Heading:
Author:
Title: HORRIFIC No. 12
Place Published:
Publisher:Comic Media [Indicia: Harwell Publications, Inc.]
Date Published: July, 1954
Description:

CGC certified: G/VG (3.0). Cream to off-white pages. Cover: Don Heck. Art: Don Heck, Marty Elkin, Steve Kirkel, Rudy Palais. GPAnalysis: A 3.0 sold for $180 in November 2020.

Horror host Garry Ghoul grins as he greets guests to his graveyard. Horror hosts were a radio show trope that Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein adopted for EC's line of fright mags. Other publishers, imitating EC, started populating their horror comics with cackling, punning narrators as well. These hosts, with their hokey gags and winking allusions, let kids know that it was all in fun. And, as Jasper Barks observed in a 2012 "This Is Horror" blog entry, "Ongoing characters were good for sales, but when your main characters kept dying in horrifically satisfying ways every eight pages, it's hard to keep up any continuity. The answer, of course, was a horror host, someone you could instantly identify on the spinner rack, even if you'd forgotten your favorite comic's title."

A limited edition of 150 softcover and 15 hardcover catalogues is available. 400 lots, fully illustrated. Fun reference, great keepsake. Softcover $30, deluxe hardcover with dust jacket and limitation plate $200. Ten of the 15 hardcovers are pre-ordered and the rest will go quickly, so reserve yours now. To order, contact ivan@pbagalleries.com.

Consignments welcome for PBA's December 2021 Comic Book sale. Top prices for Pre-Code Horror, Golden Age, Silver Age, original art and ephemera. Send inquiries to ivan@pbagalleries.com.