The Haunt of Fear
| The Haunt of Fear | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Publication information | |
| Publisher | EC Comics |
| Schedule | Bimonthly |
| Format | Anthology |
| Publication date(s) | May/June 1950 - November/December 1954 |
| No. of issues | 28 |
| Main character(s) |
Crypt-Keeper Old Witch Vault-Keeper |
| Creative team | |
| Created by |
William Gaines Al Feldstein |
The Haunt of Fear was an American bi-monthly horror comic anthology series published by EC Comics in 1950. Along with Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror, it formed a trifecta of popular EC horror anthologies. The Haunt of Fear was sold at newsstands beginning with its May/June 1950 issue. It ceased publication with its November/December 1954 issue, compiling a total of 28 issues.
American horror comics emerged as a distinct comic book genre after World War II. At this time, US young adult males lost interest in caped crime fighters. Also, returning GIs demanded titillating sex and violence in their reading. One-shot Eerie (1947) is generally considered the first true American horror comic. Its cover depicted a dagger-wielding, red eyed ghoul who threatened a rope-bound, scantily clad, voluptuous young woman, beneath a full moon. In 1948, Adventures Into the Unknown became the first regularly published horror title. It enjoyed a nearly two decade life-span. Fiction House had a regular horror series with Werewolf Hunter starting in 1943 that appeared in its comic Rangers Comics.
In 1950, publisher Gaines and his editor, Al Feldstein, discovered they shared similar tastes in horror. They first began experimenting with horror tales as features in their existing titles, such as Crime Patrol, which was briefly retitled The Crypt of Terror and finally Tales from the Crypt, by which point the horror genre had become predominant. (In the early 1950s, comic book publishers, seeking to save money on second-class postage permits, frequently changed the titles of their comics, rather than start new ones at "#1"). An EC Western comic book series called Gunfighter (which itself had originated with #5, having adopted the numbering from Fat & Slat) was similarly rechristened The Haunt of Fear with issue #15. The Haunt numbering was reset after #17 (3), as explained in the letter column of issue #4: "After publishing issues 15, 16 and 17, the United States Post Office requested that the fourth issue actually be numbered No. 4 rather than No. 18... Well, 'ya can't fight City Hall!'" (The EC war comic Two-Fisted Tales took over the old Haunt numbering, starting with issue #18, and itself never ended up resetting). For this reason, even within the same original 1950s series, there are actually two separate issues each of The Haunt of Fear #15, 16, 17.
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