“Cave of Doom” appeared in Chamber of Chills #10 (July 1952). The writer is unknown but the art was done by Al Avison. This time our intrepid explorers are in Antarctica, so this is really a strange Southern. Even odder, Paul Norden and John Harding, our two scientist-explorers are anthropologists. So, of course, go to a continent that has no people!
The men receive metric information that suggests Norden’s theory is right. Magnetic readings similar to those found in the Arctic point to an undiscovered race of prehistoric men. (Oh, that’s why they are there!)
They race off to find a massive ice cavern that offers mysterious evidence. When they discover a strange cave, it is Harding who begs Norden not to enter.
When the men back off a gigantic voice demands to know who has woken the beast. John sacrifices himself to destroy the monster with dynamite. Only Norden survives, but he has gone completely mad. H. P. Lovecraft would have approved.
That’s a lot to pack into only four pages. The choice of Antarctica is an obvious nod to “At the Mountains of Madness” by H. P. Lovecraft. The story could have easily been set in the Arctic or a mountain in Tibet. Paul Norden’s madness at the end is, of course, the only proper result for anyone who looks into the terrors of the Mythos. I think this one could have been at least two pages longer. It is unusual for such a short comic to get the lead spot. I also noticed the title changed from the cover.
Weird Thrillers #4 (Summer 1952) offered another Antartic (sic) mystery in “Graveyard in the Antarctic” with art by Marvin Stein. Levick, surgeon with Captain Scott, finds thousands of dead and dying seals in the equivalent of the “Elephant’s Graveyard”. The incident is weird but no one goes insane. The incident is based on real people and reports. Lovecraft had a real interest in Antarctic exploration and the doomed Scott Expedition must have been one of the exploits to inspire his fiction.
