of a fortune buried in a cat's grave.

The entire issue was reprinted in Showcase Presents: The Witching Hour Vol. 1 TPB (2011).

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Unexpected #125

Unexpected #125 (On Sale: April 22, 1971), has an underwhelming cover by Nick Cardy. The unimaginative color is what truly ruins this cover.

This issue starts off with "Screech of Guilt" by George Kashdan and Artie Saaf. Though I am not a huge fan of Saaf, he did some nice work here and there in this story. Nicholas murders his business partner, Clinton, after Clinton discovered he was embezzling money from their company. Afterward, he hears Clinton's last words, daring Nicholas to kill him, repeated over and over, only to discover Clinton's pet parrot who continually repeats the murdered man's last conversation. 

Nicholas attempts to silence the bird, but it eludes him. Weeks later Clinton's widow calls Nicholas to her house and gives him the returned parrot. He grabs the bird and attempts to drive it somewhere private where he can shoot it, but notices a cop tailing him and panics, releasing the bird from its cage. When the cop bypasses him, he realizes that he still has a chance to track the parrot on foot. The bird leads him into a parrot jungle where his buddies peck the man to death.

Next is  "Escape into the Unknown" by Carl Wessler and Sid Greene. Convicted kidnapper Lefty, escapes from prison and hides out inside a rocket at a launch facility. While there, scientists arrive and load the rocket up with food capsules and water. Lefty wants to get off the rocket but is unable to do so. The next night he is awakened by the rumble of this ship then the weightlessness of space. Alone in the ship, Lefty goes mad, seeing people from his past. Time goes on and then one day the rocket returns to earth and when men open the capsule they find Lefty, an old man, having been in orbit for 48 years, his life sentence having not really been avoided.

We end with  "Know No Evil" by George Kashdan and Jerry Grandenetti. Ferghol has discovered a strange creature created by an ancient wizard. Using a special formula derived from rare flowers, Ferghol is able to transfer the evil from a man to a creature, named Amram, for 24 hours. The man may then commit any crime without being caught. Amram, however, is disfigured for each crime committed.

When one of Ferghol's clients confesses, Amram's disfigurement is reversed. Hoping to regain his normal body, Amram escapes in an effort to elicit more confessions. Ferghol pursues and is accidentally killed. Amram is caught. His case comes to the court of Judge Gallows, who believes the story and acquits Amram. Gallows is then forced off the bench by colleagues believing him to be senile.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Unexpected #123

Unexpected #123 (On Sale: December 8, 1970), has a cover by Nick Cardy.

We begin with "Death Watch" by Carl Wessler and George Tuska. A man tries to get a wealthy businessman with a weak heart to give up the ghost and die so that he can move in on the widow and her wealth. However, as the ailing man's spirit moves closer to the realm of the dead, it is the greedy man's thoughts that give him the resolve to fight to remain in the land of the living.

Next is "Man in the Attic" by Carl Wessler, Dick Dillin, and Frank Giacoia. A strangler is loose in the city and the residents of a boarding house are quick to believe it is somebody living there.

Our next story is "Curse of the Sea Hag" also written by Carl Wessler, and this time, drawn by Jerry Grandenetti. Jerry sneaks aboard a cursed boat.

Carroll O. Wessler, better known as Carl Wessler, was born on May 25, 1913, and began as an animator in the 1930s, working on Musical Memories and other cartoon shorts for the Fleischer Studios in New York City. The studio fired him on March 30, 1937, for labor union organizing; after a subsequent strike by studio staff, lasting from May 7 to October 13 of that year, the studio settled, and Wessler and others were rehired. Wessler followed Fleischer when it relocated to Florida the following year. 

While continuing to work as an animator, Wessler began doing freelance art for comic books in 1943, through the studio Sangor-Hughes, a packager that produced outsourced comics for publishers entering the then-new medium. Wessler returned to New York when Fleischer relocated but began to move to comics full-time.  Wessler's earliest confirmed credits are as a cartoonist writing and drawing such funny animal features as "Snazzy Rabbit" and "Senorita Juanita McMouse" in Laffy-Daffy Comics #1 (Feb. 1945). He also wrote and drew the humorous feature "Happy Daze" in at least two issues of Lev Gleason Publications' Daredevil in 1951.

Wessler began writing for Atlas Comics in November 1950 with "The Mad Monk" about the historical figure Grigori Rasputin, published in Amazing Detective Cases #6 (May 1951). He soon became Atlas' primary crime fiction writer, often scripting entire issues of All-True Crime, Amazing Detective Cases, Crime Can't Win, Crime Exposed, Crime Must Lose, Justice, and Kent Blake of the Secret Service. In 1952 he became a member of the Atlas bullpen, where he wrote horror/fantasy stories for such titles as Adventures into Terror, Adventures into Weird Worlds, Astonishing, Mystic, and Suspense, later adding such war comics as Battle, Battle Action, Battlefield, Combat, and Men's Adventures.

Starting in 1953, Wessler contributed a large number of stories to EC's famed horror titles Tales from the Crypt, and The Vault of Horror—writing the entirety of Tales from the Crypt #45 (Jan. 1955), for instance, with the artists including such luminaries as Graham Ingels, Jack Davis, Jack Kamen, and Bernard Krigstein. He wrote as well for EC's Aces High, Crime SuspenStories, Impact, Piracy, Shock SuspenStories, and Weird Science-Fantasy.

Following the demise of EC, Wessler returned to Atlas in late 1955 as a freelance writer. There he scripted science fiction/fantasy stories for Mystic and, prolifically, World of Fantasy. Wessler next wrote for Harvey Comics, home of Casper the Friendly Ghost and other children's characters, remaining there through the early 1970s. As well, in the 1960s, his work appears in a range of titles including Charlton Comics' Billy the Kid, DC Comics' Tomahawk, and Warren Publishing's black-and-white horror-comics magazines Creepy, Eerie, and Vampirella.

At DC Comics, Wessler wrote numerous stories for the horror anthologies Ghosts, House of Mystery, The Unexpected, and The Witching Hour from 1967 to 1985. He also contributed additional stories to Eerie and returned to his old home at the former Atlas, now Marvel Comics, with work appearing in Giant-Size Chillers vol. 2, #1 (Feb. 1975), and in the black-and-white horror-comics magazine Tales of the Zombie #7 and 10 (Sept. 1974 and March 1975). His last recorded credit is the story "Hellfire by Night" in G.I. Combat #278 (July 1985). Wessler was living in Miami, Florida, at the time of his death in 1989.

This issue ends with  "Voice in the Night" by Murray Boltinoff and Rich Buckler. After a horrible car accident, a man is haunted by the voice of his wife.

Edited by Murray Boltioff.

Unexpected #122

Unexpected #122 (On Sale: October 6, 1970) has a  cover by Dick Giordano.

It is issues like this that made me hate the Unexpected. The stories are some of the most banal and uninteresting tales you will ever read. "The Phantom of the Woodstock Festival" by George Kashdan, Dick Dillin and Vince Colletta. Given this is a DC story and there are "young people" in it, you know the dialogue is as corny as can be, full of "Crazy Man"s and "splitsville"s and all sort of things no one ever really said. Three members of a struggling rock group, "The Stone Cantaloupes," are on their way to the Woodstock Festival and looking for a place to stay, so they stop at a deserted monastery for the night. They find an old organ there and Forbush starts playing it while the others jam along, lead singer Trina leading the way. 

That night a voice calling to her wakes Trina up and she finds the "owner" of the place, a hooded man rejected by society years ago for his "mad" music. The guys wake up and begin to search for Trina, only to get locked in an air-tight room. The "owner" is revealed to be not that good looking and plans on letting the boys die so he can have Trina's voice to himself.

The boys find a piece of sheet music in the room and Forbush begins to play it on the organ and as he does so the door begins to move. opening up so they can escape, which they do taking Trina out of the clutches of the "owner" and away with them to the festival. At Woodstock, Forbush, sheet music in hand, plans to go back to the monastery and retrieve the organ once the festival is over, but a gust of wind blows it from his hands and it is lost in the debris of Woodstock. The dumbass end. 

The next underwhelming story is "Lady Killer" by Al Case (Murray Boltinoff) and Murphy Anderson. A guy hides out in a department store every night to spend some time with his girlfriend. Do I need to go any further? At work his friends all laugh at him, calling him "lady killer" as a joke as they all know he is alone. One night when he has to work late and can't get to the store before it closes he sees his "girlfriend" in the window in a wedding dress and goes ape shit. I guess if you are the editor you can make a few extra bucks by calling this a story.

Next we have "To Die a Dozen Deaths!" by Carl Wessler, Jerry Grandenetti and Wally Wood. Guy kills a Gypsy man and is cursed to die a dozen deaths and while awaiting his execution has 11 dreams of being hung. The twelfth time is real. Wow, what a story. Grandenetti and Wood have done some interesting work together in the past, but this is not one of those times.

We end with "Scarecrow" where editor Murray Boltinoff makes another few bucks and Jerry Grandenetti does as well in this story of a man tormented by crows who wants to get a scarecrow to get rid of them and accidentally impales himself on a pitchfork becoming his own scarecrow. I think I actually bought this pile of crap of the stands.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Unexpected #120

Unexpected #120 (On Sale: June 4, 1970) has a cover by Nick Cardy.

We begin with "Rambeau's Revenge" by Carl Wessler and George Tuska. A disfigured teenager uses voodoo to take revenge on classmates who taunted him by disfiguring their looks using acid and voodoo dolls. When they approach his cabin to take revenge, he panics and spills acid on the figurine that he had made of himself, removing his facial features altogether. Note: Sylvester Stallone is not in this story, despite the name.

Next is "The Gravediggers" by Carl Wessler, Ross Andru and Mike Esposito. Jim Marlowe is always playing mean practical jokes on his friends. When they finally turn the tables on him, playing a huge joke wherein he thinks they are going to kill him, he goes insane. Not really much of a story here, but I never expected much from The Unexpected.

That is followed by "Once Upon a Killer," also by Carl Wessler and George Tuska. Fugitive killer Rud Harlow stumbles out of the Arizona desert looking for water. He finds a ranch and when the owner refuses to show him where the water is he kills him.  Out back he finds a water hole and drinks deeply before realizing the hole is poisoned and that he had killed the old rancher before he could warn him.

We end with  "Haunted House Do Not Disturb" by George Kashdan and Jerry Grandenetti. With the best artwork in this issue, we see Martin and Wilma visiting the old English Frumley Castle and are invited, for an extra fee to spend the night in the castle and meet the ghost that haunts it. Martin is all for it and a reluctant Wilma accompanies him. The lord of the castle warns them not to disturb the ghost if they see it, but when a ghost appears at midnight, Martine chases after it, only to be trapped in the castle tower by the ghost.

He begs the ghost not to hurt him and the ghost replies that he is a ghost and incapable of hurting him. The ghost is the Earl of Meacham, the original and true owner of the castle. The first Lord Frumley was his cousin and stayed with him in the castle, but he was also Meacham's murderer, who forged a deed to the property and stole the castle from his family. The real deed has been hidden for centuries and the ghost has waited patiently for someone to help retrieve it. Wilma has awakened Lord Frumley to help look for Martin, but Frumley has other ideas. 

He has waited for someone to do the ghost's bidding so he can finally destroy the real deed. Martin meets up with Wilma and together they recover the real deed from the castle graveyard. Frumley arrives with gun in hand to take it from them when a lantern from the castle crashes to the ground, startling them all and allowing Martin to disarm Frumley. The deed recovered and safe, the ghost leaves the castle, waving to the pair as it goes.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

 

Tomahawk #129

Tomahawk #129 (On Sale: April 30, 1970) has another cover by Neal Adams.

We begin with Tomahawk in  "Treachery at Thunder Ridge" by Carl Wessler and Frank Thorne. Despite Frank Thorne's wonderful artwork, I just find it hard to reread these books. I think the real problem with this title is that the characters never grabbed me.

The back-up strip is "General Tomahawk" drawn by Bob Brown and reprinted from Tomahawk #51.

Edited by Murry Boltinoff.

Unexpected #119

Unexpected #119 (On Sale: April 2, 1970) has a cover by Nick Cardy.

We begin with "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Who's the Deadliest of All?" drawn by Bernie Wrightson. That is followed by "The Swampchild" by Carl Wessler, Werner Roth and Frank Giacoia. Next is "Rachel Isn't Ready to Die" by George Kashdan, Sid Greene and Vinny Colletta. We next have "Rest in Pieces" drawn by Murphy Anderson and reprinted in Unexpected #160. We end with "A Phantom in the Tree" by Murray Boltinoff and Jerry Grandenetti.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Unexpected #117

Unexpected #117 (On Sale: December 4, 1969) has a cover by Nick Cardy.

We begin with Johnny Peril in "Midnight Summons the Executioner" by George Kashdan and Sid Greene. This is the last Johnny Peril story for ten years. Next is "Hands of Death" by Murray Boltinoff and Jerry Grandenetti. That is followed by "The House That Hate Built" by Carl Wessler and George Tuska. This story was reprinted in Unexpected #161. We end with "Death of the Man Who Never Lived" by Carl Wessler and Bruno Premiani.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Unexpected #115

Unexpected #115 (On Sale: August 7, 1969) has a cover by Neal Adams.

We begin with "Diary of a Madman" by Carl Wessler and Ed Robbins. Some sources indicate that this was the last story Ed Robbins drew for DC, others say he drew some war stories in 1970 and 1971, but I haven't tracked those down yet. Robbins' last comic book work appears to be for Western in Grimm's Ghost Stories in 1975-76. Born in 1919 Ed Robbins died in 1982.

He was one of those guys who worked everywhere, but rarely made a name for himself. He worked at the Beck and Costanza Studio between 1942 and 1953, the Iger Studio in 53-54 and the Simon and Kirby Studio in 1955.

For Archie he drew Roy, the Super Boy, the Scarlet Avenger, The Shield, Steel Sterling and Zamboni, the Miracle Man. At Centaur he drew Craig Carter and the Masked Marvel. At Charlton he crime and war stories. At DC he drew Gang Busters in the 50s and horror, romance and war stories in the 1960s. At Dell he drew horror stories in the early 60s and at Feature Comics he drew romance stories during the late 50s. At Fawcett he drew romance comics for years along with Captain Marvel, the Marvel Family and Mary Marvel. In the 40s and 50s he work for Atlas/Marvel on the Black Avenger, the Human Torch, the Thunderer and assorted horror and war stories. He did one story for Warren in 1970.

If Ed Robbins ever made a name for himself though, it was during his two-years stint on the Mike Hammer newspaper strip in the 1950s, where his hard-boiled gutsy graphic style was years ahead of the British strips of the 60s, such as Jim Holdaway on Modesty Blaise and Yaroslav Horak on James Bond (I used to follow both of these strips in the wonderful Menomonee Falls Gazette in the 1970s).

Next we have "Abracadabra -- You're Dead" by Dave Wood, Curt Swan and Jack Abel. We end with "The Day Nobody Died" by Dave Wood, Werner Roth and Frank Giacoia. This story was reprinted in Unexpected #161.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Tomahawk #117

Tomahawk #117 (On Sale: May 2, 1968) has another great cover by Neal Adams. Though not a "show stopper' like last issue, this one is still very dramatic.

Inside we have "The Rangers' Last Stand" by Dave Wood and Fred Ray and "The Gauntlet of Doom" by Carl Wessler and Fred Ray.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Unexpected #107

Unexpected #107 (On Sale: April 4, 1968) has a pretty bland Johnny Peril cover by Jack Sparling.

Inside Johnny Peril stars in "The Whip of Fear" by George Kashdan and Jack Sparling. That is followed by "Collector's Item" a reprint from Strange Adventures #28 by Jack Miller, Mad's Mort Drucker and Joe Giella. The last story is "A Trader in Treachery" by Carl Wessler and Bruno Premiani.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Tomahawk #116

Tomahawk #116 (On Sale: March 7 1968) has, well, one of the most beautiful covers I have ever seen. I mean talk about a gorgeous piece of work, Neal Adams with a single cover totally redefined the Tomahawk character. Wow!

We begin with "The Last Mile of Massacre Trail" by Carl Wessler and Fred Ray. Change will be coming to the insides of this book to match the new look on the covers, but it doesn't start in this issue. The back-up is "The Making of a Hero" which is also by Carl Wessler and Fred Ray.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Unexpected #106

Unexpected #106 On Sale: February 6, 1968) sports a pretty tame Howard Purcell and Jack Abel Johnny Peril cover.

"The Doorway into Time" is a Johnny Peril story written and penciled by Howard Purcell and inked by George Roussos. Johnny was last seen in Sensation Mystery #116, July/August 1953. It is followed by "Probability Zero," a reprint from Strange Adventures #32 by Sid Gerson, Frank Giacoia and Sy Barry. The last story in the issue is "Roehmer's Revenge" by Carl Wessler and George Roussos. It will be reprinted in Unexpected #161.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Unexpected #105

Unexpected #105 (On Sale: December 7, 1967) has a Bob Brown cover. This is the first issue using this name as the first 104 issues were published as Tales of the Unexpected. This becomes DC's first horror anthology book.

"The Night I Watched Myself Die" by Carl Wessler and Bob Brown was later reprinted in Unexpected #159. Next is "Daydreams That Became a Nightmare" drawn by Lee Elias. That is followed by "The Island of the Enchantress" draw by Ruben Moreira and reprinted from House of Secrets #7. Lastly is "The Human Phantom" by Otto Binder, Gil Kane and Joe Giella and reprinted from Strange Adventures #48.

Edited by Murray Boltinoff.

Tales of the Unexpected #104

Tales of the Unexpected #104 (On Sale: October 10, 1967) has a very dramatic cover by Neal Adams. When the mystery/horror craze hits in full stride over the next few years, Adams will be the guy who does the majority of the covers. Here is his first "mystery" cover for DC.

Inside we have "Master of the Voo-Doo Machine" by Carl Wessler and Bernard Baily which would later be reprinted in Unexpected #162, "I Was King of Dagger Island" drawn by the amazing Leonard Starr (known mainly for his 22-year run on the syndicated "On Stage")and reprinted from My Greatest Adventure #1 and finally "The 24-Hour Nightmare" drawn by Jack Abel.

Edited by Murry Boltinoff