Here are fourteen severed hands in the comics. As old as the Gothics, the idea of a severed hand that comes to gain revenge for its owner is not new. The comics added their own touch to the beast with five fingers. Some of these haunted hands are cut from evil while others are still attached!
The Golden Age
“The Devil’s Hand” Zip Comics #28 (August 1942) has gangsters kill the son of a couple possessing the Hand of the Devil. They use it to resurrect him. An unacknowledged version W W. Jacob’s “The Monkey’s Paw”. We will see the severed hand as magic item again. It never works out well.
“The Maestro’s Hand” The Crypt of Terror #18 (June-July 1950) was written and drawn by Al Feldstein. A doctor cuts off the hand of a musician who is a rival for his gal. The hand is sent to the doctor’s remote cabin where it takes its revenge.
“Hand” Mister Mystery #1 (September 1951) has a man suffering from pain in his ankle. Nightmares torment him about his dead brother, Tim. When the doctor looks in the x-ray he sees a skeletal hand grabbing the bone. This story was an unacknowledged copy of Fritz Leiber’s “In the X-Ray” (Weird Tales, November 1950).
“Revolt of the Fingers” Beware Terror Tales #4 (November 1952) has a pianist, Bellt, who’s left hand is possessed by another. After the hand chokes his manager, Bellt tries to cut his hand off and it kills him too.
“The Hand of Ancient Evil” The Beyond #18 (January 1953) The creators of this comic are unknown. A man buys an ancient Chinese hand that was cut off because it was cursed. The hand does the man’s bidding but he ends up in an asylum. The hand visits him and chokes him to death.
“The Withered Hand” Adventures Into Terror #19 (May 1953) has Clay kill a Chinese wizard for a gem. The old man’s hand won’t let go so Clay cuts it off. Later his girl throws the hand into the fire. A phantom rises out of the flames and strangles Clay to death.
“The Creeping Hand” Chilling Tales #16 (June 1953) has Greer, unsuccessful artist, sell his soul to the Devil. Satan gives him a severed hand that paints al his new masterpieces. Greer send the hand to kill the woman who dumped him. Afterward it kills him too.
“The Dead Man’s Hand” The Thing #9 (July 1953) was written by Carl Memling. Eric Cleve is a great musician but he treats his wife, Maria, poorly. Maria and a doctor are having an affair. When Eric goes to his cabin, the doctor burns it down, killing Eric. A gravedigger releases the dead man’s hand that causes the lovers to die in an automobile accident.
“Temple of the Beast” (Fantastic Fears #5, January 1954) was written and drawn by unknown creators. Sam and Ann Graves bring back something from the Orient. On the trip home, the severed limb kills a native man. Once home, the Graves meet the hand’s original owner and he is not happy!
The Silver Age
“The Mummy’s Hand” Ripley’s Believe It or Not #1 (June 1965) With the coming of the Silver Age, the severed hand gets put away along with all the other gruesomeness of the 1950s. Ripley’s uses the idea in a more sedate way with a man buying the hand from an old Arab. Bad luck follows and the man returns the hand, which still moves inside the box. Later an elephant crushes the hand’s previous owner into the ground, fulfilling the curse.
“Death’s Spectral Hand” Ripley’s Believe It or Not #12 (February 1969) has a young boy cursed with a ghostly, bloody, evil hand. When he grows up he goes to a fortuneteller who says he will be remembered as a Judas. The man is John Wilkes Booth.
The Bronze Age
“The Severed Hand” Creepy #49 (November 1972) was written by Fred Ott. A great surgeon finds his Gisele is unfaithful so he goes to a witch named Frau Sarg. She gives him the hand of a dead man. When his rival, Sterne suffers a carriage accident, the surgeon attaches the dead hand. This cursed limb kills Giselle before Sterne can cut it off. He also attacks the doctor and injures him. The severed hand kills Sterne after he cuts it off. The hand is sewed onto the surgeon’s arm. He spends the rest of his days in an asylum. Thank goodness for Warren. Some Golden Age gore in the Bronze Age.
“Hand From the Grave” Ghosts #15 (June 1973) has Dr. Moran kill the man who would blackmail him because he wrecked his arm in a drunk-driving accident. The ghost of the dead man haunts the surgeon’s arm and takes revenge. A three-page version of many of these other plots.
“The Dead Hand” Ripley’s Believe It or Not #85 (January 1979) was written by Paul S. Newman. The lawyer Herbert Headly tries to force the dying Squire Eastland to sign a will leaving all his wealth to the lawyer. Eastland dies, but the lawyer uses the dead man’s hand to sign. Later, after getting all the money, a phantom hand appears signing a confession of all Headly has done. He denies it but the ghost reappears until he confesses.
The influence of Guy de Maupassant, Arthur Conan Doyle, W. W. Jacobs and other Victorian writers is not hard to see here. The comic book writers rarely came up with something new. The film The Beast With Five Fingers (1946) no doubt inspired any of these severed hands in the comics
Many of these comics are available for free at DCM.
