Halloween Extra - Journey Into Unknown Worlds #26 - "Haunted House"

Fellow travelers, this bloody blast from the past was published in April 1954 by Atlas! No known art or story credits...perhaps a spectral pen dipped in deep maroon?

I'll try to squeeze in one more killer-diller before the witching hour strikes! Sorry about the tech difficulties, keeds!

Halloween Extra - Forbidden Worlds #22 - "The Cursed Casket"

HELL -

Oh, kids, and welcome back to another frightful eyeful!

This story is from Forbidden Worlds #22, published in October 1953 by Titan Publishing (or ACG - The American Comics Group). It's entitled "The Cursed Casket, and was illustrated by Bob Forgione!

Enjoy, and I'll see you in another hour!

click each pic to enlarge for reading
































Well, kids, your Barker was genuinely trying to entertain you with some bloody fun on the hour every hour, but it turns out Blogger is a complete piece of crap! Image uploading appears to be broken off and on, and internal errors abound! Yet, it still registers the space taken by the images, haha! Oh, yes, it's FREE, so I shouldn't complain, but I'm going to anyway! I'll keep trying to get it all posted, but until I can get it to work more than 25% of the time, keep this little thought in mind:

"Free of charge" is sometimes a kind way of saying "worthless!"

Watch this space for more horror throughout the night!

Halloween Extra - Astonishing #4 - "The Nightmare"

Here's the deal-ee-OH, creeps and creepettes:

Your Barker LUVS the Halloween, and LUVS U, so every hour from now until Midnight (the bitchin' witchin' hour), he's gonna post up a mess of spine-chilling and heart-thrilling horror tales to grab you by the short hairs!

This first tale is from Astonishing #4, published in June 1951 by Marvel Comics, and is entitled "The Nightmare!" It's by Hank "Chappy" Chapman (Script), and Wayne "Never" Boring (Pencils & Inks)!

Enjoy, and I'll see you in an hour for more!

click each pic to enlarge for reading

Halloween Extra - This Magazine is Haunted #4 - "The Constant Eye"

Hello, and welcome to another Barker's Blog Halloween Extra!

This scarifying slice of gore is entitled "The Constant Eye," and is from This Magazine is Haunted #4, published by Fawcett in April 1952! The cover (which your Barker has included here because it's Kewl) is by artist Sheldon Moldoff, and the story itself is written and illustrated by Bernard Baily (who was also co-creator of the 1940s supernatural superhero The Spectre!)

You can find out more about This Magazine is Haunted by clicking this link!

Eye'll see all of you tomorrow for the big Halloween Special finisher!

click each pic to enlarge for reading!

Halloween Extra - Weird Chills #1 - "The Man Who Never Smiled"

Hello, my good cats! In celebration of making bail Halloween, your Barker's got a selection of gruesome classic comic stories from now through October 31st!

Our first bloody blast comes from Weird Chills #1, published in July 1954 by Key Publications!

It's a short-but-never-sweet tale illustrated by legendary weirdo artist Basil Wolverton, entitled "The Man Who Never Smiled!"

Enjoy, and I'll be back with more on Tuesday!

click each picture to enlarge for reading!

Apologies and the Fall Schedule

Sorry I've been missing, kids - your Barker had to flee redneck justice embark on an impromptu south-of-the-border vacation for a few days, and while there discovered that Tijuana can be just as uptight about archaic morals and laws. I ask you, as long as everyone involved is a consenting adult, what's a little duct tape and Chloroform amongst friends?

As you know, the Fall season is the busy season for the traveling Carnival and Circus. So, it's with a heavy heart and a light pocket that I must inform you of an adjustment in posting frequency here at The Barker's Blog throughout the rest of the calendar year. From now until January 2008 we'll be going to a Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule. I'll still be here, but in a diminished capacity. After January 1st, we'll try to resume a Monday through Friday regularity.
And, since your Barker is currently posting this by leeching Wi-Fi from a holding cell using his lawyer's laptop while still basking in the Tijuana sun, it will be next Monday, October 29th before I'm able to post again. Everyone needs clemency a vacation once in a while!

I'll see you in seven to ten next Monday!

Tragic Magic #3 - EGGCELLENT

Here's Trixy the primate hermaphrodite once again, showing us how to get the most out of that empty bottle and egg we all have lying around the house! This one's from Funny Folks #23, published by DC Comics in December 1949 - January 1950!

As a bonus, we get to see DC's line of titles being published in that era, and a list of their "Editorial Advisory Board." That's a lot of smarts coming together for a book about talking squirrels...

Freak of the Week #5 - Eko and Iko, The Men From Mars!

Willie and George Muse led the kind of life they make movies about, shady ladies and gentle gigolos - well, the kind of life they make slam-bang sideshow attractions out of, anyhow!

click picture to enlarge (original freakStomp illustration by RelleR)

These African-American albino twin brothers were born in the 1890s, and were kidnapped as children by bounty hunters contracting out to a sideshow promoter! Told their mother was dead, the two were resigned to a lifelong fate as carnival attractions!

As they toured, their promoter made them grow their hair out into natty dreadlocks to accentuate their already odd appearance, and in 1922 Al G. Barnes presented them in his circus as "White Ecuadorian Cannibals" under the stage names Eko and Iko.

This act failed (if there's one thing the sideshow has enough of, it's Ecuadorian Cannibals), and they were relabeled "Sheep-Headed Men" - then, after that inevitable failure (sheep-headed men...yeesh), freshly dressed in dapper tuxedos, George and Willie were re-branded the "Ambassadors From Mars" in 1923!

click to enlarge

The brothers traveled with the Barnes Circus and learned to play the mandolin, but evidently they didn't learn how to play "We're In The Money" on it, because the shyster Barnes never paid them!

They toured with Ringling Bros. in the mid-1920s, and their Mother (who'd been alive all this time) finally tracked them down as they passed through their hometown in 1927. She fought and threatened to sue the circus, and the Muse brothers were at long-last free!

They filed a lawsuit in an attempt to recoup back wages, but weren't successful in their attempt to reap the 100,000 dollars they felt they were owed. Instead, they found themselves missing the carnival life (it is addictive, my boils and goils, like chocolate-flavored Crystal Meth), so their personal ambulance chaser got them a small lump-sum payment and a fat contract with a hefty monthly wage!

They made their triumphant return to the freakshow in 1928. During their Madison Square Garden appearances, crowds of 10,000 gawkers watched their act! Their contract allowed them to market and sell their own merchandise, and they became wealthy sheep-headed men from the profits! In the 30s they toured Europe, performing for dignitaries - even the Queen of England!

In 1937 they returned to Ringling, and finally wound down their long careers with the Clyde Beatty Circus in 1961.

Returning home, they settled in a house they'd built for their mother - never marrying, although entertaining many a curious dame.

George Muse passed in 1971. His brother Willie filtered into the ether in 2001, at an incredible 108 years of age!

They're probably together on the Red Planet right now, decked out in spit-and-polish tuxes, playing a tune on the mandolin for their Martian leaders...

Raccoons and Moles Around the Tent Poles!

Hello, my groping groupies! The Barker has selected another Anthropomorphic (look it up, kid) Adventure for your picto-literature today, featuring The Raccoon Kids and Muggsy the Mole! This one's from Movietown's Animal Antics #45, originally published in July-August 1953 by DC Comics! It's illustrated by a fellow with the absolutely delicious name of Otto Feuer! So, sit back and let the Mole lie to you for a while...

click each picture page to enlarge for reading!

Circus, Sideshow, & Carnival Posters

A smattering of vintage advertisements to occupy your ocular region...click to enlarge...