This Magazine Is Haunted

"This Magazine is Haunted" was a horror comic published by Fawcett [Although "Haunted's" indicia identifies Fawcett as the publisher, the magazine never carried the company's logo on its covers. Speaking in an interview with Roy Thomas, "Haunted's" creator Sheldon Moldoff stated that Fawcett had been very reluctant to carry any horror titles, and only agreed to publish "Haunted" after the genre was too popular to ignore. See "Alter Ego", vol. 3, #4 (Spring 2000).] between 1951 and 1953. Running 14 issues, it was the first of Fawcett's supernatural line; a string of titles which included "Beware! Terror Tales", "Worlds of Fear", "Strange Suspense Stories" and "Unknown World"'.

Format

Debuting with a cover date of October 1951, "This Magazine is Haunted" was Fawcett's first successful attempt to enter the lucrative horror market with a comic devoted specifically to supernatural fiction. The book represented a break from Fawcett's more familiar product, which ranged from superheroes (Captain Marvel) to movie adaptations and teen humor. Created by Sheldon Moldoff and edited by Will Leiberson and Al Jetter, the book was loosely modeled after EC's New Trend, particularly their highly successful horror titles. [As noted by Watt-Evans, Fawcett's horror comics were "loosely modeled after the E.C. format but not directly imitating E.C.'s approach".]

Like its better-known competitors, "This Magazine is Haunted" was notable for its black humor and frequent O. Henry climaxes. Drawing on the considerable creative resources of the Fawcett stable, "Haunted" storylines dealt with the standard horror themes of the period: vengeance from beyond the grave, macabre retribution and 'dark' justice, all of which were presented with an appropriate level of irony.

Human folly played a key role in many stories; characters were constantly led into disaster by their own greed, stupidity or outright corruption. Numerous plots revolved around violent criminals meeting grisly but entirely deserving fates, while others featured hapless bystanders trapped in bizarre or terrifying circumstances.

Comics historian Stephen Sennitt describes the Fawcett line as "genuinely eerie" [Sennitt, p. 36. Sennitt considers EC's narrative structure to be "formulaic" in comparison to Fawcett's approach. He did, however, rank EC amongst the highest quality publications of the period.] in contrast to EC's more visceral approach. [There were exceptions of course; the cover of "Haunted" 10 features a severed head on the end of a fishing line, precisely the kind of imagery anti-comics crusader Fredric Wertham objected to.]

Aside from the evident cinematic influences, "Haunted" and its companions followed at least two literary traditions derived from the pulp literature of the previous decades. The first was the Crime-Horror imagery of magazines like Black Mask or "Flynn's Detective Fiction," which emphasized murder, violence, and horrific crimes. Many authorities believe that the tradition was passed down to the 50s horror genre via the Crime comics of the later forties; [Les Daniels was one of the first to discuss the relationship in "Comix: A History of the Comic Book in America," arguing that horror comics were an outgrowth of the popular 'true crime' genre of the 1940s.] "Haunted" featured numerous stories combining the two areas.

Of course, by far the most potent influence on "This Magazine is Haunted" was the horror comic genre itself, which according to Watt-Evans, represented around one sixth of the comics market at its 1954 peak.

Doctor Death

Once more following EC's example, "Haunted" featured mainly non-continuing stories narrated by a suitably malevolent host, the cadaverous Doctor Death. [In an interview with "Alter Ego's" Roy Thomas, Moldoff claims to have approached William M. Gaines with two supernatural titles, signing a contract stipulating that he would be paid a commission if the books were successful. Several months later, when EC's horror comics hit the newstands, Gaines apparently reneged on the deal, theatening to blacklist Moldoff if he took legal action. Moldoff eventually sold the title - "This Magazine is Haunted" - to Fawcett Publications for the sum of $100.00 - "and all the work I wanted." From Alter Ego, vol. 3, #4 (Spring 2000)] Resembling a decaying corpse dressed as a Victorian undertaker, Doctor Death played much the same role as the Crypt Keeper in "Tales From the Crypt", breaking the fourth wall to provide explanations and plot details. Unlike EC's so-called "ghoulunatics" however, Dr. Death frequently orchestrated events in the narrative, acting as the hand of fate and even driving the characters towards their ultimate destruction. To this end, he was capable of taking on human form to interact with his intended victims, feeding them bad advice or (somewhat maliciously) betraying their trust at crucial moments. [EC's ghoulish hosts occasionally also appeared in stories, such as "Horror Beneath the Streets" ("The Haunt of Fear" #17), a self-parodic tale in which Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein are lured into the sewers and blackmailed into publishing the ghoulunatics' stories.]

Dr. Death resembled Mr. Crime, the cartoon mascot from Lev Gleason Publications' "Crime Does Not Pay". Both wore vintage clothing and had, to varying degrees, an inhuman appearance.

First appearing on the cover of "Haunted" #1, Doctor Death was the series' host until its cancellation in 1953. He returned for a number of issues when the magazine was acquired by Charlton Comics in 1954. As rendered by Charlton stalwart Steve Ditko, Doctor Death took on a progressively less skeletal appearance.

The Beyond

Like most other comics of the early fifties, "Haunted's" content drew upon a wide variety of popular cultural sources, particularly mainstream cinema, pulp fiction and American folklore. Stories were often above average in quality: scripts were literate and occasionally poetic; artwork usually of Fawcett's professional standards (comparable, in a few examples, to EC's more outstanding material). Perhaps the one thing lacking was innovation. "Haunted" dealt in the standard horror fare of the period - bizarre crimes, weird creatures, walking cadavers and the like. Virtually all of "Haunted's" recurrent themes were common to the genre, recycled in practically every horror comic to grace the newsstands.

There was one area, however, in which Fawcett showed some degree of originality. "Haunted" was notable for employing the "The Beyond," as a unifying element to many of its storylines. While the idea wasn't used consistently, it became a recurring plot device in all of Fawcett's horror titles, sometimes playing an essential role in the narrative. It was, in a sense, the closest thing to a "universe" in a series of books otherwise lacking in continuity.

Briefly speaking, The Beyond was a mysterious plane of existence which occasionally encroached on the physical world. A shadowy limbo vaguely akin to the Afterlife, it served as the source of the many supernatural menaces which threatened the "Realm of the Living." In a number of cases, it was a grey, lifeless purgatory inhabited by rotting corpses; in others, a place of perpetual torment akin to hell (although it was never specifically defined as such).

The Beyond seemed to be the abode of all of humanity's worst fears; vampires, ghosts and demons existed alongside dragons, witches and harpies. All seemed generally hostile towards mankind, some periodically crossed over to prey on selected victims or to seek vengeance on former tormentors. The traffic appeared to flow in both directions; mortals could inadvertently find themselves trapped in the Beyond before the end of their natural lives.

Access to the Beyond took numerous forms. Ghostly express trains made midnight runs to the other side, carrying the spirits of the recently departed. Phantom cruiseliners ferried moldering passengers through the Sea of the Dead. Unwary travellers often found themselves making a one-way trip on the Road to Nowhere. Sometimes, mechanised transport was completely unnecessary - swamps, caves and haunted houses all seemed to lie within the outer boundaries of The Beyond.

Needless to say, the idea wasn't Fawcett's sole provenance; spectral dimensions had been a staple of fantasy magazines such as Weird Tales. ["The Beyond" recalls H. P. Lovecraft's notion of malevolent entities lurking in higher dimensions (the so-called Cthulhu Mythos). The general concept of a spectral realm may be traced back even further to ancient sources, such as Sheol or the Greek underworld.] Even within the comics industry, earlier publishers had made references to 'The Spirit World,' based on the Judeo-Christian notion of the afterlife. Fawcett's innovation lay in its "use" of the concept to connect many of "Haunted's" discontinuous storylines. As a single, underlying premise, The Beyond worked perfectly, providing both an endless reservoir of potential storylines and an explanation as to how supernatural forces could exist in the 'real' world.

ale to Charlton

Along with many other titles of a similar vein, "This Magazine is Haunted" came under fire during the anti-comics backlash of the early fifties (although generally speaking, its content wasn't quite as visceral as its rivals). Ironically, this was not the reason for the title's cancellation; Fawcett dropped its entire comics line in 1953, largely as a result of an industry-wide sales slump and a long-running legal battle with DC Comics. In many respects, Fawcett's horror line dodged the bullet by retiring from the market before they were forced out.

This was not, however, the end of "Haunted."

Fawcett sold most of its properties to Charlton Comics in 1954, a deal which included the four horror titles. Evidently, "Haunted" was successful enough to continue publishing under its original numbering, starting with no. 16 (March, 1954). For a time at least, Charlton attempted to maintain the moody atmosphere of its predecessor, even retaining the services of Doctor Death as the series' narrator. [It's possible that Charlton simply printed several unpublished issues of "Haunted" under their own logo. Don Markstein notes in [http://www.toonopedia.com/charlton.htm Toonopedia] that part of Charlton's acquisition included unused artwork from a number of Fawcett titles.] While not quite up to Fawcett's standards artistically, Charlton's run was distinguished by some of Steve Ditko's earliest work in the supernatural genre. After the establishing of the Comics Code in 1954, the content was toned down considerably, dealing with magic, mystery and suspense rather than with outright horror.

The change in content may have led to circulation problems, as the magazine was rebooted within a year, reverting back to one in 1956. Doctor Death, missing in action for some months already, was replaced by the (supposedly) less horrifying 'Doctor Haunt' (possibly designed by Ditko, by now the title's lead artist). The comic continued bi-monthly another two years despite the financial problems besetting the comics industry at the time. The final issue of the Charlton run was number 16 (May 1958).

And from there, "This Magazine is Haunted" finally passed into The Beyond, never to return.

Footnotes

References

*Daniels, Les. "Comix: A History of the Comic Book in America." Mad Peck Studios, 1971.
*Nyberg, Amy Kiste. "Seal of Approval: The History of the Comics Code." University Press of Mississippi, 1998.
*Sennitt, Stephen. "Ghastly Terror: The Horrible Story of Horror Comics." Manchester, Headpress, 1999.
*Thomas, Roy. "A Moon... A Bat... A Hawk: A Candid Conversation with Sheldon Moldoff." "Alter Ego," Vol. 3, no. 4. Reprinted online by Two Morrows Publishing.
*Watt-Evans, Lawrence. "The Other Guys:Pre-code Horror Comics." "The Scream Factory" no.19, 1996.

External links

* [http://goldenagecomics.co.uk/index.php?cid=3| Free dowloads] of Golden Age Fawcett Comics, including This Magazine is Haunted.