House of Mystery vs. The Thing

I was reading a review the other day of the Showcase Presents The House of Mystery trade from DC of a few months ago. This review not only put forth the notion that the stories were for an older audience but suitable for children (like all '60s DC comics, they were created for children), but the reviewer used on of the defenses I most hate when discussing really big books, along the order that, "there are so many stories in here there's bound to be something you'll like." Yeah, and if I watch NBC all day and all night, I'm sure I'll enjoy some of the shows--that doesn't justify wasting that much time, you know? I'm not saying House of Mystery is worthless--get it for Neal Adams and Russ Heath and all the other fine artists, along with the usually funny Sergio Aragones interstitial work. It's a cheap buy to see that much good art, so yes, get it. But the stories, hamstrung as they were by Comics Code Authority restrictions on the kinds of things you usually need for good horror stories, have no balls whatsoever. There are some decent ghost stories and such sprinkled throughout, but when you're faced with so much other mediocrity, and on eye-glazing newsprint, it's hard to find the wheat amid the chaff.

A better bet is a book that no doubt flew under many people's radar, Steve Ditko's The Thing, from Pure Imagination Publishing, $25. These are short stories Ditko wrote and drew for Charlton Comics from 1954-1960 (half are from 1954, then jump ahead to 1957-1958 and 1 story each from '59 and '60) in titles like The Thing, Mysteries of Unknown Worldds, Do You Believe in Nightmares?, Strange Suspense Stories and others. One significant fact should have jumped out at you--Ditko wrote and drew these spooky stories, in effect having his own book for a while there, and without the help and hindrance of Stan Lee he would have in the '60s. The other important fact is that these stories from 1954 saw the young creator producing work prior to the creation of the Comics Code Authority in 1955. Once they got involved, Ditko's horror work was cut short at that point, as was the case with many great talents, and the second half of the book is considerably tamer, though still of a pretty high quality. There are a handful of science fiction/fantasy stories, often having to do with a kind of secret world or other layer of reality most of us don't see. Though the stories often end on an upbeat note (at times rather false and seemingly editorially mandated or CCA-mandated), the overall effect is a melancholy and dissatisfaction with the world we know, which of course echoes through Ditko's Spider-Man as well. His art by 1957 is already very much in that style already, especially the way he draws women's faces and hairstyles, and the panel compositions are similar. The earlier stuff, however, is a bit more interesting, with darker panels and the figures drawn much smaller within those panels--more of an EC Comics influence, the standard-bearer for horror at that time. The first story, "Cinderella," is a retake on the classic fairy tale with the addition of vampires, and as silly as it is, it still ends up far creepier than most modern "dark" reimaginings of classic children's literature like Alice in Wonderland. And as those who remember Ditko's original design for the Green Goblin will attest, no one draws grinning monsters any scarier than Ditko. The book is around 200 pages and in terms of numbers it's not as much of a "bargain" as the House of Mystery volume, but the stories are better and much more memorable.