Look into the haunted mirror and what do you see? Here are ten different visions from the Golden Age of comics. Of course, the concept of an evil mirror or a magical one anyway is as old as faery tales. Snow White’s step mother talked to hers, asked it questions. Magic in such stories requires certain items including a mirror.The Gothics liked mirrors too. What better place to show our dopplegangers? Lewis Carroll took Alice behind the Looking Glass but Oscar Wilde substituted a painting for a mirror in The Picture of Dorian Gray.
The Pulps had theirs as well. Abraham Merritt debuted with “Through the Dragon Glass”, a magical Chinese doorway to another realm. Donald Wandrei had “The Painted Mirror” in Weird Tales. Don’t scrap that black paint off its silvery surface! Mary Brown did it earlier in “The Magic Mirror”. George N. Laws did it later with “Stranger in the Mirror”. Probably the most famous was King Kull’s encounter with an evil mirror in Robert E. Howard’s “The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune”.
It is never a surprise when the comics utilize an old chestnut for the horror titles. Long before DC’s Secrets of the Haunted House did “The Murder Mirror” (1975), these ten (and many more like Marvel’s Uncanny Tales) had given us portals to other worlds and evil reflections.
“The Mirror of Isis” (Eerie #3, October-November 1951) starts when Brad and Elyse visit grandfather so he can meet the bride-to-be. Unfortunately, there is a mirror that must remain covered at all times. When gramps dies and the mirror is revealed, Brad sees Elyse in the form of Isis in the reflection. Only by destroying the mirror can he save his fiancee. Great Kubert art as always.
“Beware the Jabberwock” (This Magazine Is Haunted #3, February 1952) refers to Lewis Carroll and his famous poem from Alice. Farrow is the lawyer of an insane man, Jason Ellery, who repeats the famous lines of Carroll’s poem. The lawyer does some legwork and finds a creepy couple in an old house where Ellery had been. The two are murderers who dispose of the bodies by sending them through an enchanted mirror. Farrow ends up there and sees the Jabberwock. He escapes and the bad guys die of a terrible retribution.
“The Other Side of the Macabre Mirror” (The Beyond #11, May 1952) has actor Willis Kane buy a haunted mirror for his mirror collection. From the glass appears a woman, the Baron’s wife. The baron shows up and murders her. Kane tries to break the mirror but can’t. Later Myra, Kane’s wife shows up with threats about divorce lawyers. The evil baron suggests Kane kill her. He does, then hides her body in the mirror. When her brother shows up, sees blood, Kane jumps through the mirror too. A message from the baron tells him that Kane has released the baron and will be trapped in his place.
“Mirror of Hate” (The Unseen #6, September 1952) has Lucia, a woman with a terribly scarred face, kill her sister, Diane, who is supposed to marry Ted. Lucia kills herself, but her spirit ends up in the mirror. Ted marries Annette. Lucia’s spirit inhabits Annette’s body but Ted knows the truth because he can see it in the mirror. When Ted destroys the mirror he saves Annette.
“Mirror of Mephisto” (Web of Mystery #15, November 1952) has Ralph Dana, owner of a circus, killing off other heirs to the Malvern fortune. Using a spell written backwards, he goes to the other side of the mirror and meets his great-grandfather and the devil. He tries to use the mirrors at the funhouse to trap the other heirs but the plans backfires. Ralph ends up on the other side with gramps and Satan. The heirs cut up his circus mirrors for cash.
“The Mirror” (Monster #1, January 1953) has Lt. Brady returning a young man to his mother. The only problem is the boy doesn’t want to be left with her and her crazy circus mirrors. The truth becomes clear when a spirit from the mirror takes the boy and gives mom another two years of “outer life”.
“Mirror Macabre” (Hand of Fate #17, April 1953) begins with mirror foundry foreman, Wallace, murdering his rival Steve. He places his body in the mercury used for making mirrors. Wallace marries the foundry’s heiress, Lucille, but Steve keeps showing up in mirrors. Eventually Wallace murders his wife and places her in a car to make her death look like an accident. He puts the mirror in the car too. When the car crashes, it takes Wallace with it. The mirror ends up around his neck.
Art by Louis Zansky
“The Man in the Mirror” (Out of the Shadows #8, April 1953) was written by Bill Woolfolk. The story has milquetoast Martin Blane fired from his job. On his way home he buys an ancient druid mirror for a hundred bucks. This makes his hen-pecking wife, Margaret, very unhappy. Blane meets the druid spirit in the mirror. He kills Blane’s old boss, Mr. Heeks then Margaret. Blane takes a chair and smashes the mirror. When the cops find his body, it looks like it too has been shattered.
“The Haunted Mirror” (Forbidden Worlds #20, August 1953) has Ted and Sally buy a four hundred year-old mirror. When Sally polishes it, she passes into another realm. Ted goes after her and falls into the hands of Marlo, an evil sorcerer. Another sage rescues him and together they rescue Sal. The couple rushes back through the mirror, chased by goblins, but break the glass. They are safe and no one will ever go through the mirror again. Not the best writing, but Jon Blummer’s art is excellent.
“Mirror of Madness” (Haunted Thrills #17 , September-October 1954) stars Jim Taunton, a man trying to get rid of his wife, Alice. To do this he gets a funhouse mirror that makes you look old. He has a newspaper about a skin disease printed and suggests Alice has the affliction. When she sees her reflection, she throws herself out a window and dies. Jim is now free to marry his paramour, Amy, but the two end up in a car accident. Their bodies are filled with glass shards. Jim had the mirror in the car with them.
It was the Romans who gave us the idea that breaking a mirror would give you seven years of bad luck. I think that indicates the high cost of mirrors. It might take you that long to save up for a new one. Today, mirrors are everywhere. It must be very hard for vampires. Since they have no souls, they can’t appear in a mirror. Would they be able to use one as a gateway as so many of these characters did? Would you look into the Haunted Mirror? Thinking about it is enough to give you Eisoptrophobia.
All of these comics can be read for free at Digital Comic Museum.
