MYSTERIOUS STORIES Volume 1

We have a real sleeper here. George Woodbridge was a brilliant artist but wasn't in comics long enough to be well-recognized today. Here he does three covers and a story, collaborating with Angelo Torres on the cover and story in #3 - it looks like Frazetta drew it. From here he went on to a 44-year career with MAD Magazine, beginning in 1957. The first issue of this was Horror from the Tomb. Fetid horror stories also featuring more fine work by more unsung artists: Kurt Schaffenberger (Superman, Lois Lane), Richard Doxee (a stand-out at Stan Lee's Atlas) and Cal Massey. This early George Woodbridge work reminds us of Sid Check and Al McWilliams. I wanted to also add of Angelo Torres, except I'd forgotten until now that Torres actually inked the work mentioned above. As you know, Torres frequently contributed to EC stories, collaborating with Al Williamson and Frank Frazetta on several masterpieces. Torres went on to a run of super work for Stan Lee's Atlas titles, and then was one was of the stand-out creators on the early Creepy and Eerie magazines from Warren. Doxee is far less well known than either of the men mentioned above. But he also did some fine work, again in Atlas titles, but obviously left comics before the Marvel Age came along. Cal Massey ALSO worked in the Atlas issues, including many western stories a la Kid Colt, Two-Gun Kid, etc. Wild pages of the half-dozen (the series stopped with #7) ghoulish issues of tiny publisher Premier's title. Another rattling collection of not-so-cuddly corpses and delish-a-rooney damsels in distress, featuring such other writers and artists as Joseph Szokoli, Gerald Altman and Jon D'Agostino.