I didn't personally purchase this one, but it was from our favorite used book store. Mom likes creepy stories (older ones), and I'm not 100% sure if she'd heard of this magazine before she bought it. After moving into our new home, we were sifting through things to get rid of, and Mom had this in a donate pile! What?! I wasn't even to be given the chance to read new comics? The horror!
I'd never heard of this particular magazine, but this book collects volumes 1-5. Apparently volume 1 was super rare, so if you're into this magazine, this might be an incentive for you. I will say I really liked the stories of that first issue.
I'm not going to try and explain all the stories, but they're short and in black and white. These were released in the 1960s, and I found a lot of them to be unique and original. On the other hand, I did notice a bit of repetition when it came to certain things. mostly the grave robbing. Also, having a hunchbacked minion seemed to be popular. I will admit, there were some twists to the usual formula, so it wasn't boring.
I liked these little stories overall. Being only a few pages, they could be read if I only had a few minutes. Some of them impressed me with their originality. The one thing I wasn't a fan of was Cousin Eerie, the weird dude that did introductions to the stories. He didn't strike me as funny or useful. They had a similar character in their other magazine, Creepy, so I guess they felt the need to have one here as well.
I want to give a quick shoutout to the ads. I love they included those in here, and they were super fun. Some of them were for movies (a lot of which I've seen), music, toys, and my favorite page had some of the coolest stuff. A Frankenstein mask that weeps blood, a werewolf ring that sounds like a siren when you blow on it, and my personal favorite: real cannons! They can apparently be heard from 5 miles away, and I can imagine little kids with them. I mean, they were a lot more expensive than the ring ($4.95 vs. $0.75), but I just love the thought they were available back then.
This book easily gets the Good Book! review. The stories were cool, and the ads were the icing on the cake.
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