THE HAUNT OF FEAR 15 [1]
"THE WALL: A PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDY"
EC (Entertaining Comics) remains one of the most famous-- or infamous, depending on your point of view-- comics publishers of the 1950s. During a period where a virtual witch-hunt erupted over violence in "children's" literature, they were at the center of it. The Comics Code Authority-- a self-governing industry organization put together by several of the bigger publishers, while allegedly aimed at "cleaning up" the image of comics in general, in many ways was instead designed specifically to put EC-- their biggest competitor-- out of business! This kind of behavior and attitude never fails to get me incensed in the extreme.
The very 1st of their "New Trend" comics was THE HAUNT OF FEAR #15 [1]. The confusion in the numbering stems from the series having continued from issue #14 of GUNFIGHTER. This sort of name-change went on all the time when publishers wanted to avoid the cost of paying for additional 2nd-class mailing permits. As a result, the first 3 issues of THE HAUNT OF FEAR were numbered #15, 16 & 17, before the 4th issue was numbers #4. This means that since the numbering continued up to #28, there were 2 different issues apiece all numbered #15, 16 & 17.
It's perhaps fitting that after CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED #84 (June 1951), that Gilberton never tackled Poe again, and the author's works instead began appearing with never-ending frequency in other company's "horror" books.
EC did a number of POE adaptations over the years, quite a few of them "freely" adapted. The source material is plainly obvious, but many changes have been made. This kind of thing can alternatively be a matter of frustration for "purists", or a joy to those who are able to enjoy a finished work on its own terms.
The 1st of these was, despite major changes and updating, obviously...
"THE BLACK CAT".
This is the 2nd comics version of this story, following...
Charlton's YELLOWJACKET COMICS #1 (Sep'44)
...some 6 years earlier.
Following a trend made popular in movie adaptations, this one also contains elements of POE's "THE TELL-TALE HEART", which had been done previously in Charlton's YELLOWJACKET COMICS #6 (Dec'45), 5 years earlier!
"Mix and match!"
The art is by one of the real masters of the genre, Johnny Craig. When Amicus Films did their anthology film, TALES FROM THE CRYPT, in 1972, the bulk of the stories included were based on Craig's comics.
This page was originally set up in November 2014. It was moved for the sake of organization.
THE HAUNT OF FEAR 15 [1]
cover by JOHNNY CRAIG (EC / May-June 1950)
adapted from "THE BLACK CAT" / Version 2
and "THE TELL-TALE HEART" / Version 2
Adaptation & Art by JOHNNY CRAIG / Page 1
Here's the reprints...
HAUNT OF FEAR 1
cover by ALBERT B. FELDSTEIN (Russ Cochran / 1985)
cover by GRAHAM INGELS (Semic / Norway / [February] 1988)
cover by JOHNNY CRAIG (Gladstone / August 1990)
cover by JOHNNY CRAIG (Russ Cochran / November 1992)
cover by VICENTE BALLESTAR (Semic / Norway / April 1996)
covers by JACK DAVIS (Hjewmmet / Egmont / Norway / [May 2006])
cover by ?? (GS Press / [January] 2012)
cover by ?? (Akileos / France / May 2015)
Scan of THE HAUNT OF FEAR #15 [1] cover from the James Halperin site.
Scans of THE HAUNT OF FEAR #15 [1] interiors supplied by Ron Harris
with special thanks!
Scan of HAUNT OF FEAR #1 (1985) from the GCD site.
Scan of THE VAULT OF HORROR #90 (1990) from the GCD site.
Scan of ISKALDE GROSS #1 from the GCD site.
Scan of THE HAUNT OF FEAR #1 (1992) from the GCD site.
Scan of ISKALDE GROSS POCKET #1 (1996) from ther GCD site.
Scan of ISKALDE-GROSS KLASSIKERSERIEN (2006) from the GCD site.
Scan of EC ARCHIVES: THE HAUNT OF FEAR #1 (2012) from the GCD site.
Scan of THE HAUNT OF FEAR #1 (2015) from the GCD site.
Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa
For more:
Read about Edgar Allan Poe at The Poe Museum site.
Read about Edgar Allan Poe at the Biography site.
Visit the EC Fan-Addict Club Facebook group.
Read about Johnny Craig at Lambiek Comiclopedia.
"THE BLACK CAT":
Read about THE BLACK CAT at Spark Notes.
Read the complete story at the Poe Stories site.
See the BLACK CAT Gallery of Illustrations.
Audio:
Hear the Peter Lorre MYSTERY IN THE AIR episode!
Hear the Basil Rathbone recording!
Hear the Norman Rose CBS RADIO MYSTERY THEATER episode!
Comics:
Read the Bill Allison BLACK CAT adaptation!
Read the Johnny Craig BLACK CAT adaptation!
Read the St. John Publishing BLACK CAT adaptation!
Read the Luiz Saidenberg BLACK CAT adaptation!
Read the Fran Matera BLACK CAT adaptation!
Read the Juarez Odilon BLACK CAT adaptation!
Read the Editorial Novaro BLACK CAT adaptation!
Read the Gino Dauro BLACK CAT adaptation!
Read the Berni Wrightson BLACK CAT adaptation!
Read the Ricardo Villamonte BLACK CAT adaptation!
"THE TELL-TALE HEART":
Read about THE TELL TALE HEART at Cliff Notes.
Read the complete short story at the Poe Stories site.
See the TELL-TALE HEART Gallery of Illustrations.
Audio:
Hear the Boris Karloff INNER SANCTUM MYSTERY episode!
Hear the WEIRD CIRCLE episode!
See the James Mason TELL-TALE HEART cartoon short!
Hear the James Mason TELL-TALE HEART recording!
Hear the Basil Rathbone TELL-TALE HEART recording!
See the Vincent Price TELL-TALE HEART performance!
Hear the Fred Gwynne CBS RADIO MYSTERY THEATER episode!
Comics:
Read the Rudy Palais TELL-TALE HEART adaptation!
Read the Johnny Craig TELL-TALE HEART adaptation!
Read the Jim Lavery TELL-TALE HEART adaptation!
Read the George Evans TELL-TALE HEART adaptation!
Read the Graham Ingels TELL-TALE HEART adaptation!
Read the Jack Kirby / Jerry Robinson TELL-TALE HEART adaptation!
Read the Reed Crandall TELL-TALE HEART adaptation!
Read the Nico Rosso TELL-TALE HEART adaptation!
Read the Gino Dauro TELL-TALE HEART adaptation!
Read the Tom Palmer TELL-TALE HEART adaptation!
Read the Francisco Blanes TELL-TALE HEART illustrated story!
(coming soon)
Read the Ricardo Villamonte TELL-TALE HEART adaptation!
Read the Mike Ploog TELL-TALE HEART parody!
Read the Alberto Breccia TELL-TALE HEART adaptation!
Read the Guido Del Carpio Rivera TELL-TALE HEART illustrated story!
(coming soon)
Read the Don McGregor / Yong Montano TELL-TALE HEART adaptation!
Read the Vilmar Rodrigues TELL-TALE HEART illustrated story!
Read the Pablo Marcos TELL-TALE HEART illustrated story! (coming soon!)
Read the Steve Bissette TELL-TALE HEART parody! (coming soon!)
Read the Jesus Blasco TELL-TALE HEART adaptation!
Misc.:
Read the Johnny Craig TELL-TALE HEART adaptation!
Read the Johnny Craig MUSIC OF ERICH ZANN adaptation!
See the CHRONOLOGICAL list of Edgar Allan Poe stories!
See the ALPHABETICAL list of Edgar Allan Poe stories!
(Continued in Poe 1950, Pt. 2)
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