Oh, the Horror!

For most of their history, superhero comics have chased after pop cultural fads and fancies...readily transitioning to whatever new trend might guarantee a few more sales. However, there were points along the timeline when those thematic shifts became awkward, ill-fitting spectacles.

One of the strangest of these shifts occurred when the superhero comics of the 1940's lost popularity and gave way to a crazy-quilt of new genres like western, funny animal, crime, romance, and horror comics. Leading the wave of horror comics was EC Comics and their infamous line of graphic and gruesome tales.

Unlike Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman (whose large sales guaranteed their survival) most of the superheroes so popular during World War II had simply vanished...while a few others struggled to stay afloat by incorporating horror themes into their flagging titles. One of these curious hero/horror hybrids was the once lighthearted Captain Marvel, who now found himself facing "The Death Horror" and sharing Whiz Comics with horror host Dr. Death. As you can see on the far-right cover, desperate publisher Fawcett Comics also shoehorned a war story into the issue...clearly a sign they had no earthly idea where the marketplace was heading in the early 50's. In fact, it should come as no surprise that this issue was the final issue of the series.

Even the inherently silly Plastic Man found himself embroiled in a steady stream of supernatural adventures prior to his own title's cancellation.

As off-kilter as the final months of their titles were, at least Captain Marvel and Plastic Man appeared on their covers right up to the bitter end.  Captain America, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. On the cover of the newly-titled Captain America's Weird Tales (left) Cap fights a long-taloned Red Skull...yet on the cover of his final issue (right), Cap is nowhere to be seen!  Talk about an ignominious end!

Ah, but horror comics themselves would meet their own ignominious end a few years later, as superheroes would once again become the dominant genre. But wait...like the unkillable killer of a slasher movie, the horror genre returned to popularity in the early 1970's.  Triggered by America's new fascination with the occult, trend-chasing comic book companies (particularly DC Comics) once again shoehorned their superheroes into a steady stream of supernatural situations.

Comments

[Zetaman]

For some reason, the Captain America's Weird Tales just make my brains scream out of my head. It's like looking at a 5 sided square.

[suedenim]

Huh, I'd never really thought about the impact of the '70s horror revival on superhero comics, but there's a lot there....

One thing I've been curious about is to what extent Captain America, the character, appeared in "Captain America's Weird Tales." Or to put it differently, was Captain America ever a "horror host," introducing the stories?

[Mark Engblom]

Good question, suedenim. I don't know either, having only come across the covers. As strange as it would be to see Cap hosting a horror story (ala the Crypt Keeper), my guess is that he wasn't used for that role. As for the final issue, since he didn't even appear on the cover, it's probably not a stretch to guess he didn't appear on the inside, either. If anyone knows, I'd love to find out more.

[Mark Engblom]

"Huh, I'd never really thought about the impact of the '70s horror revival on superhero comics, but there's a lot there...."

Marvel Comics also jumped onto the horror bandwagon, but in their case, they seemed to build an entire line of comics starring supernatural characters, such as Dracula, Werewolf by Night, Frankenstein, and others. Sure, a few of their superhero comics featured obvious horror-oriented characters (such as Spider-Man villain Morbius), but for the most part, they didn't intermix superheroes and horror elements to the extent DC did.

[Ralph C.]

Hey, the comics had to adapt to survive, much like the Rolling Stones or Aerosmith did (the Rolling Stones had a DISCO song for cryin' out loud!!).

Genres come around one corner and leave around another corner, then they peek around the corner later on, see that it's safe and come around it again, etcetera, etcetera. Wasn't there a little ripple of Western titles again a year or so ago (that Jonah Hex title is going well, I hear. I've read a few issues of it and it is excellent)?

This time period continues to be one where anyone can pretty much find whatever genre they want. (Well, it seems that way, to me.) That is a real groovy thing, and I can dig it.

[rlsims]

Regarding the Captain America's Weird Tales book...

I believe Steranko said in his History of Comics vol. 1 that Cap appeared only in the first story of the first issue of the book. And he fought Red Skull in hell. Yeah, in hell. The rest of the issue was standard horror comics. In the second issue, Cap was there in the book's title only.

As to less savory covers from formerly wholesome superheroes in the early '50s, here's a pretty creepy example:

http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=10072&zoom=4