The Haunt of Fear

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The Haunt of Fear
Graham Ingels illustration, 1952
Publisher	EC Comics
Schedule	Bimonthly
Format	Anthology
Publication date	May/June, 1950 - November/December 1954
Number of issues	28
Main character(s)	Crypt Keeper, Old Witch, Vault Keeper
Creative team
Creator(s)	William Gaines Al Feldstein

The Haunt of Fear, Tales from the Crypt, and The Vault of Horror are three bi-monthly horror comic anthology series published by EC Comics in the early 1950s. The Haunt of Fear hit newsstands with its May/June 1950 issue and ceased publication with its November/December 1954 issue, producing a total of twenty-eight issues. The title was popular, but, in the late 1940s and early 1950s, comic books came under attack from parents, clergymen, schoolteachers, and others who believed the books contributed to illiteracy and juvenile delinquency. In April and June 1954, highly publicized Congressional subcommittee hearings on the effects of comic books upon children left the industry shaken. With the subsequent imposition of a highly restrictive Comics Code, EC Comics publisher William Maxwell Gaines canceled The Haunt of Fear and its two companion titles in September 1954. All three titles have been reprinted at various times since their demise and have been adapted for television and film.

Contents 1 Origin 2 The Old Witch 3 Artists and writers 4 Demise 5 Reprints 6 Media adaptations 7 Issue guide 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Origin

Horror comics emerged as a distinct comic book genre after WWII when young adult males lost interest in caped crimebusters, and returning GIs wanted titillating sex and violence in their reading. One-shot Eerie Comics (1947) is generally considered the first true horror comic with its cover depicting a dagger-wielding, red eyed ghoul threatening a rope-bound, scantily clad, voluptuous young woman beneath a full moon. In 1948, Adventures Into the Unknown became the first regularly published horror title, enjoying a nearly two decade life-span.

In 1950, publisher William Gaines and his editor Al Feldstein discovered they shared similar tastes in horror and began experimenting with horror tales. The first issue was numbered issue #15 because it was a title change from an EC Western comic book series, Gunfighter. In the early 1950s, comic book publishers, seeking to save money on second class postage permits, would frequently change titles of their comics rather than start new ones. The numbering was reset after issue 17, which was explained in the letter column of issue 4, "After publishing issues 15, 16, and 17, the United States Post Office requested that the fourth issue actually be numbered No. 4 rather than No. 18... Well, 'ya can't fight City Hall!'" Ironically the EC war comic Two Fisted Tales took over the numbering, starting with issue 18, and never ended up resetting its numbering.

[edit] The Old Witch

The host of The Haunt of Fear was The Old Witch, one of EC's three GhouLunatics. The other two GhouLunatics were The Vault-Keeper and The Crypt-Keeper. The character of The Old Witch was inspired by Old Nancy, the witch of Salem, host of Alonzo Deen Cole's radio series, The Witch's Tale, which aired from 1931 to 1938 on WOR and Mutual and in syndication.

The first issue of The Haunt of Fear had no host introducing the stories, however it did contain a cover character that vaguely resembled The Vault Keeper, beckoning the reader to enter.

The second issue debuted The Witch's Cauldron feature, with The Old Witch introducing herself in a story drawn by artist Jack Kamen. The third issue featured a Johnny Craig cover with all three stepping out of doorways, and launched a letter column, "The Old Witch's Niche". The final story of the issue "Horror Beneath the Streets", written and drawn by Feldstein, tells how Gaines and Feldstein left the EC offices one night, and encountered the Ghoulunatics in the sewer, who forced them to sign contracts with the trio to publish their stories.

The Old Witch would introduce the lead story of every remaining issue, as well as one additional story per issue. The Crypt Keeper and The Vault Keeper would introduce the other two stories in each issue. The Old Witch also appeared in every issue of Tales From The Crypt and The Vault of Horror, introducing a story in each. Finally, she appeared in every final story of Crime SuspenStories from issue #3 through #16. The Old Witch's origin would eventually be explained in issue #14's "A Little Stranger" which revealed that she was the daughter of a dead werewolf father and a dead vampire mother.

[edit] Artists and writers

Artist Graham Ingels took over the art duties of the Haunt of Fear starting with issue #4, and became the Old Witch's primary artist for the remainder of the comic's run. Ingels would take over the cover duty with issue #11 in February 1952. Other artists who contributed to the title were Feldstein, Johnny Craig, Wally Wood, Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Davis, George Roussos, Harry Harrison, Joe Orlando, Sid Check, George Evans, Reed Crandall, Will Elder and Bernard Krigstein.

Gaines and Feldstein were responsible for writing all of the stories until the end of 1953. An unauthorized adaption of Ray Bradbury in another one of EC's comics eventually led to a number of Bradbury adaptions, which included two stories in this title, "The Coffin" (#16) and "The Black Ferris" (#18). Features included "Grim Fairy Tales", horror based parodies of well known fairy tales such as Sleeping Beauty and Hansel and Gretel, which first began appearing in issue #15 in 1952.

The title's most controversial story was "Foul Play" (#19, 1953). The story, which was written by Al Feldstein and drawn by Jack Davis featured a crooked baseball player being dismembered, with his body parts used to play baseball by his murderers. The story was singled out by Robert Warshaw in his essay "Paul, the Horror Comics, and Dr. Wertham" who described it as "the outer limits of ... 'good taste'". It was also one of many examples used by Frederick Wertham in his book Seduction of the Innocent.^[1] Author Grant Geismann would reference the story with his 2005 book Foul Play which discussed the EC artists.

[edit] Demise

In 1954, Gaines and Feldstein intended to reactivate an earlier title, The Crypt of Terror, thus adding a fourth horror book to their three existing horror titles. They were stopped dead in their tracks, however. Horror and other violent comics had come under scrutiny and were demonized by parents, schoolteachers, clergymen, psychologists, and others who viewed the material as dangerous to the well-being of children and a significant contributor to the juvenile delinquency crisis in America. Matters came to a head in April and June 1954 with a highly publicized Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency. Hearings targeted violent comic books — which fared poorly. Publishers were left reeling.

The industry deftly avoided outside censorship by creating the self-regulatory Comics Magazine Association of America (CMAA) and a Comics Code Authority (CCA) that placed severe restrictions on violent comic book genres. Publishers were forbidden from using the words "terror" and "horror" in titles, for example, and forbidden from depicting zombies, werewolves, and other gruesome characters and outrè horror fiction trappings. Gaines was fed up; he believed his titles were being specifically targeted and realized they were doomed to future failure. He threw in the towel, canceling The Haunt of Fear and its companion titles in September 1954. The last issue of Haunt was #28, November/December 1954. Since an issue of The Crypt of Terror had already been produced, it was published as the final issue of Tales from the Crypt, February/March, 1955.

[edit] Reprints

The Haunt of Fear has been partially reprinted on numerous occasions. Russ Cochran (in association with Gladstone Publishing and solo) reprinted a handful of the single issues in 1990/91. Between November 1992 and August 1998, Cochran and Gemstone Publishing reprinted the full 28 individual issues.

In 1985, it formed part of Cochran's Complete EC Library, published (in black and white) as a five-volume slipcased hardcover set, while two 1995 paperback volumes began reprinting the series in color, but did not complete it^[2].

[edit] Media adaptations

Stories from The Haunt of Fear would eventually appear in the movie version of Tales From the Crypt as well as the TV series. Bill Gaines owned one of sculptor Steve Fiorilla's latex masks of the Old Witch. In the second season of HBO's Tales from the Crypt anthology television series, a photo of this Old Witch mask was a prop in the June 26, 1990 "Korman's Kalamity" episode, adapted from the EC story "Kamen's Kalamity." Illustrated by Jack Kamen, the original self-satirical story is set in EC's offices where the EC editors have a meeting with Kamen about his artwork. The Old Witch appeared in animated form on Tales from the Cryptkeeper and was voiced by Elizabeth Hanna.

[edit] Issue guide

#	Date	Cover Artist	Story	Story Artist	Story Host
15(1)	May/June 1950	Johnny Craig	The Wall	Johnny Craig	None
			House of Horror	Harvey Kurtzman	None
			The Mad Magician	Wally Wood & Harry Harrison	None
			The Thing in the Swamp!	Al Feldstein	Old Witch
16(2)	July/Aug 1950	Johnny Craig	Vampire!	Johnny Craig	None
			Horror-Ahead!	Wally Wood	None
			The Killer in the Coffin!	Graham Ingels	None
			The Mummy's Return!	Jack Kamen	Old Witch
17(3)	Sept/Oct 1950	Johnny Craig	Nightmare!	Johnny Craig	None
			Television Terror!	Harvey Kurtzman	None
			Monster Maker!	Graham Ingels	None
			Horror Beneath the Streets!	Al Feldstein	Old Witch
4	Nov/Dec 1950	Al Feldstein	The Hunchback!	Graham Ingels	Old Witch
			The Tunnel of Terror!	Jack Kamen	Vault Keeper
			The Living Mummy	Jack Davis	Old Witch
			Man from the Grave!	Wally Wood	Crypt Keeper
5	Jan/Feb 1951	Johnny Craig	A Biting Finish!	Graham Ingels	Old Witch
			Horror in the Freak Tent!	Wally Wood	Crypt Keeper
			A Tasty Morsel!	Jack Davis	Old Witch
			Seeds of Death!	Johnny Craig	Vault Keeper
6	March/April 1951	Johnny Craig	A Strange Undertaking...	Graham Ingels	Old Witch
			So They Finally Pinned You Down!	Wally Wood	Vault Keeper
			A Grave Gag!	Jack Kamen	Old Witch
			Cheese, That's Horrible!	Jack Davis	Crypt Keeper
7	May/June 1951	Johnny Craig	Room For One More!	Graham Ingels	Old Witch
			The Basket!	Jack Davis	Crypt Keeper
			Horror in the Schoolroom	Jack Kamen	Old Witch
			The Howling Banshee!	Johnny Craig	Vault Keeper
8	July/Aug 1951	Al Feldstein	Hounded to Death!	Graham Ingels	Old Witch
			A Very Strange Mummy!	George Roussos	Vault Keeper
			Diminishing Returns!	Unknown	Old Witch
			The Irony of Death!	Jack Davis	Crypt Keeper
9	Sept/Oct 1951	Al Feldstein	Warts So Horrible?	Johnny Craig	Old Witch
			Forbidden Fruit	Joe Orlando	Vault Keeper
			The Age-Old Story!	Jack Kamen	Old Witch
			The Gorilla's Paw!	Jack Davis	Crypt Keeper
10	Nov/Dec 1951	Al Feldstein	Grave Business!	Graham Ingels	Old Witch
			The Vamp!	Jack Davis & Johnny Craig	Vault Keeper
			My Uncle Ekar!	Jack Kamen	Old Witch
			Bum Steer!	Jack Davis	Crypt Keeper
11	Jan/Feb 1952	Graham Ingels	Ooze in the Cellar?	Graham Ingels	Old Witch
			The Acid Test!	Jack Kamen	Vault Keeper
			Extermination	George Roussos	Old Witch
			Ear Today... Gone Tomorrow!	Jack Davis	Crypt Keeper
12	March/April 1952	Graham Ingels	Poetic Justice!	Graham Ingels	Old Witch
			...On A Dead Man's Chest!	Johnny Craig	Vault Keeper
			Till Death Do We Part!	Joe Orlando	Old Witch
			What's Cookin'?	Jack Davis	Crypt Keeper
13	May/June 1952	Graham Ingels	For the Love of Death!	Graham Ingels	Old Witch
			Fed Up!	Johnny Craig	Vault Keeper
			Minor Error!	Jack Kamen	Old Witch
			Wolf Bait!	Jack Davis	Crypt Keeper
14	July/Aug 1952	Graham Ingels	A Little Stranger!	Graham Ingels	Old Witch
			Take Your Pick!	Jack Kamen	Vault Keeper
			Ship-Shape!	Sid Check	Old Witch
			This Little Piggy...	Jack Davis	Crypt Keeper
15	Sept/Oct 1952	Graham Ingels	Chatter-Boxed!	Graham Ingels	Old Witch
			All Washed Up!	George Evans	Vault Keeper
			Marriage Vows!	Jack Kamen	Old Witch
			Death of Some Salesman!	Jack Davis	Crypt Keeper
16	Nov/Dec 1952	Graham Ingels	Nobody There!	Graham Ingels	Old Witch
			A Creep in the Deep!	George Evans	Vault Keeper
			...From Hunger!	Jack Kamen	Old Witch
			The Coffin!	Jack Davis	Crypt Keeper
17	Jan/Feb 1953	Graham Ingels	Horror We? How's Bayou?	Graham Ingels	Old Witch
			Gorilla My Dreams!	George Evans	Vault Keeper
			A Likely Story!	Jack Kamen	Old Witch
			Garden Party!	Jack Davis	Crypt Keeper
18	March/April 1953	Graham Ingels	Pipe Down!	Graham Ingels	Old Witch
			Bedtime Gory!	George Evans	Vault Keeper
			Pot-Shot!	Jack Kamen	Old Witch
			The Black Ferris!	Jack Davis	Crypt Keeper
19	May/June 1953	Graham Ingels	Sucker Bait!	Graham Ingels	Old Witch
			Lover, Come Hack to Me!	George Evans	Vault Keeper
			Double-Header!	Jack Kamen	Old Witch
			Foul Play!	Jack Davis	Crypt Keeper
20	July/Aug 1953	Graham Ingels	Thump Fun!	Graham Ingels	Old Witch
			Terror Train	Al Feldstein	Vault Keeper
			Bloody Sure	Reed Crandall	Old Witch
			Hyde and Go Shriek!	Jack Davis	Crypt Keeper
21	Sept/Oct 1953	Graham Ingels	An Off-Color Heir	Graham Ingels	Old Witch
			Dig That Cat... He's Real Gone!	Jack Davis	Crypt Keeper
			Corker!	Jack Kamen & Bill Elder	Old Witch
			The High Cost of Dying!	Reed Crandall	Vault Keeper
22	Nov/Dec 1953	Graham Ingels	Wish You Were Here	Graham Ingels	Old Witch
			Chess-Mate	George Evans	Vault Keeper
			Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs	Jack Kamen	Old Witch
			Model Nephew	Jack Davis	Crypt Keeper
23	Jan/Feb 1954	Graham Ingels	Creep Course	Graham Ingels	Old Witch
			No Silver Atoll!	George Evans	Vault Keeper
			Hansel and Gretel!	Jack Kamen	Old Witch
			Country Clubbing!	Jack Davis	Crypt Keeper
24	March/April 1954	Graham Ingels	Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes...	Graham Ingels	Old Witch
			...Only Sin Deep	Jack Kamen	Vault Keeper
			The Secret	George Evans	Old Witch
			Head-Room!	Jack Davis	Crypt Keeper
25	May/June 1954	Graham Ingels	The New Arrival	Graham Ingels	Old Witch
			Indisposed!	George Evans	Vault Keeper
			Out Cold	Jack Kamen	Old Witch
			The Light in His Life!	Jack Davis	Crypt Keeper
26	July/Aug 1954	Graham Ingels	Marriage Vow	Graham Ingels	Old Witch
			The Shadow Knows	Reed Crandall	Vault Keeper
			Spoiled	Jack Kamen	Old Witch
			Comes the Dawn!	Jack Davis	Crypt Keeper
27	Sept/Oct 1954	Graham Ingels	About Face	Graham Ingels	Old Witch
			Game Washed Out!	George Evans	Vault Keeper
			The Silent Treatment	Jack Kamen	Old Witch
			Swamped	Reed Crandall	Crypt Keeper
28	Nov/Dec 1954	Graham Ingels	The Prude	Graham Ingels	Old Witch
			Numbskull	Bernard Krigstein	Vault Keeper
			Audition	Jack Kamen	Old Witch
			A Work of Art!	Jack Davis	Crypt Keeper

[edit] References

• Goulart, Ron. Great American Comic Books. Publications International, Ltd., 2001. ISBN 0785355901.
• Overstreet, Robert M.. Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide. House of Collectibles, 2004.

1. ^ (1985) The Complete EC Library: The Haunt of Fear Volume 4 (in English). Russ Cochran. 
2. ^ MyComicShop.com Information. Accessed March 12, 2008

[edit] External links

• Time's Richard Corliss on EC horror comics