I can’t remember where I got the copy of Detective Comics #455, but I was too young in January 1976 to have grabbed it, brand-new, off the spinner rack. It most likely came from a flea market or garage sale several years later, in a carboard box full of similarly well-read and well-worn comics.
All I know for sure is that cover, by Mike Grell, scared the bejeezus out of me. The story — Batman versus a vampire in a creepy old house — was thrilling, but that cover … I had trouble getting to sleep if it were left out in the open. It had to buried in the bottom of a crate, stored safely in a closed closet.
Only then I could turn out the lights.
Some three decades later, I’m not as creeped out by a good, scary cover; in fact, I like them. A lot. And most of the time I can even go to sleep with one of them left out in the open.
So for Halloween, I put together a gallery of 20 great creepy covers. These aren’t necessarily the Best Scary Covers Ever; they’re just unsettling, and well-done. You’ll notice a few prominently feature little kids. That’s because there are few things as unnerving as the soulless stare of a child. (Blame The Omen.)
Tomorrow, I’ll return with the regular weekly installment of “Comics, Covered.” But for today, enjoy these:
Hellblazer #92, by Sean Phillips; Black Hole #8, by Charles Burns
The Vault of Horror #36, by Johnny Craig; Twisted Tales #2, by Bernie Wrightson
Sea of Red #3, by Salgood Sam and Paul Harmon; 30 Days of Night collected edition, by Ben Templesmith
Uzumaki, Vol. 1, and Gyo, Vol. 2, by Junji Ito
The Books of Magick: Life During Wartime #4, by Frank Quitely; Fables #54, by James Jean
The House of Mystery #173, by Jack Sparling; 100 Bullets #49, by Dave Johnson
Klarion #2, by Frazier Irving; New X-Men #121, by Frank Quitely
Strange Tales #45, by Bill Everett; Hellboy: The Wolves of Saint August, by Mike Mignola
Mysterious Adventures #19 (I can’t find the cover artist); House of Secrets #87, by Neal Adams
Swamp Thing #107, by Ian Miller; Demo #6, by Becky Cloonan
October 30th, 2006 at 3:05 pm
These are all really great, creepy covers. I think the cake still goes to James Jean’s Hansel cover. That is, by far, one of the creepiest images I have ever seen on comic cover and I relish it becuase of that fact!
October 30th, 2006 at 3:25 pm
Most terrifying cover ever? With so many featuring the word “MACKIE” or “MARZ” or “LOEB” or “CLAREMONT” emblazoned on them, how can one choose?
October 30th, 2006 at 4:21 pm
That Detective cover is Mike Grell, not Mark.
October 30th, 2006 at 4:22 pm
love this…nothing more fun than looking back on some true classics…except for the black hole and x men covers…what do they have to do with horror visually?
October 30th, 2006 at 4:42 pm
I guess it depends on how you classify “horror.” I wanted to throw in a couple of atypical covers, just for kicks.
Black Hole is a horror comic, and I think there’s a terrific sense of uncertainty/unease in the cover. The unnatural color of the hand gives it a corpse-like quality. Is it alive, dead, undead? It’s subtle, but the dread is there.
The New X-Men cover fits, in part, because of the giant, creepy head of Cassandra Nova, one of the more unnerving villains to emerge from X-lore. Here, she’s a smiling, cadaverous parasite, which in itself is pretty horrific.
But juxtapose that with terrified look on the face of Prof. X, who’s trapped within her head, and you’re in business.
October 30th, 2006 at 4:56 pm
I love that issue of DETECTIVE COMICS by Elliot Maggin and Mike Grell too. One of my favorite as a kid. It was as close as we’ll come to Batman vs. Christopher “Dracula” Lee we’ll ever get. For an upcoming Batman book I’m co-writing, I will be interviewing both Maggin and Grell and we’ll discuss this classic Batman story.
October 30th, 2006 at 5:05 pm
Fantastic, Michael. Detective #455 is the first Batman story I remember reading.
There’s such a great folklorish/urban legend/campfire story element to the plot — “And the vampire’s heart … was in the grandfather clock!” — that it’s stuck with me for all these years.
I think I still have that tattered copy buried around here somewhere …
October 30th, 2006 at 6:26 pm
Nice work!
October 30th, 2006 at 6:26 pm
The cover for Fables 54 is disturbing. Very disturbing.
I have that Dial H for Hero. I love everything about Dial H.
Strange Tales 54 is terrific. Very Twilight Zone.
October 30th, 2006 at 7:01 pm
Where’s some of the great glow-in-the-dark covers? Ghost Rider #15 and The Spectre #8 come to mind. And I have a Venom issue I picked up in some 25 cent box that scares the bejeebers out of my wife, should it be left out after dark.
-Tony!
October 30th, 2006 at 7:11 pm
Ooooh, those Spectre and Venom covers kick major ass.
October 31st, 2006 at 5:57 am
This would make a good thread on the forum: post your fav covers.
October 31st, 2006 at 8:01 am
Some nice covers. The first one I thought of was one of the Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween covers
http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=66002&zoom=4
And who knew Lobo/Demon had a Helloween special
http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=255997&zoom=4
October 31st, 2006 at 8:05 am
Although I always found this one kind of good when I was a kid
http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=245180&zoom=4