The first installment of our look at some of the most historically frightening comic book covers to have ever been published covered more left-of-the-dial titles, albeit with an example that incorporated one popular superhero.
If you missed that particular column, you can find it right here.
That trend continues today. Horror has always thrived on the fringes, of course, but there are moments where the genre seeps deeply into the imagery of even the world’s greatest and most well-known superheroes, as seen in our first offering.
Superman #422 (August 1986) Cover art by Brian Bolland; Published by DC Comics
Superman is not known for horror. That’s a certainty.
The character has always been a symbol for truth, justice and the American way. You can argue, perhaps, that Superman’s global relevancy doesn’t include the latter part of that catch phrase here in the twenty-first century but there’s no denying the Man of Steel still has a firm grip on those first two ideals.
And that’s what makes the cover for Superman #422, published in 1986, so harrowing.
In “Dark Moon Rising” a single-issue mystery/horror story where Superman must investigate a series of murders seemingly perpetrated by werewolves, it’s the cover image that truly frightens us. Here is the symbolically good Superman, twisted, hunched over and deformed into a depraved monster, his sinuous muscles nearly bursting from his costume, his hands clenched with animalistic power, his face feral and grotesque – unrecognizable, but despondently recognized by viewers.
It’s not just Superman that has been turned and tainted. No, it’s everything he stands for. History is replete with hideous examples of truth and justice and, unfortunately, the American way, warped into an abhorrent creature. This cover is a visual reminder of real-life moments gone to hell, moments that we do not want to acknowledge or speak upon.
Crafted by the masterful hand of legendary British artist, Brian Bolland (who is also not known for his horror takes), the cover for Superman #422 is all moody black and white linework with the exception of our transformed hero’s eyes which glow savage red. Bolland has placed Superman prominently within a back alley that lies between Metropolis apartment buildings. It’s a place we’re all familiar with but it’s also one that psychologically frightens us so much that we fear to tread that locale. Dirty back alleys are places where both our sense and our parents always told us to stay far from. Alleys are where real crimes take place, neighbourhood horrors that we don’t speak of, but know exist. They are places where we might hope for a Superman to rescue us from. Instead of sought-for aid, Bolland surprisingly gives us a waiting monster.
And if there’s any misplaced belief that this distorted figure was not once a symbol for truth and justice, the artist shatters that illusion, reminding us all with Superman’s perfectly placed signature hair curl, the last remnant of goodness in man.
Crime SuspenStories #22 (May 1954) Cover art by Johnny Craig; Published by EC Comics
Oh, the comic book cover that typified all the twentieth century trouble!
The first column in this series gave some brief history as to the formations of the Comic Code Authority (CCA) in 1954 and its puritan oversight over all mainstream comic book publications up through the beginning of the 1990’s. Publisher EC Comics was often cited as one of the reasons for the formation of the CCA due to the inherent nature of their publications: fascinating and enticing stories for youth full of crime, mystery and horror, both real and imaginary. Crime SuspenStories, published bi-monthly between 1950-1955 was one of those titles.
The cover to Crime SuspenStories #22, illustrated by Johnny Craig, was held up to politicians, lobbyists and motivated pearl-clutching organizations as a prime suspect for depraved comic books during the United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency hearings in 1954. The hearings were certainly an overwrought and heavy-handed sham that crumbled many aspects of the comic book publishing community, but the brilliant cover itself was perfectly parlayed for the cause. It is menacingly horrific and haunting. Once seen, it is never forgotten.
Crime SuspenStories #22 feature story “In Each and Every Package” reminisces Cornel Woolrich’s 1942 short story “It Had to be Murder” which was also the basis for Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film, Rear Window, coincidentally also released in 1954. The comic features a crazed man who dismembers his wife, burying her body parts in their backyard. Violence against women is underscored and under the sure hand of Craig, the cover of the publication is wonderfully and memorably crafted.
Here is the moment that exists right after the wicked act of male depravity. A once beautiful woman’s mutilated head is disdainfully held by the roots of her blond hair, her lifeless and contorted body, still warm, lies on the floor below. The bloody tool that performed the deed is held defiantly by a compassionless murderer, the woman’s husband. It’s a horrific scene, one that is illustrated by Craig in a realistic manner, clean and crisp and restrained. The image feels coldly detached but it is still cemented in 1950’s suburban America, a time and place ripe with behind-locked-door secrets.
The framing of the illustration is what leaves the viewer with such terror. The picture is cropped. We don’t see the upper torse of the victim, nor the beastly identity of her killer. The viewer is unable to reign in their imagination, which completes the grisly scene.
An artistic magician, Craig points us to the important, compelling, and lasting remains: the woman’s eyes have rolled lifeless into the back of their sockets and the instrument of her demise is firmly held aloft. There is no act of remorse here. This violence is purposely. And the viewer, to their own shock and horror, is both witness and participant to the atrocity.
John Constantine: Hellblazer #11 (November 1988) Cover art by Dave McKean; Published by DC Comics
We all know and love John Constantine, the hellblazing con-magician who leaped, nearly fully formed, from the pages of the Saga of the Swamp Thing comic book in the mid 1980’s.
Over the decades, the character so deeply steeped in horror and tragedy, has earned a hardcore following of fans. The monthly John Constantine: Hellblazer comic book series ran uninterrupted from 1988 to 2013, the longest and most successful title in the Vertigo Comics pantheon of sophisticated and mature comic book publications. During those triumphant years of dark arts and blood-curdling storylines, there were many covers that shook viewers from complacency and forcibly pushed them into more terrifying imaginings. For long time readers and fans of the character, perhaps none did this more so than the cover of John Constantine: Hellblazer #11.
From his initial appearance within the pages of Swamp Thing, Constantine was given the backstory of a mysterious and harrowing event in the city of Newcastle, England that resulted in a forced and warranted stay at the Ravenscar asylum. This time in his life was instrumental to the character of Constantine. The challenge to create that meaningful story was left to series writer Jamie Delano and interior illustrator, Richard Piers Raynor. The cover of issue #11, the publication that would finally detail the terrifying elements of that event to voracious and fascinated readers, fell to series cover artist, the esteemed Dave McKean.
Utilizing mixed media, the cover to John Constantine: Hellblazer #11 is a dark and dreadful walk through the memory of the comic book’s protagonist. At the center of the page, we see the face of Constantine himself, also the focus for so much horror. His left eye is open, illuminated and defiant – John was never one to turn away from dark things. His hair is wild, as if the winds of hell have blown right through the man. Using sculpture, photography and paint, McKean has managed to ground his symbolism in the real. Around Constantine’s rebellious visage lie the broken, dirtied and bloody remains of a child’s doll. It’s a tantalizing and dreadful clue to the harrowing story inside. Who doesn’t fear for the welfare of children? In the background, we see written letters on sheafs of crumbling paper: uninterpretable notes and scribblings of pentagrams that again harken hell for the hellblazer.
The one masterful stroke that McKean employs here is the word “Newcastle” hastily and psychotically scribbled with determination across the middle of the painting. The letter “t”, which is akin to the Christian cross, stands out in bloody red. If you know John Constantine, you know that within these pages, you will now be told of the most powerful and horrific moment in the character’s life.
For all others, the name places the character, the comic and the viewer firmly in the here and now: a reality consumed by all-encompassing dread.
In the upcoming third and final installment of 31 Days Of Horror: The Most Terrifying Comic Book Covers Ever Published, we’ll look at an bronze age comic that was inspired by gothic literature, a harrowing underground image of revulsion and a more modern work that incessantly haunts viewers.
In the meantime, what are some of your favourite horror-themed comic book covers?
One Reply to “31 Days Of Horror: The Most Terrifying Comic Book Covers Ever Published – Part 2”