Killer Mermaids, Lagoon Creatures, the Horror of Nightmare, at Auction

Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: Matt Baker, St. John Publications

The St. John titles Nightmare and Amazing Ghost Stories characteristic uncommon examples of Matt Baker comedian ebook horror covers.

Nightmare had been a short-lived horror title that St. John acquired from Ziff-Davis when that firm determined to exit the comedian ebook enterprise after a short however spectacular try and make it work for them. At St. John, the title began off as Weird Horrors, was modified to Nightmare for 4 points, after which modified once more to the extra conservative Amazing Ghost Stories. It’s fairly clear that Archer St. John was by no means all-in on the comedian ebook horror pattern, in distinction to the firm’s apparent dedication to the romance style. His numerous strikes on this sequence show a writer extra averse to dangerous publicity than many in the subject. This was the peak of the ethical panic period that quickly led to the Comics Code, and judging by what occurred subsequent, St. John realized they wanted a special tactic.

With the remaining challenge of Nightmare, they went in a extra basic horror-suspense route with the sequence covers: Matt Baker to the rescue. Loosely based mostly on the inside story The Devil from the Deep and with sea monsters clearly impressed by Creature from the Black Lagoon, the remaining challenge of Nightmare seems to be extra like a Fifties horror film nonetheless than it does a comic book ebook cowl of the similar period. This type continued when the title was renamed as soon as once more as Amazing Ghost Stories. Unique and stand-out examples of Matt Baker artwork, there are copies of Nightmare #13 (St. John, 1954) Condition: VG- and Amazing Ghost Stories #14-16 up for public sale in the 2023 August 17 The Matt Baker Comics & Comic Art Showcase Auction #40233 at Heritage Auctions.

Nightmare #13, Amazing Ghost Stories #14 (St. John 1954)

Amazing Ghost Stories #14, which hit newsstands in late August 1954, is a very putting instance of the film-style strategy that makes these covers stand out, as it’s clearly impressed by Creature from the Black Lagoon, which had rolled out in theaters nationwide early that 12 months. Universal was extraordinarily proud of their Gill-Man design, and the creature was cover-featured in magazines starting from Mechanix Illustrated to The Skin Diver all through the 12 months. It would have been completely unavoidable, and pure inspiration for a horror cowl by Baker. The earlier cowl from Nightmare #13 is an fascinating companion to Amazing Ghost Stories #14, because it turns that cowl idea on its head. The hero dives into the deep on the counterattack towards swampy (and someway nonetheless horny) sea creature ladies.

Baker’s cowl of Nightmare #13 is clearly based mostly on the inside story Princess of the Sea, however the legendary Amazing Ghost Stories #14 cowl is slightly more durable to elucidate. Every aspect of the cowl apart from the creatures themselves counsel that this piece relies on the inside story The Devil from the Deep. However, like Princess of the Sea, The Devil from the Deep is a mermaid story. Perhaps St. John or Baker thought the two covers could be too comparable in the event that they went with feminine sea-creatures once more, or maybe the affect of Creature from the Black Lagoon was simply too sturdy to withstand. Regardless, as may be seen with quite a few examples from 1954-1955, Baker appears to have had rather more latitude with how he interpreted inside tales that have been drawn by different artists.

Despite this alteration in tone on the covers, Amazing Ghost Stories did not final. Amazing Ghost Stories #14 was attacked not for its cowl, however for that The Devil from the Deep inside story. The Memphis, Tennessee “Committee of 13 on Comic Books” complained that on this evil mermaid of the story “starts to devour Bob, which last act of cannibalism proves her undoing. The poison Bob has ingested gets her, too, and as the curtain rings down she is found floating tummy up in the pool.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, all of the violence described in that scene by the Committee of 13 is implied in the comedian fairly than proven, besides, The Devil from the Deep is a surprising and extremely efficient piece of comedian ebook horror.

Nevertheless, the sequence continued on briefly, offering us with these uncommon examples of a really completely different type of comedian ebook horror by Baker, and there are copies of Nightmare #13 (St. John, 1954) Condition: VG- and Amazing Ghost Stories #14-16 up for public sale in the 2023 August 17 The Matt Baker Comics & Comic Art Showcase Auction #40233 at Heritage Auctions.