Review- HARVEY HORRORS COLLECTED WORKS: CHAMBER OF CHILLS VOL. 4

HARVEY HORRORS COLLECTED WORKS: CHAMBER OF CHILLS VOL. 4 (PS Artbooks, First Printing, 2012; Hardcover)

Note: Book actually released in 2013

Collects Chamber of Chills Magazine #20-26 (originally published by Harvey Comics, cover dates November, 1953- December, 1954)

Writers: Howard Nostrand, Bob Powell (both unconfirmed but strongly suspected) and other, unidentified writers.

Artists: Joe Certa, Manny Stallman, John Giunta, Howard Nostrand, Bob Powell, Lee Elias (covers), Jack Sparling, Mort Meskin, George Roussos, Al Avison, and possibly other unidentified art assistants.

Dreams can come true! Ten years ago it was nothing more than a pipe dream that I would own these Pre-Code Horror comics in deluxe hardcovers. Now I have a room full of them! This fourth and final volume in PS Artbook's Chamber Of Chills line shows the title going full steam ahead with no real change from any of the earlier issues. That's fine by me, because they are all fun reads.

The writing and artwork are all great, with work by many forgotten greats. The Internet and collected editions have given some of these guys a second life and they have finally gotten their due, albeit too late for most (if not all) of them to enjoy while they were alive.

The stories all run the typical Horror gamut of the era (voodoo, black magic, zombies, vampires, etc.) and for the most part attempt to ape the EC ironic shock twist ending with varying degrees of success. While nothing can compare to EC, Harvey was one of the few who had art talent that could go toe to toe with some of the EC guys. Some of the more interesting stories are ones that veer away from the formula (there is a Sci-Fi story and even a war story with Horror accents).

There is a lot of overlap in this book. Seven of these stories have been reprinted in various Yoe Books after I bought this. I will be doing more research before buying more of those, as I see no value in rebuying material with similar restoration. One of those seven was also reprinted in Fanatagraphics' Four Color Fear: Forgotten Horror Comics Of The 1950s, which was an excellent precursor to these PS Artbooks. Fantagraphics really dropped the ball not diving deeper into the well of public domain comics. Pete Crowther and company over at PS Artbooks saw the opportunity and seized it, and now the fans of this material own dozens of books. There is overlap within this series as well, as the bulk of #25 is from issue 9 of this series and #26 is the bulk of #5. Those stories were collected in Volumes 1 and 2 of this series. That feels like a ripoff to me. I can see collecting the cover and the material not found in those issues, but to get the same stories again seems like a waste.

That aside, this was a terrific read and I am proud to have this book in my library. While I tend to aggressively prune my library to keep it at a svelte 1,100 books, complete Pre-Code Horror comics will remain in my collection until I die. I will revisit this material again someday and enjoy it every bit as much as I did this time, something that cannot always be said for modern comics, which have a good for one read only feel to them.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4.25 out of 5.

The OCD zone- I enjoy huffing these Chinese made books. PS Artbooks smell the best. Whenever I crack one open I sit there and snort it every so many pages...oh yeah, that's the stuff.

Linework and Color restoration: Raw scans of varying quality with minimal tinkering. Mostly decent but occasionally murky.

Paper stock: Uncoated bright white stock. Given the yellowed nature of the scans an off-white would have worked better.

Binding: Smyth sewn binding. Lays flat.

Hardback cover notes: No dustjacket. Image printed on casewrap with matte finish and spot varnish.  

Review- HARVEY HORRORS COLLECTED WORKS: CHAMBER OF CHILLS VOL. 3

HARVEY HORRORS COLLECTED WORKS: CHAMBER OF CHILLS VOL. 3 (PS Artbooks, 2012; Hardcover)

Collects Chamber of Chills Magazine #14-19 (cover dates November, 1952- September, 1953)

Writers: Bob Powell, Howard Nostrand, and other unidentified writers

Artists: Lee Elias, Vic Donahue, Moe Marcus, Rocke Mastroserio, Abe Simon, Rudy Palais, Pete Morisi, Al Avison, Don Perlin, Bob Powell, Howard Nostrand, Al Eadeh, Warren Kremer, Joe Certa, Manny Stallman, Jack Sparling, and other unidentified artists

I adore the Pre-Code Horror comic books of the 1950s. Part of it is the groundbreaking nature of the material, part of it is the forbidden fruit aspect, but the real draw is of course the great stories and artwork. EC Comics were the best but Harvey was putting out solid material month in and month out as well. 

#14's It!!! is awesome, one of those don't disturb the resting place of the dead type stories. This story could arguably be a precursor for the film Poltergeist if you replace ghosts for zombies. Vic Donahue did some tremendous work on that story. #18's Friend echoes a theme found in many '50s Pre-Code Horror comics: the double cross. This Bob Powell penned and penciled tale has an extra bite to it. That same issue's House kicks the traditional ghost story up a few notches.

#19's iconic cover by Lee Elias was used by The Misfits for the cover of their Die, Die My Darling single and T-shirts, which “punks” today buy at Hot Topic. The issue itself is spectacular. Happy Anniversary by the godlike Bob Powell is an EC-caliber love story.

This stuff is a lot of fun to read. It's lighter on text than EC was so there is less depth, but that honestly would work more for fans of modern comics who dislike reading words and prefer light reading. I am glad that PS Artbooks has compiled the entire series across four books. Owning this series was nothing more than a pipe dream until a few years ago.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4.5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- I enjoy huffing these Chinese made books. PS Artbooks smell the best. Whenever I crack one open I sit there and snort it...oh yeah, that's the stuff.

Linework and Color restoration: Raw scans of varying quality with minimal tinkering. They remove all color from the word balloons, leaving them as bright white as the paper stock. A bit of tinkering with photoshop and higher resolution scanning would have been a great help. As it is some of these are tough to read, especially #15.

An example of the poor quality of the scans of #15. The original printing process was primitive, resulting in line bleed and off register printing. My complaint is not due to that, only to the lower scan resolution used on that issue over the others in this book. 

Paper stock: Uncoated bright white stock. Given the yellowed nature of the scans an off-white would have worked better.

Binding: Smyth sewn binding. Lays mostly flat.

Hardback cover notes: No dustjacket. Image printed on casewrap with matte finish and spot varnish. Very mild scuffing with handling.

Review- HARVEY HORRORS COLLECTED WORKS: BLACK CAT MYSTERY VOL. 1

HARVEY HORRORS COLLECTED WORKS: BLACK CAT MYSTERY VOL. 1 (PS Artbooks, 2012; Hardcover)

Collects Black Cat Mystery Comics #30-35 (cover dates August, 1951- May, 1952)

Writers: Bob Powell and other unidentified writers

Artists: Lee Elias, Vic Donahue, Rudy Palais, Manny Stallman, Bob Powell, Howard Nostrand, Joe Certa, John Giunta, JohnnBelfi, Vic Donahue, and other unidentified inkers and art assistants

Praised be PS Artbooks for rescuing these forgotten classics and releasing them in their entirety, ads and all, in full color deluxe hardcovers. While these are not quite as good as my beloved EC Comics of the day they are still fine, fine old school Horror comics that everyone should own. There is some tremendous artistic talent on this book. Rudy Palais has a decades-spanning career, ditto Joe Certa. Both of them are great artists who never seem to be mentioned by fans. Bob Powell is a fricking genius, one of the best artists of the 1950s bar none.

Some of the stories are silly, such as The Monkey's Paw-style riff Hand Of The Yogi. The Last Man On Earth is one of those Cold War fear mongering tales. Deadly Acres is probably my favorite in the whole book. All of the stories are pretty enjoyable and make perfect Hallowe'en reading. I will be reviewing a slew of Horror comics over the coming weeks. You have been warned!

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Buy HARVEY HORRORS COLLECTED WORKS: BLACK CAT MYSTERY VOL. 1 HC at InStockTrades!

Also available in softcover TP.

Full hardcover series available in slipcase box.

Full softcover series available in slipcase box.

The OCD zone- I love these PS Artbooks. They are the best smelling books on the market. I theorize that this delectable aroma is the result of paper sourced from virgin Amazon rainforests and ink derived from a paste of mercury from recalled thermometers, broken asbestos tiles, lead paint chips, industrial waste, and the ancient Chinese secret- the blood, sweat, and tears of the children working the Chinese sweatshop where these books are made. That's why the sewn binding is so superb...their little fingers are perfect for stitching the signatures of books!

DVD-style Extras included in this book: Foreword by Christopher Fowler. (4 pages)

Macabre Maestros featuring artist Howard Nostrand- article about the artist with images of original artwork. (6 pages)

Linework and Color: These are scans of the original comics with minimal tinkering, so the yellowed aging of the pulp paper is present throughout the book. A little bit of work in Photoshop could have greatly improved things, as would scanning in something better than 300-400 dpi. The scans vary in quality but are mostly acceptable. As for the linework and color, well you gets what you get. The original comic books had absolutely horrid printing, so you get plenty of off register printing and line bleed. Again, this was how the original issues look if you own them. Fans of benday dots and the anomalies found in vintage comic books will be thrilled. Fans weaned on frame-up restoration found in Marvel Masterworks, DC Archives, and Dark Horse Archives may be disappointed.

Paper stock: Thick uncoated stock with zero sheen.

Binding: Smyth sewn binding, seven stitches per signature, lays perfectly flat.

Hardback cover notes: No dustjacket. Image printed on the paper for the casewrap. Dull matte finish coating which has a few light scratches after handling, cover images and all words on cover are spot varnished and have a thicker coating. 

Review- HARVEY HORRORS COLLECTED WORKS: CHAMBER OF CHILLS VOL. 2

HARVEY HORRORS COLLECTED WORKS: CHAMBER OF CHILLS VOL. 2 (PS Artbooks, 2012; Hardcover)

Collects Chamber of Chills Nos. 8-13 (cover dates May- October, 1952)

Writers: Bob Powell, Howard Nostrand, and other unidentified writers

Artists: Lee Elias, Vic Donahue, Bob Powell, Howard Nostrand, Al Avison, Tom Hickey, Manny Stallman, John Giunta, Rudy Palais, John Belfi, Warren Kremer, Abe Simon, Moe Marcus, and other unidentified artists.

I adore 1950s Pre-Code Horror comics. While Harvey Comics were not quite as good as my beloved EC Comics they are still solid reads and belong in the library of Horror comic fans the world over. Without these comic books we would likely have no Stephen King, no John Carpenter, no Alice Cooper, no Glenn Danzig or Misfits. 

Headless Horror from issue 8 predates the “found footage” fad by nearly fifty years. Vic Donahue's artwork on The Face Of Horror (#10) is incredibly effective. The Dead Sleep Lightly and Devil's Due round out what I consider to be the most consistently satisfying issue in this book, #10.

Truth be told, I doubt that many of these stories will scare modern Horror fans on a steady diet of Saw-inspired snuff porn. For those reared or schooled in what could be called “classical” Horror, however, it doesn't get much better than 1950s Pre-Code Horror. These tales all fall in normal parameters for the era and genre. No real surprises here, just plenty of enjoyable old school Horror comics that gave ninnies like Frederic Wertham fuel for his witch hunt. I am beyond grateful that PS Artbooks has resurrected the corpses of these long gone and buried classics.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5.

Buy HARVEY HORRORS COLLECTED WORKS: CHAMBER OF CHILLS VOL. 2 HC at InStockTrades!

This same material is available across two softcovers! Buy Volume 2 (issues 6-10) here.

Buy Volume 3 (issues 11-15) here.

The OCD zone- These are some beautifully produced books. Restoration issues aside, I am thrilled to see these books resurrected in relatively affordable deluxe editions.

DVD-style Extras included in this book: Foreword by Michael T. Gilbert. (4 pages)

Macabre Maestros featuring artist Lee Elias. (6 pages)

Linework and Color restoration rating: 3.75 out of 5. These are scans of original comic books, which means that all of the imperfections of the four color printing process are present. Line bleed, off register printing, and yellowing due to age abound. The only major attempt at color correction has been removing the yellowing from the word balloons, which are as white as the paper stock. A fair number of the pages are of mediocre to poor quality, possibly JPEG sourced low resolution scans, likely 300dpi. Some pages look fuzzy and out of focus, others look acceptable. Most are good enough that I am willing to overlook the yellowing.

Paper rating: 5 out of 5. Thick uncoated stock. It has that wonderful aroma that Chinese made books tend to have. Out of all of the Archives lines available from all of the publishers, PS Artbooks smell the best. I seriously sit there and huff these things as I read them. The toxic stew of broken asbestos tiles, lead paint chips, mercury from recalled thermometers, and the blood, sweat and tears of the Chinese children working the sweatshop printing presses give these book their delectable scent.

Binding rating: 5 out of 5. Smyth sewn binding with seven stitches per signature. The book block is rounded in the casing, enabling this book to lay perfectly flat as God intended.

Hardback cover coating rating: 4.75 out of 5. The issue cover images are spot varnished with screen printing while the rest of the casewrap has a dull matte finish which is sufficiently resistant to scuffing when handled with reasonable care. 

Review- HARVEY HORRORS COLLECTED WORKS: TOMB OF TERROR VOL. 1

HARVEY HORRORS COLLECTED WORKS: TOMB OF TERROR VOL. 1 (PS Artbooks, 2011; Hardcover)

Collects Tomb of Terror Nos. 1-6 (cover dates June- November, 1952)

Writers: Howard Nostrand, Bob Powell, and other, unidentified writers

Artists: Warren Kremer, Bob Powell, Joe Certa, Pete Morisi, Lee Elias, Vic Donahue, Moe Marcus, Rocco Mastroserio, Rudy Palais, Manny Stallman, Abe Simon, and other, unidentified artists

I love pre-code Horror comics. The gruesome, albeit silly, supernatural and macabre tales make for fun late night reading. Harvey Comics were the epitome of lame when I was a kid in the '70s/80s. Hot Stuff, Little Lulu, and freaking Casper The Friendly Ghost were all lame lame lame. Imagine my delight upon discovering that the same publisher once gave my beloved EC Comics a run for their money, trying to out-creep and out-gross them. 

While the writing and artwork are not as good as EC, there are still some great talents that worked on this title. Bob Powell is the biggest name here, but Joe Certa also had a long, illustrious career. He went on to do some Gold Key stuff like Boris Karloff Tales Of Mystery as well as House Of Mystery for DC.

The topics run the usual Pre-Code gamut, from witches, voodoo, zombies, monsters in undiscovered or remote locations (i.e swamps, etc.), wax museums, so on and so forth. While the stories are somewhat tame by today's standards and are often predictable, they are also a lot of fun. 

I enjoy how the original advertisements are included. It gives a feeling of authenticity as well as a historical reference point. I also enjoy seeing the house ads for the other Harvey Horror titles. PS has been cranking out these lines of books, and I hope to see stuff like Warfront collected at some point. My wallet sure doesn't, but the heart wants what it wants.

Some of these stories, like The Little People and the Wax Museum from #1, are tales dealing with the cruelty of man over that of any monster. At the end of the day humanity is the scariest thing in the natural or unnatural world. #5's The Rat Man seemed familiar, so I had to consult my files. Sure enough, I had read it before in Craig Yoe's Bob Powell's Terror hardcover. #6's The Survivors! is straight out of the EC science fiction mold.

Praise be PS Artbooks from rescuing these moldering gems from obscurity and bringing them to the masses in relatively affordable, high end hardcovers. My greatest fear is that the history of our artform will be lost to time or be solely in the hands of private collectors. A huge thank you to anyone who has helped out by scanning, lending, or selling their comics to make these books a reality.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5. 

The OCD zone- This book has the ever delectable sweet, sweet toxic Chinese printing press smell, likely the result of paper sourced from virgin Amazon rainforests and ink which is a concoction of lead paint chips, broken and pulped asbestos tiles, mercury from recalled thermometers, and the final magical ingredient: the blood, sweat, and tears of the children working the sweatshop printing presses. If loving these books is wrong then I don't want to be right!

DVD-style Extras included in this book: Tomb Whoever It May Concern... foreword by Stephen Jones (5 pages)

Macabre Maestros Featuring artist Morris “Moe” Marcus (USA) (6 pages)

Linework and Color restoration rating: 3.25 out of 5. These are direct scans from the original comic books. All of the imperfections of yellowed 60 year old comics are present. Off register printing, color line bleed, and discoloration from age are there for your viewing pleasure. This is a warts and all approach. Some of these scans are downright murky. They are readable but a little de-yellowing with Photoshop would have helped things out considerably. To be fair, this was one of the earliest PS Artbooks, and Pete Crowther and company have come a long way with their craft since then. Let's not forget that early Marvel Masterworks, DC Archives, and even Dark Horse Archives all had their problems. Chalk it up to growing pains and let's not lose sight of the fact that these books are a dream come true. Just a few short years ago your options were black and white reprints or expensive, obscure back issues.

Paper rating: 5 out of 5. Thick, beautiful, uncoated stock. It is a bright white stock, which might be part of the problem with the scans. Since the scans are not filtered or have the yellowing removed, “coloring” the borders a creamy color would have made things less noticeable. It is a trick that Craig Yoe uses on all of his books to fool folks, and to his credit, they buy it.

Binding rating: 5 out of 5. Smyth sewn binding, 7 stitches per signature. The book lies flat as God intended.

Hardback cover coating rating: 4.5 out of 5. This book has no dustjacket, with the image printed directly onto the hardback itself and spot varnished, giving the images a shininess not found on the rest of the dull matte finish found on the solid blacks. My copy has extremely minor scuffing here and there after reasonable handling. Most sane folks would not even notice it. Then again, I never claimed to be sane...

Buy HARVEY HORRORS COLLECTED WORKS: TOMB OF TERROR VOL. 1 HC at InStockTrades!

Also available in a Limited Edition slipcase.

Issues1-5 are also available in a softcover trade paperback.

Review- ZOMBIES

ZOMBIES (Yoe Books/ IDW, 2012; Hardcover)

Collects selections from Adventures Into The Unknown Nos. 27, 50, Baffling Mysteries No. 17, The Beyond Nos. 17, 24, Black Cat Nos. 35, 41, Chamber of Chills Magazine No. 22, City of the Living Dead No. 1, Dark Mysteries No. 13, Eerie No. 16, Ken Shannon No. 3, Monster No. 2, The Purple Claw No. 3, Thrills of Tomorrow No. 18, Web of Evil No. 2, and Web of Mystery No. 27 (cover dates November, 1951- December, 1954)

Writer: Joe Millard and other, unidentified writers

Artists: Lin Streeter, Jack Cole, Lou Cameron, A.C. Hollingsworth, Gene Colan, Al Eadeh, Dick Beck, Sy Grudko, Bob Powell, Reed Crandall, Bill Benulis, Jack Abel, Vic Donahue, Wally Wood, Rudy Palais, Al Hartley, and others.

Another book in Craig Yoe's value priced The Chilling Archives of Horror Comics line, Zombies is a sort of hodgepodge collection of all things undead. I wouldn't call this the best of zombie comics from the Golden Age by a long shot, but more of a well rounded offering that shows the undead in all of their glorious, gory permutations. 

There are two stories which are shot from the original artwork, presented here in their uncolored and unaltered glory. In the Corpse That Wouldn't Sleep! from Ken Shannon No. 3, we are introduced to Ken Shannon, a loveable sexist crime/noir cliche in a story that was my personal favorite in the book. According to The Grand Comic Database there were ten issues of that title published by Avon. There is a lot of great Reed Crandall artwork to be found in this series, and I implore Craig Yoe or Pete Crowther over at PS Publishing to compile this series in a hardcover collection. If the rest of the series is of the same quality as this 10 page story then fandom needs to rediscover this long lost gem. 

You could do a lot worse than Zombies, and it's pretty inexpensive for such high production values, so what have you got to lose?

Junk Food For Thought rating: 3.75 out of 5.

The OCD zone- The book has no dustjacket, with the images being screen printed on the hardback itself. The portions of the cover without the images on it (the blacks) has no coating on it and can be easily scuffed, even when handled gingerly.

Linework restoration rating: 4 out of 5. These are scanned from the original comics books at a high resolution, with some stories turning out better than others. This is the result of source material more so than restoration practices.

Color restoration rating: 4 out of 5. As I stated above, these are scans of actual comic books, not full blown restorations. The coloring imperfections found in the highly overrated four color printing process are numerous and abundant. Line bleed and off register printing abound. Some people call this the “charm of old comic books”, but to me it is about as charming as pops, crackles, and surface noise found on well-used vinyl albums. Your mileage may vary. I adore the artform, not the artifacts.

Paper rating: 5 out of 5. Really nice, thick, uncoated stock with zero sheen. It can be read under any type of light.

Binding rating: 3 out of 5. This book has sewn binding, but the casing is glued square to the spine, making it far too tight to lay flat. While the book's construction is solid and should provide a lifetime of reading enjoyment, it will never, ever lay flat.

Hardcover coating rating: 2 out of 5.

Follow my blog on Facebook.

Join my Facebook group, DC Collected Editions Fans Who Want Sewn Binding and Books That Lay Flat, a watchdog organization dedicated to top notch production values in DC's collected editions.

Review- HARVEY HORRORS COLLECTED WORKS: WITCHES TALES VOL. 1

HARVEY HORRORS COLLECTED WORKS: WITCHES TALES VOL. 1 (PS Artbooks, 2011; Hardcover)

Collects Witches Tales Nos. 1-7 (cover dates January, 1951- January, 1952)

Writers: Bob Powell and other unknown writers

Artists: Bob Powell, Howard Nostrand, John Giunta, Manny Stallman, Vic Donahue, Rudy Palais, Lee Elias, John Sink, Tom Hickey, Al Luster, Al Avison, Tom Gill, and other artists

Praise Pete Crowther and the rest of the staff over at PS Artbooks! It all started with a wishlist thread over on the Masterworks Messageboard, with us collected edition obsessives wishing and dreaming for archives of this long forgotten material. One day, Pete popped in and announced that his small press company would be presenting these in deluxe hardcovers, sold directly from the publisher. Slightly skeptical but very hopeful, I pre-ordered the first volume (Chamber of Chills Vol. 1) and waited several months for the book to be completed and released. The book sold out, and Pete and company ramped up the production and began rolling out these Maltese Falcons of '50s pre-code Horror comics in rapid fire succession. Heck, they are even now available through Diamond Comic Distributors, so there is no excuse not to own these books, as you can order them from comic shops everywhere. I'm happy to say I knew Pete and PS Artbooks when.

These '50s pre-code comics are the cat's meow. Superb artwork, solid writing, and over the top violence make for a winning combination that can't be beat. These old comics hit all of the sweet spots for yours truly, and I am thrilled to have several more PS Artbooks in my backlog, waiting, waiting...

These stories all deal with witches, witchcraft, and deals with the devil gone wrong. In other words, perfect, nonsensical “Hollywood” style witchcraft. I love it! Real witchcraft is totally fake and stupid, but I love eye of newt type storytelling. Yes, it's somewhat dated and cheesy, but that it was what makes these stories so much fun. There isn't a whiff of irony or self deprecation. 

These comic books were sold to kids, which is so wrong that it is awesome. The artwork in these comics was done by a pretty impressive stable of artists, most of which are unfortunately forgotten by today's comic book buyers. Again, props to PS Artbooks for getting these obscure vintage comics back out there for the masses to rediscover.

The OCD zone- These books are beautifully produced. The image is screen printed on the hardcover itself, with no dustjacket. The paper is uncoated stock, yet smooth to the touch. Think of the stock that Fantagraphics uses in their Steve Ditko Archives and you'll be in the ballpark of the quality of the paper grade. The sewn binding is outstanding, and the book lays perfectly flat from the first page to the last. The restoration is high resolution scans with minimal touch ups. These books are top quality and are really a dream (or is it nightmare?) come true. 

What what WHAT?? Dr. Strange, a scholar of the occult? This was well over a decade before Stan Lee and Steve Ditko would unleash THEIR Doctor Strange on the world.

Here is my birthday cake, which was Batman. I ordered an Avengers cake, but the rice paper printer was broken when I ordered it, and I was informed that it might not be repaired in time, so Batman was plan B. It was pretty plain, but hey, whatever. It still tasted great.

Follow my blog on Facebook.

Join the cause page if you want make sure that DC keeps up the recent good work on their hardcovers. This group is a watchdog organization dedicated to top notch production values in collected editions.