Classic Creepy Comics - Spook

 Spook is another book brought to you from Star Publications, the same folks that put out last week's pick, Ghostly Weird Stories. It ran for nine issues From January 1953 to October 1954.

Spook is a bit of a mixed bag. You'll get at least one supernatural/monster type horror story but you'll also find crime, science fiction, and jungle stories along with a couple pages of prose fiction. This is probably due to it originally being a crime book that started in 1945 and changed names a few times.

The first issue kicks off with a Headless Horseman story (sort of) so I had to check it out. The stars of the story are teen Jerry and his pal Sergent Spook, who is in fact, the ghost of a cop. I'm guessing they had other adventures in the books leading up to this because it's just a weird place to start with no back story. The Horseman ends up being being a projection created by some guy that found oil and wanted to keep everyone away. Sounds like a case for the Mystery Inc.!

One of the things that jumped out at me looking through these books is the number of ads that seem targeted to girls. I'm not saying these comics are "just for boys" but were a lot of girls reading this stuff back then?

 

All but one issues of Spook are legally available online at Comic Book+. If you're looking to get the most horror out of your reading, I'd suggest issue 30. Although 28 has the below story, a scifi adventure, and some jungle girl action.

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Playmobil Dracula & Witch Figures

Playmobil occasionally releases some Halloween, or at least Halloween-adjacent, figures and playsets. I didn't see any last year but they're back this year with a witch and the Lord of Vampires himself, Dracula.

 

I don't have any stores (that I know of) in the area that really carry Playmobil so I usually have get them online. I haven't even found the blind bag figures anywhere lately which is too bad because they tend to sneak in a horror themed figure in each wave.

But on to what I do have...

Bicycle - Vintage Halloween Playing Cards

Here's another Halloween deck I picked up this year. The Screams at Midnight one came up in an ad somewhere and when I went to look at it, naturally I had to see if there were more Halloween cards!

 

 

I was expecting a little more Halloween art on the cards but I do like the box art. The card backs are very nice too, giving more what I'd consider retro vibes. But I guess 'vintage' is also a sliding scale depending on how old you are.

These Jokers are amazing. I want a whole deck based on them! The Ace of Spades is a black cat. The face cards replace the traditional blue and yellow with orange and purple to give them a bit more Halloween feel but no fun art on them. They changed up the suit symbols a bit which helps make it a little less standard.

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