Vault of Horror #40

(December 1954-January 1955)

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 1) (Expand) /

MAD & Panic / advertisement / 1 page (report information)

Old Man Mose! (Table of Contents: 2)

The Vault of Horror! / comic story / 8 pages (report information)

Script

Johnny Craig

Pencils

Johnny Craig (signed)

Inks

Johnny Craig (signed)

Colors

Marie Severin

Letters

Jim Wroten

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Heh, heh! Well, here we are, all set to go again!

Genre

horror-suspense

Characters

The Vault-Keeper (host); Drusilla (cameo); Mose; Ned Rogers

Synopsis

Ned stopped his wagon when he saw townspeople throwing stones at old Mose, a man they thought worshipped the Devil since he lived in the Black Church. He chased them off, then invited the man to his home, where he was welcomed by Ned's wife. The next day Ned went to town for supplies and the folk there warned him of the old man, but he paid them no mind. Late that night, he heard a noise and discovered old Mose coming in, supposedly from a late night walk. But the townsfolk told Ned the next day about sacrificial killings that had occured in the area, the latest being last night, and once again they blamed Mose for it. Ned covered for Mose, but rushed home to find the still form of his wife on the floor and Mose in the doorway....with scratches to his face. Ned pounced on Mose and beat him to death, but then heard the last words of his dying wife tell him that Mose was protecting her from an escaped prisoner, whose still form lay outside the door!

Reprints

• in The Vault of Horror (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #5 (1982)
• in Iskalde Grøss (Semic, 1982 series) #8/1989 (uke 49 1989)
which is reprinted
• in Iskalde Grøss pocket (Hjemmet / Egmont, 1998 series) #5 ([mars] 1998)
• in Vault of Horror (Gemstone, 1994 series) #29 (October 1999)
• in The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library (Fantagraphics, 2012 series) #33 - Deadly Beloved and Other Stories (January 2023) [Reprinted in black and white.]

An Harrow Escape! (Table of Contents: 3)

The Crypt of Terror / comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script

Carl Wessler

Pencils

Joe Orlando (signed)

Inks

Joe Orlando (signed)

Colors

Marie Severin

Letters

Jim Wroten

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Heh, heh! Salutations, scare-seekers!

Genre

horror-suspense

Characters

The Crypt-Keeper (host); Captain Grady; Lt. Morton; Kip Fowler

Synopsis

Captain Grady's ship approached the seemingly derelict "Sea Witch", boarded her and found the entire group on board slaughtered....that is, except for one Kip Fowler, who was barely able to tell them the story of how the ship had been caught in a bad storm and forced ashore. They had spotted a castle where they were met by a strange man, who invited them in out of the rain. That night, Kip roamed the castle and found coffins! He hurried back to the room of a female passenger and saw a vampire bending over her, and he drove a wooden stake thru its heart as it jumped at him. The passengers then headed back to their boat and shoved off, but Kip discovered the woman had already been bitten and was a vampire herself. At that point, Fowler passed away, and the Captain & Lt. Morton noticed the female lying near, and the Captain raised a wooden stake and plunged it into her heart. Both went up on deck....then Morton remembered that she had bitten Fowler, and both whirled to see the vampire....Fowler, leaping at them!

Reprints

• in The Vault of Horror (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #5 (1982)
• in Vault of Horror (Gemstone, 1994 series) #29 (October 1999)
• in The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library (Fantagraphics, 2012 series) #19 - The Thing from the Grave and Other Stories (October 2017) [Reprinted in black and white.]

This Is an Appeal for Action! (Table of Contents: 4)

A Special Editorial / text article / 1 page (report information)

Script

Johnny Craig ?; Bill Gaines ?

Letters

typeset

First Line of Dialogue or Text

THE PROBLEM: Comics are under fire...

Synopsis

This was an editorial request to readers to write letters to the Senate Sub-Committee on Juvenile Delinquency in support of comic magazines as being "harmless" entertainment. It was at this time that comics were under fire by "do-gooders" wanting to rid the nation of this type of entertainment.

Reprints

• in The Vault of Horror (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #5 (1982)
• in Vault of Horror (Gemstone, 1994 series) #29 (October 1999)

Indexer Notes

No doubt this piece was written either by Editor Johnny Craig or Managing Editor William Gaines...or both.

The Pit! (Table of Contents: 5)

The Vault of Horror! / comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script

Carl Wessler

Pencils

Johnny Craig (Vault-Keeper illustration in masthead); Bernie Krigstein (signed as B. Krigstein 1954 A.D.)

Inks

Johnny Craig (Vault-Keeper illustration in masthead); Bernie Krigstein (signed as B. Krigstein 1954 A.D.)

Colors

Marie Severin

Letters

Jim Wroten

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Heh! You'll enjoy this one!

Genre

horror-suspense

Characters

The Vault-Keeper (host); Felix Johnson; Lila Johnson; Aaron Scott; Beatrice Scott

Synopsis

Felix and Lila Johnson and Aaron and Beatrice Scott both had competing money-making attractions: the Johnson's with cock fighting, the Scott's with vicious dogs. Arguments brewed between the two couples, as they discovered that each of the wives were trying to outdo each other to draw paying crowds (the husbands thought the activities were cruel and inhuman). To the husbands involved, there was only one solution to their "problem" women and competing "businesses": they put the two women into the arena and let them go at each other!

Reprints

• in Squa Tront (Jerry Weist, 1967 series) #6 (1975)
• in The Vault of Horror (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #5 (1982)
• in Iskalde Grøss (Semic, 1982 series) #1 uke 46 [1987] (uke 46 1987)
which is reprinted
• in Iskalde Grøss - Klassikerserien (Hjemmet / Egmont, 2006 series) #[nn] ([mai] 2006)
• in Vault of Horror (Gemstone, 1994 series) #29 (October 1999)
• in The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library (Fantagraphics, 2012 series) #21 - Master Race and Other Stories (March 2018) [Reprinted in black and white.]

[E.C. Went to Sea in Search of Another New Trend.....] (Table of Contents: 6) (Expand) /

Piracy / advertisement / 1 page (report information)

Bloodsuckers (Table of Contents: 7)

text story / 1 page (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

? (spot illo)

Inks

? (spot illo)

Colors

?

Letters

typeset

First Line of Dialogue or Text

The gun bucked in his hand...

Genre

horror-suspense

Characters

Storch

Synopsis

Storch felt the bullet in his shoulder as he peered over to see the dead form of one Quint Barlow, and he knew he'd better leave town before they strung him up for the killing. He jumped onto his horse and rode, fearing the "bloodsucking" sodbuster friends of Barlow's might catch up with him. He was weakening from the loss of blood and decided to stop and hide in a field of grain to rest up and dig the bullet out of his shoulder. He passed out, but soon awaoke to a strange whirring sound, which he recognized to be hungry locusts invading the grain field. He tried to rise and get away, but he was too weak and the locusts soon came upon him, and didn't leave until his bones had been picked clean!

Reprints

• in The Vault of Horror (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #5 (1982)
• in Vault of Horror (Gemstone, 1994 series) #29 (October 1999)

Ashes to Ashes! (Table of Contents: 8)

The Witch's Cauldron! / comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script

Carl Wessler

Pencils

Graham Ingels (signed)

Inks

Graham Ingels (signed)

Colors

Marie Severin

Letters

Jim Wroten

First Line of Dialogue or Text

Hee, hee! So you've finally reached the Haunt of Fear, eh?

Genre

horror-suspense

Characters

The Old Witch (host); Emil Frankenstein (son of Victor Frankenstein); Victor Frankenstein (death); young child (created by the Frankensteins); Louisa Koening (death); Karl Riker; Mr. Koening (Louisa's 'father'); Heinrich (Louisa's fiancee)

Synopsis

Emil Frankenstein wrote in his diary about how he created life from a miasmic swamp, creating a newborn infant. He took the child to a local hospital, switched it for a newly dead infant, and then followed the progress of the child to see if could reproduce. The young girl, Louisa, fell in love with Karl, but her father, drunk as usual, came into the engagement party and tried to kill the young man. His shot hit his daughter in the stomach and she fell to the floor, her body reverting to the greenish-black ooze it had been taken from in the swamp years before. Emil had his answer!

Reprints

• in The Vault of Horror (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #5 (1982)
• in Iskalde Grøss (Semic, 1982 series) #6/1990 (uke 35 1990)
which is reprinted
• in Iskalde Grøss pocket (Hjemmet / Egmont, 1998 series) #7 ([mars] 1999)
• in Vault of Horror (Gemstone, 1994 series) #29 (October 1999)
• in The Fantagraphics EC Artists' Library (Fantagraphics, 2012 series) #29 - Accidents and Old Lace and Other Stories (January 2021) [Reprinted in black and white.]

Indexer Notes

Much of the story is told in flashback.