Which Pre-Code Horror publishers/titles do you rank as the best? 0

[90sChild]

I've become more interesting in learning about PCH lately as I take a break from the superhero genre.  This stuff is all new to me as I wasn't even born then.  I've come across so many publishers with different artists and writers that it has been overwhelming to find a starting place.  As a collector watching sale prices at the auction houses, most of the value in these books tends towards crazy cover art like black cat mystery #50, but those cool covers can have very little or nothing to do with the interior stories and art.  Wanted to get your thoughts on which interiors actually hold up today as the best of their time and would still be runs worth reading today. 

To ask a more specific question, if I compared even just some of Harvey's titles like Black Cat Mystery, Chamber of Chills, Tomb of Terror, and Witches Tales, why would you say any one title is better than another?  Would it be because certain artists or writers were on one title and not another?  If that is the case who takes the cake for best?  Then we get into comparing publishers like Harvey vs Avon vs ACG vs EC etc etc.. and the questions never end.  Which publishers were your favorite and more specifically which titles stick out as the best of the best even today?  

I found this list while doing some googling of all the stuff out there to jog your memory.  

 

Ace Baffling Mysteries 5_24 Nov_1951 Jan_1955

"Ace Beyond, The 1_30 Nov_1950 Jan_1955"

Ace Challenge Of The Unknown 6 Sep_1950 1 issue only

"Ace Hand Of Fate 8_25, 25_26 Dec_1951 Mar_1955 #25:11/54&12/54. Gerber=25/25a. 26 may not exist"

Ace Web of Mystery 1_27 Feb_1951 Nov_1954

ACG Adventures into the Unknown 1_61 Fall 1948 Nov_1954

ACG Clutching Hand 1 Jul_1954 1 issue only

ACG Forbidden Worlds 1_34 Jul_1951 Nov_1954

ACG Out Of The Night 1_17 Feb_1952 Aug_1953

ACG Skeleton Hand 1_6 Oct_1952 Jul_1953

Ajax-Farrell Fantastic Comics 10_11 Nov_1954 Feb_1955

"Ajax-Farrell Fantastic fears 7_8, 3_9 May_1953 Oct_1954"

Ajax-Farrell Haunted Thrills 1_18 Jun_1952 Feb_1955

"Ajax-Farrell Strange Fantasy 2, 2_15 Aug_1952 Nov_1954 first iss #2, then 2nd #2 immediately followed. #6 has both horror interior and non-horror interior."

Ajax-Farrell Voodoo 1_19 May_1952 Feb_1955

Ajax-Farrell Voodoo Annual 1 1952 1 issue only

"Atlas Adventures Into Terror 43_44, 3_31 Nov_1950 May_1954"

Atlas Adventures Into Weird Worlds 1_30 Jan_1952 Jun_1954

Atlas Amazing Detective cases 11_14 Mar_1952 Sep_1952

Atlas Amazing Mysteries 32_33 May_1949 Jul_1949

Atlas Astonishing 3_37 Apr_1951 Feb_1955

Atlas Captain America's Weird Tales 74_75 Oct_1949 Feb_1950

Atlas Journey Into Mystery 1_22 Jun_1952 Feb_1955

"Atlas Journey Into Unknown Worlds 36_38, 4_33 Sep_1950 Feb_1955"

Atlas Marvel Tales 93_131 Aug_1949 Feb_1955

Atlas Menace 1_11 Mar_1953 May_1954

Atlas Men's Adventures 21_26 May_1952 Mar_1954

Atlas Mystery Tales 1_26 Mar_1952 Feb_1955

Atlas Mystic 1_36 Mar_1951 Mar_1955

Atlas Spellbound 1_23 Mar_1952 Jun_1954

Atlas Strange Tales 1_34 Jun_1951 Feb_1955

Atlas Suspense 1_29 Dec_1949 Apr_1953

Atlas Uncanny Tales 1_28 Jun_1952 Jan_1955

Atlas Venus 12_19 Feb_1951 Apr_1952

Avon City Of The Living Dead 1_shot 1952 1 issue only

Avon Diary Of Horror 1_shot Dec_1952 1 issue only

Avon Eerie 1 Jun_191947 1 issue only

Avon Eerie 1_17 May_1951 Sep_1954

Avon Night Of Mystery 1_shot 1953 1 issue only

Avon Phantom Witch Doctor 1_shot 1952 1 issue only

Avon Secret Diary of Eerie Adventures 1_shot 1953 1 issue only

Avon The Dead Who Walk 1_shot 1952 1 issue only

Avon Witchcraft 1_6 Mar_1952 Jan_1953

Charlton Strange Suspense Stories 16_22 Jan_1954 Nov_1954 Charlton AKA Capitol

Charlton Thing! 1_17 Feb_1952 Nov_1954

Charlton This Is Suspense 23 Feb_1955 1 issue only

Charlton This Magazine Is Haunted 15_21 Mar_1954 Nov_1954 Title revived from Fawcett #1-14

Comic Media Horrific 1_13 Sep_1952 Sep_1954

Comic Media Terrific 14 Dec_1954 1 issue only classic head cvr

Comic Media Weird Terror 1_13 Sep_1952 Sep_1954

DC House Of Mystery 1_35 Dec_1951 Feb_1955

DC Sensation Comics 107_109 Dec_1951 Jun_1952 Horror begins

DC Sensation Mystery 110_116 Jul_1952 Aug_1953 cont'd from Sensation 109

EC 3-D Tales From the Crypt of Terror 2 Spr 1954 1 issue only

EC Crypt Of terror 17_19 Apr_1950 Sep_1950

"EC Haunt Of Fear 15_17, 4_28 May_1950 Dec_1954"

EC Tales From The Crypt 20_46 Oct_1950 Mar_1955 Continues Crypt Of terror

EC Tales of terror Annual 1_3 1951 1953

EC Vault Of Horror 12_40 Apr_1950 Jan_1955

Fawcett Beware Terror Tales 1_8 May_1952 Jul_1953

Fawcett Strange Stories From Another World 2_5 Aug_1952 Feb_1953 Continues Unknown World #1

Fawcett Strange Suspense Stories 1_5 Jun_1952 Feb_1953

Fawcett This Magazine Is Haunted 1_14 Oct_1951 Dec_1953 Continues as Charlton's TMIH 15-21

Fawcett Unknown World 1 Jun_1952 1 issue only Continues into Strange Stories From Another World

Fawcett Worlds Beyond 1 Nov_1951 1 issue only

Fawcett Worlds of Fear 2_10 Jan_1952 Jun_1953 Continues Worlds Beyond #1

Fiction House Ghost Comics 1_11 1951 1954

Fiction House The Monster 1_2 1953 1953

Fox Feature Presentation 5 Apr_1950 1 issue only Full Length Black Tarantula. Reprinted in Startling Terror 11

"Gilmore Mister Mystery 1_19 Sep_1951 Oct_1954 Gilmore:AKA Aragon, Key, Stanmor, Media"

Gilmore Weird Chills 1_3 Jul_1954 Nov_1954

Gilmore Weird Mysteries 1_12 Oct_1952 Sep_1954

Gilmore Weird Tales of the Future 1_8 Mar_1952 Jul_1953

Harvey Black Cat Mystery 30_53 Aug_1951 Dec_1954

"Harvey Chamber Of Chills 21_24, 5_26 Jun_1951 Dec_1954"

Harvey Thrills Of Tomorrow 17_18 Oct_1954 Dec_1954

Harvey Tomb of Terror 1_16 Jun_1951 Jul_1954

Harvey Witches Tales 1_28 Jan_1951 Dec_1954

PL Weird Adventures 1_3 May_1951 Oct_1951 XL Publishing for #1

Premier Horror From The Tomb 1 Sep_1954 1 issue only

Premier Mysterious Stories 2 Dec_1954 1 issue only

Prize Black Magic 1_33 Oct_1950 Dec_1954

Prize Frankenstein 18_33 Mar_1952 Sep_1954

Quality Intrigue 1 Jan_1955 1 issue only

Quality Web Of Evil 1_21 Nov_1952 Dec_1954

St John All Picture Adventures 1 Nov_1952 1 issue only Rebound 25 cent Giant

St John Amazing Ghost Stories 14_16 Oct_1954 Feb_1955

St John House of Terror 3-D 1 Oct_1953 1 issue only

St John Nightmare 10_13 Dec_1953 Aug_1954

St John Nightmare 3 Oct_1953 1 issue only 1 issue - contd from Ziff Davis' Nightmare

St John Strange Terrors 1_7 Jun_1952 Mar_1953

St John Weird Horrors 1_9 Jun_1952 Oct_1953

Standard Adventures Into Darkness 5_14 Aug_1952 Jun_1954

Standard Fantastic Worlds 5_7 Sep_1952 Jun_1953

Standard Lost Worlds 5_6 Oct_1952 Dec_1952

Standard Out Of The Shadows 5_14 Jul_72 Aug_1953

Standard Unseen 5_15 Jun_1952 Jul_1954

Star Blue Bolt Weird Tales 111_119 Nov_1951 Jun_1953

Star Ghostly Weird Stories 120_124 Sep_1953 Sep_1954

Star Spook 22_29 Jan_1953 Jul_1954

"Star Startling Terror Tales 10_14, 4_11 May_1952 Sep_1954"

"Sterling Tormented, The 1_2 Jul_1954 Sep_1954"

"Story Dark Mysteries 1_22 Jun_1951 Mar_1955 Story was AKA Master, Merit, Ribage"

Story Fight Against Crime 1_21 May_1951 Sep_1954

Story Mysterious Adventures 1_23 Mar_1951 Dec_1954

Superior Journey Into Fear 1_21 May_1951 Sep_1954

Superior Mysteries Weird and Strange 1_11 May_1953 Jan_1955

Superior Strange Mysteries 1_21 Sep_1951 Jan_1955

Toby Purple Claw 1_3 Jan_1953 May_1953 Toby was AKA Minoan

Toby Tales Of Horror 1_13 Jun_1952 Oct_1954

Toby Tales Of Terror 1 1952 1 issue only violated EC's copyright on Tales Of Terror Annual

"Trojan Beware 13_16, 5_14 Jan_1953 Mar_1955"

Youthful Beware 10_12 Jun_1952 Oct_1952

Youthful Chilling Tales 13_17 Dec_1952 Oct_1953

Youthful Fantastic 8_9 Feb_1952 May_1952

Ziff-Davis Amazing Adventures 1_5 1950 Nov_1951

Ziff-Davis Eerie Adventures 1 Wint 1953 1 issue only

Ziff-Davis Nightmare 1_2 Sum 1952 Fall 1952

Ziff-Davis Weird Adventures 10 Jul_1951 1 issue only

Ziff-Davis Weird Thrillers 1_5 Sep_1951 Nov_1952

 

Edited November 25, 2019 by 90sChild

[Marty Mann]

Of the few that I was able to buy I enjoyed EC's TALES FROM THE CRYPT over the rest.

 

[fifties]

I'd like to think that I'm somewhat qualified to answer, lol!  I would agree with Marty about TFTC, but EC did, as many other publishers, have several other horror titles, including Vault of Horror, and Haunt of Fear.  Shocksuspenstories and Crimesuspenstories are sort of crossovers of crime/horror.  I haven't found that there is any difference in any particular publisher's stories AFA specific artists or writers in their horror genre books.

Most of these 32 page comics had four stories.  The titles from Fawcett had three, longer, and no ads.  EC I believe only had one outside ad, with the centerfold "double truck" having a house ad.  Atlas's titles, far and away the most numerous, could have as many as six stories, and a whole buncha ads.

Content; EC was king, no question, AFA story content and artwork, and head and shoulders above all others.  The tamer publishers were ACG, St. John, Avon, Fawcett, Ziff-Davis, Toby, Star, & Prize, to name some but not all.  By that I mean they didn't show gore to any extent. 

ACG would normally have 3 happy ending stories, and one good one.  Their titles were Adventures Into The Unknown, and Forbidden Worlds.  Their later fare, in '53-'54 got a bit more into horror.  

Story Comics were some of the worst offenders AFA gore, and seemed to try to copy EC.  They had some of the most skeleton covers, aside from Atlas books, and their stories were pretty good.  Their titles included Dark Mysteries and Mysterious Adventures.  Their crossover crime horror title was Fight Against Crime.  Their first two issues of Secret Mysteries are also good readers.

Fawcett had some unique coloring in their panels, and each story was 8 pages long, so it could develop well.  Their titles included Beware, Terror Tales, Strange Stories From Another World, Strange Suspense Stories, This Magazine Is Haunted, and Worlds Of Fear.  Generally good reading.

Stanley Morse/Key Comics had some of the best covers, to compensate for some of the worst artwork and stories.  Their fare included Mister Mystery -which did have some good stories-, Weird> Chills, Mysteries, & Tales of the Future.  Some of these had stories by Basil Wolverton; his unique style makes the price of the book worthwhile.

More later.  

[porcupine48]

22 minutes ago, fifties said:

I'd like to think that I'm somewhat qualified to answer, lol!  I would agree with Marty about TFTC, but EC did, as many other publishers, have several other horror titles, including Vault of Horror, and Haunt of Fear.  Shocksuspenstories and Crimesuspenstories are sort of crossovers of crime/horror.  I haven't found that there is any difference in any particular publisher's stories AFA specific artists or writers in their horror genre books.

Most of these 32 page comics had four stories.  The titles from Fawcett had three, longer, and no ads.  EC I believe only had one outside ad, with the centerfold "double truck" having a house ad.  Atlas's titles, far and away the most numerous, could have as many as six stories, and a whole buncha ads.

Content; EC was king, no question, AFA story content and artwork, and head and shoulders above all others.  The tamer publishers were ACG, St. John, Avon, Fawcett, Ziff-Davis, Toby, Star, & Prize, to name some but not all.  By that I mean they didn't show gore to any extent. 

ACG would normally have 3 happy ending stories, and one good one.  Their titles were Adventures Into The Unknown, and Forbidden Worlds.  Their later fare, in '53-'54 got a bit more into horror.  

Story Comics were some of the worst offenders AFA gore, and seemed to try to copy EC.  They had some of the most skeleton covers, aside from Atlas books, and their stories were pretty good.  Their titles included Dark Mysteries and Mysterious Adventures.  Their crossover crime horror title was Fight Against Crime.  Their first two issues of Secret Mysteries are also good readers.

Fawcett had some unique coloring in their panels, and each story was 8 pages long, so it could develop well.  Their titles included Beware, Terror Tales, Strange Stories From Another World, Strange Suspense Stories, This Magazine Is Haunted, and Worlds Of Fear.  Generally good reading.

Stanley Morse/Key Comics had some of the best covers, to compensate for some of the worst artwork and stories.  Their fare included Mister Mystery -which did have some good stories-, Weird> Chills, Mysteries, & Tales of the Future.  Some of these had stories by Basil Wolverton; his unique style makes the price of the book worthwhile.

More later.  

fifties certainly knows his stuff,I'll double vouch for his knowledge and throw Superior Comics out there,but don't be collecting them,I gots dibs  

Edited November 23, 2019 by porcupine48

[fifties]

Thx Jimmers!  Yes, my aging brain didn't pick up on all publishers, and Superior was right in the flow.  Unfortunately their Canadian printing process seemed to yield less than brilliant interior inks, but the stories are usually pretty good, and almost everyone in each story dies in the end.  Their flagship horror title was Journey Into Fear, followed by Mysteries Weird and Strange, & Strange Mysteries.

Regarding ACG, I forgot to mention Out Of The Night, and Skeleton Hand, so they had 4 titles going in the genre.  They also had a one issue title called The Clutching Hand.  Unfortunately it came out in August of 1954, when the publishers were feeling the heat AFA horror, crime and gore, so it was never continued.

[porcupine48]

Of course.Credit where credit due sir.

Comic Media is another goodie.fifties really is an expert though,I'll let him do the more later.I'll likely learn something.

 

[Pat Calhoun]

[fifties]

Jimmers is doing just fine with his additional experience.  Yes, Comic Media had two worthwhile titles, the other being Weird Terror (and the last issue of Horrific, renamed, "Terrific" to appease the approaching CCA).

[goldust40]

Fifties has already mentioned a great deal, but here's my two pennyworth.

E.C. was unquestionably king when it came to art, story, content and identity. In the case of Shock Suspenstories the publisher went further by having several politically themed stories ("preachies") per issue.

Harvey were the closest in terms of aping E.C.'s style and were reasonably consistent in their content, while Atlas was up there in terms of quality and their roster of artists (and were obviously the most prolific).

Gillmor, Aragon / Media Publications etc. who did Mister Mystery, Weird Mysteries, and Weird Tales of The Future generally had the best covers as far as fandom is concerned, although Harvey had a fair few as well. Anything with Wolverton in it, especially in the first half of the 1950s, is worth checking out.

Also recommended for their lurid, kitsch charm were the Iger Workshop produced Ajax-Farrell titles Voodoo, Haunted Thrills and Strange Fantasy. Always been a fan of that publisher. And let's not leave out Charlton, who did Lawbreakers Suspense Stories, Strange Suspense Stories, The Thing and This Magazine Is Haunted. A fair amount of early Ditko in those books, which are worth a look.

Ultimately I'd search out some of the reprint books of quite a few of those titles before diving into the heady and ghoulish world of PCH. You may never escape...

Edited November 23, 2019 by goldust40

[OtherEric]

1 hour ago, Pat Calhoun said:

What issues are these from, Pat?

[TheLostDreams]

This is easy for me...to my mind, outside of EC, the next best pre-code horror comics I enjoy reading are those by Superior Publications out of Canada...unlike EC, whose stories are essentially morality tales that get you to think about life and the world...Superior stories are diametrically opposed to this...they are a real hoot and a lot of fun.  They are surreal and bizarre at the same time with improbable storylines that make you wonder "who comes up with this stuff?"...Ajax-Farrell put out pre-code horror comics of a similar vein.  For example, from these two publishers, you'll find stories where zombies take over the world, gangsters who via experimentation turn themselves willingly into apes and fight among themselves to be the leader, a twist on the love triangle turned wrong when a genius scientist tries to get revenge on his cheating wife by plotting to kill her lover, but unfortunately the lover dies accidently, so the scientist uses his genius to bring back his wife's lover back to life...he succeeds but then then the lover kills the genius scientist and goes off merrily with the wife...I could go on with more...truly nutty stuff but it's loads of fun to read...all of the interior art is done by the Iger Shop, so from issue to issue you'll see the same type of art stylistically...there are also some really, what I would view as classic pre-code horror covers from these two publishers that no one talks about like Black Cat 50, Horrific 3, etc., yet they're still classic nonetheless (e.g. Haunted Thrills 5)...but man, those stories! 

[fifties]

I would suggest that anyone looking to delve into PCH pick up a few different copies of "Tales Too Terrible To Tell", which are compendiums each devoted to a particular publisher.  Here's a link on eBay for $4-$6 copies;

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=TALES+TOO+TERRIBLE+TO+TELL&_sacat=0&_udhi=8

They also display quite a few PCH covers.

[Robot Man]

Being a "horror head" for just over 50 years, I have to say EC is King. Everything else is just flattery. EC had it down. I have complete runs (or missing a few here and there) of pretty much all the titles you listed. Quite the list, I might say! Fifties said it best in his first post.

Depends on what you want. I prefer the wildest and most graphic titles. It still amazes me a kid could plunk down a Mercury dime and take many of these home. And, the fact that as many survived is a wonder.

Although I have many of the less graphic stuff like DC, ACG, Avon, St. John, Star and others, they are way down on the quality scale of ECs.

You are entering dark and expensive waters here. If I didn't get the greatest majority of them MANY years ago, I would be hard pressed to get into them other than reprints. But, way more fun than "men in tights"...

 

[adamstrange]

2 hours ago, TheLostDreams said:

This is easy for me...to my mind, outside of EC, the next best pre-code horror comics I enjoy reading are those by Superior Publications out of Canada...unlike EC, whose stories are essentially morality tales that get you to think about life and the world...Superior stories are diametrically opposed to this...they are a real hoot and a lot of fun.  They are surreal and bizarre at the same time with improbable storylines that make you wonder "who comes up with this stuff?"...Ajax-Farrell put out pre-code horror comics of a similar vein.  For example, from these two publishers, you'll find stories where zombies take over the world, gangsters who via experimentation turn themselves willingly into apes and fight among themselves to be the leader, a twist on the love triangle turned wrong when a genius scientist tries to get revenge on his cheating wife by plotting to kill her lover, but unfortunately the lover dies accidently, so the scientist uses his genius to bring back his wife's lover back to life...he succeeds but then then the lover kills the genius scientist and goes off merrily with the wife...I could go on with more...truly nutty stuff but it's loads of fun to read...all of the interior art is done by the Iger Shop, so from issue to issue you'll see the same type of art stylistically...there are also some really, what I would view as classic pre-code horror covers from these two publishers that no one talks about like Black Cat 50, Horrific 3, etc., yet they're still classic nonetheless (e.g. Haunted Thrills 5)...but man, those stories! 

The stories and art from Superior are crude, quirky and eccentric but more compelling than that from any other publisher.

[fifties]

I believe that Superior's fare came from the Iger studio, as did Ajax/Farrell, and the artwork was definitely journeyman in quality.  

[Robot Man]

yeah, the art is a bit sub rate for sure but they sure look pretty as sets!

[fifties]

They sure do.

[adamstrange]

32 minutes ago, fifties said:

I believe that Superior's fare came from the Iger studio, as did Ajax/Farrell, and the artwork was definitely journeyman in quality.  

 

28 minutes ago, Robot Man said:

yeah, the art is a bit sub rate for sure but they sure look pretty as sets!

Unlike EC, Superior art is nothing special, looking like it was drawn by talented Third Graders on acid, but, when read, it perfectly complements the weird stories in a way that the superior art of EC would not.  The stories read more fluidly than EC, unburdened by wordy captions or distracting pretty images.  Nor do Superiors have the obvious plot twists that make EC's horror line so predictable. 

3 hours ago, fifties said:

I would suggest that anyone looking to delve into PCH pick up a few different copies of "Tales Too Terrible To Tell", which are compendiums each devoted to a particular publisher.

I second this recommendation.  Suarez, the author of TTTT, thought Superior had the best stories of any pre-code publisher.

[keever]

Nice list 90s Child.  I'm surprised Robot Man didn't mention you overlooked one of the toughest-to-find Avon PCH books (he said he was chasing Avons 50 years ago), the remaindered Secret Diary of Eerie Adventures.  Thanks for creating this topic.

[90sChild]

16 hours ago, Robot Man said:

Being a "horror head" for just over 50 years, I have to say EC is King. Everything else is just flattery. EC had it down. I have complete runs (or missing a few here and there) of pretty much all the titles you listed. Quite the list, I might say! Fifties said it best in his first post.

Depends on what you want. I prefer the wildest and most graphic titles. It still amazes me a kid could plunk down a Mercury dime and take many of these home. And, the fact that as many survived is a wonder.

Although I have many of the less graphic stuff like DC, ACG, Avon, St. John, Star and others, they are way down on the quality scale of ECs.

You are entering dark and expensive waters here. If I didn't get the greatest majority of them MANY years ago, I would be hard pressed to get into them other than reprints. But, way more fun than "men in tights"...

 

Which do you consider the wildest or most graphic?  Then again, I think I'd still prefer quality artists over gory ones.  I do think Wally Wood at EC stands out as some of the best art out there, he's great at fine details.
As far as buying originals I'm a bit undecided, even a nice graded 7.0-8.0 range seems to bring $500-$1000 a piece at a minimum.

As far as reprints it seems like most titles are well represented nowadays either with dark horse archives or PS artbooks, here's a sample of a few of the nice hardcovers out there.
https://www.instocktrades.com/publishers/PS-Artbooks/PS+Artbooks

 

Edited November 24, 2019 by 90sChild