If you missed the last one…(and you might want to go back because I added three stories to the last one…)
As we saw last time, the typical ACG vampire story usually has a young couple who are challenged by the undead. After all the vampire-fighting, they usually get married. In this way, the writers were targeting two different audiences. For the boys, violence and horrific images. For the girls, the all-American happy ending. Once in a while, that formula slips though…
The various ways to kill a vampire are also explored here. Silver is popular but wooden stakes are used a lot, of course. One of the more surprising ones is the plant, belladonna. There is even using vampire blood against other vampires.
As before, most of the writers are not known but some are this time. All these comics are available for free at DCM.
Nancy Lewis is engaged to marry scientist, Ray Carlson. A vampire visits Nancy and hypnotizes her. He wants to know where Roy’s secret lab is located. He follows her there and retrieves a box of the vampire’s native soil. By spreading it all over the world, the vampires will be able to travel anywhere, creating a League of Vampires. Roy and Nancy draw the vampire out only to become slaves of his mind control. The box is destroyed when Roy drops it off the roof. The vampire is caught in the rising sun and evaporated.
“The League of Vampires” (Forbidden Worlds #2, September-October 1951)
A construction site is haunted by bats. Dr. Samuel Blake tells a colleague what happened. Bob Cowan was the construction boss who is visited by a vampire. (The undead one is dressed in Colonial costume when in human form.) Blake examines Bob and sees he has bite marks. The doc offers to stay that night with a bow and arrow in case the bat returns. It does. Blake shoots the bat. Bob reads a book on vampire lore and learns since he was bit he will become a vampire. The story ends with Blake going to bed, thinking vampires are nonsense. Bob the bat is coming to visit…
“Wings of Horror” (Adventures Into the Unknown #24, October 1951)
Pat and Gloria are in a strange country looking at old castles. They stay at an inn where the owner is obviously a vampire. He goes to their room and snatches Gloria. Pat has to climb the steep sides of the castle to find her. He tries to kill the vampire with an old ax but does the job with a flag pole. He remembers old flag poles were tipped with silver.
“Lair of the Vampire” (Forbidden Worlds #3, November-December 1951) was written by Charles Verral.
Bob Dexter is a reporter. He’s on the case of Dr. Dudley, the inventor of Corposene, an artificial blood, who has been murdered. His gal, Trudy, tags along as he digs into the mystery. At the murder scene, Bob finds hair that proves to be from a bat. Bob figures out the killer is a vampire. Too bad he flies into the back seat of his convertible and hypnotizes him. The vampire, Sangrini, takes the couple to his creepy hideout. He admits he killed Dudley for the corposene formula. He has zombies that he made with corposene as henchmen. Bob and Trudy escape. Bob was only pretending to be hypnotized. They go to the morgue and inject dead Dr. Dudley with corposene, turning him into a walking dead man. The trio drive back to Sangrini’s lair. Armed with an endless supply of corposene, the vampire is ready to take over the world. Dudley’s zombie body leads the charge but the trio are soon captured by Sangrini’s zombies. The dead man hands a bottle to the vampire. Sangrini sniffs it and melts. The bottle is filled with ammonia. Only the dead man knew the silver bullet to kill Sangrini with.
“Vampire’s Prey” (Adventures Into the Unknown #28, February 1952)
Tom and Susan Wright rent a lonely country house from a man named Leroy. He has fangs and is obviously a vampire. Susan thinks so and does some research. She discovers he is the King of the Vampires. (Leroy means The King.) Leroy hires a maid for the couple. Her name is Jane. When Susan mentions vampires, Jane faints. She has bite marks on her neck. She dies but says something about the vampire’s herd before she goes. Tom confronts Leroy. He admits everything, taking Tom to the barn where he keeps “his herd”, people he is turning into vampire subjects. Tom is to become one too, but Susan saves him. She frees Tom, who throws a wooden stake through Leroy’s heart. This kills all the vampires. The cops don’t believe their story but Susan has proof.
“King of the Vampires” (Out of the Night #1, February-March 1952) was written by Richard Hughes.
Marcia and Bill have a vampire problem. The vamp visits Marcia at night. Bill substitutes himself for her and is bitten. The vampire’s plan is to drink Marcia’s blood seven times and turn her. Each night Bill takes her place, slowly growing wings. The vampire master is defeated, as Bill reveals on day eight. Bill is now a vampire. He has willingly allowed the master to feed on him. This is lethal since a vampire can’t drink another’s blood. Bill goes back to normal.
“The Vampire’s Fate” (Out of the Night #2, April-May 1952) was written by Richard Hughes.
This one is fun! Johnny Archer is trying to write horror comics for Forbidden Worlds but he is failing. He decides to hock his typewriter. He runs into a caped gentleman who makes him a deal. In exchange for written contract, he gets a new typewriter. One that punches out great scary stories. Johnny learns the next day that whatever he writes comes true. He decides to write about himself and a vampire. The monster comes and they fall through the window. Johnny is never seen again. (I love that the comic company is located in The Forbidden Worlds Building.)
“The Devil’s Typewriter” (Forbidden Worlds #6, May-June 1952)
An epidemic of anemia has hit the country. Noel and Claire work as doctor and nurse. The couple stop at Sleepwell Camp for a night. It is run by a creepy-looking man. Noel discovers he has a daughter locked up and starving. Noel lets her out. She, like the owner and her brother, is a vampire. The brother goes after Claire who escapes into the woods. Fortune would have it, the vampires step on a patch of belladonna, a plant they can’t stand. Claire grabs a bunch and rescues Noel. Together, they kill the vampires with the belladonna. While they dig graves, they discuss wedding plans!
“The Vampires Strike” (Forbidden Worlds #7, July 1952)
An airplane crashes on a desert island. A vampire kills one victim each night. The second night, it kills Edith’s father. She survives to tell of the monster. The group realizes that one of them is the monster, which looks human in the daytime. Dr. Vinson develops a test. The water purifier from the plane uses a small amount of silver. Everybody drinks except Vinson, who is last. He is the monster and doesn’t even know it. He was bit by a bat on another island. He dies and a plane saves everybody else. Unlike most of these stories, the romantic couple doesn’t win out. The test for the monster reminds me of The Thing.
“The Unknown Vampire” (Forbidden Worlds #10, October 1952)
Steve Crane operates a boat in Malaysia. He takes Ellen and her father, the captain, to an island belonging to Mr. Van Horn. Van Horn turns out to be a vampire. He has a herd of zombies under his control. They steal Ellen, with the plan of turning her into the vampire’s mate. Steve escapes, rescues dad and then Ellen. He shoves a wooden pole through Van Horn’s chest and then sets the zombies on fire. The captain tells Steve he is now a full partner. Steve tells his new partner, he is going to be his father-in-law.
“The Vampire Master” (Out of the Night #5, October-November 1952) was written by Richard Hughes. “The Vampire Master” by Hugh Davidson (Edmond Hamilton) is a famous Weird Tales story though this short four-pager feels more like a A. R. Wetjen tale.
Don is another scientist who locks himself away in his lab. Barbara is his fiancee. Don has been working on a robot bat that he can control with his mind. Barbara is not impressed. She goes home and is attacked by a vampire. (This one looks like a ghost with bat wings.) Don waits in Barbara’s room for a second visit. He destroys the monster with a silver knife. It turns out he created the fiend with his mental energy.
“The Bat and the Brain” (Skeleton Hand #2, November-December 1952)
More vampire treats next time…
