Gallery: Horror! Book Digs Up Lurid 'Pre-Code' Monster Comics

  • horrorbookcover660
    01

    horror-book-cover-660

    During the golden age of comic-book gore, ghoulish stories about zombies, werewolves, skeletons and gorgons arrived in drugstore magazine racks on a monthly basis. Honoring America's midcentury infatuation with all things macabre, new book *The Horror! The Horror!* surveys "pre-Code" comic titles from the early 1950s that specialized in outlandishly violent supernatural fantasies. Written by [Jim Trombetta](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0873449/) (*Star Trek: Deep Space Nine*), the 305-page soft-cover chronicles the period's rich stew of graphic insanity. Often produced by uncredited illustrators, the comic books eventually attracted congressional attention. In 1954, Senate hearings concluded that pulp fiction posed a threat to the mental health of youthful readers. The Judiciary Committee's investigation into juvenile delinquency summed up the genre as a compendium of "murder, mayhem, robbery, rape, cannibalism, carnage, necrophilia, sex, sadism, masochism ... and virtually every other form of crime, degeneracy, bestiality and horror." Publishers then formed the [Comics Code Authority](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comics_Code_Authority), which forbade "lurid, unsavory, gruesome illustrations." Here's a sampling of pre-Code comic-book art culled from the pages of *The Horror! The Horror! Comic Books the Government Didn't Want You to Read!*, which hits stores in November. __Above:__ *The Horror! The Horror!* ------------------------- Written by [Jim Trombetta](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0873449/) (*Star Trek: Deep Space Nine*), with an introduction by R.L. Stine, *[The Horror! The Horror! Comic Books the Government Didn't Want You to Read!](http://www.abramsbooks.com/Books/The_Horror!_The_Horror!-9780810955950.html)* comes bundled with a DVD of a 1955 TV documentary, *Confidential File*, that focused on horror comic books. *Images courtesy [Abrams ComicArts](http://www.abramsbooks.com/comicarts.html). All rights reserved.*
  • thehorrorp171bottomright
    02

    thehorror-p171-bottomright

    *Weird Terror* No. 5 -------------------- Artist Don Heck drew this *Weird Terror* cover, published in May 1953 by Allan Hardy Associates. *All rights reserved.*
  • thehorrorp173bottomright
    03

    thehorror-p173-bottomright

    *Strange Mysteries* No. 8 ------------------------- Published in February 1963 by Visual Editions and included in *The Horror! The Horror!*, this cover was created by an unknown artist. *The Horror! The Horror!* author Jim Trombetta writes that "a ghost is a spirit without a body, but what possessed the '50s was the reverse: a body without a soul — a zombie." *All rights reserved.*
  • thehorrorp168
    04

    thehorror-p168

    *This Magazine Is Haunted* No. 6 -------------------------------- Fawcett Publications brought out this comic by an unknown artist in August 1952. *All rights reserved.*
  • thehorrorp159
    05

    thehorror-p159

    "The Eyes of Death" ------------------- This zombie story appeared in a February 1954 issue of Master Comics' *Dark Mysteries* magazine. The artist is unknown. *The Horror! The Horror!* author Jim Trombetto writes that an uptick in these comics occurred after so-called "zombie" attacks occurred during the Korean War, in which Chinese women, men and children moved forward on U.S. troops in seemingly unstoppable waves. *All rights reserved.*
  • thehorrorp172
    06

    thehorror-p172

    *Chamber of Chills* No. 18 --------------------------- Artist Lee Elias created this cover, published by Witches Tales in July 1953. *All rights reserved.*
  • thehorrorp170660
    07

    thehorror-p170-660

    *Weird Mysteries* No. 1 ----------------------- Though many of the artists active during the pre–Comics Code era were not credited for their for-hire work, Basil Wolverton early in his career claimed credit for this cover, published in October 1952 by Gillmor Magazines. *All rights reserved.*
  • thehorrorp174
    08

    thehorror-p174

    *Adventures Into Darkness* No. 8 -------------------------------- This cover by an unknown artist came out in February 1953, published by Visual Editions. *All rights reserved.*
  • thethingpage249660
    09

    the-thing-page-249-660

    *The Thing* No. 16 ------------------ Though *The Thing* was not a zombie, it drew from the same pool of pulp-fiction inspiration found throughout the pages of *The Horror! The Horror*. Published by Charlton Comics Group, the creature became one of comicdom's most compelling semi-dead creatures. This September 1954 cover is by an unknown artist. *All rights reserved.*
Read More
Spooky New Infostealer Malware Uses AI to ‘Autodox’ Victims
Named “Volta-Autodoxer,” the recently uncovered malware uses AI tools to collect troves of data about victims, from login credentials and credit card numbers to Discord sessions and UberEats receipts.
Lily Hay Newman
There’s a Completely New Type of Whisky. It’s French and Made in Concrete Eggs
The founders of Maison Lineti are, in a world first, making single malt whisky as if it were wine—and the spirit world is mighty impressed.
Jeremy White
Light Up Your Home Like Christmas With These Smart String Lights
Glow up your home indoors or out with these versatile, discounted, full color smart string lights. They’re WIRED-tested and 25 percent off right now.
Simon Hill
Power Outages Are No Match for This Fridge Battery
Backup by BioLite is designed to power your fridge when the grid goes down. It works, but protecting your ice cream doesn’t come cheap.
Christopher Null
Meta’s Muse Could Upend All Kinds of Businesses. It Hasn’t Yet
Companies have spent the past several weeks trying to reassure investors that Muse and other AI agents pose more of an opportunity than a threat.
Paresh Dave
Get Bose QC Headphones at Their Lowest Price Ever
They’re a steal at over 40 percent off in multiple colors. Plus, other great Bose deals you should know about ahead of Black Friday.
Harry Rabinowitz
An AI Agent Injected Drugs Into a Live Mouse’s Brain
A biotech startup let an agent choose a gene therapy and successfully inject the treatment, offering a startling glimpse of the future of research labs.
Emily Mullin
The Keurig Alta Brewer Can Do It All, With No Plastic Pods
This multifaceted home coffee brewer and its new AltaRounds will make you rethink everything you know about Keurig machines.
Louryn Strampe
Are Memories Transferable? Meet the Scientists Replicating an Infamous Study to Find Out
In the 1960’s, an odd experiment showed planarian worms could transfer memories by consuming each other. It was a sensational finding—that is until the worms stopped learning.
Claire L. Evans
Sunrise Alarm Clocks to Help You Adjust to Shorter Days
I’ve never been a morning person. This bedside gadget is the only thing that’s ever changed that.
Nena Farrell
White Dwarfs Aren’t Just White. Scientists Discover Dying Stars Turning Pink and Green
Astronomers find that a white dwarf’s density and the kind of material it absorbed from its surroundings can produce a rainbow of shades in the star’s atmosphere.
Petr Kubala
Wayfair Coupons for November 2026
Get 10% off with Wayfair promo code, up to 80% off furniture, and more top coupons.
Molly Higgins