WEREWOLF HUNTER "Priestess of the Spider Death" / "Mistress of the Web"

It's a double-feature Halloween treat...

..with two versions of the same tale, true believers!

The original version of this terrifying tale is from Fiction House's Ranger Comics #15 (1944)!

But, when it was re-presented in Fiction House's Ghost Comics #3 (1952), not only was it partially-redrawn (beginning at page 3) to remove a page of story, it was re-written (from the splash panel onward) as well!

Fiction House did a lot of this sort of editing when reprinting material in the late 1940s since th earlier magazines, like Rangers Comics, were 60 pages, but the later books like Ghost Comics were only 36 pages!

Lily Renee illustrated the original version.

But, judging from the crudeness of the art modifications, she didn't work on the modified reprint!

BTW, we're part of the amazingly-kool CountDown to Halloween 2019 Blogathon!

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Lily Renee, Escape Artist

by

Trina Robbins

WEREWOLF HUNTER "Puppets of the Witch Queen"

After a round-robin of various artists...

...the series settles down with the woman who would become the strip's signature artist, Lily Renée!

As we mentioned last week, the new artist, Lily Renée escaped real-life horror!
In 1938, after the Germans annexed Austria, the then-teenage Lily Renée Willhelm was sent by her parents to England.
In 1940, she was reunited with her family (who escaped from Austria) in NYC, and finished high school.
Lily had an artistic flair, so she became both a clothing catalog model and illustrator.
In 1943, she answered an ad from pulp/comic publisher Fiction House for an illustrator.
With most of their regular contributors in the military, the editors immediately put the young artist to work on several existing strips including the sci-fi series Norge Benson and Lost World, the horror strip Werewolf Hunter, and wartime spy series Senorita Rio!
After the war, Lily married fellow artist Eric Peters and collaborated with him on St John's Abbott & Costello comic series in the late 1940s!
Trivia: in interviews, Lily stated she tried to steer the Werewolf Hunter strip away from lycanthropes since she claimed she couldn't draw them well!

BTW, we're part of the amazingly-kool CountDown to Halloween 2019 Blogathon!

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Lily Renee, Escape Artist

by

Trina Robbins

WEREWOLF HUNTER "Tentacle Terror from Beelzebub's Void!!!"

Now is that a catchy/kitchy title, or what?

For a guy called "Werewolf Hunter", Prof Broussard doesn't spend much time actually hunting werewolves!

This never-reprinted tale from Fiction House's Ranger Comics #13 (1943) takes Broussard even further afield thanks to future Supergirl artist Jim Mooney, though the writer using the pen-name "Armand Weygand" remains unknown!
But the biggest change will occur next week as an artist who escaped real-life horror takes over the strip!

BTW, we're part of the amazingly-kool CountDown to Halloween 2019 Blogathon!

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Cycle of the Werewolf

by

Stephen King & Berni Wrightson

WEREWOLF HUNTER "Dungeon Dweller of Horror House"

Professor Broussard didn't hunt only werewolves...

...but anything otherworldly that threatened mankind!

We've skipped ahead several issues to show how the series evolved into the Professor going after anything paranormal!

You'll note a new aspect added...volume numbers indicating the stories are from Broussard's journals.

Note the volume numbers don't actually match the number of stories presented!

This tale is "Volume VI", yet it's the fifth tale in the series!

Was an earlier story scrapped?

We'll never know!

This never-reprinted tale from Fiction House's Ranger Comics #12 (1943) presents the change of concept along with a new art team, penciler Saul Rosen and inker Jim Mooney, though the writer using the pen-name "Armand Weygand" remains unknown!

BTW, we're part of the amazingly-kool CountDown to Halloween 2019 Blogathon!

Click HERE to see the other pround participants!

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Cycle of the Werewolf

by

Stephen King & Berni Wrightson

The Coming of...the Purple Claw!

PURPLE CLAW!

The name that strikes terror into the hearts of evildoers...at least to the minds of an impressionable 9-14 year old audience!
Technically, it's the name of the metal glove that imparts mystic powers to it's wearer, but some refer to the user himself (or herself) by the name, much the way they do Green Lantern...
The user in this 1950s series, which mixed horror with heroics, was Dr. Johnathan Weir, a former US Army doctor who acquired it when he crashed his plane in Africa.

The Claw's origin and history, which Dr. Weir tried to trace, is somewhat cloudy, since it was all word-of-mouth. (The damn thing didn't come with a user's manual.)
What is known is that it's an ancient mystic artifact of Great Power When Used For Good. (Those who attempt to use it for Evil usually come to a Bad End!)
The bearer becomes a Defender of Humanity Against Occult Evil...whether they want the job or not!
The Claw's exact abilities and limitations are unknown, and Weir had to experiment to see what would and wouldn't work, always stumbling upon the right way to use it before being killed/dismembered/disintegrated by a foe. (Talk about "on the job training"!)

The series ran for only three issues, but Weir continued to fight evil as a reprint in Tales of Horror, until the Great Comics WitchHunt of the 1950s killed almost all horror/occult-themed comics titles.

As you might have guessed, we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ found it to be a perfect fit for our Horror Comics of the 1950s™ collection, even giving The Claw it's own section!

We think any of the collectibles we offer with The Purple Claw on them would make a kool Halloween-themed (or birthday) gift for the horror/occult pop culture kitch aficionado in your life!
But, remember...Use Them For Good...not Evil! ;-)

SIR LEO "Sea of Blood"

The Victorian monster-hunter returns in a never-seen in the US adventure...

...from the British magazine Dracula #7 (1971)...which never had a story with the title character!

Written by writer/artist Jose Bea and co-writer Luis Vigil.

We're presenting the remaining never-seen in the US Sir Leo stories during October.

Don't miss them!

Recently, The Nerdist did a feature on comic book/graphic novel supernatural sleuths HERE.

Sadly, the writers don't seem to acknowledge any supernatural detectives existed before 1980, so they neglect cool characters like Sir Leo and Fero: Planet Detective!

Reading Room: SIR LEO "End of a Legend"

When Last We Left Our Hero...

...Victorian-era adventurer Sir Leo Wooldrich encounters a Lovecraftian-type being lurking in the appropriately-named Black Lake...

This two-part tale from New English Library's Dracula #1 & #2 by writer/artist Jose Bea and co-writer Luis Vigil was the only Sir Leo story published in Warren's HTF Dracula anthology which reprinted #1-6.

The series continued in #7 through #12, which have never been reprinted in the US, so most American fans have never seen them...unless they keep checking this blog, where we'll be re-presenting them over the next couple of months.

Today, The Nerdist did a feature on comic book/graphic novel supernatural sleuths HERE.

Sadly, the writers don't seem to acknowledge any supernatural detectives existed before 1980, so they neglect cool characters like Sir Leo and Fero: Planet Detective!

Check out the

Lost Heroes of the Silver Age of Comics

Collectibles Shop

Reading Room: SIR LEO "Thing from the Lake"

Besides futuristic barbarian Wolff, the 1970s horror anthology Dracula featured...

...a Victorian monster-hunter done in a wild, semi-psychedelic style by Jose Bea (The pen-name for writer/illustrator Jose Maria Bea Font).

You'll find out if a lead projectile will stop the creature (and if it doesn't...what will?) in our next exciting entry!

This first part of a two-part tale from Dracula #1 (1971) was co-written by Luis Vigil.
The Sir Leo series was published irregularly in Dracula (1971), a 12-issue partworks magazine* by Great Britain's New English Library, the first two Sir Leo tales made their American debut in Warren Publishing's HTF Dracula TPB in 1972 which reprinted #1-#6 of the British Dracula's run.
The remaining tales from #7-#12 have never been published in the US.
We will be presenting the complete Sir Leo strip (including the unseen-in-the-USA stories) on this blog over the next few months.
Watch for it!
*Partworks magazines are a limited series issued from weekly, fortnightly, or monthly.
They usually run 12-24 issues for each volume.
When the final issue in a volume is published, the publishers offer a wraparound cover to make the complete set into a hardbound book. 
The buyer is offered the option to bind the magazines themselves or send the set to the publisher who professionally-binds the mags and sends the bound volume back to the customer.
This concept is extremely popular in Europe, but has never caught on in America, despite numerous attempts.

Check out the

Lost Heroes of the Silver Age of Comics

Collectibles Shop