How soon can you dispatch an infantry platoon to capture the most dangerous man in the country?

Let’s get this show on the road with a sensation. My favorite Ace horror story. Executed by star artist Lou Cameron in top-notch quality (alas, the scan is not).
Cameron goes pop-art here, just look at that splash! A wild and funny and crazy tale of mad science combined with power hunger.

But that will upset the whole pattern of life and death!

A delightful weird mix out of horrors in a morgue, voodoo baloney, a mad doctor crossdressing as a vampire and an evil swarm of vultures, of course. How could you possibly ask for more?

You never did have much brains, Spike. I might as well smash out the little that you do!

What begins like your standard grisly horror lore (electrocuted killer coming back for barbarous revenge) takes unexpected turns and is a fascinating read. Unsettling story with a most unusual ending, one of the finest by McLaughlin.

Beat him! But not to death! I have not yet made him serve my purpose!

Time to relax? By no means, because it gets worse. Women with whips, singing death songs. Severed heads and fiery damnation. Perfectly fitted for Streeter’s femmes fatales. Take it away, Lin!

I have something here you’d enjoy just looking at. But it’s not for sale!

Where would horror comics be without those curio shops, where friendly demons and helpful witches sell magic artifacts – to create a nice story out of?! Mostly, though, they don’t sell it, they just tease their customers to take it by force. And off we go! Play foul!
Another top-notch job by Ken Rice.

We are both creatures of horror! We need each other!

Brace yourself for this attack of a giant wooden Frankenstein monster! Hold on to your seat, else you might fall off laughing. Why was it always Bill Molno getting the hilarious stories to illustrate?!

I have the strength for one last grim smile…

Masterfully executed story with a fine twist. Would have graced EC’s line of horror mags.
My secret hope is that this website will trigger a book of Lou Cameron’s best stories. A collection of his works is long overdue.

Beware of beautiful girls near cemeteries at night…

Let’s delve head-on into some spider horror. And who would be more appropriate in delivering it than Dick Beck, our man with that slightly sickening approach to horror?

What weird creeps! But I ought to make a pile of dough out of the information they can give me!

A gangster brings the signs of the zodiac to life and rules a supernatural mob. Zansky’s ideal playfield – crime blended with mythological horror.

All the scenes you will see are a true picture of some hideous crime or death! Shall we begin?

Fantastic science blended with crime and highlights from history. A perfect example for Ace’s inventiveness. It’s hard to imagine this kind of story coming from another horror publisher.

Don’t worry! They’re my slaves! Come here, you skulking beasts!

The sweet looking artwork covers a story of unusually violent content. In the beginning, a werewolf lacerates a child, in the end four figures swing from a gallows. The artist is unidentified; a little mystery has to remain.

In two days the hundredth anniversary of my execution takes place. I shall come for you then!

Chic Stone arranges this bitter revenge plot with violence galore. Holes dented in heads, gunfire, knifings, burning beards, brandished swords and murderous snakes. This is quite tough stuff for Ace. Luckily Stone’s cartoony illustrations water the horror down a bit. They even lend a comical touch to it…

All that is left is one eye! And soon that will be gone!

I won’t tell a thing in advance. Just read it. And start collecting money for that book about Lou Cameron.

I’ll never join you in such a fiendish partnership!

Those writers sometimes just seemed to bug out. Here’a story of two vampires battling each other. Calling themselves names, forward and backward. At the end we find a bat hacking away at a typewriter. This is sheer madness, but great fun, too.

See… spirit form comes back! Prepare drink and animal skin!

Your standard monster fare, but chosen for the artwork. You can see clearly how this incognito artist imitates good-girl-champion Matt Baker. And he does it very well.

My body has become a fluid thing, able to blend at will with any material I want! Now my hands will blend with your throat – Ha, ha! – until you’re dead!

I simply love stories about mad science. Here’s one where a man gains the ability to melt with objects. All this resulting in a crazy manhunt and a grotesque finale.

All those capitalist lies about vampires… The party line is that there are no such things as vampires!

McLaughlin at his finest. I see startling influences by Rice and Cameron.
A big hand for the Ace writing staff. Intoxicating how they combine vampire lore with communist occupation. Okay, Stan Lee depicted Stalin himself as a vampire, but nonetheless…

Trappin’ weird creatures is my business an’ I can outsmart any freak!

Too cool to be true plot about a hardboilded adventurer capturing monsters for side shows. In this we get werewolves, mermaids and a whole flock of vampires (staking each other!). Stuff which has really been unseen before. Surely one of the wildest stories ever to appear in pre-code horror.

You belong to the devil! His mark is on your forehead!

A fierce and grim story of war and the demons haunting its survivors. And as always in Ace comic books – there’s no escape from one’s personal guilt and fate.
My Colan favorite of the few stories he did for Ace horror.

Free me, so that I may leave this stone prison and we shall be together forever!

Touching drama of a young couple. The woman falls under an evil spell, and the husband is doomed to be only the bystander. Good example for Ace’s strong suit: well written, intelligent plot borrowing from mythology, creatively illustrated and therefore rememberable.

Look at the silly old clown! Ha, Ha! I’m glad you’re dead, Harry Lord!

A reckless wowan thinks she’s got it all. Then fate and bitter irony come looking for her…

You have my hands! They do only as I command!

Unusually unsavory for an Ace story.  It’s about murders, plastic surgery, severed fingers, corpses in wax – all the things you would have rather attributed to the competition. But the story is fun. What I find most astonishing is the matter-of-course-ness of the main character. He’s a deformed monster (scar across his face, empty eye socket and all) – it’s never questioned or explained! Cameron relished doing that, I suspect…

That bird! It’s not a bird! It’s a… a woman! And… UGH!… that smell!

This could be the only story explicitly set in New York that Ace horror ever did. And it’s a strange one with sexual undertones lurking throughout! Two men romping through the bushes of Central Park, sitting on benches, encountering a mythical super-woman who seduces and kills one of them. The other sticking it to her with a blunt object between the legs! Is this a hint at homosexuality?!

Am I seeing things – or are these creeps real?

This is just Wow! Fast-paced action story based on the saying “If looks could kill…” – and of course they do! One of the best Fate stories ever.
About the art: I see Molno in there, but not solo. It’s probably Nicholas inking him – or the other way round.

Throw that thing overboard, Ralph! It keeps growing…

Larsen’s only work for Ace horror – here it is.
Have a look at that final panel! More text was seldomly crammed into a balloon. That’s not a balloon anymore – it’s a pamphlet! But enter now… the little shop of horrors!

The secret of my shocking realism? I never fake a scene!

Highly inventive Hollywood setting. Mixes vampire legends of the Balkan (the count, the valet, the resurrection) with movie making business (film star adoration, cult of the genius, celluloid magic). Do we see here the first decription of a “snuff movie”?
The schmaltzy happy ending however feels almost like a parody of the preceding activities.

I wonder what it would be like to kiss a primitive creature like her?

Lou Cameron goes good girl art. A hard boiled adventurer marries a tiger, and why not? This is Ace horror fare at its best – well written, full of fantasy, gripping and masterfully drawn. And in this case even sexy.

I may retire! I am bored playing my inferiors!

A one-time collaboration of Rice and Mastroserio – interesting. And a good example for the cruelty of Fate. Observe the relentless morale: Fate condemns the chess player Nicola, just because he is vain and has seen too much.

No woman will be able to look at you without shuddering!

Very funny early job by McLaughlin, maybe not inked by himself. Total dud of a story.
Begins with an almost slapsticky scene (man sidestepping so that the other falls) and does never recover from this nonsensical start.

I’ve discovered the answer… and it’s horrible!

Excellent science baloney featuring cute demons! The devil is driven away with a flashlight!
Dick Beck just couldn’t draw anything frightening. I would have posted a nice werewolf yarn with the drollest werewolves ever seen (alas, the scan was too bad).

Murder is always so messy – and you may be punished for it. Couldn’t you wait a hundred years?

Ace specialized in retelling ancient myths. The nonsense they produce by recycling the legend of the Phoenix however is nothing less than mind-boggling. Please read for yourself. Great fun, though, because Lin Streeter is in top form.

Crush him to death! Then we must hurry back to the museum…

Fantastic story about stone statues come to life and going on a murder spree. Smartly staged and wonderfully rendered by Lou Cameron.His style looks unusual, because he is experimenting with a certain fountain pen in these months.

You’re not Jan! You are somebody who’s been long dead! Eeeeiiiyii!

A young woman, alone in northern Africa, looking for her sweetheart – and meeting someone “with the face of Satan”. Can you guess his name?
This is our art sample for the forgotten 1950s artist Richard Case. His best of the few stories he did for Ace horror books.

Even the moon seems to mock me and fill my brain with an insatiable fury!

Danger lurks in the business of hand blown glass. Exceptionally good early job by Ken Rice.

You are my slave now, for you looked into the Devil’s mirror!

Beautiful work by Zansky. This story presents variations of other stories which deal with realms beyond the looking-glass („Mirror Of Mephisto“ in WEB15, “The Other Side Of The Macabre Mirror” in BEY11 and even “Mirror Macabre” in HAND17).  Ace writers seemed to fancy satanic mirror worlds…

“Don’t you dare touch me, you murderin’ hussy!”

Surely one of the maddest stories ever to appear in a horror comic book. Lovely!
Absolutely insane, over-the-top job by the master of smudginess. You will want to wash your hands after reading anything by Al Eadeh. This is one of the only two stories he did for Ace horror.

I yield to no mortal! I will destroy and hang you!

Horrible indeed. A grim and relentless tale, nicely executed by Charles Nicholas. The coloring of this one is wild, ferocious, rampant, in short: a riot.

Let us just say I am not yet ready for the grave…

Audio mania and vinyl visions run alongside in this McLaughlin classic.

The mad action starts right on the splash. Sound technician Rex Vorse strangles a woman because he needs the sound of a woman being strangled. How blinded by your daily routine can you get?!
Rex hasn’t got a one-track mind, he’s got a four-track stereo brain!
(please add puns of your own…)

With this drug I can escape the police… and the present… I’ll go back in time…

Never was fantasy fancier than in this breathtaking journey through time.

Oh, Pierre, would you not give me a gift of your love? Diamonds, perhaps?

A greedy woman takes center stage in this story about all colours of vanity. A rare exception, and a gripping story.

By changing your facial muscles you become an entirely new man…

Chic Stone calls the ghouls and calls the shots in this feeble-minded action travesty.
In the end wiser words were never spoken: “Come, we’re going back to the city – and sanity!”

x

Ugh! Look what being hanged has done to her!

Hangings! A burning. Fiery death! Madness! Greed! Bondage! Torture! Rotting corpses! Witchcraft! Downright revolting, how wonderful.
This Cameron solo is action packed and possibly the ugliest, nastiest story ever published in Ace horror books. The splash page alone is horrifying: a sad and deperate looking man making a salute-like gesture to a woman’s body, swinging by her neck in the background!
Cameron always got those brutal assignments…

I’ll show you what I think of you and your Siva, you old hag!

Most sexy story ever to appear in Ace horror books, executed by mystery artist „Ace Baker“. Good, straight, powerful story with tragic twist as well.

Either he’s mad or we are! This can’t be happening…

Simply hilarious. Molno’s stiff artwork (and a congenial dialogue!) make this story one of Ace’s funniest. Every law of nature gets violated, every law of physics bent – anything for a laugh.

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If you recall, Satan, I swore revenge… on the entire world.

Surprisingly complex story about a Midas touch, wherein (almost casually!) the devil himself is checkmated. Is this perhaps the only pact-with-the-devil story, in which Satan actually gets the short end of the stick?

Once a month from now to eternity we shall come to life – and spend the night killing…!

Watch out! Deadly dolls are on the road again.

Masterfully presented by Louis Zansky, sorry for the unclean scan. Click to enlarge the pages.

Being a were-beast is a small enough price for getting my hands on all that money!

A woman turning into a were-alligator? Biting and bitching alligator horror. Why not? You read it first here on ACE HORROR.

Good example for McLaughlin’s “late period”. He relies heavily on black spaces, all action takes place almost exclusively in the shadows of the dark bayou waters. McLaughlin avoids drawing faces where he can. It’s his way of working as fast and effectively as possible.

This book is interesting! It’s called “Life After Death”. I shall enjoy talking to the chap who wrote it.

Highly original first-person narrative.
Death takes it slow and idles around for some hours.
Please notice the breathtaking underwater “camera”-shot on the bottom of page 6…

Who can say where sanity ended and the supernatural began?

Each Ace horror comic book featured two one-page stories which were flamboyantly titled “True Tales of the Supernatural” or “True Tales of Unexplained Mystery” or “Baffling Mysteries” or “A Hand of Fate Mystery”.

Here’s our 12-page tribute to the man who had to draw those stupid and ungrateful one-pagers. Ace produced almost 200 of them – and Sy Grudko illustrated almost all of them!
Enjoy Grudko at his zaniest, whackiest, most insane, in short: at his best.