If you missed the last one…
This time around we will see several predatory vamps, both male and female, but we also get some more sympathetic ones too. As before, most of the writers aren’t known but are indicated where we do know. All these comics are available for free at DCM.
Gary Owens goes mountain climbing and discovers a greenstone with red streaks in it. Then he finds a vampire lady that he brings back to life. She feeds on him. He escapes, dropping the stone on the subway. The gem is crushed to powder. The vampire is coming for him so Gary drinks the stone powder. When the vampire feeds on him for the last time, the gemstone in Gary’s blood kills her.
“The Vampire’s Bones” Adventures Into the Unknown #37, November 1952)
Vampires hit the blood bank, stealing plasma meant for the war in Korea. Mark and Martha, detectives, are hired to find the blood. A piece in the paper sets them onto an old house. As they approach, a vampire grabs Martha and takes her into the well. Mark finds her and rescues her. He is armed with a mixture of belladonna and mandrake root he concocted before they left. They melt the vampires with it. Fleeing in a car, the master of the vampires attacks. The car crashes, throwing the vampire into a tree. One of the branches pierces his heart like a stake.
“The Hungry Horde” Adventures Into the Unknown #39, January 1953)
At a hypnotism act, Jean Peterson is turned into a levitating corpse. Her boyfriend, Steve, is not so impressed with the masked magician, Dr. Bimoze. (That’s Zombie jumbled, of course.) After the show, Jean turns old and zombe-ish and goes to Bimoze. Steve follows. When he tries to save Jean, Bimoze hypnotizes him into seeing only the blackness of the grave. The villain departs with the girl, now looking young again. Steve goes back to the theater to confront the magician but he is dead. The cops won’t listen to any of his warnings. Steve figures out that this has happened before. With research, he find a Dr. Zemobi who also died. According to Bimoze’s will (which the cops share!), he is to be buried at night. Steve goes to the funeral home. Opening Bimoze’s coffin, Steve stabs the vampire in the chest with a weird-looking stake he finds. With the vamp gone, Jean snaps out of her hypno-slavery.
“Fiend of the Undead” (Out of the Night #6, December 1952-January 1953) was written by Richard Hughes.
Marge David has a terrible dream in which her boyfriend, Terry Winslow, is a ghost trapped by bats. She drives over to Terry’s house to find it occupied by a vampire-looking dude. He keeps Marge around, waiting for the Moon to set. A bat flies into the room. He grabs and stomps on it. Marge finds Terry’s ghost. He explains the monster in the house turned him into a ghost. The fiend can only be killed by bats but the bats can’t get out of the cave because of Terry’s ghost. Marge goes to the attic and finds the vampire hanging upside down. He will now turn her into a ghost, too. Marge prefers being a ghost with Terry than living without him. Terry fights to get away from the cave, releasing the bats. They tear the fiend to pieces. More wedding bells!
“The Wings of Darkness” (Forbidden Worlds #13, January 1953)
Anton takes the two Americans, Ralph and Hilda Parker to the property they inherited, Drakko Castle. They see a portrait of Hilda’s uncle’s wife, the beautiful Lydia. That night Lydia appears to Ralph. She takes him in a phantom coach to meet her army of demons. After some weird partying, Lydia asks Ralph to promise to return in three days at midnight. The next morning, Ralph is begging Lydia’s portrait to bring her back. Hilda thinks Ralph is suffering from too much stress. Hilda turns to Anton. He explains that Ralph can only be saved by destroying the painting. Ralph has run off with the painting! It is three nights later and Lydia will turn Ralph into a vampire. too. Anton, fortunately, is packing silver bullets. He shoots Lydia and the couple is saved. Ralph asks Anton to burn Drakko Castle to the ground.
“Fury of the Dead” Adventures Into the Unknown #43, May 1953)
A group in Florida go for a three hour tour and end up picking up a man lost in a boat. His name is Salagua. Later a crewman is attacked and killed. Captain Malone recognizes it as the work of a sea vampire. He tells the story of ships being found without anyone aboard. The work of the vampires. Old Jansen falls overboard and Salagua dives in to save him. Unfortunately, Salagua pushed him in. He is the vampire. He kills Janson. The vampire needs to dry out to appear human so Salagua waits to get back on board. Dirk figures out he is the vampire. Salagua reveals himself and plans to kill everyone. Dirk had the foresight to put silver nitrate in his food. Salagua dies.
“Vampire of the Deep” (Forbidden Worlds #18, June 1953)
Drakko, leader of the vampires, takes stock of the victims his brood has killed that night. The vampire Lorn has not killed. He hates being a vampire and defies Drakko. The reason is that Lorn has fallen in love. Instead of killing, Lorn spends his nights watching his beloved. Drakko figures out who she is and tries to kill her. Lorn breaks his wings and throws him off a building, killing him. Lorn kills himself by watching the sun rise. The ideas here will resurface in movies and TV shows in the 2000s.
“Death Has Wings” (Out of the Night #9, June-July 1953) was written by Richard Hughes.
Jon and Gwenn are happy in their European village until Baron Nicht shows up. (Nicht is German for Not.) The vampire drains a woman, leaving her body in the moat. Next the Baron takes Gwenn. Locked up in the castle, she meets the ghosts of the Baron’s dead wives. Jon uses his professional mountaineering skills to swing over the moat, which is now full of sharks. He evades the pack of man-eating dogs and confronts Nicht. The Baron’s vampire henchmen capture him and lock him in a cell where a crossbow and silver arrows conveniently sit. He shoots the chandelier down, piercing the Baron with the sharp point. With the master dead, his underlings melt. More wedding bells!
“Vampire Castle” (Forbidden Worlds #19, July 1953)
We meet Kelkor, a lad raised by vampire parents. He turns into a bat-like creature at night but can not drink blood by day. Kelkor is lonely since his parents left. When he breaks a leg, he puts himself in a human hospital. There he falls in love with his nurse, Lucret. She falls for him, too. Kelkor decides to give up vampire ways and live as a human for Lucret. He follows her home to a gang of vamps that treat her roughly. He kills the other vampires, dooming himself to die because he has killed during the day. Lucret is damned to an eternity without him.
This one is unusual in that it has vampires who can walk in the daylight just as Bram Stoker did. As with Dracula, he had none of his amazing abilities in the day but could walk around just fine. This writer has added an extra idea to that.
“Death on the Wing” Adventures Into the Unknown #45, July 1953)
Mike Brody is on trial for a murder that happened by the old mill. The kid, Jimmy Davis, testifies that he saw a “Weird Winger” attack and kill the victim. Brody is freed on this evidence. The creature comes to Jimmy’s house in the night. His mother can’t see it, and thinks Jimmy needs a doctor. Dr. Preston figures out that a particle of optic nerve can create glasses that can see into the Fourth Dimension and the Weird Winger. Mike Brody volunteers to die so Preston can have the nerve tissue. Armed with the new glasses, Dr. Preston kills the Weird Winger, saving Jimmy. This one feels more like a Silver Age tale. The Comics’ Code issues haven’t shown up yet but….
“The Weird Winger” (Out of the Night #11,October-November 1953) was written by Richard Hughes.
A rich collector buys a bottle from Europe that contains a vampire bat. Lightning strikes the house and the monster is freed. The vampire tries to feed on the collector’s daughter, Cathy, but her bed bursts into flames as he approaches. (Smoking in bed?) The next day they discuss the incident with Ray, Cathy’s beau. Looking in the ashes of Cathy’s room, Ray finds a piece of paper with strange writing. He sends it to the Metropolitan Museum for translation. Meanwhile the vampire feeds on other victims. The vampire comes for Cathy, taking her to his cave. He turns her into his vampire bride. The translation is done and it is a prayer to an ancient fire god. Ray and dad show up with a flame-thrower and cooks the vampire. Cathy turns back into a human. Wedding bells!
“The Thing in the Bottle” (Forbidden Worlds #23, November 1953)
More vampire treats next time…
