It's Father's Day and since I am a father, this post is all about me and some of my favoritist covers of all time. I freely admit that I have a weakness for horror covers, especially those from the 1950's. EC covers are probably best known to the general public for obvious reasons but the truth is Harvey's classic 1951 series, Witches' Tales, had better covers. In terms of ghoulishness, you couldn't top the Harvey's!
Which begs the question what was wrong with the 1969 version of the series? A publisher called Eerie gained rights to the name and launched a truely awful series that is better off forgotten. But, somewhere along the way they created some astoundingly bad covers in really bad taste. They are soooo bad they are great. Forget Warren's Eerie and Creepy painted masterpieces! These are neon colored atrocities that you can't stop looking at. Don't say I didn't warn you.
Witches' Tales Vol 1, #9, December 1969
Witches' Tales Vol 2, #2, April 1970
Witches' Tales Vol 3, #5, October 1971
Which begs the question what was wrong with the 1969 version of the series? A publisher called Eerie gained rights to the name and launched a truely awful series that is better off forgotten. But, somewhere along the way they created some astoundingly bad covers in really bad taste. They are soooo bad they are great. Forget Warren's Eerie and Creepy painted masterpieces! These are neon colored atrocities that you can't stop looking at. Don't say I didn't warn you.
Witches' Tales Vol 1, #7, July 1969.
This should set the tone for what's below the link. Six heads, a stack of skulls and a crazy lady making apple juice from people. Yep, it's safe to say this stood out on the stands in 1969.
More insanity below.
Witches' Tales Vol 1, #9, December 1969
A decipated head, a bloody stump and some strange monster performing the transplant.... this is AWESOMELY bad. I could be wrong but I don't think there had been covers this gruesome on the stands since the invention of the CCA.
After the first two covers this almost seems tame by comparison. If it weren't for the decapitated heads you might not even know this was a horror cover. My favorite part is the bizarre cat on the back of the broom. I'm really not sure what's up with that.
Witches' Tales Vol 2, #5, October 1970
Come on, you knew this was coming. Of course there would be implied nudity. It's the 70's for goodness sake. The only thing missing is having her covered in blood. Never fear, those covers came later.
I don't know how this cover slipped in with the rest of them. It's actually a good horror cover. It's got vampires. It's got aliens. After all the others, this feels strangely out of place.
That's all folks, now go enjoy your Sunday!
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