If you missed the last one…
We wrapped up our overview of the Golden Age last time, but I had left the EC Comics out because they deserve their own post. And here it is! Much of what we saw in the 1950s comics, whether from Marvel or DC was in imitation of EC Comics. Why? Because no one was doing more cutting edge stories or art. The writers like Al Feldstein, Harvey Kurtzman and Carl Wessler were gentlemen with their tongues firmly in their cheeks. An EC story is an exercise in irony. And the art was by such giants as Harry Harrison (yes, the SF writer), Johnny Craig, Joe Orlando, George Evans, Wally Wood, and the man of the hour for this post, Jack Davis, who draws four of them. What wasn’t to love and to copy? (I should say that some comics, like those at ACG and ACE were around before EC and had developed their own style.)
The EC werewolf story often used the same “reveal” like most comic book werewolf tales. Because of this I have used the last page of most of these stories since that is where the werewolf finally shows up. I give you a spoiler warning now…
This one is for Todd Fischer.
“Curse of the Full Moon” (The Crypt of Terror #17, April-May 1950) was written and drawn by Johnny Craig. This tale is one of two fake werewolf stories. George and Ralph are friends. Ralph gets into trouble when he gets exposed to wolfsbane. The evidence begins to show up that he is the werewolf who has been killing people. In our big reveal at the end, we learn George has been framing Ralph, before he strangles him. There is no real werewolf.
“The Werewolf Legend” (Vault of Horror #12, April-May 1950) was written by Gardner F. Fox and Harry Harrison. Walter Mallory is a werewolf. He kills and loathes himself for the bloodshed. He visits his cousin, Sir Gregory, and learns more about the family curse from books in the library. Walter tries to stop his reign of death by informing the police so they can shoot and kill him. Later he learns it is Gregory the police have arrested. The cousin had been hypnotizing Walter to get rid of him because of an inheritance. This is our second fake but one written by a Science Fiction writer of old, and drawn by a future SF storyteller.
“Werewolf!” (Vault of Horror #14, August-September 1950) was written by Harry Harrison. A party climbs Mount Cragghorn to reach a lonely cabin on its slopes. The guide, Jan Bodzla believes one of the climbers, Viktor Zorak, is a werewolf. The evidence builds up as the moon starts to rise. Zarok takes wolf form and kills the only woman member of the team, Edna Farnum. The men go after Zorak and throw him off a cliff, ending him. In the fight, three of the four are scratched and bitten. The last survivor is surrounded by WEREWOLVES!
Harry Harrison included a swipe in that last panel. Based on a Mont Sudbury illustration for Clifford Ball’s “The Werewolf Howls” (Weird Tales, November 1941) in a Virgil Finlay mode. In this way, the old Pulps found their way into the comics nine years later.
“Werewolf Concerto!” (Vault of Horror #16, December 1950-January 1951) was written and drawn by Johnny Craig. Hubert Antoine, hotel manager in Leintz, Hungary, has a problem. Three murders in three months! His customers flee his rooms, fearing for their lives. To solve this issue, he phones up visiting musician, Mademoiselle Micheline, to stay at his hotel for free. She insists on her grand piano be placed in her room. It turns out Hubert is the werewolf. He changes and decides to take his anger out on the mademoiselle. Entering her room, he doesn’t find her, until he lifts the piano lid. The piano is full of grave dirt. She is a vampire to attacks him. In this version of the werewolf/vampire tale, the vamps win. There will be others and the tables will be turned.
“The Beast of the Full Moon!” (Vault of Horror #17, February-March 1951) was written by Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein. Tom and June are to be wed, but a spate of werewolf killings has them worried about Tom’s brother, Andrew. The couple suspect he is the werewolf and lock him up. Tom needs proof so he lets Andrew out that night and follows him into the woods. The werewolf attacks but Tom drives it off with a knife. June makes anappearance. The werewolf falls in a pit trap and it is Andrew who shoots it dead. The werewolf is June. This triangle and reveal is right out of Weird Tales with stories like“The Law of the Hills” by Grace M. Campbell and “Eena” by Manly Banister.
“V-Vampires!” (Mad Magazine #3, January-February 1953) was written by Harvey Kurtzman. From that title you’d think I had the wrong story but werewolves are part of it. Godiva is a beautiful blond who has a thick Cockney accent and a boyfriend named Renfrew. After getting rid of some pesky kiddie vamps, she invites him home to her crypt. Renfrew successfully stakes her, ending her blood-drinking. The moon comes up and Renfrew turns into a werewolf ( a very chubby one). He hopes to kill more vampires so there won’t be so much competition. Some of Wally Wood’s finest drawing. He did many of these parody strips, even after EC was gone.
“By the Fright of the Silvery Moon!” (Tales From the Crypt #35, April-May 1953) was written by Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein. A dead man is discovered in a corn field, making the Gedra family, from Hungary, tell the authorities. Edward lets slip that the killer is a werewolf. The local sheriff gets spooked and ends up shooting Edward’s pa, thinking him a foreign monster. The werewolf is not stopped and Peter takes it on himself to get a silver dollar and sharpen it. Using his slipshot he shoots the lycanthrope, only to find it is his brother, Edward.
“Pleasant Screams!” (Tales From the Crypt #37, August-September 1953) was written by Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein. Felix Purdy is a man trapped in a nightmare. He thinks of horrible ways to die, killed by a werewolf, a vampire and a zombie, then buried by goblins. We learn that it is all in the dreams of a school boy who has been enjoying the deaths of Felix Purdy. And Mr. Purdy is his teacher! The werewolf is only one incident in the longer story.
“No Silver Atoll!” (Haunt of Fear #23, January-February 1954) was written by Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein. A jet liner crashes in the sea near Guam, forcing the survivors to paddle their lifeboat to a desert island. Soon after a werewolf begins to pick off the stranded. The narrator of the story is the wife of a couple who were on the plane. She devises a weapon for killing the lycanthrope even though there is no silver on the atoll. She uses a syringe and fills it with silver nitrate from the medical kit. The werewolf dies from the injection. It is her husband, Clark. For more Island Fun, go here.
“The Secret!” (Haunt of Fear #24, March-April 1954) was written Carl Wessler. Theodore is a young man who discovers there is a secret about him. Miss Heather and Miss Graves (great name) hint at it but Theodore can’t figure it out. His parents come home and they are ready to reveal the terrible knowledge. Theodore thinks he has already figured it out. His mom and dad tell him they are vampires and they want to drink his blood. Theodore reveals he is a werewolf and attacks! This time it is the werewolf who gets the upper hand.
“Concerto For Violin and Werewolf” (Tales From the Crypt #42, June-July 1954) was written Carl Wessler. Sacha Barak is in Transylvania to see his maestro, Vasile Iorga. Sacha has brought his Stradivarius with him. Iorga warns him it is too dangerous to be in Brudja. The old teacher asks Barak if he remembers an incident when he was younger, a couple were killed by werewolves. Barak wishes to play in Brudja and find the local werewolf. The publicity for killing the monster will make his fortune. He has a pistol with silver bullets. Iorga goes out of his way to sabotage his attempts, stealing his gun. When Barak finally confronts the werewolf, he learns it isn’t one but all the people of Brudja. But he isn’t worried. His violin case has a sub-machine gun full of silver bullets. Except it doesn’t. Iorga has replaced it with his Stradivarius. As the werewolves tear him apart, Barak hears one of them telling the wolves to be careful with the violin. It is Vasil Iorga, of course.
“Upon Reflection” (Tales From the Crypt #46, February-March 1955) was written Carl Wessler. A town is ravaged by werewolf attacks. The locals go to Mayor Elwood, who shuffles his feet and does nothing. Only when his mother-in-law, Clara, is killed does he get the men together with silver bullets to destroy the fiend. The mayor traps the werewolf in a house and fires on the monster. This brings the others who see that Elwood has shot a mirror. He is the werewolf! That mirror gag is right out of H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Outsider” (Weird Tales, April 1926).
Conclusion
That’s it for the Golden Age. And I have to say I am a little sad. The Silver Age is coming and most of what will raise its head on a moon-lit night is frankly a little disappointing. Still, the Silver Age did give us Warren Comics and the great Frank Frazetta. No artist better represented the style of EC’s legacy than Frank. In the Bronze Age, when comics rediscovered their hairy brethren, it would be Berni Wrightson. I see Jack Davis’s werewolves when I look at these later images.
The plot twists seen in these comics will get recycled over and over again in later comics. The vampire/werewolf schtick will resurface in DC’s The House of Mystery. In the old lore, a man who lived as a werewolf would return as a vampire in death. Bram Stoker had his Count Dracula take the form of a wolf whenever he wanted. In the comics (and the later Universal films) they seem to compete for human victims.
