Junk Food For Thought: Tomb of Terror

HOWARD NOSTRAND'S NIGHTMARES: THE CHILLING ARCHIVES OF HORROR COMICS VOL. 8 (Yoe Books/ IDW, First Printing, 2014; Hardcover)

Collects selections from Chamber Of Chills #13, 17-21, 23, Witches Tales #18, 20-25, Black Cat Mystery #44-46, 48, Tomb Of Terror #8, 11, 12, and Ripley's Believe It Or Not Magazine #1 (cover dates October, 1952- August, 1954)

Writers: Nat Barnett and Howard Nostrand (unconfirmed but suspected on many of these stories)

Artist: Howard Nostrand

Every single one of these stories except for one has already been reprinted and collected in PS Artbooks' Harvey Horrors line, making this book a double dip for me. The main problem lies not in this book as a book but rather the lack of content information in the text copy when the book is originally solicited. The only saving grace that this book has for me is that seven of the stories reprinted here are scanned directly from the original artwork, making this kind of a poor man's Howard Nostrand Artist Edition.

If you do not own the aforementioned PS Artbooks then this book is a pretty cool read. It is a complete overview of Nostrand's 1950s Harvey Horror output (with the exception of stories that he inked for other artists). Nostrand's artwork has a cartoony feel that is completely removed from the era and the genre. It seems almost humorous in appearance and it wouldn't surprise me if it helped inform the underground “Comix” of the 1960s. I also appreciate the cinematic feel of much of his work. His panel composition could serve as a camera angle guide for a film or television show.

The stories themselves all kind of run together, as non-EC Pre-Code Horror comics tend to if you read a lot of them in a row. They were still enjoyable on the reread and made for splendid pre-Hallowe'en reading. I would recommend this book to folks who like Pre-Code Horror comics who do not own the PS Artbooks or purists who want to see the scans of the original artwork, which is something of a treat. So much of the original art from this era is lost that it is great to see complete stories reassembled with it. Blessed be the curators and collectors.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5.

The book was originally solicited with this cover, although it was never used.

The OCD zone- Yoe Books are high quality presentations, with lots of thought put into the design and layout. Overall production values are very high. My only complaint is that they are a hair wider than, say, the Creepy or Eerie Archives from Dark Horse, meaning that they are too wide to be stored in a white acid free magazine box.

Linework and Color restoration: High resolution raw scans with the yellowing removed. This warts and all approach is favored by some fans while others prefer full blown restoration. I appreciate the benefits and drawbacks of both. If good source material (film, original art) is unavailable then raw scans are sometimes the best way to go. Your mileage may vary. I have had countless discussions with fans online and it all really boils down to preference.

Paper stock: Super thick uncoated stock. This is the heaviest paper used by any of the major publishers for collected editions today. No bleed through from the other side of the page in any light. (I read books in various rooms using various light sources for such experiments. Natural sunlight, incandescent bulbs, CFL, and LED are all in use in various rooms in my house. I have a halogen bulb on my back porch and should add that in too.)

Binding: Smyth sewn binding. The book lays mostly flat.

Hardback cover notes: No dustjacket. Image is printed on the paper casewrap. Blacks have a matte finish while the colors have spot varnish, a kind of screen printed lamination which gives the color a glossy appearance. I experienced no scuffing on my copy while reading and handling this book.

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...

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