The story of Neal Adams and The House of Mystery covers is an interesting interlude in a long history. The House of Mystery ran for 321 issues from December 1951/January 1952 to October 1983. In that time the editorial direction changed and changed and changed again. For Issue #156 to 173 under Jack Schiff, the comic had shifted into Superhero mode with “Dial H for Hero” being featured on the cover. With Joe Orlando taking over with #174 (May-June 1968), The House of Mystery returned to its horror roots with a fantastic cover by possibly Carmine Infantino, Joe Orlando and George Roussos. Whoever did the cover, it set the pattern for the next eighteen issues and Neal Adams run as cover artist.
This was done by adopting the three children from the #174 cover and placing them on just about every cover. Sometimes they actually had a comic in the issue but more often there was a story that featured the idea for the cover without the kids. And why this running motif? Because Joe Orlando knew who his market was. Kids read comics and he wanted to include them. Neal used the three little ones, two boys and a girl, to heighten the suspense in any scenario.
With issue #193 Neal moved onto a new project and was replaced by Berni Wrightson. Though we can’t cry about that since Berni is a master of horror comics, it did signal a move away from our three little nosy kids. (That last cover with the mad surgeon is right out of Horror Stories and the Pulps.) Neal would do more HoM covers but not with the trio. The kids would return in some later Luis Dominguez covers but only a boy and girl.
Many thanks for this post! I remember fondly horror comics from the seventies–“The House of Mystery,” “The House of Secrets,” etc. (I think one of them had a masthead, “It’s midnight–the witching hour!”) I remember one story, “The House of Endless Years,” illustrated or written (or both–I can’t remember) by Gerry Conway. The day I read it, I had trouble getting to sleep that evening.