Pit of Evil #11: Tom Sutton's The Canticle of the Worm

The cover to Gredown's Pit of Evil #11 is unsigned but it appears to be the work of Phil Belbin, based on a panel on page 7 of the story The Canticle of the Worm:

The Canticle of the Worm is written and drawn by Tom Sutton, signed TFS at the bottom of the last panel. 

The page layout is similar to Sutton's work on Spawn of the Dread Thing.in Warren's Eerie, and I expected to find this story was originally published in a Warren mag.

But I haven't found a reference to The Canticle of the Worm on GCD nor anywhere else. I've looked at a number of sources including books collecting Sutton's work, interviews, portfolios and blogs surveying his work since his death. This surprises me as I would have assumed this was a prominent piece of work recognised by Sutton fans. 

The only online reference I have found to this story is in relation to Pit of Evil #11 on AusReprints. James understandably suggests it may be from a Spanish source, but I'm guessing he didn't have access to the issue and therefore the TFS signature. I also note the publication date of Pit of Evil #11 is estimated as 1978, which may be correct, but at the moment I lean towards 1979. TBC.

Until someone directs me towards a previous or subsequent publication of The Canticle of the Worm I'm going to deem it a Gredown exclusive. 

Gredown's Terror Tales Album

The cover to Terror Tales Album, signed by Brea, originally appeared on Vilmar's Escorpion #13:

Note the blood on the lips of the vampire is skin-toned on the Gredown cover, and the semi-nude in the background is discreetly obscured. AusReprints identifies two other reprintings of this cover - the uncensored Geister-Krimi #53, and Le fils de Satan #6, which has a bet each way.

The contents are as follows:

Double Murder in the Morgue 

The Temple of the Spider, originally published in Thrilling Adventure Stories #2, August 1975

The Dark World, originally published in Ghostly Tales #116, July 1975

Devil Flower, originally published in Weird #v5#1, February 1971

One Step Beyond, originally published in Witches Tales #v3#5, October 1971

Death in Advance, originally published in Dossier Negro #24, April 1971 (as Anticipo de Muerte)

Maze of Mystery, originally published in Ghostly Haunts #45, July 1975

Eerie Bones, originally published in Haunted Thrills #4, December 1952

A Second Life, originally published in Weird Tales of the Macabre #1, January 1975

Nine Fathoms Deep!, originally published in  Forbidden Worlds #38, November 1955 

A Special Victim, originally published in Beyond the Grave #4, February 1976

Speed Demon, originally published in Weird Tales of the Macabre #1, January 1975

Time Lapse, originally published in Weird Tales of the Macabre #1, January 1975

The King of Hades, originally published in Voodoo #11, September 1953

Carrion of the Gods, originally published in Weird Tales of the Macabre #2, March 1975

...If Gold Be Life!, originally published in Ghostly Haunts #48, February 1976

The Evil Ones, originally published in Weird #v5#3, June 1971

The Invisible Wall 

The attributions above are correct to the best of my knowledge, but it is difficult at times to distinguish between the reworked Eerie versions of stories and their pre-Code Farrell counterparts.

Double Murder in the Rue Morgue, Death in Advance and The Invisible Wall have been discussed before re: Murray's Ghostly Haunts.

As per Horror Tales Album, all of the stories in this bumper issue appear to have been recycled from earlier Gredown issues. Many of these stories previously appeared in Strange Experience #4 and The Devil's Triangle #4. I can confirm the previous printings for the vast majority, and expect to confirm the last few in the fullness of time. TBA.

Pit of Evil #6: Censoring Gredown

Gredown's Pit of Evil #6 was published c.June/July 1977:

All of the stories in this issue originally appeared in Eerie magazines:

It Came From The Grave, originally published in Weird #v6#1, February 1972 

Chop Their Heads Off, originally published in Tales from the Tomb #v6#1, January 1974 

The Blind Monsters, originally published in Weird #v9#1, January 1975 

Devil's Plague, originally published in Horror Tales #v3#3, May 1971 

Shadow of Evil, originally published in Weird #v8#1, February 1974 

A Gift of Horror, originally published in Horror Tales #v7#1, February 1975 

Beyond Evil, originally published in Weird #v6#1, February 1972

Reincarnation, originally published in Weird #v5#2, April 1971 

The Slimy Corpse, originally published in Tales from the Tomb #v2#5, September 1970

Feast for Rats, originally published in Weird #v5#1, February 1971 

There is also a Contents page.

I can confirm that all but one of these stories were subsequently reprinted by Gredown - and I expect to confirm A Gift of Horror in due course.

As per The Devil's Triangle #4, Pit of Evil #6, and all subsequent issues in the series, were banned in Western Australia on 29 August 1977. It appears the offending piece was Shadow of Evil:

The blood in the third panel was wiped clean for its reprinting a few years later in Gredown's Reign of Terror:

The ban was lifted on 26 June 1980. It would appear Reign of Terror was published before this date. This version of the story was also published in Forever Dead, which appears to have been published much later c.March 1985, according to the date stamp on the rear cover of a copy I recently came across

Reincarnation may also have offended the censor:

I expect the blood in the last two panels was deemed morally unpalatable despite the Adult rating on the cover. This story was reprinted in Horror in the Dungeon, and I'm keen to see a copy to check if this page was cleaned up by the editors.

The Devil's Triangle #4: Censoring Gredown

Gredown's The Devil's Triangle was published c.July 1977:

Shortly afterwards it came to the attention of someone earnest enough to be wearing a knitted cardigan: "On 29 August 1977, this issue and all subsequent issues of this series were banned in Western Australia under the Indecent Publications Act 1902-1974 (p. 3171, Government Gazette of Western Australia 1977/54 (2 September 1977)." AusReprints 

What was so indecent? The title? The semi-nudes? The demonic figure? I'm not sure, but maybe Gredown tells us. Here's the first page of The Devil Statues:

A year or two later Gredown reprinted this story in Shrouds of Mystery, by which time the statues were no longer holding bleeding heads, and Max Dorne had little reason to gape like an idiot at the statues:

This version of the story was reprinted a few years later in Tombstone Terror.

Maybe The King of Hades was the offender. Here's a scan of the second page:

It was reprinted later in Terror Tales Album without the blood in the last two panels and no gunfire in the fourth panel:

The Devil's Triangle #4 was Rated A for Adult Readers. Shrouds of Mystery, Tombstone Terror and Terror Tales Album carried no such advisories. Presumably Gredown self-censored, which was not unprecedented by Australian comics publishers.

The Devil's Triangle was not the only Gredown series to be banned - indeed, issues by Page Publications and Murray were also cited. 

The series continued for another four issues with the Adult Readers rating. Shortly afterwards Gredown ceased publishing ongoing series in of favour single-issue titles. Maybe this is coincidental and other factors impacted this decision, but it's possible it was partly in response to the "all subsequent issues of this series" directive of the Indecent Publications Act.

Gredown's Horror Tales Album

The contents are as follows:

Horripilate Host, originally published in Chilling Adventures in Sorcery #4, December 1973

Cellar Dweller, originally published in Mad House #97, January 1975

The Man Who Tried To Kill Death, originally published in Red Circle Sorcery #8, August 1974

...Cat!, originally published in Chilling Adventures in Sorcery #3, October 1973

A Twist in Time!, originally published in Red Circle Sorcery #7, June 1974 

Golden Touch, originally published in Chilling Adventures in Sorcery #4, December 1973

Demon Kiss, originally published in Mad House #96, November 1974

The Choker is Wild, originally published in Chilling Adventures in Sorcery #5, February 1974

A Thousand Pounds of Clay, originally published in Chilling Adventures in Sorcery #4, December 1973

The Patience of a Cat, originally published in Red Circle Sorcery #6, April 1974

The Benefactor, originally published in Red Circle Sorcery #7, June 1974 

Death Is My Love's Name, originally published in Red Circle Sorcery #10, December 1974

Warrior's Dream, originally published in Red Circle Sorcery #6, April 1974

Too Mean To Die!, originally published in Mad House #97, January 1975

The Highwayman's Escape!, originally published in Red Circle Sorcery #8, August 1974

Pirate Island, originally published in Red Circle Sorcery #10, December 1974

One Evening on a Small Planet, originally published in Red Circle Sorcery #10, December 1974

Haunted Gallery, originally published in Chilling Adventures in Sorcery #3, October 1973

The Eyes of Cagliostro, originally published in Red Circle Sorcery #11, February 1975, Archie

Death Goes to a Sales Convention!, originally published in Red Circle Sorcery #6, April 1974

The Night of the Leopard Men, originally published in Mad House #95, September 1974

Missing Link!, originally published in Chilling Adventures in Sorcery #3, October 1973

If I Were King, originally published in Red Circle Sorcery #9, October 1974 

Come In And Meet The Piano Player, originally published in Red Circle Sorcery #9, October 1974 

All of this material is drawn from Archie/Red Circle comics as per the copyright notice:

This is a bumper 132 page issue, comprised of recycled stories from previous Gredown issues - I have identified the majority as previously published by Gredown, and expect to confirm the rest in due course. TBA.

Many of these stories were also subsequently recycled by Gredown in $1.00 cover-priced issues.

This issue reprints all the content of Strange Romance Tales #1 bar two stories. Many of the others are drawn from Sorcery #'s 1 and 2, and four of these stories found a home in Claws of Horror.

Dating this issue is difficult without a newsagency stamp or marking. AusReprints estimates the date @1980, and the GCD @1982. I think it was published no later than 1980, and possibly earlier. TBA.

Gredown published a 'companion' 132-page issue - Terror Tales Album.

Gredown's Strange Romance Tales #1

The contents are as follows:

Demon Kiss, originally published in Mad House #96, November 1974

The Patience of a Cat, originally published in Red Circle Sorcery #6, April 1974

Missing Link!, originally published in Chilling Adventures in Sorcery #3, October 1973

Dibbuk, originally published in Red Circle Sorcery #7, June 1974 

Come In And Meet The Piano Player, originally published in Red Circle Sorcery #9, October 1974

Death Goes To A Sales Convention!, originally published in Red Circle Sorcery #6, April 1974

...Cat!, originally published in Chilling Adventures in Sorcery #3, October 1973

Poltergeists, originally published in Red Circle Sorcery #8, August 1974

Too Mean To Die!, originally published in Mad House #97, January 1975

Cellar Dweller, originally published in Mad House #97, January 1975

Warrior's Dream, originally published in Mad House #97, January 1975

All of these stories were originally published by Archie/Red Circle. Indeed, there is an advisory at the bottom of page 2 affirming this:

All of these stories were originally published 1973-75. This notice asserts copyright 1977/78. Presumably this indicates the approximate publication date of this issue. AusReprints guesstimates the publication date @1975 based on internet data. The GCD entry guesstimates @1976. Unfortunately neither my copy nor the scans on these two sites include newsagency markings which might finetune the date. 

All of these stories were subsequently published by Gredown in Horror Tales Album, apart from Dibbuk and Poltergeists. They were probably also republished by Gredown elsewhere. TBA.

Update 29 July 2025: Based on new information received I date this issue to March 1978.

Satana: The Yaffa edition

Page Publications' Satana one-shot was published c.January 1982:

The cover and most of the contents were originally published in Marvel Preview #7, Summer 1976:

This issue reprints the three main comics features of this issue: The Damnation Waltz; Part II La Simphonie Diable "The Devil's Symphony"; and The Sword in the Star! Stave 2: Witchworld!. It also includes a Black Knight reprint, Men of the Shadows!, originally published in Black Knight #5. 

There is an introductory contents page:

This page is a simplified variation of the contents page in Marvel Preview #7:

This is the last page of the Yaffa issue:

This page concludes The Devil's Symphony in Marvel Previews #7, but in this edition it is appended to the end of Witchworld! The reading experience was probably compromised in order to maintain the integrity of the double-page spread introducing Witchworld!

This striking frontispiece by Vicente Alcazar precedes the  Table of Contents in Marvel Preview #7:

It's a shame this is not included in the Yaffa edition, especially given the rear, inner rear and inner front covers are blank.

There is a handwritten date 4/1/82 on the rear cover of my copy, which may be written by a newsagency or a previous owner. I have spotted a copy with 3 written on the front cover. 

Murray Comics' Ghostly Haunts and the alternate Gredown translations of Spanish horror stories

Murray Comics' Ghostly Haunts contains Double Murder in the Rue Morgue, previously published by Gredown as Double Murder in the Morgue.

As it turns out, Ghostly Haunts is the repository of no less than four Spanish horror stories which appeared in Gredown comics in different translations.

Gredown's Planet of Vampires #2 contains The Vampire:

This was recycled by Gredown a few years later in Eyes of Night:

This story was published with a different translation by Murray Comics in Ghostly Haunts:

As per Double Murder in the Rue Morgue in Ghostly Haunts, there is no editorial credit, but again this appears to be from a Spanish source - note the double exclamation marks attending BAWM in the fourth panel of the final page:

The first exclamation mark is deleted in Planet of Vampires #2:

Presumably this is also the case in the Eyes of Night printing but I don't have a copy to hand.

Ghostly Haunts contains The Invisible Wall:

A different translation was published by Gredown in Weird Tales of the Macabre #1

Gredown recycled this story in Terror Tales Album:

This version of the story maintained the double exclamation marks on the final page:

The 'extra' exclamation marks were excised in the Ghostly Haunts version:

Ghostly Haunts also includes the story Forestate of Death:

Yeah, forestate doesn't appear in my dictionary either, but Death in Advance satisfies my inner grammarian:

Death in Advance was published by Gredown in Weird Tales of the Macabre #1, and also recycled in Terror Tales Album:

The Gredown versions include the credits Art by Michael G. Esteban and Script by Raymond Hervas. The Ghostly Haunts version does not have these credits but does include the note Copyright: I.M.D.E.

This appears to have been originally published as Anticipo de Muerte in Dossier Negro #24.

Given four Spanish stories appear in Ghostly Haunts with alternate translations to the Gredown issues, it would appear they were sourced from a different agency. This may be I.M.D.E. 

Of course, it could be the same agency providing new translations, but either way, I think it is unlikely they were exclusively commissioned by Murray - I expect they were targeted to a larger English-speaking market and also made their way to Australia. Identifying the original Spanish sources of these stories has been a longstanding goal, but I'm now also keen to identify international printings of both translations. And could there be a third...?

Note also the coincidence of some of these stories orbiting three issues: Weird Tales of the Macabre #1, Terror Tales Album and Ghostly Haunts. Terror Tales Album was a bumper edition by Gredown which contained recycled material from Weird Tales of the Macabre and other earlier Gredown issues. Ghostly Haunts appears to have been published within a year or so of Terror Tales Album.

There may be more Australian printings of these stories.

[A] Macabre Joke and Double Murder in the [Rue] Morgue: Two translations in Australian reprint editions

I've often wondered about the Spanish horror material published in Gredown comics - how it was sourced, where the material originally appeared, how it was translated. I assumed the translations were done in association with the international distributor of the material. However, what I didn't realise is that multiple translations of the same material existed, and indeed that the variants were published in Australia.

For example, Gredown's Vampire Havoc contains the story A Macabre Joke:

This story also appears in Gredown's Bite of the Vampire, retitled Macabre Joke:

It is not only retitled but it is a different and, in many ways, a better translation - the expression is more fluent, and the font is more professional. And note the shape and positioning of the speech balloons are unaltered in the two versions. 

Note also the club sign in the final panel of A Macabre Joke:

The Bite of the Vampire version has been translated:

Unfortunately I have not been able to find traces of the original edition of this story.

However, I have found another instance of a pair of translations of the same story in Australian reprint editions.

Double Murder in the Morgue appeared in Gredown's Weird Tales of the Macabre #1, 1976:

This was recycled by Gredown a few years later in Terror Tales Album:

A different translation of this story appeared in Murray Comics' one-off Ghostly Haunts as Double Murder in the Rue Morgue:

There is no editorial information on any of these three printings designating a writer, artist, translator or publishing origin, but it is clearly a story of Spanish origin, courtesy of the double exclamation marks. As per [A] Macabre Joke, the panel, text box and speech balloon shapes are unaltered.

There must be more of these multiple translations lurking in Australian reprints. The variable interpretations of the titles contributes to the difficulty in tracking the source material. I'd love to find out more about the sources and the translators.

Update 20 May 2021:

I have found an earlier printing of Macabre Joke in Gredown's Planet of the Vampires #5. It appears to be an earlier version of the Bite of the Vampire translation:

There are differences between this version and the later version. For example, "My dear" in the third panel of the splash page above was altered to "Old chap" in the Bite of the Vampire version, and  extra/inverted exclamation mark for Jonathan in the first panel, surely based on the original Spanish printing, is omitted in the second verison. And, on the final page, the Ja Ja Ja exclamation is altered to Ha Ha Ha along with FIN altered to END in the final panel.

This version also includes the original creator credits - Script: M.Yanez and Art: M.G. Esteban

Dead Mens' Tales, Ghostly Villains and Fate of Death: Gredown's recycling trifecta

This is the cover to Escorpion #31:

If you are a reader or collector of Gredown comics you may be experiencing deja vu. And justifiably so, for this cover appeared on no less than three Gredown comics:

 Dead Mens' Tales

 Ghostly Villains

Fate of Death

There are plenty of examples of Gredown recycling covers but I don't recall one being recycled this often - quite remarkable.

Dead Mens' Tales is 100 pages and appears to have been published c.March 1982. My copy has June written in pen on the front cover, and the copy on AusReprints is stamped either Mar or May 1982. Ghostly Villains is 84 pages and Fate of Death is 68 pages, so given the decreasing page count and the fixed cover price, it's safe to assume this is the order in which they were published.

Kudos to James for initially identifying the Spanish cover source and the Gredown covers.