{"id":34131,"date":"2025-10-31T09:00:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T09:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=34131"},"modified":"2025-10-28T15:04:35","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T15:04:35","slug":"dc-finest-horror-the-devils-doorway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2025\/10\/31\/dc-finest-horror-the-devils-doorway\/","title":{"rendered":"DC Finest Horror – The Devil\u2019s Doorway"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Alex Toth<\/strong>, Gil Kane<\/strong>, Mike Friedrich<\/strong>, Gerry Conway<\/strong>, Sergio Aragon\u00e9s<\/strong>, Dave Wood<\/strong>, Joe Orlando<\/strong>, Marv Wolfman<\/strong>, Len Wein<\/strong>, Steve Skeates<\/strong>, John Costanza<\/strong>, Otto Binder<\/strong>, D.J. Arneson<\/strong>, John Albano<\/strong>, Julius Schwartz<\/strong>, E. Nelson Bridwell<\/strong>, Joe Gill<\/strong>, Robert Kanigher<\/strong>, Jack Oleck<\/strong>, Cliff Rhodes<\/strong>, Bob Haney<\/strong>, George Kashdan<\/strong>, Jack Miller<\/strong>, Carl Wessler<\/strong>, Dennis O\u2019Neil<\/strong>, Alan Riefe<\/strong>, Dave Kaler<\/strong>, Jack Phillips<\/strong>, Murray Boltinoff<\/strong>, Curt Swan<\/strong>, Jerry Grandenetti<\/strong>, Bill Draut<\/strong>, Werner Roth<\/strong>, Jack Sparling<\/strong>, Morris Waldinger<\/strong>, Tom Nicolosi<\/strong>, Bernard Baily<\/strong>, Jack Abel<\/strong>, George Roussos<\/strong>, Eddie Robbins<\/strong>, Wayne Howard<\/strong>, Stanley Pitt<\/strong>, Bruno Premiani<\/strong>, Dick Giordano<\/strong>, Dick Dillin<\/strong>, Murphy Anderson<\/strong>, Pat Boyette<\/strong>, Neal Adams<\/strong>, Nick Cardy<\/strong>, Mike Sekowsky<\/strong>, Sid Greene<\/strong>, Mike Roy<\/strong>, Mike Peppe<\/strong>, Don Heck<\/strong>, Wally Wood<\/strong>, Ralph Reese<\/strong>, George Tuska<\/strong>, Gray Morrow<\/strong>, John Celardo<\/strong>, Art Saaf<\/strong>, Jos\u00e9 Delbo<\/strong>, Vince Colletta<\/strong>, Frank Giacoia<\/strong>, Al Williamson<\/strong> & many & various (DC Comics)
\nISBN: 978-1-79950-280-7 (TPB)<\/p>\n

Sadly this masterful mystery megamix is not yet available digitally, but we live in hope…<\/em><\/p>\n

This book includes Discriminatory Content<\/strong> produced in less enlightened times.<\/em><\/p>\n

Win\u2019s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Splendid Slice of Spectral Shock & Awe\u2026 9\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s the time for sweet indulgence, shocking over-eating and spooky stories, so let\u2019s pay a visit to a much-neglected old favourite in a fresh new costume\u2026<\/p>\n

US comic books started slowly until the coming of superheroes unleashed a torrent of creative imitation and sparked a new genre. Implacably vested in World War II, the Overman swept all before him (and very occasionally her or it) until the troops came home and the more traditional genres resurfaced and eventually supplanted the Fights \u2018n\u2019 Tights crowd. Although new kids kept on buying, much of the previous generation of consumers also retained their four-colour habit but increasingly sought older themes in the reading matter. The war years altered global psychological landscapes and as a more world-weary, cynical young public came to see that all the fighting and dying hadn\u2019t really changed anything, their chosen forms of entertainment (film and prose as well as comics) reflected this.<\/p>\n

As well as Westerns, War and Crime comics, celebrity tie-ins, madcap escapist comedy and anthropomorphic funny animal features were immediately resurgent, but gradually another of the cyclical revivals of spiritualism and public fascination with all things occult, eldritch and arcane led to them being outshone and outsold by a wave of increasingly impressive, evocative and shocking horror comics.<\/p>\n

There had been grisly, gory and supernatural stars before, including a pantheon of ghosts, monsters and wizards draped in mystery-man garb and trappings (The Spectre<\/strong>, Mr. Justice<\/strong>, Sgt. Spook<\/strong>, Frankenstein<\/strong>, The Heap<\/strong>, Sargon the Sorcerer<\/strong>, Zatara<\/strong>, Monako<\/strong>, Zambini the Miracle Man<\/strong>, Kardak the Mystic<\/strong>, Dr. Fate<\/strong> and dozens more), but these had been victims of circumstance: The Unknown as a \u201cnarrativium\u201d power source for super-heroics.<\/p>\n

Now the focus shifted to ordinary mortals thrown into a world beyond their ken with the intention of unsettling, not vicariously empowering, the reader. Almost every publisher jumped on the increasingly popular bandwagon, with B & I (which became magical one-man-band Richard E. Hughes\u2019 American Comics Group) launching the first regularly published horror comic in the Autumn of 1948. Technically, though, Adventures Into the Unknown<\/strong> was actually pipped by Avon who had released an impressive single issue entitled Eerie<\/strong> in January 1947 before finally committing to a regular series in 1951. By this time, and following the filmic horror heyday of Universal Pictures\u2019 fright films franchises, worthy comic book monolith Classics Illustrated<\/strong> had already long milked the literary end of the medium with adaptations of The Headless Horseman<\/strong>, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde<\/strong> (both 1943), The Hunchback of Notre Dame<\/strong> (1944) and Frankenstein (<\/strong>1945) among others.<\/p>\n

If we\u2019re keeping score, this was also the period in which Joe Simon & Jack Kirby identified another \u201cmature market\u201d gap by inventing the Romance comic (Young Romance<\/strong> #1, cover-dated September 1947) but they too saw sales potential in macabre mood material, resulting in seminal anthologies Black Magic<\/strong> (launched in 1950) and boldly obscure psychological drama vehicle Strange World of Your Dreams<\/strong> (1952). Around that time the staid cautious company that would become DC Comics bowed to the commercial inevitable and launched a comparatively straightlaced anthology that became one of their longest-running and most influential titles with the December 1951\/January 1952 opening of The House of Mystery<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

When the hysterical censorship scandal which led to witch-hunting hearings was at its height, the mobs with pitchforks furore was adroitly curtailed by the industry adopting a castrating straitjacket of self-regulatory rules. Horror titles produced under the aegis of the Comics Code Authority were sanitised, anodyne affairs in terms of Shock \u2018n\u2019 Gore.<\/p>\n

However, since appetite for suspenseful short stories remained high, in 1956 National DC introduced sister title House of Secrets <\/strong>(a November\/December cover-date). Plots were dialled back into superbly illustrated, rationalistic, fantasy-adventure vehicles which would dominate the market until the 1960s when superheroes (which began sneaking back in 1956 after Julius Schwartz reintroduced The Flash<\/strong> in Showcase<\/strong> #4), finally overtook them.<\/p>\n

Green Lantern<\/strong>, Hawkman<\/strong>, The Atom<\/strong> and a slew of other costumed cavorters generated a gaudy global bubble of masked mavens which even forced the dedicated anthology suspense titles to transform into super-character split-books, with Martian Manhunter<\/strong> and Dial H for Hero<\/strong> monopolising House of Mystery<\/strong> whilst Mark Merlin<\/strong> – later Prince Ra-Man<\/em> – sharing space with Eclipso<\/strong> in House of Secrets<\/strong>. When caped crusader craziness peaked and popped, HoS <\/strong>was one of the first casualties, folding with #80, the September\/October 1966 issue.<\/p>\n

However, nothing combats censorship better than falling profits and by the end of the 1960s the Silver Age superhero boom was over, with many titles gone and some of the industry\u2019s most prestigious series circling the drain. This real-world Crisis prompted surviving publishers to loosen self-imposed restraints against crime and horror comics. Nobody much cared about gangster titles at that juncture, but liberalisation coincided with another bump in public interest for all things Worlds Beyond-ey, so resurrection of scary stories was a foregone conclusion and obvious no-brainer\u2026<\/p>\n

Even ultra-wholesome Archie Comics re-entered the field with a rather tasty line of Red Circle <\/strong>Chillers: a minor substrate they regularly return to with style and potency to this day.<\/p>\n

Thus, with absolutely no fanfare at all House of Mystery<\/strong> #174 (cover dated May\/June 1968), confirmed the downturn in superhero stories eveywhere as it hit newstands everywhere presenting a bold banner asking Do You Dare Enter The House of Mystery<\/strong>? Inside it reprinted admittedly excellent short fantastic thrillers originally seen in House of Secrets<\/strong> from those heady days when it was okay to scare kids…<\/p>\n

It was a slow but unstoppable hit which just kept spreading…<\/p>\n

This DC Finest<\/strong> collection gathers a year\u2019s worth of scary stuff snapshotted from House of Secrets<\/strong> #81-85; House of Mystery<\/strong> #180-185; The Witching Hour<\/strong> #3-7; The Unexpected<\/strong> #113-117 and includes a short back-up yarn from Phantom Stranger<\/strong> volume 2 #5, which cumulatively filled dank evenings from May 1969-April 1970. It all starts – with absolutely no fanfare at all – in HoM <\/strong>#180…<\/p>\n

Going from strength to strength, the fear flagship was increasingly drawing on DC\u2019s major artistic resources. Astounding opener \u2018Comes a Warrior\u2019<\/em> is a chilling faux Sword & Sorcery classic written and drawn by da Vinci of Dynamism Gil Kane, and inked by incomparable Wally Wood, before they illustrate Mike Friedrich\u2019s fourth-wall-demolishing \u2018His Name is Cain Kane!\u2019 <\/em>
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\nA Sergio Aragon\u00e9s gag page in the long-running \u2018Cain\u2019s Game Room\u2019<\/em> roaming sequence then cleanses palates for Cliff Rhodes & Joe Orlando\u2019s text-terror \u2018Oscar Horns In!\u2019<\/em> before Marv Wolfman & Bernie Wrightson proffer prophetic vignette \u2018Scared to Life\u2019<\/em>. A double-page \u2018Cain\u2019s Game Room\u2019<\/em> precedes an uncredited forensic history lesson drawn by Morris Waldinger and recycled as\u2018Cain\u2019s True Case Files\u2019<\/em> to close proceedings for that title. Meanwhile over in long-running, recently remodelled fantasy anthology The Unexpected<\/strong>, the former sci fi vehicle was retooling as a gritty, weird thriller venue with George Kashdan, Jack Sparling & Vince Colletta detailing \u2018The Shriek of Vengeance\u2019<\/em>. Here, Golden Age troubleshooter Johnny Peril<\/strong> is accused of heinous crimes and then abducted by maniac justice dispenser The Executioner<\/em>. His gladiatorial tests are no problem for an ordinary guy who\u2019d been facing the incomprehensible unknown since Comics Cavalcade<\/strong> #19 (February 1947) and soon the true motive is exposed and the scheme crushed…<\/p>\n

Dave Wood & recent Charlton Comics \u00e9migr\u00e9 Pat Boyette then glare into \u2018The Eyes of Death\u2019<\/em>, revealing the fate of an actual criminal who gains the power to see iminent fatalities before Wood, Curt Swan & Mike Esposito ride \u2018The Tunnel of Love<\/span> Fear!\u2019<\/em> to introduce potential host narrator Judge Gallows<\/em>, discussing one of his stranger cases…<\/p>\n

With Tales of the Unexpected<\/strong> #105 and House of Mystery <\/strong>#174, National\/DC had gambled heavily that anthology horror material was back and wouldn\u2019t call the wrath of the gods – and parents – down upon them. Now that they had a boutique mystery stable, they put lots of thought and effort into creating an all-new title to further exploit our morbid fascination with all thingies fearsome and spooky. They would also resurrect House of Secrets<\/strong> (cancelled in late 1969. Apparently in those heady days it was okay – and profitable – to scare the heck out of little kids if you also made them laugh.<\/p>\n

Edited until #14 by Dick Giordano, The Witching Hour<\/strong> first struck with a February\/March 1969 cover-date (actually on-sale from December 19th<\/sup> 1968). From the outset it was an extremely experimental and intriguing beast. Here however we begin with #3 (cover-dated July 1969). In this graphic grimoire, cool & creepy horror-hosts traditionally introducing the entertainments are replaced by three witches. Based as much on a common American misapprehension of Macbeth<\/strong> as the ancient concept of Maiden<\/em>, Mother<\/em> & Crone<\/em>, this torrid trio constantly strove to outdo (and outgross) each other in telling of terror tales.<\/p>\n

Crucially, Cynthia<\/em>, Mildred<\/em> & Mordred<\/em> – as well as shy monster man-servant minion Egor<\/em> – were designed by and initially delineated by master illustrator Alex Toth, making framing sequences between yarns as good as and frequently more enthralling than the stories they brazenly bracketed. Following intro \u2018You Be Our Judge\u2019<\/em> from Toth & Giordano, the graphic genius & Colletta illustrate Don Arneson\u2019s medieval mood masterpiece \u2018The Turn of the Wheel!\u2019 <\/em>before Alan Riefe & Sparling tell a decidedly different ghost-story in \u2018The Death Watch\u2019<\/em>. Steve Skeates & Bernie Wrightson then debut a decidedly alterative fantasy hero in \u2018\u2026And in a Far-Off Land!\u2019<\/em>, followed by the first in a series of short prose vignettes: anonymous fright-comedy \u2018Potion of Love\u2019<\/em> and Mike Sekowsky & Giordano deliver the sisters\u2019 farewell epilogue…<\/p>\n

Back at House of Mystery<\/strong> #181, scripted by Otto Binder and drawn by quirkily capable Sparling, \u2018Sir Greeley\u2019s Revenge!\u2019<\/em> offers a heart-warmingly genteel spook story, albeit jump-cut interrupted by new comedy featire Page 13<\/em> (from Aragon\u00e9s) after which Wrightson\u2019s first long tale is fantastical reincarnation saga \u2018The Siren of Satan\u2019<\/em> (scripted by Bob Kanigher) before we get to the next big thing – and an actual resurrection…<\/p>\n

House of Secrets<\/strong> returned with #81 (August\/September 1969) just as big sister HoM <\/strong>had done a year previously. Under a bold banner declaiming \u201cThere\u2019s No Escape From\u2026 The House of Secrets<\/strong><\/em>\u201d, Mike Friedrich, Jerry Grandenetti & George Roussos introduced a ramshackle, sentient old pile in \u2018Don\u2019t Move It!\u2019<\/em>, after which Bill Draut limned the introduction of bumbling caretaker Abel <\/strong>(with a guest-shot by his murderous older brother Cain<\/strong>) in eponymous intro set-up fable \u2018House of Secrets\u2019<\/em>. A prose yarn by Gerry Conway \u2018Burn this House!\u2019<\/em> gave the portly porter a pause before he kicked off his storytelling career with Conway & Sparling\u2019s\u2018Aaron Philip\u2019s<\/em> Photo Finish!\u2019<\/em> before the inaugural issue is put to bed with a Draut limned \u2018Epilogue\u2019<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n

The Unexpected<\/strong> #114 led with Kashdan, Ed Robbins & Colletta\u2019s \u2018Johnny Peril – My Self… My Enemy!\u2019<\/em> as a modern day alchemist unleashes a lifeforce-stealing golem on the doughty P.I., after Dave Wood & Art Saaf premier a new host regaling readers with \u2018Tales of the Mad, Mod Witch\u2019<\/em> and opening with a warning about magic fountains and poorly aimed coins in \u2018The Well of Second Chances\u2019<\/em>. Thematically on safe ground, we switch to Witching Hour<\/strong> #4 as Toth renders a \u2018Witching Hour Welcome Wagon\u2019<\/em> after which Conway scripts spectral saga \u2018A Matter of Conscience\u2019 <\/em>for Sparling & George Roussos. Anonymous prose piece \u2018If You Have Ghosts?\u2019 <\/em>then segues into smashing yarn \u2018Disaster in a Jar\u2019<\/em> (Riefe & Boyette) before Conway turns in period witchfinder thriller \u2018A Fistful of Fire\u2019 <\/em>for Jos\u00e9 Delbo – a vastly underrated artist who was on the best form of his career at this time.
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\nToth\u2019s Weird Sisters close out that issue as we move on to HoM<\/strong> #182 which opens with one of the most impressive tales of the entire decade. Jack Oleck\u2019s take on the old cursed mirror plot is elevated to high art with his script for \u2018The Devil\u2019s Doorway\u2019<\/em> illustrated by incredible Alex Toth. Marv Wolfman & Wayne Howard follow with \u2018Cain\u2019s True Case Files: Grave Results!\u2019<\/em>, and an expose of the Barbadian sugar trade, after which an Aragon\u00e9s Game Room break leads to nightmarish Gothic revenge tale \u2018The Hound of Night!\u2019<\/em> from Kanigher & Grandenetti. HoS<\/strong> #82 was a largely Conway scripted affair with Draut drawing both \u2018Welcome to the House of Secrets\u2019<\/em> and \u2018Epilogue\u2019<\/em>, whilst cinema shocker \u2018Realer Than Real\u2019<\/em> was illustrated by Werner Roth & Vince Colletta. Prose poser \u2018His Last Resting Place!\u2019<\/em> leads to Wolfman & Giordano\u2019s short sci fi saga \u2018Sudden Madness\u2019<\/em> prior to Conway & Sparling regaling us with salutary tale of murder and revenge \u2018The Little Old Winemaker\u2019<\/em>. Finally, as realised by Dick Dillin & Neal Adams \u2018The One and Only, Fully-Guaranteed, Super-Permanent, 100%\u2019<\/em> presents a darkly comedic eerily unsettling tale of domestic bliss and how to get it\u2026<\/p>\n

Carl Wessler & Ed Robbins open Unexpected<\/strong> #115 with Blitz- survivor Maude Waltham<\/em> unwisely accessing the \u2018Diary of a Madman\u2019<\/em> and being drawn into a world she could not comprehend or cope with, after which Dave Wood, Swan & Jack Abel reveal how an opportunistic showman appropriates an old abndined house and discovers \u2018Abrakadabra – You\u2019re Dead!\u2019<\/em> A classic plot gets a sixties makeover as \u2018The Day Nobody Died!\u2019<\/em> (by Wood as D.W. Holz, Werner Roth & Frank Giacoia) details the repercussions of a wise man unwisely caging the angel of death…<\/p>\n

In Witching Hour<\/strong> #5 the sisters are at their most outrageously, eerily hilarious introducing an anonymous yarn lavishly embellished by Wrightson – a nifty nautical nightmare of loneliness and \u2018The Sole Survivor!\u2019<\/em>, before text-teaser \u2018The Non-Believer! <\/em>and Boyette\u2019s stunning, clownish creep-feature \u2018A Guy Can Die Laughing!\u2019<\/em> set the scene for Steve Skeates, Stanley Pitt & Giordano\u2019s dating dilemma \u2018The Computer Game\u2019 <\/em>I think this was one of the first to explore that now-hoary plot, and it neatly anticipates Toth\u2019s sign off for the witches and added single-page black-comedy bonus \u2018My! How You\u2019ve Grown!\u2019<\/em> from Sid Greene…<\/p>\n

For #183, Joe Orlando offers Cain introductory chuckle \u2018Welcome to the House of Mystery\u2019 <\/em>before, in collaboration with Oleck, Grandenetti reveals the misery of \u2018The Haunting!\u2019<\/em> Following more mirth in Cain\u2019s Game Room<\/em> (by John Albano) and vintage Bernard Baily \u2018Odds and Ends from Cain\u2019s Cellar\u2019<\/em>, \u2018Curse of the Blankenship\u2019s\u2019 <\/em>and \u2018Superstitions About Spiders\u2019<\/em>, Wolfman & Wrightson contribute \u2018Cain\u2019s True Case Files: The Dead Can Kill!\u2019<\/em> A bonanza of Aragon\u00e9s comprising a comedic horroscope on Page 13<\/em> and two pages of Cain\u2019s Game Room<\/em> precedes a canny teaming of Kanigher with Grandenetti & Wally Wood that results in the truly bizarre \u2018Secret of the Whale\u2019s Vengeance\u2019<\/em>…<\/p>\n

After Draut & Giordano\u2019s \u2018Welcome to the House of Secrets\u2019<\/em> piece, superstar Toth made his modern HoS<\/strong> debut with Wolfman-written fantasy \u2018The Stuff That Dreams are Made Of\u2019<\/em>, before Mikes Royer & Peppe visualise sinister love-story \u2018Bigger Than a Breadbox\u2019<\/em>, bookended by anonymous text teaser \u2018Once Upon a Time in Mystery Book…\u2019<\/em> Wrapping up, Conway & Draut revive gothic menace for chilling fable \u2018The House of Endless Years\u2019<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Modernity is briefly embraced in Unexpected<\/strong> #116 as thanks to Dave Wood & Art Saaf, The Mad Mod Witch escorts a group of strangers on an \u2018Express Train to Nowhere!\u2019<\/em> after which author unknown & Boyette describe a doomed Dutch peddlar\u2019s brush with legend and \u2018Steps to Disaster\u2019<\/em>, before Murphy Anderson picks out apparel \u2018Mad to Order\u2019<\/em> as Wrightson details the problems wrapped up in a \u2018Ball of String!\u2019 \u2018Ashes to Ashes, Dustin to Dust?\u2019<\/em> then closes the issue with a spectral tale of love & death from Murray \u201cAl Case\u201d Boltinoff & Sid Greene…<\/p>\n

Sekowsky & Giordano limn Dave Kaler\u2019s take on the sinister sisters\u2019 intro for Witching Hour <\/strong>#6, after which far darker horror debuts as \u2018A Face in the Crowd!\u2019 <\/em>(Conway, Mike Roy & Mike Peppe), wherein a Nazi war-criminal and concentration camp survivor meet in an American street. Wolfman & Delbo depict a tale of neighbourly intolerance in \u2018The Doll Man!\u2019 <\/em>and \u2018Treasure Hunt\u2019 <\/em>(Skeates, John Celardo & Giordano) shows why greed isn\u2019t always good. Also included were Conway\u2019s prose tale \u2018Train to Doom\u2019<\/em>, \u2018Mad Menace\u2019 –<\/em> a \u00bd-page gag strip by John Costanza – and \u2018Distortion!\u2019<\/em>: another Greene-limned one-pager.<\/p>\n

HoM <\/strong>#184 features the triumphant return of Oleck & Toth for captivating Egyptian tomb raider epic \u2018Turner\u2019s Treasure\u2019<\/em> before cartoon pauses for Page 13<\/em> (a diploma fron Aragon\u00e9s & Orlando) and Orlando gag \u2018The Fly\u2019<\/em> deftly segues into epic barbarian blockbuster \u2018The Eyes of the Basilisk!\u2019<\/em> by Bridwell, Gil Kane & Wally Wood…<\/p>\n

Closing with more Albano Cain\u2019s Game Room <\/em>giggles, next comes info short \u2018The Devil\u2019s Footprints!\u2019<\/em> by Kanigher, Swan & Nick Cardy from The Phantom Stranger <\/strong>#5 (cover-dated January\/February 1970) before in House of Secrets<\/strong> #84, Conway & Draut maintain the light-hearted bracketing of stories prior to properly beginning with \u2018If I Had but World Enough and Time\u2019<\/em> (Wein, Dillin & Peppe): a cautionary tale about too much TV. Tensions grow with Wolfman & Greene\u2019s warning against wagering in \u2018Double or Nothing!\u2019<\/em> and Skeates, Sparling & Abel\u2019s utterly manic parable of greed \u2018The Unbelievable! The Unexplained!\u2019<\/em>, before Wein & Sparling mess with our dreams in \u2018If I Should Die before I Wake\u2026\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Johnny Peril leads in Unexpected<\/strong> #117, as Kashdan & Greene reveal how he becomes the patsy for a clan seeking to avoid a hereditary curse in \u2018Midnight Summons the Executioner!\u2019<\/em>, after which Case, Grandenetti & Draut see a woman trick fate by accepting \u2018Hands of Death\u2019 <\/em>whilst Wessler & Tuska detail the downfall of a money-mad beast in \u2018The House that Hate Built!\u2019<\/em> Wessler & Bruno Premiani then detail the uncanny \u2018Death of the Man Who Never Lived!\u2019<\/em> in a spy yarn unlike any other…
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\nIn Witching Hour<\/strong> #7, Toth & Mike Friedrich show spectacular form for the intro and bridging sequences, whilst Draut is compulsively effective in prison manhunt saga \u2018The Big Break!\u2019<\/em>, with scripter Skeates also writing modern-art murder-mystery \u2018The Captive!\u2019 <\/em>for Roussos. Friedrich & Abel advise a most individual baby to \u2018Look Homeward, Angelo!\u2019<\/em>, whilst text piece \u2018Who Believes Ouija?\u2019 <\/em>and Jack Miller & Michael Wm. Kaluta\u2019s Gothically delicious \u2018Trick or Treat\u2019 <\/em>round out the sinister sights in this issue. Then, House of Mystery<\/strong> #185 sees Cain take a more active role in all-Grandenetti yarn \u2018Boom!\u2019<\/em>, with Albano, Aragones & Orlando Page13<\/em> and Cain\u2019s Game Room<\/em>, prior to Wayne Howard illustrating the sinister \u2018Voice from the Dead!\u2019<\/em> Following more Orlando Game-iness prolific Charlton scribe Joe Gill debuts with \u2018The Beautiful Beast\u2019<\/em>: a lost world romance perfectly pictured by EC alumnus Al Williamson.
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\nThis monolitic montage of macabre mirth and scary sagas ceases with House of Secrets<\/strong> #85. Here, Cain & Abel acrimoniously open, after which Wein & Don Heck disclose what can happen to \u2018People Who Live in Glass Houses\u2026\u2019<\/em> whilst graphic legend Ralph Reese limns Wein\u2019s daftly ironic \u2018Reggie Rabbit, Heathcliffe Hog, Archibald Aardvark, J. Benson Baboon and Bertram the Dancing Frog\u2019<\/em>, ere John Costanza contributes comedy page \u2018House of Wacks\u2019 <\/em>and Conway, Kane & Adams herald the upcoming age of slickly seductive barbarian fantasy with gloriously vivid and vital \u2018Second Chance\u2019<\/em>.<\/p>\n

With iconic covers from Neal Adams, Jack Adler, Toth, Sekowsky, Cardy and Gray Morrow this (hopefully first of many) moody mystery compilations is a perfect accompaniment to dark nights in, and one you can depend on to astound and amaze in equal amounts.
\n\u00a9 2025 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n

Today – or maybe even tonight – in 1939 underground cartoonist Frank Stack<\/strong> was born. His blasphemous antics have made us laugh for decades. Why not check out The New Adventures of Jesus: The Second Coming<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In 2011 today UK icon Mick Anglo<\/strong> died. He\u2019s all over this blog if you want to see something very special but I\u2019d advise scoping out one of his unique Annual creations, such as Batman Story Book Annual 1967 (with Robin the Boy Wonder)<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alex Toth, Gil Kane, Mike Friedrich, Gerry Conway, Sergio Aragon\u00e9s, Dave Wood, Joe Orlando, Marv Wolfman, Len Wein, Steve Skeates, John Costanza, Otto Binder, D.J. Arneson, John Albano, Julius Schwartz, E. Nelson Bridwell, Joe Gill, Robert Kanigher, Jack Oleck, Cliff Rhodes, Bob Haney, George Kashdan, Jack Miller, Carl Wessler, Dennis O\u2019Neil, Alan Riefe, Dave … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “DC Finest Horror – The Devil\u2019s Doorway”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[191,75,305,290,102,332,66,125,225,272,127,242,111,107,385,169,256,93],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventure","category-crime-comics","category-dc-horror","category-dinosaurs","category-fantasy","category-gil-kane","category-horror-stories","category-humour","category-mystery","category-neal-adams","category-nostalgia","category-pirates","category-satirepolitics","category-science-fiction","category-sea-stories","category-spy-stories","category-sword-sorcery","category-war-stories"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-8Sv","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34131"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34140,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34131\/revisions\/34140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}