Tales of the haunted north appeared across DC’s horror line. Here’s a sample of the best of them. The earliest Northern was actually from December 1953 and The House of Mystery #21. The author is not known bu the artist was Mort Waldinger.
“Sno’Fun”(The House of Mystery #199, February 1972) was written by Sergio Aragones and drawn by Wally Wood. A man steals the Arctic expedition of his employer to try and prove his crazy theory about a lost Arctic civilization. he stumbles upon, escapes and gets locked up in an asylum.
“Snow Beast” (The House of Mystery #199, February 1972) script by Lynn Marron, art by Rich Buckler. A greedy white man poses as a legendary monster only to meet the real thing. This plot can be found in old pulp stories like “The Valley of the Windigo” (Scribner’s, June 1917) by George T. Marsh or “Ghost River’ by Tom O’Neill (North-West Romances, Winter 1950).
“The Totem’s Threat” (The Unexpected #147, June 1973). I have written about this story in a post about haunted totem poles. Check it out there.
“Deadly Stalkers of the North” (Weird Mystery Tales #21, August 1975) script by Steve Skeates, art by Ricardo Villamonte. The local ranchers want to kill the marauding werewolves but a scientist wants to save them. Too bad he becomes one of them.
“Tomb of Fire” (Ghosts #37, April 1975) has a murdered man returning to get his revenge in a logging camp in Quebec. Script by Leo Dorfman with art by Fred Carrillo.
“Fear On Ice” (Ghosts #37, April 1975) script credit is unknown, art by John Calnan. An Arctic explorer leaves his partner behind to die but when the living one returns to find the body the ghost will have his revenge.
“Brother Bear” (The House of Mystery #243, July 1976) script by Bob Haney, art by Franc C. Reyes. A young Inuit man takes out a cruel polar bear hunter by framing him for murder.
“Death-Vault of the Eskimo Kings” (The House of Mystery #246,October 1976) script by Michael Fleisher, art by Mike Vosburg and Sal Tripani. Two fake archaeologists locate the tomb then try to kill their Eskimo guides for a fortune in gold. This one made me laugh. The Inuit have no kings, let alone a structure to bury them in.
“Snow Ghost” (The House of Secrets #146, June-July 1977) script by Murray Boltinoff, art by Bill Draut. A greedy gold miner kills his two partners then must face their ghosts.
“Curse of the Phantom Witch” (Ghosts #59, December 1977) script by Carl Wessler, art by E. R. Cruz. Three men go to a haunted mine to find the gold left behind and find treachery and death.
“Cold Storage” (House of Mystery #285, October 1980) was written by Paul Kupperberg and drawn by E. R. Cruz.
A military officer hijacks a plane to get to warmer climes since he just can’t beat the cold. In the end he learns that on his last mission to space, he contracted an alien disease and only remaining in the cold will save him.
“Silent Snow, Scarlet Snow” (The House of Mystery #287, December 1980) script by David Michelinie, art by Nestor Redondo and Edgar Bercasio. The Thing From Another World with vampires. The vampire even wears an opera cape!
If you want to check out how Marvel did the frozen north, click here.
