Robert Bloch’s first comics appeared in unauthorized versions that “borrowed” the ideas from his stories without acknowledging where they came from. A perfect example of this is “The Totem Pole” (Weird Tales, August 1939). The comics used this idea repeatedly over the decades. I wrote about it here. Not much point in an actual adaptation when the concept has been done fourteen different ways, right? Which is really too bad. Because as we all know, Bloch had some great stories that would make very scary comics.
Fortunately not all of his ideas were borrowed and we got some actual adaptations, probably the best being the Marvel ones from 1973. “Your Truly, Jack the Ripper”, “The Shambler From the Stars” and “The Shadow in the Steeple” were done along with H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Haunter of the Dark” over four issues. Shambler and Haunter share a special connection since HPL killed off “Robert Blake” in his tale and Bloch returned the favor in his. It was this kind of in-joking that made the Lovecraft Circle fun.
Unauthorized
“The Mask of Horror” (Vault of Horror #18, April-May 1951) was based on “The Cloak” (Unknown, May 1939). It written by Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein. A man buys a cloak for a costume party. Unfortunately, it turns him into a vampire.The EC gang changed the cloak to a mask but not much else. Bloch adapted this story for the anthology movie, The House That Dripped Blood (1971).
“The Basket” (Haunt of Fear #7, May-June 1951) was based on “The Mannikin” (Weird Tales, April 1937) and written by Al Feldstein. This story should not be confused with “Mannikins of Horror” (Weird Tales, December 1939) a tale of tiny invaders. The idea for “The Basket” would end up in the awful The Thing With Two Heads (1972). Bloch and the comic make it work by hiding the deformity until the ending. The film was meant to be a comment on race.
“Daddy Lost His Head” (Vault of Horror, June-July 1951) was based on “Sweets to the Sweet” (Weird Tales, March 1947) and written by Al Feldstein. Bloch adapted this story for the anthology movie, The House That Dripped Blood (1971). Christopher Lee goes up against a witch and her little apprentice. I have to wonder if Fritz Leiber’s Conjure Wife had any influence. Bloch certainly was aware of Leiber, who wrote for the same Pulps and both were correspondents with Lovecraft. Bloch once picked “Sweets to the Sweet” as his favorite story.
Authorized Versions
“The Past Master” (Eerie #12, November 1967) was adapted by Craig Tennis. The story originally appeared in The Blue Book Magazine, January 1955. being published in Blue Book was a coup for Bloch. The better paying Pulp was almost a slick, with the best illustrators in the business. “The Past Master” seems like unlikely Warren material though: too thinky and talky, but hey, they made it work. This story was included in The Best of Robert Bloch (1977).
“Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper” (Journey Into Mystery #2, December 1972) was adapted by Ron Goulart. The story originally appeared in Weird Tales, July 1943. The story was adapted for television for Thriller episode #28 (April 11, 1961). It was directed by Ray Milland. Bloch did another version of this tale for Star Trek called “Wolf in the Fold”, where Scotty gets accused of killing several women. The ripper turns out to be an alien, of course. “Red Jack! Red Jack!” Only the creation of Norman Bates could overshadow Bloch’s Jack. The four issue run of Bloch/Lovecraft stories was adapted by Ron Goulart, a Science Fiction writer with his own credits.
“The Shambler From the Stars” (Journey Into Mystery #3, February 1973) was adapted by Ron Goulart. This story originally appeared in Weird Tales, September 1935. This was Bloch’s portrait of Lovecraft. The narrator has an erudite friend who summons the invisible monster that snaps his back and drains him of blood. Earlier in “The Haunter in the Dark” Lovecraft had killed off Bloch in a thinly disguised version. The comic version of the Shambler is far less scary than it should be. Vincent Napoli’s illustration does a better job. (It’s not easy to draw an invisible monster until it becomes filled with its victim’s blood.)
“The Shadow From the Steeple” (Journey Into Mystery #5, June 1973) was adapted by Ron Goulart. This story originally appeared in Weird Tales, September 1950. This one surprised me a little as a choice for a comic. The story doesn’t have any great monster scenes. It was one of Bloch’s last Mythos tales for the dying Weird Tales. His “Notebook Found a in Deserted House” (Weird Tales, May 1951) would have been a better choice from this time period.
“The Man Who Cried Werewolf” (Monsters Unleashed #1, June 1973) was adapted by Gerry Conway. This story originally appeared as “The Man Who Cried Wolf” in Weird Tales, May 1945. For some reason Gerry Conway felt he had to change the title to make it less subtle. Bloch does a great love triangle with werewolves. I wrote about this story before here.
“The Living Dead” (Vampire Tales #5, June 1974) was adapted by Roy Thomas. This story is related to “The Beasts of Barsac” in Weird Tales, July 1944. “The Living Dead” features Count Barsac but appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, April 1967. Since it appeared in EQMM you can guess if the vampires are real or not. Bloch had fun with pulling the rug out from under the feet of the fakers. It was a lot easier to sell a story with no real monsters in it in 1967. Bloch still makes it scary all the same.
“And the Blood Ran Green” (Starstream #4, 1976) was adapted by Arnold Drake from “The Fear Planet” (Super Science Stories, February 1943). Read the whole comic here. Bloch is writing in the plant monster school of Science Fiction, not particularly new for 1943. Super Science Stories was a low-grade SF Pulp. Personally, I love Bloch SF since it always has a slight Horror feel to it. This might not please the nuts-n-boltz crowd but the horrific elements add a tension that some Golden Age puzzle stories lack.
Conclusion
The 1980s ushered in another era of Bloch comics with graphic novels from Marvel and short pieces in Heavy Metal. Later in 2011, Joe R. Lansdale and IDW would do three issue versions of “Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper” and “That Hell-Bound Train”. Like Clark Ashton Smith, Bloch’s older Weird Tales stories (and there are many!) make such good comics I am surprised we haven’t seen more. In Bloch’s case, this might be because he adapted many of them for television and movies, so that the best have already been done. That aside, these programs themselves have become obscure and Bloch’s back list is waiting for comic publishers to mine.
Nice piece on Bloch in comics. Although you mention svereal of the IDW graphic adaptations of Bloch, you don’t mention their comic DOOMED, which published four issues between 2006-2007. Each of these contained an adaptation of a Bloch short story. IDW also published the compilation COMPLETELY DOOMED, though I’m uncertain if it contained all the Bloch adaptations from issues 1-4 of DOOMED. These are well worth tracking down for the Bloch aficionado. 🙂
Actually it was the teenage Bloch who began the supernatural murdering, asking Lovecraft by mail if it would be all right to bump him off in a story. HPL sent him a remarkable document allowing Bloch “to portray, murder, annihilate, disintegrate, transfigure, metamorphose, or otherwise manhandle the undersigned in the tale entitled THE SHAMBLER FROM THE STARS.” (This was signed by Lovecraft and witnessed by such luminaries as Abdul Alhazred and Friedrich von Junzt.) After SHAMBLER, Lovecraft repaid Bloch in HAUNTER OF THE DARK, and then years later, long after HPL’s untimely demise, Bloch made it a trilogy with SHADOW FROM THE STEEPLE.
And here’s my own illustration of Bloch’s SHAMBLER:https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10205359601843200&set=a.1187331437120