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 #108

Unexpected #108 (On Sale: June 6, 1968) has a really great cover by Jack Sparling. I love the color on this one as well.

Johnny Peril stars in "Journey to a Nightmare" by George Kashdan and Jack Sparling. This story is followed by "The Cat with 1,000 Lives" by Dave Wood and Jack Sparling.

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

Tales of the Unexpected #103

Tales of the Unexpected #103 (On Sale: August 8, 1967) has a cover by Bob Brown.

Inside we have "ABC to Disaster" drawn by Jack Abel and "The Unlucky Mr. Lucky" featuring the Green Glob, by France Herron and Bernard Baily. The final story is a reprint from House of Secrets #11, "The Guardian of the Past" drawn by Nick Cardy.

Edited by Jack Schiff

Tales of the Unexpected #102

Tales of the Unexpected #102 (On Sale: June 6, 1967) has a cover by Carmine Infantino and George Roussos.

Inside we have "Bang! Bang! You're Dead" drawn by Lee Elias and our cover story "The World's Weirdest... Death Race," featuring the Green Glob, by Dave Wood and George Roussos. The final story is a reprint from House of Secrets #9, "The Doomsday Drum" written by Dave Wood and drawn by two Atlas/Marvel favorites, Joe Maneely and Joe Sinnott.

I've never heard of the Green Glob, but according to the DC User's Guide...

During their 3.5 billion year existence as the Guardians of the Universe, the immortals of Oa made a number of attempts to bring order and justice to the cosmos. The Manhunters, the Halla'S and the Green Lantern Corps were among their best known experiments.

A lesser known experiment was the creation of machines composed of a cohesive plasma with near limitless energy. Unlike the power rings of the Green Lantern Corps, the Oan machines do not require recharging. Odorless and intangible, the Oan creation was invisible except when seen in certain frequencies of green light. The Oan designation is unknown, the plasma became known simply as the "Green Glob."

These machines were released into space and had the ability to temporarily warp reality to "teach a lesson" to a specific individual. How or why the Green Globs choose a specific individual is unknown. The Green Globs feature a form of intelligence beyond the understanding of most sentients. There is no report of any additional Guardian involvement after the Green Globs were sent into space [Angel and the Ape Vol. 2 #3-4].

Unconfirmed reports place the Green Glob on Earth as early as 1966. The stories tell of an entity "spawned in the black reaches of outer space and invisible to human eyes...[having] drifted to Earth to use its incredible powers on man in mysterious ways" [Tales of the Unexpected #94].

Edited by Jack Schiff.

Tales of the Unexpected #101

Tales of the Unexpected #101 (On Sale: April 6, 1967) has a cover by Carmine Infantino and George Roussos. Infantino and Roussos seemed to be the team of choice at DC for the science-fiction/monster/mystery books at this time.

Inside we have "The Man in the Liquid Mask" drawn by Bernard Baily, "We Fought the Giant of Island X" a reprint from My Greatest Adventure #9 drawn by Ruben Moreira and the cover story "The Guardian Monster" drawn by George Roussos.

Edited by Jack Schiff.