Spooky and Poil from Spooky 107: 1968

Happy Valentine's Day!












Thanks MASTERBOWLER for the scans.

Operation Monster

You may have more to worry about than just waking up from brain surgery if an egotistical doctor probes too deeply.

This Harvey Comics story was first published in 1952. It was printed in Chamber of Chills # 5 and John Giunta is listed as the penciller, with Manny Stallman credited for the inks at Grand Comic-Book Database.

I don't think it was good storytelling to show the monster in the opening splash panel. There isn't much suspense when the patient later transforms into a monster, but maybe the editors wanted to set you up for the true surprise ending later.

Spooky and Casper

In the 1960's, the place to see the classic monsters was on TV. I would guess that every television market had at least one horror host hawking their weekly creature features. On the cover to Harvey Comics' 1966 The Tuff Little Ghost, SPOOKY, a trio of the classics monsters are leaping out of a TV screen to spook ol' Spooky himself.

For the cover of Casper, Strange Ghost Stories, #8, from 1976, the friendly, and much too saccharine, ghost turns the tables on the classic monster trio and gives them a shock.

A few weeks ago I went over to the city and visited the Cartoon Art Museum. If you find yourself in San Francisco, and you are a fan of these Harvey comics, you should take the time to look at some of the original art. I found some photos of the August 2008 opening here.

cover art © Harvey Cartoons