If you didn’t caught the bouquet last time…
Plant monsters in the comics come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Some are tiny rootlets that grow into terrors while others are the monarchs of the forest, with thick bark and chasing hand-like branches. This time they are full grown trees, exacting revenge or filling their evil bellies. These tales are the best of the Golden Age of comics, filled with wooden terrors. Trees are so popular I had to split them into to two parts. As before, most of the writers of these comics are unknown unless listed.
“The Forest of Fear” (Police Comics #19, May 1943) was written and drawn by Jack Cole. Plastic Man goes undercover for the Feds to discover what is happening in the Big Woods. Loggers are being killed by the trees. Of course, there is a mad scientist behind it all. (He looks like what Frank Belknap Long will look like in the 1980s.) Kadra Maysi wrote of loggers and mad scientist-infected trees in “The Isle of Abominations” (Weird Tales, October 1938) five years earlier.
“The Tree of Vengeance” (Mister Mystery #1, September 1951) takes place in the logging town of Twin Trees. Ellen Michel is murdered and with Arnie Anderson’s axe. Anderson hangs for the murder but was innocent. The real killer faces the vengeance of the tree.
“Tribe of the Terrible Trees” (Web of Mystery #6, December 1951) was written by an unknown author. Gloria Johnson convinces Will Gordon to look for her missing father. The scientist has sent word that he has found the Valley of the Terrible Trees, a local legend. The searchers find the tribe of wood people and Dr. Johnson, who has been turned into a tree man. He tells Gordon that fire is the best weapon against Wolombi and his kind. The father saves his girl when he throws Wolombi into the fire, sacrificing himself.
“Tree of Doom” (The House of Mystery #2, February-March 1952) has two cousins, the greedy Jared, and the artist, Paul Moresby. Paul loves the trees he paints while Jared schemes to get the family fortune. Paul rescues a tree from Jared’s axe only to be killed instead. It’s up to the tree to catch the killer. The author is not known.
“Green Killer” (Chamber of Chills #8, May 1952) was written by an unknown author. A man relates his terrible tree dreams in which he is attacked over and over, to a circle of listeners. Of course, at the end, you realize he is a ghost.
“Roots of the Tree of Evil” (The Hand of Fate #11, June 1952) begins when Kurt Coleman attempts to murder the sheriff’s fiancee. Kurt flees to the Executioner Tree, an old legendary tree. When the thing comes after him, Kurt resorts to the ax but it can’t stop justice. The author has not been identified. 
“Horror’s Little Acre” (Adventures into Darkness #5, August 1952) was written by an unknown author. The story has newly-weds, Tom Jordon and his wife, Mayda, taking a honeymoon in horror. When they come upon a grave marked for a murdered man they would never suspect the murderer was near by. The trees will take vengeance against the wicked and leave the lovers alone.
“The Fruit of Death” (Chamber of Chills #12, September 1952) was written by an unknown author. A poor farmer argues with his wife before killing her. He buries her near the fruit tree. The branches of the tree take revenge. The new fruit looks like the farmers’ heads.
“True Tales of Unexplained Mystery #27” (Web of Mystery #14, October 1952) was written by an unknown author. A young man murders an old man for his fortune. When the dead man’s face appears on the tree near where he was buried, the killer grabs an axe. Too bad he has a heart attack.
“Black Horror of Druid’s Glen” (Baffling Mysteries #13, January 1953) was written by an unknown author. Bert Dawson, an American in Wales, scorns the local warnings about Druid’s Glen. He and his friends go to the glen and find ancient ruins. Bert can read them despite there being in an ancient tongue. The spirit of the druid takes over Bert. His friends end up becoming trees while Bert returns to America to find new victims…
“Horror on Haunted Hill” (Adventures Into Weird Worlds #14, January 1953) was written by Stan Lee. When a flying saucer from Saturn lands on the hill beside the graveyard, the local caretaker, Wilbur Collins, runs to see the aliens. The Saturnian is an exile on our planet and kills the man. Others look into the weird events and also die. The tree-shaped alien is finally killed by lightning, but the narrator wonders how many other trees are really from Saturn?
“Immortality” (Mister Mystery #10, March-April 1953) was written by an unknown author. A scientist working on an immortality serum is murdered by his assistant, who claims his work. The buried body quickly becomes a tree and gets revenge.
“Death’s Bride-Groom” (Worlds of Fear #9, April 1953) has Sean Corey, the artist, and his wife, Gabrielle, in Eastern Europe. Sean cuts down a tree in a sacred grove for his next sculpture. This proves to be a beautiful goddess. Sean finds his hands directed by an evil power that will finally claim him. As with most of the others, the author is unknown.
The trees in these comics spend a lot of time getting even. Murderers beware! Don’t bury those dead bodies near any oakes or poplars because those hand-like branches are ready for vengeance. Most of these comics are available for free at DCM.
On to Part 2…
