New Horrofic Die-rection for this blog...

It's been awhile since I posted here, and I realize I'm waaay overdue. I don't know why, but I've just had little energy toward blogging over the past couple months. I found Tim Lucas' (Video Watchblog) recent blog on his own struggles with blogging to be very interesting. For me the bottom line is it takes time and energy, two things I just don't always have a lot of.

I've had an idea for this blog that I wanted to try but was going to wait until closer to Halloween to unveil. I thought I'd go ahead and do so here on Memorial day, however, as I just simply don't want to wait that long. I still will post updates on my show and what we're doing as newsworthy events come along, but this is something I'll find easier to update regularly.

What I plan to do is post a cover from a vintage horror comic each post. Now, you might ask what does this has to do with Dr. Gangrene? Well, more than you might think. Before I started hosting movies as the southern fried mad medico of Shackle Island, I was writing and drawing comics. Comic books were one of my first loves as a kid, and they really had more of an influence on me than any other media. I LOVED the horror comics, and still do, really. They influenced me more than Famous Monsters, or Fangoria, or any TV hosts. They were it for me.

SO, to start this off, I present the cover from one of the books I had as a kid, and in fact had several issues of, Crypt of Shadows. Below is the cover for issue #1

(click comic to see larger image)

Crypt of Shadows was a Marvel comic from 1973. It was one of the many EC inspired horror anthologies, but it didn't have a host. This debut issue featured four short stories. All of these were reprints from older horror anthologies... apparently Marvel had the publishing rights to art from Hercules publishing company and Atlas Magazine inc. material, and repackaged it as Crypt of Shadows.

All I knew as a kid was that these were horror stories, and they were on the rack in my Seven Eleven! I used to cut grass in the summers and save up my money, and would walk up to the local Seven Eleven store and spend it all on candy and comic books. Ah, those were the days! I loved the big giant sweet tarts and coke flavored icees best of all, and grabbed all the comics I could afford. I remember cutting seven yards one summer, mostly on the weekends, just so I'd have money to buy more comic books. AND best of all, I still have most of them. Including this one.

The artists in this one are Mort Lawrence, Basil Wolverton, Jay Scott Pike, and Russ Heath. Of them all, I especially like the Russ Heath story, The Scarecrow. It's about a skinny weakling man who finds a unique way to get the body he always wanted... but of course there is a price.

There always is!!

If you're interested in reading this comic online, the folks at BD comics online have posted this one in it's entirety. Download it and check it out, to see this creepy goodness for yourself.
http://rapidshare.de/files/13348857/Marvel_-_Crypt_of_Shadows__01.cbz