Thursday, March 1, 2007

The Gredown Horror Comics List

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that a Gredown index is sorely needed, so I thought a good place to start would be to compile a list of the known titles and issues. It’s taken a week or so, but I’ve now compiled a list of 222 confirmed Gredown Horror titles! Without further ado: Beware! Bite of the Scorpion Bite of the Vampire Black Doom Black Havoc Black Legend, The Black Spectre Blade of Fear 1-8 Black Terror Blind Despair Blind Terror Blood Plague, The Brute, The Buried Alive! Call From Beyond Call of the Monsters Chain of Pain Chills of the Supernatural Claustrophobia Claw of Pain Crawling Horror Crawling Terror Creepy Things Cruel Beyond Cry of the Werewolf 1-5 Crypt of Creatures 1-6 Crypt of Souls Curse of Doom Curse of No Return Daunting Images Deeds of the Diabolical Deadly Horror Stories Deadly Mayhem Deadly Omen Deathly Horrors Death Rattle Death Wish Deeds of the Diabolical Demon is a Hag, The 1 Demon Phantoms, The Demons of the Deep Demons Revenge Descent Into Horror Devil's Brood Devil's Doom 1-2 Devil's Dilemma Devil's Seed, The Devil's Triangle, The 1-8 Doom Zone Doorway to Doom Dread of the Dead Dread of the Unknown Dreaded Werewolf Tales Edge of Fear Empty Tomb, The Eternal Hell Evil Eye, The Evil Ones, The Evil Shadows Evil Trap, The Evil Winds of Death 1-4 Escorpion Eyes of Night Face of Doom Fate of Death Fanged Monster, The Fearful Fancies Fearful Forces Fearful Freaks Fearful Spectres Fearful Tales of the Occult 1-3 Fearsome Stories Fear Zone Fiends and Demons Fiends and Things Fiends of Frenzy Fingers of Doom Fingers of Fear Flight Into Peril Forbidden Tales Forever Dead Frantic with Fear Fright! 1-3 Freaky Future Shock! Gasp! Ghastly Encounters Ghost Ghost Dancers Ghost Panic Ghostly Horrors Ghostly Shadows Ghosts and Ghouls 1-7 Ghosts of Terror 1-7 Ghouls from the Grave Ghoul Tales 1-2 Grave Ghost's Tales 1-3 Grinning Skull Grip of Death 1-4 Grotesque Gruesome Nightmare Hand of Death Haunted Horror 1 Haunting Images Help! Hell Fire Hell Pit Hell Rider 1-2 Hell's Doorway Hideous Haunts Horror Encounters 1-3 Horror Experience 1 Horror in the Dungeon Horror Tales of Vampires Horror/s Unleashed Infernal Nightmare Insane Jaws of the Deep Kiss of Death 1-2 Knife Edge Living Horrors Living Nightmare Loathsome Ghosts Macabre Destiny Macabre Monsters Mad Fear Maze of Monsters Midnight Terror Mind Possessed Monstrosities Morlock 2001 Night Creature Nightmare Night Without End Orgy of Destruction Out of this World 1-2 Pact with the Devil Panic Struck Panther's Revenge Peril Below 1-4 Phantom Fear Phantoms of Evil Pit of Evil 1-13 Planet Doom 1 Planet of the Spirits Planet of Vampires 1-6 Portrait of Peril Princes of Darkness Prison of Fear Pure Panic 1 Pure Madness Rampage of Demons 1-2 Ramparts of Evil 1 Return from Death Road to Disaster Satan's Corpse Satan's Disciples Screaming Terror Secrets of the Supernatural 1-2 Shadow of Death Shadows of Doom Shock and Dilemma Shriek of Despair Shriek of the Dead Shuddering Fear Shudder Tales 1-6 Sinbad Skulls of Death Sorcery 1-3 Spells of Blackness Spirit's Den Spirits from the Unknown 1-2 Spirits of Misfortune Spooks of Terror Stark Fear 1-4 Storm Forces Strange Encounters Strange Experience 1-10 Strange Macabre Tales 1 Strange Mission of the Weird Brain Tales of the Forbidden Tales of Horror 1-10 Tales of the Mystic Tales of Torment 1-3 Tales of the Zombie Tarantula Tentacles of Terror Terror Madness Terror Trail Terror Under the Sea Terror Unleashed 1-2 Thirst of Blood Toll of Doom Tomb of Ghosts Tombstone Terrors This Comic is Haunted 1-6 Thriller Tales Underground, The Undreamed of Horrors Vault of Demons 1-8 Vault of Fear Vampire Havoc Vampire Killers Vampire Mania Vampire Scare Vault of Ghosts Vengeance of the Vampires 1 Vengeful Corpse Victim of the Vampire Vile Monstrosities Vile Tales of Havoc Visions of Doom Voodoo Tales Voyage to Death Weird Experience Weird Tales of the Macabre 1-4 Weird Tales of Werewolves 1-3 Werewolf Fangs of Horror Werewolf Prowls, The Wicked Witches Tales 1 Wild Fear! Witches Cauldron 1-3 A few notes about this list: 1. This is, needless to say, not a complete list of Gredown horror titles; 2. Some of the issue numbers are unconfirmed, but presumably exist. For example, issue #’s 1,2,5, and 6 of Planet of Vampires are confirmed, so I assume issues 3 and 4 also exist. I considered listing confirmed and unconfirmed issue numbers, but opted for the short neat version. However I have kept a separate list of confirmed and unconfirmed issue numbers; 3. All unnumbered titles are presumed to be one-offs, but there may be multiple issues with the same title; 4. I’ve deleted some titles which were K.G. Murray or Yaffa/Page titles, but there may be one or two which have snuck under my guard; 5. I have not included other Gredown genres eg westerns in this list. Some titles listed above may be deemed ‘supernatural’ or ‘sci-fi horror’ rather than horror proper, but that’s close enough for me. 6. I have not included dates or cover prices on this list, but I wish to include this information going forward. This list is based on a data from half a dozen collections. Apart from my own copies, I have drawn upon a couple of sell/wants lists I’ve had lying around from a couple of traders/collectors. This list was supplemented by many more titles and issue numbers contributed by Daniel Best and Mark Cannon. Mark Muller topped up the list with some additional titles towards the end. I know there are many other collections of these comics. I am happy to act as coordinator of a master list of Gredown horror comics via this blog, so if any Gredown collector would like to contact me and submit a list of confirmed horror titles and issue numbers, I will be more than happy to periodically update the list and post it here. The long-term goal is to catalogue and index all the issues, including the contents. The GCD is an excellent forum for this, but I admit I have a soft spot for dedicated sites as per the Ausreprints or Atlas Tales sites. Danny has already sent me contents data, so if anyone else would like to send me similar information, again, I’ll be happy to act as coordinator. But that is all for later - the short-term priority is to compile a master list of known titles and issue numbers. Bring them on!

Update 23 January 2023: this list has been substantially updated and corrected notes from the junkyard: The complete Gredown comics list

13 comments:

mcannon said...

I’d have to say, Spiros, that I don’t think I’ve ever had quite so much fun helping to assemble a list. This would have to be the best compilation of horror comic titles I’ve ever seen.

What crazed genius could have come up with names like “The Demon is a Hag”, “Fiends and Thing” and best of all, “Strange Mission of the Weird Brain”? I’ve always liked to think that the Gredown staff (If indeed there was more than one person!) gathered over a few beers on a Friday night and competed to see who could come up with the most absurd titles.

While few Gredowns wre numbered and none were dated, I wonder how frequently they wer issued? I never bought any new, but have vague memories of them being pubished circa 1977-79 - though I could be out by a year at either end of that. If they published for, say, three years, they could have issued as many as two titles a week!

Cheers

Mark Cannon

spiros xenos said...

Yep, there’s some pearls in there. And I agree “Strange Mission of the Weird Brain” gets the gong. I’m partial to the titles with “vile” or “loathsome” in them. And I’m willing to bet that the drinking session which generated “The Devil's Seed” also conjured “The Devil's Triangle”, but maybe that’s just me.

Timeframe - based on Page/Yaffa prices/dates - which may not quite apply to Gredowns, of course - the earliest would be about 1977/1978 for $0.50. But there’s Gredowns with $0.45 cover prices which I guess would be 1977 or earlier. Maybe there’s even lower cover prices…? I know there’s also $0.55, $0.60 and $1.00 prices
But I can’t say I recall any between $0.60 and $1.00.

Your date range - give or take a year - is probably on the money. I’d certainly be surprised to see any earlier than 1975 and later than 1982.

Total number of Gredowns – don’t know. Personally, I guess it would be between 250-300 individual titles. Add the issue numbers and it’s substantially higher. But who knows? A good reason to start with a list!

Daniel Best said...

I'll dig through mine and see if I can't get some cover dates. But there were Gredowns around as early as 1976 - that's the publication date on my copies of Hell Rider.

I think it might be safe to expand those dates to include 1976 and 1980 at least, if not further.

spiros xenos said...

Thanks Danny. Good call on the Hell Rider date,I should have remembered that myself. Please also let me know if you find prices lower than $0.45. Cheers!

Daniel Best said...

Will do. I have my collection of Gredown's with me now and am having a quick flick through them.

Interesting note: The cover to DEVIL'S SEED (circa 1980) is the exact same to the cover of THE DEVIL'S TRIANGLE #1 (1976). Contents are different, but it shows that Gredown weren't above reusing their own cover art when need be.

PLANET OF DOOM #1 is also dated 1976 and sports a cover price of $0.40.

STRANGE EXPERIENCE #5 is the same as the above - dated 1976 and priced at $0.40.

WEIRD TALES OF THE MACABRE #1 - 1976 and $0.40 cover price.

I think it'd safe to assume that they came along in 1976 and I'm sure that they went past 1980. I can remember seeing them for sale in as late as 1981.

spiros xenos said...

The recycled cover in 1980 suggests to me the venture was running out of steam/funding, so 1981 may indeed be the last year of publication for these magazines.

$0.40 cover prices! Good stuff!

Weird Tales of the Macabre #2 is a $0.50 cover price,suggesting #1 is late 1976 - my impression is that the numbered issues of all titles followed one another in quick succession.

I wonder whether Strange Experience #1 was also 1976, or 1975?

The K.G. Murray horror comics began in 1972. There were changes to Australia's censorship laws around this time. Presumably this triggered the flood of horror comics in this period. I believe this is also the reason for the ratings - M/Mature Readers on the KGMs, A/Adult Readers on the Gredowns and others. I intend researching this more to get a better handle on the dates, the cause and effect, the ratings etc.

What I'd like to know is whether there were any Australian - or Australian edition - horror comics published before 1972, for example Warren material, Vampirella, anything else.

KGM's Doomsday #1 from January 1972 may be the first Australian horror comic to be given an M rating. TBC.

Daniel Best said...

My copy of EERIE #1 is dated 1974, same with my copy of CREEPY #3. I think that the Vampirella reprints started at roughly the same time, so I doubt there'd be anything earlier from the Warren period than that.

The SkyWald stuff only started appearing in 1976, and by that stage it was already a few years old.

Unless we find a copy of a Gredown with a 1975 copyright we're only going to be guessing.

But then 5 And The Infinite #1 has a $0.50 cover price, a cardstock cover and no publication date...curious. So when did the Westerns first start appearing?

spiros xenos said...

Not sure when the Gredown westerns started.

I know there's KGM westerns with low numbers (Ringo, The Fastest Gun Western)advertised in Haunted Tales #1 from 1972, along with Savage Tales which also carried the M rating.

I'm checking out the changes to the censorship laws, should have a little story to tell soon.

Anonymous said...

Hi Spiros,
This is a great blog, glad to see that you got the ball rolling as far as beginning to index these comics. I agree that the GCD is also a great resource, I hope it continues to grow. I will go through my collection and let you know if I find any other issues to add to the list. I think it would be great if we could get pictures of all the confirmed issues up onto a site as well. Is this feasible? I think it is interesting regarding the discussion of the first appearance of the Gredown horrors in Australia, which I believe to be 1976 through as late as 1983. I believe I have at least 1 or 2 issues that have what appear to be news agent arrival date stamps on them and I think I have seen the year 1983, but I will have to check to be sure. That is the only indicator of dates that I am aware of other than a few early issues which just say 1976 in them. Has anybody found out any info on who ran Gredown? I know they include reprints of US Eerie Publications comics by Myron Fass, and I would not be surprised if he had some involvement with getting them put out over there. The time frame
is interesting because his comics began publishing here in the US as competition to Warren in about 1966 consisting entirely of redrawn US precode horror comics, but went on an abrupt hiatus around 1975. They reappeared in 1976 with a larger page count format and were pretty much all reprints of the material that was published from 1966-1974. The company apparently reorganized around 1976 which is when the Gredowns began to appear over there. Eerie Publications ceased over here around 1982 and not surprisingly so did the Gredowns over there around the same time. It is just my theory, but I don't think this is coincidence. If only there was somebody over there who worked at the company who could fill us in. I also suspect that the same person who came up with the crazy titles also did the cover logos which seem to mostly come from the same hand and were tacked up over the cover art. There is also material which I believe to be of Spanish origin in the Gredowns, although I have not seen any of the original Spanish material to confirm this.It is mentioned in the inside covers of some of the Gredowns and the title appears to be "The Illustrated" from Barcelona ,Spain. Perhaps this is an English translation of the Spanish title? I am pretty sure that a lot of the cover art is from Spanish artists and is taken from these comics originally published there. On the other hand, I am also pretty sure that some of the Gredown covers are drawn by one or two most probably Australian artists who worked for Gredown. Some of these seem to be redrawn and painted (and most times better and more lurid) versions of some US comics covers. I can recall a couple of Charlton swipes for sure, I will give you more info when I research this in greater depth. If only these artists would surface, it would be great to hear the story of Gredown from somebody who actually worked for the company.
Anybody out there reading this a former employee? If so please tell all!! Will post more as I continue my research into the Gredown mysteries!
Best,
-Mike Wills, USA

spiros xenos said...

Thanks for your comments Mike.

I look forward to any titles or issues you can add to the list. Also any further information eg dates.

Loading all the covers at once is not really feasible, that’s really the role of a dedicated site, but I’m happy to periodically load the issues as I index them, as well as any images and data which are contributed. The list is a start, a scoping of works

I understand Gredown have been approached for info, I think it was Danny who phoned them, but the enquiries have drawn a blank, no one there appears to know anything about their history. Not quite a dead end, but far from the promising lead it could be. I agree the best option for first-hand information will be if and when a former employee comes forward.

I like your comments regarding the time frame of the US magazines, I agree it does not appear to be a coincidence.

Check out Kevin Patrick's blog regarding the Spanish connection http://comicsdownunder.blogspot.com/2006/11/spanish-connection.html

When you have a moment, if you could point out a couple of the swipes, that would be great.

One of my main interests in these magazines is the pre-Code horror reprints. These can be difficult to identify, so if you recognise any I put on the blog as unidentified or incorrect, please send me an email.

Are many or most of the pre-Code reprints in these magazines redrawn as per the Eeries?

Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Hi Spiros,

Periodically I google "Gredown", and until now, no hits.

Thank you for your above list, I’ve been looking for something like this for many years.

In the mid-late eighties I inherited about 30 Gredown titles from my uncle, and *I kid you not* have received nothing but blank stares from every comic shop / second hand store I’ve ever tried to strike up a conversation in.

(I should add that I never go to conventions, and I’m not exactly a wizard on the pc)

What I have learnt from the above post and comments has made my day!

All of my issues are bagged and boxed but I’ll check on them to see if I can add to the above list, even though I only have a fraction of the titles listed above, you never know.

*** I usually have a couple handy in the study and out of interest my copy of Ghosts of Terror No 1 is priced 40c

Thanks again 

Tommy

spiros xenos said...

Good to hear from you Tommy!

Yes, it's been difficult getting a response from most comics shops when it comes to Australian reprint comics, whether they be Gredown or Page or Yaffa or Newtons or KG Murrays. Most shake their heads and move onto the current variants clogging up their shelfspace. But occasionally you'll find one that's hoarding an odd box here and there, or willing to keep an eye out for them if you strike up a conversation and they know you'll buy them. I recently bought just such a box with around 80 issues, and I've heard of other similar purchases recently.

So, they're around, but you need to hunt and be prepared for dozens of knockbacks before the occasional Eureka moment. This includes fairs and markets and garage sales.

But yes, by and large, the comics shops have dried up for this material, just as the secondhand bookshops have dried up.

I'll be happy to add any 'new' titles and issue numbers you have to the list, I've added a few more as you'll see in subsequent blogs, and I'll be redrafting the master list when we hit the 150 issue benchmark.

And thanks for the price on Ghosts of Terror #1!

Cheers!

Anonymous said...

I have just come across some gredowns mags "the truth western" 1.2.3. "infamous sex crimes"1,to 7."horror stories" 1."horror stories magazine" 2.3. "weird romance stories".1. also "pit of evil".1to 8. are the mags with the stories worth money or just the comics from gredowns in the 70 to 80