Doomsday #16

Doomsday #16, c. 1974

The Hitchhiker!!
Joe Gill/Jack Abel
(Haunted #14, September 1973)

Crypt of the Vampire
Martin
(The Thing! #3, June 1952)

The Clutch of Doom
Bob Forgione
(The Thing! #3, June 1952)

The Man Who Vanished!
Joe Sinnott
(Marvel Tales #105, February 1952)

The Weird Tale of the Rock Bound Ghost
Bob Forgione
(The Thing! #6, January 1953)

Mirror of Yesterday
Joe Gill/Joe Staton
(The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves #37, March 1973)

The Last Man
(This Magazine is Haunted #5, June 1952)

Not much to say about this issue as the contents speak for themselves – it’s basically another great Doomsday issue with plenty of pre-Code material from Fawcett, Atlas and Charlton, with a couple of contemporary stories to fill the 52 pages.

Someone asked me recently whether there was any horror material appearing in both Gredown issues and in the K.G. Murray titles. Although I couldn’t recall offhand any specific stories being duplicated, my instinct said it would be quite possible. In my mind’s eye I saw Charlton Ditko material as likely candidates for such duplication - partly due to the volume of Ditko material routinely found in each, and also given the propensity for Charlton to recycle their own material.

Browsing through some of my issues to hand I now recognise This Magazine is Haunted is a prominent source of crossover material for both publishers, and hence is a strong candidate for duplicated reprints. As mentioned in previous blogs, Gredown’s This Comic is Haunted appears to be the designated local repository of the Fawcett/Charlton classic (which is not to say they don’t appear in other Gredown titles too!), but I’m also identifying a swag of This Magazine is Haunted material in the Doomsdays too. I haven’t yet spotted any duplications, but regardless, both Doomsday and This Comic is Haunted are proving to be dependable sources of reprints from This Magazine is Haunted.

Of course, there were two 1950’s series of This Magazine is Haunted - it was both a pre-Code and a Code Approved title, and appeared under the auspices of both Fawcett and Charlton… so maybe this will prove to be a salient factor. Or maybe not, too early to tell – the picture will be clearer once these issues are all fully indexed.