Number 31


COVERING IT: Classic Covers From The Golden Age Of Comics


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My buddies and I were a morbid little gang. As kids we did a lot of talking, and at times we'd discuss the worst ways to die. My neighbor, Allen Arnoldson, told me the story of some poor guy buried up to his neck in the dirt. Honey was poured over his head and he was eaten by ants! That is one story I never forgot, and even had nightmares about.

Now I'm a morbid adult. Mister Mystery #11, dated May-June, 1953, is a horror comic with a cover showing a guy in that awful nightmare situation.

Bernard Baily (1916-1996) was the artist. He had started work for DC Comics in the late '30s, and drew The Spectre for them. His art style got slicker as time went on, but his subject matter got a lot more gruesome. Mister Mystery had some lousy contents, with the exception of some stories by Basil Wolverton, but the covers were about as good as horror comics ever got.

The prices these comics get in today's market is way out of my reach, so I took this off the Internet.