HAUNTED #75 – Ben’s October Horror-Comic-Athon October 2018 #5

In the spirit of Halloween, Ben is reading one horror comic every night before he goes to bed. Will they keep him up? Or will they put him to sleep? We’ll find out…

It’s October 5th. Another purchase from yesterday. And another disappointment…

ENTRY FIVE:

HAUNTED #75: Charlton Comics; art and stories by various; published 1984

The date surprised me.

I didn’t know Charlton was publishing horror magazines into the 80s!

Because I read this issue and the stories inside and it felt older. Much older.

Then I see that the materials are reprints from 1959, 1967, 1974, and 1976! Suddenly it makes sense!

Until I realize . . . they could use ANY story from Haunted’s publishing history, and they chose THESE???

These stories aren’t great. They are short, they try to have twists, but they are also neutered. with really poor endings.

One story has the main character asking if it’s a dream over and over again, as he gets chased by a cult that lives under his office building who wish him to keep guard over the light that gives them life. He escapes them and the twist is the wine he spilled on his sleeve at the meal they gave him is STILL THERE!!! It wasn’t a dream!

Another story has an awful guy who does a bad thing to make a good guy do what he wants him to do. When the tables are turned, he begs the good guy to help him. The good guy does. The story literally ends with a caption box reading: “Barlow was restored to normal size and was not prosecuted by Perkins–he forever regretted his greed and became a better man!”

These are poorly conceived stories told poorly. I bought it for the cover. There is no story with those cover elements.

This was the final issue of the series. It does not come as a surprise to me.

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You can read the rest of this series here: Ben’s Horror-Comic-Athon October 2018

While Ben’s not podcasting daily for the entire month, The Comic Book Time Machine will be going daily for a week at the end of October. Don’t miss our WEEK OF WEIRD, as we explore some weird comics from October 25-31!