The Strangest Northerns presents some short Golden Age one-pagers. When comic books needed to fill pages they would resort to quick tales done in a single page. Some had whole series like “Hand of Fate Mystery” or “True Tales of the Supernatural”. The location for all of these stories is the cold wastes of the Arctic.
All of these stories were written by unknown authors.
“Alaska’s Phantom City” (Adventures Into the Unknown #10 April-May, 1950) This story may be based on the real Richard Willoughsby.
“The Icy Death” (Witches’ Tale #1, January 1951) is a remorseless tale of horror. There is no escape in this piece…
“True Creepy Tales” (Web of Mystery #1, February 1951) This one reminds me of Algernon Blackwood’s “The Haunted Island”.
“The Hand of Fate Mystery #22” (The Hand of Fate #18, June 1953) offers us the classic partners who fight over gold. This cliche wasn’t really used much in the Pulps. It came from the movie The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) with Humphrey Bogart from the book by B. Traven (1927). The comics writers liked this trope and used it often.
“True Tales of Unexplained Mystery #51” (Web of Mystery #26, September 1954) Once again bodies preserved in ice. This time they are neither dinosaur, mammoth or caveman. The idea of the haunted mine is a well-used trope. Cowboys and cartoon characters often use the haunted mine. Usually it is used in stories where the spirits are fake, the device of crooks wanting to scare away visitors. In this one, the spirit is quite real.
Conclusion
Pulling off a complete story in one page is not easy but these Golden Age one-pagers do it. Half of these don’t really end, but leave the reader wondering why did that happen or will it happen again? Others are quite final, either good or bad.
All these comics are available free at DCM.
Many thanks for this feature! I love these one-page stories–comparable to short-short stories in prose.