House of Horror 38 - Bronze Age Horror Anthologies!

:house_of_horror: Greetings Horror Hounds! :house_of_horror:

I really hope everyone enjoyed Shadowpact as much as I did. I would love to see that team return to the shelves of my local comic shop. This week has a lot of fun books.

:st_swamp_thing: If you missed a House of Horror event have no fear! Here is a list of every HoH topic! Feel free to jump into the conversation no matter how old the topic is! :00_swamp_thing:

Every House of Horror EVER!!!

House of Horror 1 - House of Mystery
House of Horror 2
House of Horror 3 - Renegade Robins Crossover!!!
House of Horror 4 - Harley’s Crew Crossover!!!
House of Horror 5 - Halloween Celebration!
House of Horror 6 - Vampires!
House of Horror 7 - Member Picks Vol. 1
House of Horror 8 - Winter Specials - Harley’s Crew Crossover
House of Horror 9 - Happy Holidays!
House of Horror 10 - Happy New Year!
House of Horror 11- Week Before DC Universe Infinite!
House of Horror 12 - Plunging Into The Infinite
House of Horror 13 - A Frightening Valentine
House of Horror 14 - On Marz No One Can Hear You Scream
House of Horror 15 - Justice League Horrors Week 1
House of Horror 16 - Justice League Horrors Week 2
House of Horror 17 - Justice League Horrors Week 3
House of Horror 18 - Justice League Horrors Week 4
House of Romance 19 - Are Romance Comics Foolish ?
House of Horror 20 - Vampires 2
House of Horror 21 - The Green Part 1
House of Horror 22 - The Green Part 2
House of Horror 23 - Superfamily Horrors
House of Horror 24 - Going To Gotham!
House of Horror 25 - Mystik U!
House of Horror 26 - National Comics
House of Horror 27 - Memorial Day and Zombies!!!
House of Horror 28 - The Low, Low Woods
House of Horror 29 - Returning To The Dark Mansion
House of Horror 30 - Constantine
House of Horror 31 - Vertigo Science Fiction
House of Horror 32 - The Spectre
House of Horror 33 - Exploring The Dark Multiverse
House of Horror 34 - Raven
House of Horror 35 - iZombies and vampires
House of Horror 36 - More Spectre!
House of Horror 37 - Shadowpact

:00_swamp_thing: If you haven’t joined the House of Horror all you need to do is click the “join button” here ! If you are new and would like to catch up on what we have read you can check out the House of Horror library here ! :00_swamp_thing:

Think of this week’s book selections as a sample platter of anthology horror comics. DC had a rich history of horror books and we have not even put a dent into the amazing output during the Bronze Age and most notably the 1970s. Of course, one of my personal favorites, Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love is on this list. This will be the last time, I promise, that we will see that title on our reading list. However, we might see Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion.

If you want to learn more about horror comics that DC released in the 1970s, I strongly suggest this blog post.

:house_of_horror: Books to Read :house_of_horror:

Doorway to Nightmare 2 (1978) (rated 12+)

Tales of Ghost Castle 1 (1975) (rated 12+)

House of Secrets 99 (1956) (rated 12+)

Weird Mystery Tales 10 (1972) (rated 12+)

The Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love 4 (1971) (rated 12+)

Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion 5 (1972) (rated 12+)

Don’t forget to tell us your thoughts on Bronze Age horror comics!!!

No new horror comics are coming out this week.

New books on DCUI
8/24/2021 *subject to change

7 Likes

Interesting set of stories. The last one is a ripoff of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. I liked the Madame Xanadu story best.

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Yes, agreed on Xanadu….

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I absolutely love the old anthologies!

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Tales of Ghost Castle sounds interesting to me.

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We only have 2 issues of that on DCUI. I often wonder how that happens, getting 2 issues of archival releases. Same happened with Elvira’s House of Mystery.

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Yeah, it feels poorly planned. Maybe someone requested it and they just did what was requested.

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I do remember Elvira 4, skipping the historic third issue, being announced and then there were umm staff changes and the push for DCUI became the main focus. I haven’t heard anything since regarding that series and I think Tales of Ghost Castle fell in that same pit of uncertainty.

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We may have to start an Elvira or Ghost Castle request campaign.

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I was there reading these books in the 70s.good stuff

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Two issues are better than no issues.

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That is very true. Still can’t hurt to want more. haha

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I agree with the group that Madame Xanadu was the best story. Fantastic art on it and most of the stories. The Filipino artists were so lush.

Regarding the release of just a few issues, could that be part of the management change? Dan Didio seemed to like ‘70s comics and the release of the horror omnibuses happened under him. Maybe AT&T halted restoration of the issues? I’m assuming they were trying to preserve cash after the merger and halted anything that didn’t have a large return.

4 Likes

You know, you might be on to something regarding DiDio. Under his leadership we had New 52 which brought back a horror line along with those omnibuses.

Regarding restoration, I wonder if Tales of Ghost Castle was restored before DiDio left and we got the fruit of that labor before it was squashed for something bigger or if the 2020 implosion squashed it.

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You nailed it. I also think that’s why so many trades and omnibuses were canceled. I heard they were working on a Hercules Unbound hardcover that was canceled. DiDio who is controversial did champion different works than the usual Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen reprints.

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Great insight, I don’t know enough inside baseball to have put those pieces together. I’m so glad he brought back the horror books :books:

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I loved the idea of conjuring demons with science. The art was fantastic, I feel like they did a good job of capturing that 70’s New York vibe.

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He may have been controversial on so many levels but I never doubted his commitment to works outside of the normal Batman related stuff.

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Also I agree with the Madame Xanadu story being the best of the lot. Loved the art especially.

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I found it interesting that the story was set in New York rather than Gotham or Metropolis. I guess the horror books could take place outside of the DC Universe.

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