Mystery Comics Digest Number 5: Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery

First off I have to say that I have some doubles of these comics. A few are in very good shape. And some aren't.
This one is in deplorable condition.
I feel embarassed to post pictures of it.
I got it sight unseen on Abebooks  (http://www.abebooks.com).
It's chewed, and had suspicious stains on the first few pages that look like the comic was involved in a murder mystery of its own.
So it's either skip this entry or give it a go, in the hope that I track down a decent copy in future.
With that in mind, here we go:

Not bad you might say?
Check out the table of contents:

If you're still with me, I'll give it a go.
This is a so so Digest, there are three good stories. The Doctor Spektor artist is featured three times, and  these are; "Midnight Mysteries - The Boy and the Beast", a werewolf tale with a happy ending; "A Macabre Mystery - The Eternal Prince", another Egyptology story; and the first Doctor Spektor appearance in these Digests, "The Occult Files of Dr. Spektor - Of Inhuman Bondage", about vampire siamese twins. The best of the lot is "Boy and the Beast".
The other good stories are "Thriller - The Island" - in which a mousy bank employee makes off with the cash to an island paradise, and "Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery - The Man who Stole Immortality", a good story about a man who uses the magic of Merlin to become immortal, for a dark price.
There are two text stories, "Diary of a Demon", which runs for 21 pages, and a short story "The Phantom Rescue" all of three pages.
The cover art refers to a story about a typecast actor who gives a final performance in "Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery - Phantom of the Films".
There is also a cross over with Ripley's Believe it or Not! in a single page story called "The Dream". Later in a Ripley's Digest it expands on the story of a girl who dreams her lover is still alive after the First World War. Her determination drives her to find him trapped in the cellar of a ruined castle.
So there it is, an average Digest compared to later titles.

Mystery Comics Digest Number 4: Ripley's Believe It or Not!

 Interesting cover art, a desperate man throwing a flaming torch at a giant chained man, with horns, while hooded men lurk in the background. "Wierd Eerie! Authentic!"

The table of contents.
This is a good publication. As I had mentioned previously, the same artist is featured in the Digest. Here, the artist creates a lot of detail in his art, and this makes for better comics. "The Shadow Men", "Death Comes Knocking", "The Red Knight of Germany", "Proof of a Ghost", "The Fated Plane" and (I *think*) "Hounds of Death" are all his work.
Another artist is featured as well. This one doesn't have the detail of the first, his panels are more open in that regard, but nevertheless the stories are good; "The Vampires"; "Phantom Hands of Vengeance"; "The Mummy's Hand"; and "The Flaming Scar" and "The Phantom Visitor".
The cover art refers to a text story, "The Fiend of Beachy Head", about a 16th century curse. Beachy Head is a dramatic looking cliff area of England with a reputation as a suicide spot over the ages, with the unfortunates hurling themselves off the cliffs.
http://www.beachyhead.org.uk/uploads/pics/home06_01.jpg
There are also several of the Ripley's Believe it or Not! single page cartoons.
The "Doctor Spector" artist also makes an appearance with several stories; "A Macabre Mystery - The Hug of Death"; "Midnight Mysteries - A Tree Grows in Transylvania"; "Tales of The Macabre - Where There's Smoke There's Fear".
The standout stories are mostly from the first artist. "Death Comes Knocking" is about a Filipino ghost story and tradition where three ghosts knock on the door of the dying. A very good tale. I also really liked the art and story of the Red Baron in World War One, "The Red Knight of Germany". The other standout is from the second featured artist, "The Flaming Scar". Interesting story.

Mystery Comics Digest Number 3: The Twilight Zone

A very attractive cover on the third book introduces the Twilight Zone to the Mystery Comics Digest series. Also it has a pretty common theme in the entire series, Egyptology.
Here are the table of contents;

One thing that is noticeable is that within a Digest, often the same artist is featured throughout. We see that with the following stories; "The Last Sixty Seconds";"Experiment in Purple";"The Last Battle", and "The Ordeal of Bluebird Three". In all four you will see the same faces. I think the artist either was a narcissist or kept drawing his favorite uncle or something like that. Strange. See what you think:

There are a couple of text only stories, "Palace of Knossos", "Strange Sleep"; and The Bewitched Baroness". These are just two pages long.
Also there are some short segments similar to the Ripley's short segments, a collection of single pictures with some text; "Calling The Twilight Zone"; "Lost in the Twilight Zone"; "Voices From The Twilight Zone" (about Abe Lincoln); and "Time Travel into the Twilight Zone".
There are also two stories that look like the "Doctor Spector" artist did them; "Tales of the Macabre : Secret of the Jungle Lord"; and "Midnight Mysteries : Cry of the Dire Wolf". I have to say I've never been a fan of the art or the stories. However the artist does have an appreciation of female beauty, and pretty girls are featured throughout these style of comics.
Generally the stories in this Digest are quite good. A mix of artistic styles, the best stories are "The Bridegroom", about a couple of scammers and heartbreakers who get pulled into the Twilight Zone. There is a similar story called "Voyage to Nowhere", as pathos and a desire to help a beautiful woman has the same result. "The Secret of the Key" is quite good, with an historical switcheroo.
The final story is tied to the cover art, "The Queen is Dead-Long Live the Queen", where a long dead Queen is revived and demands a sacrifice. Long before Katy Perry, there's a throne room scene that is reminisent of her video.

Mystery Comics Digest Number 2: Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery

Here's the cover:

The table of contents:

This comic carries on the text stories like the very first Digest, with two embedded within. There are two very good medieval based stories, at the beginning and the end. Nice artwork and interesting stories.
"Comet With A Curse" is a stupid story That runs for 11 pages. The main character's hair looks half pulled out, and you might do the same with this silly story about a talking comet. Another long story is "A Cage For Hassan" that runs over 20 pages. Irony and ugly art make this a chore. There's a real story that could have been a Ripley's, about Major Martin, a corpse that was planted for the Nazi's to find along with some false documents.
A repeat from the first Boris Karloff digest is here, "Voyage of No Return", about a cruel sea captain who finds justice. This is an effective story with good artwork.
Overall impression? A weak presentation, and not the first on any list.
A couple of pictures of the knights in the first story "The Sorcerer's Potion" and the last "Vengeance of the Armored Arm".

Great artwork!

Mystery Comics Digest Number 1: Ripley's Believe It Or Not!

A nice and creepy cover to start the series. (Incidentally, a while back someone on ebay was selling these cover paintings as originals. Were they authentic or just art school reproductions? Who knows, but they were asking around $200 each.)
Here's a photo of the contents pages:

I won't go through every story (unless someone requests it), rather I will mention some of the standout stories or art and give a general impression of the stories in the digest. Also, I will endeavour to post a list of "Labels" to each blog post, so that people looking for a specific type of story might more easily find them.
This first book has several fictional stories as well as Ripley stories. Also there are three written stories, like the ones in the first Boris Karloff book.
My impression is that this is a good introduction to the series, although I would have wanted more Ripley's. Also there are several pages of those Ripley factoids with a sentence or two to accompany a drawing scattered throughout.
Of the Ripley stories, there are a few stand outs. One is "The Dark Rider", about the real Napoleonic cavalry general Steingel. He had a premonition of his death that he confessed to Napoleon on the eve of the Battle of Marengo in 1800. The artwork is quite good for a comic book, Steingel is dressed as an elite Chasseur a Cheval and the Austrian Cuirassier looks near enough the part. The depiction of Death on horseback is quite effective.
"The Werewolves of Poligny" is a good story, but the artwork isn't quite there.
"Double Image" is a story about two men who had remarkably similar lives in parallel.
"The Beast of The Humboldt" is an odd name for a bigfoot story. Basically it's the origin story of the term bigfoot, where a road crew find big tracks and damaged road building equipment. The art work is sub par, as Bigfoot looks like a silly haystack, with buck teeth. Too bad the artwork let the story down. The Digest was published about 3 or four years after Roger Patterson's film at Bluff Creek, so it could be the original story was written and drawn before that seminal event.
"The Vampire" is a good story. A soldier in Hungary is attacked when out on campaign, and he returns home a sick man. Some of the vampire lore is mixed in the story. The vampire must eat dirt from the vampire's grave as a curative, and sunlight can kill the vampire. Oddly, the soldier dies in a road accident, so I suppose the dirt was working?
"The Haunted Villa" is based on a story by Pliny The Younger, about ghosts in ancient Greece.
"The Devil's Steed" is a well drawn story about a demon horse, the first of the Ripley's demon stories. Good story with great art.
A couple of interesting stories, one about the curse of the Hohenzollern family and the near death of Sir Walter Scott before he was even born.
The worst story is an odd one.
"Midnight Mysteries Trojan Horror", about a wierd looking horse that attacks humanity from outer space.
Not the best issue, but pretty good for a beginning.
This is a page from "Dark Rider". Great looking Grim Reaper! Incidentally, I looked up the story, and the General died after being wounded and having an arm amputated in 1796 IIRC.

 This is the haystack Bigfoot with buck teeth I mentioned in "The Beast of the Humboldt". I think bigfoot has more to fear of dentists that we do of him.

This last image is from "The Devil's Steed". Throughout the Mystery Comics Digest series, this particular artist does yeoman work, bringing these stories alive with his artwork. He did many stories of beasts and demons, and he also drew some very pretty female characters.

The First Book?

The first book to consider is an outsider of sorts. While strictly speaking it is not part of the 26 Mystery Comics Digest, it is of the same format in many ways.
Here's the dramatic cover:

It is listed as "Boris Karloff Story Digest Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 1, June 1970.Produced by Periodicals Department of Golden Press. Authorized Edition. Printed in the U.S.A. Published four times a year by Western Publishing Company, Inc. Copyright @ 1970, by Boris Karloff.

Here's a picture of the contents:

 The book is a series of stories with a couple of single tone orange/red tinted drawings to illustrate a certain scene or two. The first story, "The Black Pearl" is about the finding of a cursed pearl, and how the hero must return it to the ocean bed, with the help of a jeweller who reveals the true nature of this evil find.
Next is "Restless Hands", an unusual first person narrative about a sculptor whose talent brings life to his creations. Unfortunately, his talented hands were as another being he could not control, and he ends up suffering for their deeds.
"The Strange Fate of E. Neadle" is a story about a grave robber in England, who is scared into confessing by the ghosts he disturbed. It has a rather dramatic and gruesome ending.
"Cry Wolf" is another first person narrative. The narrator is rescued from a hunting trip near Seattle by a doctor, and soon a strange transformation takes him over.
"Voyage of No Return". This is the story about a cursed ship's captain, who was the cruel sole survivor of a wreck. He is accused of killing his surviving crew in order to save himself. He stands before a board of inquiry, but is let off as there were no witnesses. Then a mysterious stranger appears and signs him as captain of a new ship.
(This story later appears in Mystery Comics Digest).
"The Well of Fear" A newspaperman is drawn to Cairo by a friend who has found an opening to Hell.
"Vengeance of The Castle Creature".A man is hired to rebuild a ruined Scottish castle.
"The Iron Mask". A man in New Orleans impersonates a famous magician, and meets him unexpectedly.
"The Quill Pen".A very short story about the consequences of using a famous person's pen.
"Old Jeb's Bitter Secret".An old sailing vessel refuses to be scrapped until it's dark secret is revealed.
"Escape into Fear".An army deserter finds justice in the past.
Overall, the stories aren't bad, but I bought the comic online expecting, well, comics. Certainly unusual, but as you may know, the short stories did carry over into the Mystery Comics Digest line, and some were quite good.

A couple of illustrations, typical of the issue. The first is from "The Strange Fate of E. Neadle", and the second is from "Escape Into Fear".

First Post!

I've always been a fan of these pocket book comics.
Originally there were 26 issued, and encompassed three comic books; Ripley's Believe It or Not!; Boris Karloff's Tales of Mystery; and The Twilight Zone.
Many were sold in bags of 2 issues for .99 cents.
Here's the wiki link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_Comics_Digest

• "Believe It or Not!- #1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 25
• Boris Karloff- #2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 26
• Twilight Zone- #3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24"

What I hope to do is post pictures of the comic covers, as well as list the stories inside with a brief synopsis. Perhaps it will help others looking to find these gems of our childhood.

I also have quite a few Ripley's Believe It Or Not! comic books, and I will either start a separate blog for those, or add in as appropriate.
So, here we go!