Horror comics are comic books , graphic novels , black-and-white comics magazines, and manga focusing on horror fiction . In the US market, horror comic books reached a peak in the late 1940s through the mid-1950s, when concern over content and the imposition of the self-censorship Comics Code Authority contributed to the demise of many titles and the toning down of others. Black-and-white horror-comics magazines, which did not fall under the Code, flourished from the mid-1960s through the early 1980s from a variety of publishers. Mainstream American color comic books experienced a horror resurgence in the 1970s, following a loosening of the Code. While the genre has had greater and lesser periods of popularity, it occupies a firm niche in comics as of the 2010s.
145-413: The Tomb of Dracula is an American horror comic book series published by Marvel Comics from April 1972 to August 1979. The 70-issue series featured a group of vampire hunters who fought Count Dracula and other supernatural menaces. On rare occasions, Dracula would work with these vampire hunters against a common threat or battle other supernatural threats on his own, but more often than not, he
290-585: A US$ 1 billion lawsuit against POW! in May 2018, asserting that POW! had not disclosed the terms of its acquisition by Camsing to him. Lee stated that POW! CEO Shane Duffy and co-founder Gill Champion had presented him with what they said was a non-exclusive license for POW! for him to sign, under Camsing, to use his likeness and other intellectual property. This contract turned out to be an exclusive license, which Lee claimed he would never have entered. Lee's lawsuit contended that POW! took over his social media accounts and
435-517: A dress cutter , worked only sporadically after the Great Depression . The family moved further uptown to Fort Washington Avenue , in Washington Heights, Manhattan . Lee had one younger brother named Larry Lieber . He said in 2006 that as a child he was influenced by books and movies, particularly those with Errol Flynn playing heroic roles. Reading The Scarlet Pimpernel , he called
580-514: A 1982 one-shot drawn by John Byrne , the Judgment Day graphic novel illustrated by John Buscema, the Parable limited series drawn by French artist Mœbius , and The Enslavers graphic novel with Keith Pollard . Lee was briefly president of the entire company, but soon stepped down to become publisher instead, finding that being president was too much about numbers and finance and not enough about
725-532: A March 29, 1948, United States Supreme Court ruling that a 64-year-old New York State law outlawing publications with "pictures and stories of deeds of bloodshed, lust or crime" was unconstitutional. Regardless, the uproar increased upon the publication of two articles: "Horror in the Nursery" by Judith Crist , in the March 25, 1948, issue Collier's Weekly , based upon the symposium "Psychopathology of Comic Books" held
870-671: A backup feature to Irving's " Rip Van Winkle " in a package titled Rip Van Winkle and the Headless Horseman . The next issue, Classic Comics #13 (August 1943), adapted Robert Louis Stevenson 's horror novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde as the full-length story Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde , making it the earliest known dedicated horror comic book. Historian Ron Goulart , making no mention of those earlier literary adaptations, identifies Avon Publications ' Eerie #1, dated January 1947 and sold in late 1946, as "the first out-and-out horror comic book". Its cover featured
1015-531: A call that very day: "It's yours." Wolfman and Colan developed a bond while working on the series, on which they collaborated closely. Colan recalled, "He'd give me a written plot, but he'd also discuss it with me over the phone. I tended to ask questions, rather than to have him assume I got the idea." Dracula encountered the Werewolf in a crossover story beginning in The Tomb of Dracula #18 (March 1974) and continuing
1160-410: A demonic alter ego. In this form, Drake is much stronger, resilient to all forms of damage and much taller than his human form. He possesses very keen senses, allowing him, for example, to catch an arrow in mid-air. Horror comics Precursors to horror comics include detective and crime comics that incorporated horror motifs into their graphics, and early superhero stories that sometimes included
1305-550: A figurehead and public face for Marvel Comics. He made appearances at comic book conventions around America, lecturing at colleges and participating in panel discussions. Lee and John Romita Sr. launched the Spider-Man newspaper comic strip on January 3, 1977. Lee's final collaboration with Jack Kirby, The Silver Surfer: The Ultimate Cosmic Experience , was published in 1978 as part of the Marvel Fireside Books series and
1450-461: A finite story and to continue that storyline would have pushed it into repetition. ... I wrote the final three issues and they were drawn. Jim was someone that when he liked you there was nothing he wouldn't do for you, and when he didn't, there was nothing he would do. He and I had butted heads often since I had been editor-in-chief before him ... and I was also the editor of TOD , which rankled him as I didn't have to listen to his ideas. Anyway, I said
1595-446: A friendly, chatty style. Lee remarked that his goal was for fans to think of the comics creators as friends, and considered it a mark of his success on this front that, at a time when letters to other comics publishers were typically addressed "Dear Editor", letters to Marvel addressed the creators by first name (e.g., "Dear Stan and Jack"). Lee recorded messages to the newly formed Merry Marvel Marching Society fan club in 1965. By 1967,
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#17328700486861740-478: A kid has to go to a dictionary, that’s not the worst thing that could happen.” Following Ditko's departure from Marvel in 1966, John Romita Sr. became Lee's collaborator on The Amazing Spider-Man . Within a year, it overtook Fantastic Four to become the company's top seller. Lee and Romita's stories focused as much on the social and college lives of the characters as they did on Spider-Man's adventures. The stories became more topical, addressing issues such as
1885-516: A knife-wielding, skeletal ghoul, and Strange Story (July 1946), introduced writer-artist Bob Powell 's character the Man in Black, an early comic-book example of the type of omniscient-observer host used in such contemporary supernatural and suspense radio dramas as Inner Sanctum , Suspense , and The Whistler . As cultural historian David Hajdu notes, comic-book horror: ...had its roots in
2030-583: A medical emergency earlier in the day. Lee had previously been hospitalized for pneumonia in February of that year. The immediate cause of death listed on his death certificate was cardiac arrest with respiratory failure and congestive heart failure as underlying causes. It also indicated that he suffered from aspiration pneumonia . His body was cremated and his ashes were given to his daughter. Roy Thomas , who succeeded Lee as editor-in-chief at Marvel, had visited Lee two days prior to his death to discuss
2175-619: A memorabilia collector, had been isolating Lee from his trusted friends and associates following his wife's death in order to obtain access to Lee's wealth, estimated to amount to US$ 50 million . In August 2018, a restraining order was issued against Morgan to stay away from Lee, his daughter, and his associates for three years. The Los Angeles Superior Court confirmed that Morgan was charged in May 2019 with five counts of abuse for events that had occurred in mid-2018. The charges were false imprisonment , grand theft of an elder or dependent adult, fraud, forgery, and elder abuse. Another figure in
2320-477: A much greater and more dynamic range of abilities. He possesses superhuman strength, much greater than that of Blade , as well as incredible speed. Like those he sired, he is capable of leaping great distances and seems to be knowledgeable of sword fighting techniques, even rivaling Blade himself. Drake's true power is derived from his origin as the first of his species. The manipulation of energies which led to his first resurrection left Drake with two forms: human and
2465-955: A number of horror titles, including Dracula Lives! , Monsters Unleashed , Vampire Tales , Tales of the Zombie , Haunt of Horror , and Masters of Terror . Additionally, Skywald Publications offered the black-and-white horror-comics magazines Nightmare , Psycho , and Scream . DC during this time continued to publish its existing supernatural fiction and added new horror series such as Ghosts , The Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love (later titled Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion ), Secrets of Haunted House , Secrets of Sinister House , Swamp Thing , Weird Mystery Tales , Weird War Tales , and Tales of Ghost Castle . Charlton continued in this vein as well, with Ghostly Haunts , Haunted , Midnight Tales , Haunted Love , and Scary Tales . Underground cartoonists , many of them strongly influenced by 1950s EC Comics like Tales from
2610-429: A number of popular horror titles, including Hellblazer and Swamp Thing . One of Vertigo's early successes was Neil Gaiman 's Sandman , which reworked a number of DC's old horror characters and added fantasy to the mix. A number of other horror titles carried on at Vertigo, like Deadman , House of Mystery and Haunted Tank , or were given a horror spin or an update like Kid Eternity and Jonah Hex . In
2755-460: A period between 2001 and 2017 during which Lee's partners Gill Champion and Arthur Lieberman were said to have misled Lee about various intellectual property rights deals. In June 2020, Judge Otis D. Wright II dismissed J.C. Lee's lawsuit against POW! Entertainment, declaring it "frivolous" and "improper", sanctioning J.C. Lee for $ 1,000,000, and sanctioning her lawyers for $ 250,000 individually and severally . The court also gave POW! Entertainment
2900-435: A picture of a large and pervasive industry, shrouded in secrecy and masterminded by a few, that operated upon the innocent and defenseless minds of the young. He further suggested the industry strong-armed vendors into accepting their publications and forced artists and writers into producing the content against their will. Wertham alleged comics stimulated deviant sexual behavior. He noted female breasts in comics protruded in
3045-412: A provocative way and special attention was lavished upon the female genital region. A cover by Matt Baker from Phantom Lady was reprinted in the book with the caption, "Sexual stimulation by combining 'headlights' with the sadist's dream of tying up a woman". Boys interviewed by Wertham said they used comic book images for masturbation purposes, and one young comics reader confessed he wanted to be
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#17328700486863190-499: A range of mini-series released by IDW Publishing . At Dark Horse , Mike Mignola has been working on Hellboy , and has created a large fictional universe with spin-off titles like BPRD and Lobster Johnson . Stan Lee Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber / ˈ l iː b ər / ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book writer , editor , publisher and producer. He rose through
3335-453: A ratings standpoint and the editors felt that was the appropriate thing to do, considering how we communicate what's going on in our books from a packaging standpoint. ...We generally avoid nudity, unless it's a MAX title. We don't want to take an Essential volume and start calling it MAX; then you get into branding issues." Retailers' opinions on the matter were split. In 1980, an anime television movie based on The Tomb of Dracula
3480-452: A red-eyed, pointy-eared fiend threatening a rope-bound , beautiful young woman in a scanty red evening gown, set amid a moonlit ruin. The anthology offered six primarily occult stories involving the likes of a ghost and a zombie. While all but one writer are unknown — Edward Bellin, who teamed with young artist Joe Kubert on the nine-page "The Man-Eating Lizards" — the artists include George Roussos and Fred Kida . After this first issue,
3625-556: A result of the Congressional hearings, DC Comics shifted its ongoing horror titles, House of Mystery (1951–1987) and House of Secrets (1956–1966), toward the suspense and mystery genres, often with a science fiction bent. In fact, from 1964 to 1968, House of Mystery became a mostly superhero title, featuring J'onn J'onzz, the Manhunter from Mars and, later, Dial H for Hero . Similarly, during this period Marvel Comics produced
3770-486: A reverse merger structured by investment banker Stan Medley in 1999, but, near the end of 2000, investigators discovered illegal stock manipulation by Paul and corporate officer Stephan Gordon. Stan Lee Media filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February 2001. Paul was extradited to the U.S. from Brazil and pleaded guilty to violating SEC Rule 10b-5 in connection with trading his stock in Stan Lee Media. Lee
3915-468: A sense of community between fans and creators. He introduced the practice of regularly including a credit panel on the splash page of each story, naming not just the writer and penciller but also the inker and letterer. Regular news about Marvel staff members and upcoming storylines was presented on the Bullpen Bulletins page, which (like the letter columns that appeared in each title) was written in
4060-574: A sequential art story in 2014 by Lee and Bruce Timm in Marvel's 75th Anniversary Celebration . Lee graduated from writing filler to actual comics with a backup feature, "'Headline' Hunter, Foreign Correspondent", two issues later, using the pseudonym "Reel Nats". His first superhero co-creation was the Destroyer , in Mystic Comics #6 (August 1941). Other characters he co-created during this period, called
4205-444: A seven-page, abridged adaptation of Horace Walpole 's seminal gothic novel The Castle of Otranto , by an unknown writer and artist Al Ulmer . Following the postwar crime comics vogue spearheaded by publisher Lev Gleason 's Crime Does Not Pay , which by 1948 was selling over a million copies a month, came romance comics , which by 1949 outsold all other genres, and horror comics. The same month in which Adventures into
4350-517: A sex maniac. Wertham contended comics promoted homosexuality by pointing to the Batman–Robin relationship and calling it a homosexual wish dream of two men living together. He observed that Robin was often pictured standing with his legs spread and the genital region evident. Most alarmingly, Wertham contended that comic books fostered deceitfulness in children, who might read funny animal comics in front of their parents but then turn to horror comics
4495-542: A story heavily influenced by the British Hammer Films - a striking departure from the first issue, which was derivative of Universal's monster movies . Conway then quit the book due to an overabundance of writing assignments, and was replaced by Archie Goodwin with issue #3. Goodwin quit after only two issues, but also made major changes to the series's direction, including the introduction of cast members Rachel Van Helsing and Taj Nital. New writer Gardner Fox took
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4640-456: A three-issue miniseries published in 1998. The miniseries was published by Dark Horse Comics and was not officially associated with Marvel's Dracula series. A trade paperback collection was published in 2005. Some of the nudity was removed from the fourth volume. Publisher Dan Buckley explained, "That wasn't because we were going to bookstores, or because we were exclusively going to hobby shops. It probably had more with where we were at from
4785-402: A vampire. By the mid-1940s, some detective and crime comics had incorporated horror motifs such as spiders and eyeballs into their graphics, and occasionally featured stories adapted from the literary horror tales of Edgar Allan Poe or other writers, or stories from the pulps and radio programs. The single-issue Harvey Comics anthologies Front Page Comic Book (1945), bearing a cover with
4930-577: A virtual ban on vampires. Marvel had already tested the waters with a "quasi-vampire" character, Morbius, the Living Vampire , but the company was now prepared to launch a regular vampire title as part of its new line of horror books. After some discussion, it was decided to use the Dracula character, in large part because it was the most famous vampire to the general public, and also because Bram Stoker 's creation and secondary characters were by that time in
5075-412: A week earlier by psychiatrist Fredric Wertham ; and Wertham's own features "The Comics ... Very Funny!" in the May 29, 1948, issue of The Saturday Review of Literature , and a March 19, 1948 symposium called "Psychopathology of Comic Books" which stated that comic books were "abnormally sexually aggressive" and led to crime. In response to public pressure and bad press, an industry trade group ,
5220-495: Is also the New York state motto ). To maintain his workload and meet deadlines, he used a system that was used previously by various comic-book studios, but due to Lee's success with it, became known as the " Marvel Method ". Typically, Lee would brainstorm a story with the artist and then prepare a brief synopsis rather than a full script. Based on the synopsis, the artist would fill the allotted number of pages by determining and drawing
5365-686: Is apocryphal, and so is his story of a life-changing plea from the editor, because the likelier story is that Lee won a seventh-place prize of $ 2.50 and two honorable mention awards. He graduated from high school early, aged sixteen and a half, in 1939 and joined the WPA Federal Theatre Project . From 1945 to 1947, Lee lived in the rented top floor of a brownstone in the East 90s in Manhattan. He married Joan Clayton Boocock , originally from Newcastle , England, on December 5, 1947, and in 1949,
5510-596: Is considered to be Marvel's first graphic novel . Lee and John Buscema produced the first issue of The Savage She-Hulk (February 1980), which introduced the female cousin of the Hulk, and crafted a Silver Surfer story for Epic Illustrated #1 (Spring 1980). He moved to California in 1981 to develop Marvel's TV and movie properties. He was an executive producer for, and made cameo appearances in, Marvel film adaptations and other movies. He occasionally returned to comic book writing with various Silver Surfer projects including
5655-481: Is the anthology Adventures into the Unknown , premiering in 1948 from American Comics Group , initially under the imprint B&I Publishing. The horror tradition in sequential-art narrative traces back to at least the 12th-century Heian period Japanese scroll "Gaki Zoshi", or the scroll of hungry ghosts (紙本著色餓鬼草紙) and the 16th-century Mixtec codices . In the early 20th-century, pulp magazines developed
5800-462: The Mail Online alleged that Lee was accused by a small number of nurses of sexually harassing them at his home in early 2017. Lee denied the allegations and claimed that the nurses were attempting to extort him. In April 2018, The Hollywood Reporter published a report that claimed Lee was a victim of elder abuse ; the report asserted that, among others, Keya Morgan, Lee's business manager and
5945-688: The Association of Comics Magazine Publishers (ACMP) was formed with the intent of prodding the industry to police itself. The Association proved ineffective as few publishers joined and those who did exercised little restraint over the content of their titles. In 1954, Dr. Fredric Wertham published Seduction of the Innocent , a tome that claimed horror, crime and other comics were a direct cause of juvenile delinquency . Wertham asserted, largely based on undocumented anecdotes, that reading violent comic books encouraged violent behavior in children. Wertham painted
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6090-534: The Comics Code . The U. S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare had asked Lee to write a comic-book story about the dangers of drugs and Lee conceived a three-issue subplot in The Amazing Spider-Man #96–98 ( cover-dated May–July 1971), in which Peter Parker's best friend becomes addicted to prescription drugs. The Comics Code Authority refused to grant its seal because the stories depicted drug use;
6235-816: The Comics Magazine Association of America (CMAA) and its Comics Code Authority (CCA) was formed. The Code had many stipulations that made it difficult for horror comics to continue publication, since any that didn't adhere to the Code's guidelines would likely not find distribution. The Code forbade the explicit presentation of "unique details and methods of crime...Scenes of excessive violence...brutal torture, excessive and unnecessary knife and gun play, physical agony, gory and gruesome crime...all scenes of horror, excessive bloodshed, gory or gruesome crimes, depravity, lust, sadism , masochism...Scenes dealing with, or instruments associated with walking dead, or torture". As
6380-642: The Fantastic Four in 1961. The team's immediate popularity led Lee and Marvel's illustrators to produce a cavalcade of new titles. Again working with Kirby, Lee co-created the Hulk , Thor , Iron Man , and the X-Men ; with Bill Everett , Daredevil ; and with Steve Ditko , Doctor Strange and Marvel's most successful character, Spider-Man , all of whom lived in a thoroughly shared universe . Lee and Kirby gathered several of their newly created characters together into
6525-1019: The Flash , and later in 1960 with the Justice League of America super-team. In response, publisher Martin Goodman assigned Lee to come up with a new superhero team. Lee's wife suggested that he experiment with stories he preferred, since he was planning on changing careers and had nothing to lose. Lee acted on the advice, giving his superheroes a flawed humanity, a change from the ideal archetypes typically written for preteens. Before this, most superheroes had been idealistically perfect people with no serious, lasting problems. Lee introduced complex, naturalistic characters who could have bad tempers, fits of melancholy, and vanity; they bickered amongst themselves, worried about paying their bills and impressing girlfriends, got bored or sometimes even physically ill. The first superheroes Lee and artist Jack Kirby created together were
6670-518: The Golden Age of Comic Books , include Jack Frost , debuting in U.S.A. Comics #1 (August 1941), and Father Time , debuting in Captain America Comics #6 (August 1941). When Simon and his creative partner Jack Kirby left in late 1941 following a dispute with Goodman, the 30-year-old publisher installed Lee, just under 19 years old, as interim editor. The youngster showed a knack for
6815-578: The Inhumans and the Black Panther , an African king who would be mainstream comics' first black superhero. The story frequently cited as Lee and Kirby's finest achievement is the three-part " Galactus Trilogy " that began in Fantastic Four #48 (March 1966), chronicling the arrival of Galactus , a cosmic giant who wanted to devour the planet, and his herald, the Silver Surfer . Fantastic Four #48
6960-552: The Mutual Broadcasting Network 's radio show of that name and including amid its crime and science-fiction stories a reprint of the Edgar Allan Poe adaptation " The Tell Tale Heart ", reprinted from Charlton Comics ' Yellowjacket Comics #6. Street and Smith also published two issues of "Ghost Breakers" in late 1948. (ibid GCDB) The floodgates began to open the following year with the first horror comic from
7105-520: The Tomb of Dracula series is made in Blade: Trinity when King shows an issue of the comic to Blade. Dracula himself does not appear in the series until Blade: Trinity , in which he goes by the name of "Drake" and features an origin and powers that differ from the comics. He is played in the film by Dominic Purcell . Given Drake's age and origin, he, more than any other vampire that followed, can harness
7250-459: The Vietnam War , political elections, and student activism . Robbie Robertson , introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man #51 (August 1967) was one of the first African-American characters in comics to play a serious supporting role. In the Fantastic Four series, the lengthy run by Lee and Kirby produced many acclaimed storylines as well as characters that have become central to Marvel, including
7395-509: The X-Men twice. Although Dracula (and all other vampires in the Marvel Universe) were eventually destroyed by the mystical Montesi Formula in the pages of Doctor Strange #62 (December 1983), the vampire lord was revived. Marvel published a four-issue Tomb of Dracula miniseries, reuniting Wolfman and Colan, under its Epic Comics imprint in 1991, and revived Dracula and his foes in the short-lived Nightstalkers and Blade series in
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#17328700486867540-586: The X-Men , Iron Man , Thor , the Hulk , Ant-Man , the Wasp , the Fantastic Four , Black Panther , Daredevil , Doctor Strange , the Scarlet Witch , and Black Widow . These and other characters' introductions in the 1960s pioneered a more naturalistic approach in superhero comics . In the 1970s, Lee challenged the restrictions of the Comics Code Authority , indirectly leading to changes in its policies. In
7685-480: The horror genre" by historian Don Markstein , and "[t]he first real horror series" by horror-comics historian Lawrence Watt-Evans, the feature ran through Prize Comics #52 (April 1945) before becoming a humor series and then being revived in horrific form in the series Frankenstein #18-33 (March 1952 - November 1954). Gilberton Publications ' 60-page Classic Comics #12 (June 1943) adapted Washington Irving 's short story " The Legend of Sleepy Hollow " as
7830-438: The public domain . The series suffered from lack of direction for its first year; most significantly, each of the first three issues was plotted by a different writer. Though Gerry Conway is credited as sole writer of issue #1, the plot was actually written by Roy Thomas and editor Stan Lee , and Conway had no input into the issue until it had already been fully drawn. Conway was allowed to plot issue #2 by himself, and wrote
7975-566: The 1950s' most prolific horror-comics publisher, Atlas Comics , the decade's forerunner of Marvel Comics . While horror had been an element in 1940s superhero stories from the original predecessor company, Timely Comics , through the war years, "when zombies, vampires, werewolves, and even pythonmen were to be found working for the Nazis and the Japanese", the publisher entered the horror arena full-tilt with Amazing Mysteries #32 (May 1949), continuing
8120-434: The 1950s, Lee teamed up with his comic book colleague Dan DeCarlo to produce the syndicated newspaper strip My Friend Irma , based on the radio comedy starring Marie Wilson . By the end of the decade, Lee had become dissatisfied with his career and considered quitting the field. In 1956, DC Comics editor Julius Schwartz revived the superhero archetype and experienced significant success with an updated version of
8265-650: The 1970s they owned a vacation home in Remsenburg, New York . For their move to the West Coast in 1981, they bought a home in West Hollywood, California , previously owned by comedian Jack Benny 's radio announcer Don Wilson . The Stan Lee Foundation was founded in 2010 to focus on literacy, education, and the arts. Its stated goals include supporting programs and ideas that improve access to literacy resources, as well as promoting diversity, national literacy, culture and
8410-514: The 1980s, he pursued the development of Marvel properties in other media, with mixed results. Following his retirement from Marvel in the 1990s, Lee remained a public figurehead for the company. He frequently made cameo appearances in films and television shows based on Marvel properties , on which he received an executive producer credit, which allowed him to become the person with the highest-grossing film total ever . He continued independent creative ventures until his death, aged 95, in 2018. Lee
8555-458: The 1990s. Some unresolved plot threads from The Tomb of Dracula were addressed in the final three issues of Nightstalkers . These included the fates of Dracula's bride Domini, their son Janus , and vampire-hunter Taj Nital. Dracula took the title role in the miniseries Dracula: Lord of the Undead . Two more four-issue miniseries followed. Stoker's Dracula continued and concluded the adaptation of
8700-661: The Bronx. In his youth, Lee enjoyed writing, and entertained dreams of writing the " Great American Novel " one day. He said that in his youth he worked such part-time jobs as writing obituaries for a news service and press releases for the National Tuberculosis Center; delivering sandwiches for the Jack May pharmacy to offices in Rockefeller Center ; working as an office boy for a trouser manufacturer; ushering at
8845-516: The Crypt , also tried their hands at horror. Titles like Skull ( Rip Off Press / Last Gasp , 1970–1972), Bogeyman ( Company & Sons / San Francisco Comic Book Company , 1969), Fantagor ( Richard Corben , 1970), Insect Fear ( Print Mint , 1970), Up From The Deep (Rip Off Press, 1971), Death Rattle ( Kitchen Sink Press , 1972), Gory Stories (Shroud, 1972), Deviant Slice (Print Mint, 1972) and Two-Fisted Zombies (Last Gasp, 1973) appeared in
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#17328700486868990-406: The Crypt . In 1947, publisher William Gaines had inherited what was then Educational Comics upon the death of his father, Maxwell Gaines . Three years later, Gaines and editor Al Feldstein introduced horror in two of the company's crime comics to test the waters. Finding them successful, the publisher quickly turned them and a Western series into EC's triumvirate of horror. Additionally,
9135-688: The Rivoli Theater on Broadway ; and selling subscriptions to the New York Herald Tribune newspaper. At fifteen, Lee entered a high school essay competition sponsored by the New York Herald Tribune , called "The Biggest News of the Week Contest." Lee claimed to have won the prize for three straight weeks, goading the newspaper to write him and ask him to let someone else win. The paper suggested he look into writing professionally, which Lee claimed "probably changed my life." However, Lee's story
9280-739: The Tomb Harvey Comics ' Tomb of Terror, Witches Tales, and Chamber of Chills Magazine , Avon Comics ', Witchcraft , Ajax-Farrell Publications ' Fantastic Fears , Fawcett Publications ' Worlds of Fear and This Magazine Is Haunted , Charlton Comics ' The Thing , and a slew from Atlas Comics , including Adventures into Weird Worlds , Adventures into Terror , Menace , Journey into Mystery , and Strange Tales . Indeed, from 1949 through comics cover-dated March 1955, Atlas released 399 issues of 18 horror titles, ACG released 123 issues of five horror titles, and Ace Comics, 98 issues of five titles — each more than EC's output. In
9425-438: The Unknown premiered, the comic-book company EC , which would become the most prominent horror-comics publisher of the 1950s, published its first horror story, "Zombie Terror", by the then relatively unknown writer and artist Johnny Craig , in the superhero comic Moon Girl #5. Almost simultaneously, Trans-World Publications issued its one-and-only comic, the one-shot Mysterious Traveler Comics #1 (November 1948), based on
9570-563: The alleged abuse was Lee's former business manager Jerardo Olivarez, who was introduced to Lee by J.C. after his wife's death. Lee filed suit against Olivarez in April 2018, calling him one of several "unscrupulous businessmen, sycophants and opportunists" that approached him during this period. According to Lee's complaint, after gaining Lee's power of attorney, Olivarez fired Lee's personal banker, changed Lee's will, convinced him to allow transfers of millions of dollars from his accounts and used some of
9715-477: The anti-drug context was considered irrelevant. With Goodman's cooperation and confident that the original government request would give him credibility, Lee had the story published without the seal. The comics sold well and Marvel won praise for its socially conscious efforts. The CCA subsequently loosened the Code to permit negative depictions of drugs, among other new freedoms. Lee also supported using comic books to provide some measure of social commentary about
9860-584: The arts. Lee regularly donated papers, photographs, recordings and personal effects to the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming between 1981 and 2011. They cover the period from 1926 to 2011. Lee engaged in several legal actions in his later years. In 2017, POW! was acquired by Camsing International, a Chinese company, during the period Lee was caring for his terminally ill wife and dealing with his own failing eyesight. Lee filed
10005-510: The base captain, who did not like Lee. He faced tampering charges and could have been sent to Leavenworth Prison . The colonel in charge of the Finance Department intervened and saved Lee from disciplinary action. In the mid-1950s, by which time the company was now generally known as Atlas Comics , Lee wrote stories in a variety of genres including romance , Westerns , humor, science fiction, medieval adventure, horror and suspense. In
10150-483: The black-and-white horror magazine business, mixing new material with reprints from pre- Comics Code horror comics, most notably in its flagship title Weird (1966–1981), as well as the magazines Tales of Voodoo (1968–1974), Horror Tales (1969–1979), Tales from the Tomb (1969–1975), and Terror Tales (1969–1979). Stanley Publications also published a line of black-and-white horror magazines from 1966 to 1971, including
10295-437: The brand was well-enough ensconced in popular culture that a March 3 WBAI radio program with Lee and Kirby as guests was titled "Will Success Spoil Spiderman [sic]". Throughout the 1960s, Lee scripted, art-directed and edited most of Marvel's series, moderated the letters pages, wrote a monthly column called " Stan's Soapbox ", and wrote endless promotional copy, often signing off with his trademark motto, " Excelsior !" (which
10440-662: The business that led him to remain as the comic-book division's editor-in-chief, as well as art director for much of that time, until 1972, when he would succeed Goodman as publisher. Lee entered the U.S. Army in early 1942 and served within the U.S. as a member of the Signal Corps , repairing telegraph poles and other communications equipment. He was later transferred to the Training Film Division, where he worked writing manuals, training films , slogans, and occasionally cartooning . His military classification, he said,
10585-402: The classic tradition such as Frankenstein , Dracula , and other high-caliber literary works written by Edgar Allan Poe , Saki , Conan Doyle , and other respected authors whose works are read in schools around the world. Following this, Marvel returned to publishing true horror by first introducing a scientifically created, vampire-like character, Morbius, the Living Vampire , followed by
10730-469: The company folded in 1967. The publishers Gilberton , Dell Comics , and Gold Key Comics did not become signatories to the Comics Code, relying on their reputations as publishers of wholesome comic books. Classics Illustrated had adapted such horror novels as Frankenstein and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in comic book form, and quickly issued reprints with new, less gruesome covers. Dell began publishing
10875-484: The company settled in 2005 for an undisclosed seven-figure amount. In 2001, Lee, Gill Champion, and Arthur Lieberman formed POW! (Purveyors of Wonder) Entertainment to develop film, television, and video game properties. Lee created the risqué animated superhero series Stripperella for Spike TV . That same year, DC Comics released its first work written by Lee, the Just Imagine... series, in which Lee reimagined
11020-498: The continuities of the two titles occasionally overlapped, with storylines weaving between the two. Most of the time the stories in Dracula Lives! were stand-alone tales, including a serialized adaptation of the original Bram Stoker novel , in 10- to 12-page installments written by Roy Thomas and drawn by Dick Giordano . Tomb of Dracula was supplemented by a Giant-Size companion quarterly comic book that ran for five issues in
11165-574: The couple bought a house in Woodmere, New York , on Long Island , living there through 1952. Their daughter Joan Celia "J. C." Lee was born in 1950. Another daughter, Jan Lee, died a few days after her birth in 1953. The Lees resided in the Long Island community of Hewlett Harbor, New York , from 1952 to 1980. They also owned a condominium on East 63rd Street in Manhattan from 1975 to 1980, and during
11310-431: The course of more than seven years, Marvel's The Tomb of Dracula was the most successful comic book series to feature a villain as its title character." As cancellation loomed, Wolfman made to wrap up the storyline and lingering threads by issue #72. But Jim Shooter , then the editor-in-chief, retroactively cut two issues after the artwork had been completed for three. As Wolfman recalled, I think I realized we were doing
11455-520: The creative process he enjoyed. In 1976, Stan Lee was one of the cartoonists who illustrated the Costello's wall. He drawn Spider-Man. Lee stepped away from regular duties at Marvel in the 1990s, though he continued to receive an annual salary of $ 1 million as chairman emeritus. In 1998 he and Peter Paul began a new Internet-based superhero creation, production, and marketing studio, Stan Lee Media . It grew to 165 people and went public through
11600-442: The death of Quincy Harker and Dracula's apparent death and dispersal. In 2010, Comics Bulletin ranked Wolfman, Colan, and Palmer's run on The Tomb of Dracula fifth on its list of the "Top 10 1970s Marvels". A black-and-white magazine, Dracula Lives! , published by " Marvel Monster Group ", ran from 1973 to 1975. Dracula Lives! ran 13 issues plus a reprint Super Annual issue. Running concurrently with Tomb of Dracula ,
11745-497: The early 1970s. By the mid-1970s, the horror comics boomlet slowed and various titles were cancelled. Only a few of the DC titles persevered by the end of the decade, the long-running Gold Key mystery comic series ceased during the early 1980s, and some predominantly-reprint Charlton series managed to survive to the mid-1980s. DC's traditional titles sputtered out during the early 1980s, and its transformed anthology "Elvira's House of Mystery"
11890-645: The early scripting, writing a story a day with twist endings and poetic justice taken to absurd extremes. EC's success immediately spawned a host of imitators, such as Ziff-Davis ' and P.L. Publishing's Weird Adventures , St. John Publications ' Weird Horrors , Key Publications ' Weird Chills , Weird Mysteries and Weird Tales of the Future , Comic Media 's Weird Terror , Ziff-Davis' Weird Thrillers , and Star Publications ' Ghostly Weird Stories . Others included Quality Comics ' Web of Evil , Ace Comics ' Web of Mystery , Premier Magazines ' Horror from
12035-415: The entire comic book industry displayed murder, torture and sexual titillation for the reader's consideration. The most widely discussed art was that from "Foul Play", a horror story from EC about a dishonest baseball player whose head and intestines are used by his teammates in a game. Seduction of the Innocent sparked a firestorm of controversy and created alarm in parents, teachers and others interested in
12180-760: The form that horror comics would take in the coming decades. Printed in color on high-quality paper stock despite a higher cover price, the series Twisted Tales and Alien Worlds were short-lived and hard-pressed to keep to a regular production schedule, but offered some of the most explicitly brutal and sexual stories yet to be widely distributed in a mainstream ("non-underground") format. Both series eventually moved to Eclipse Comics , which also produced similar titles such as The Twisted Tales of Bruce Jones and Alien Encounters (which they inherited from Fantaco). Later horror titles from DC's Vertigo line had more in common with these Pacific/Eclipse efforts, and more success, than DC's sporadic efforts to revive or maintain
12325-515: The funds to purchase a condominium. In September 2012, Lee underwent an operation to insert a pacemaker , which required cancelling planned appearances at conventions. Lee eventually retired from convention appearances by 2017. On July 6, 2017, Joan Boocock, his wife of 69 years, died of complications from a stroke. She was 95 years old. Lee died on November 12, 2018, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, after being rushed there for
12470-446: The help of his uncle Robbie Solomon, Lee became an assistant in 1939 at the new Timely Comics division belonging to pulp magazine and comic-book publisher Martin Goodman . Timely, by the 1960s, would evolve into Marvel Comics. Lee, whose cousin Jean was Goodman's wife, was formally hired by Timely editor Joe Simon . His duties were prosaic at first. "In those days [the artists] dipped
12615-518: The horror subgenre " weird menace ", which featured sadistic villains and graphic scenes of torture and brutality. The first such title, Popular Publications' Dime Mystery , began as a straight crime fiction magazine but evolved by 1933 under the influence of Grand Guignol theater. Other publishers eventually joined in, though Popular dominated the field with Dime Mystery , Horror Stories , and Terror Tales . While most weird-menace stories were resolved with rational explanations, some involved
12760-527: The horror comic Black Cat Mystery with issue #30 (August 1951). Horror comics briefly flourished from this point until the industry's self-imposed censorship board, the Comics Code Authority, was instituted in late 1954. The most influential and enduring horror-comics anthologies of this period, beginning 1950, were the 91 issues of EC Comics ' three series: The Haunt of Fear , The Vault of Horror and The Crypt of Terror , renamed Tales from
12905-437: The horror genre, claiming he was the first to publish such comics. He insisted that delinquency was the result of the real environment and not fictional reading materials. His defiant demeanor left the committee (which felt the industry was indefensible), astonished. He had prepared a statement that read in part, "It would be just as difficult to explain the harmless thrill of a horror story to Dr. Wertham as it would be to explain
13050-457: The horror tradition in the mid-1960s, bypassing the Comics Code Authority restrictions by publishing magazine-sized black-and-white horror comics. Under the direction of line editor Archie Goodwin , Warren debuted the horror anthologies Creepy (1964–1983) and Eerie (1966–1983), followed by Vampirella , an anthology with a lead feature starring a sexy young female vampire. The low-rent Warren imitator Eerie Publications also jumped into
13195-496: The introduction of Dracula in Tomb of Dracula . This opened the floodgates for more horror titles, such as the anthology Supernatural Thrillers , Werewolf by Night , and two series in which Satan or a Satan-like lord of Hell figured, Ghost Rider and the feature " Son of Satan ." In addition, following Warren Publishing 's longtime lead, Marvel's parent company in 1971 began a black-and-white magazine imprint , which published
13340-422: The late 1940s, comic books – particularly crime comics – had become the target of mounting public criticism for their content and their potentially harmful effects on children, with "accusations from several fronts [that] charged comic books with contributing to the rising rates of juvenile delinquency ." Many city and county ordinances had banned some publications, though these were effectively overturned with
13485-464: The late 1950s and early 1960s, it had run into a creative drought by the decade's end. There was a new audience for comics now, and it wasn't just the little kids that traditionally had read the books. The Marvel of the 1960s was in its own way the counterpart of the French New Wave ... Marvel was pioneering new methods of comics storytelling and characterization, addressing more serious themes, and in
13630-465: The licensed TV series comic book Twilight Zone in 1961 and publishing a Dracula title in 1962 (though only the first issue was horror related; the subsequent issues were part of the super-hero genre revival), followed in 1963 by the new series "Ghost Stories." Gold Key, in addition to releasing Boris Karloff Thriller , based on the TV series Thriller (and retitled Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery after
13775-449: The likes of ghouls and vampires. Individual horror stories appeared as early as 1940. The first dedicated horror comic books appear to be Gilberton Publications ' Classic Comics #13 (August 1943), with its full-length adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson 's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde , and Avon Publications ' anthology Eerie #1 (January 1947), the first horror comic with original content. The first horror-comics series
13920-532: The mail clerk overlooked his letter, explaining that nothing was in Lee's mailbox. The next day, Lee went by the closed mailroom and saw an envelope with the return address of Timely Comics in his mailbox. Not willing to miss a deadline, Lee asked the officer in charge to open the mailroom, but the latter refused. So Lee took a screwdriver and unscrewed the mailbox hinges, retrieving the envelope containing his assignment. The mailroom officer saw what he did and turned him into
14065-486: The mid-1970s. Artist John Byrne ’s first story for Marvel Comics, "Dark Asylum", was published in Giant-Size Dracula #5 (June 1975). The color title Tomb of Dracula was succeeded by another black-and-white magazine, also called The Tomb of Dracula , with stories also drawn by Gene Colan that picked up where the color title left off. It lasted six issues from 1979 to 1980. Several years later, Dracula encountered
14210-843: The mid-1990s Harris Publications also revived Vampirella , and Marvel, after mostly taking the 1980s off, published its " Midnight Sons " line of horror comics that included such series as a revived Ghost Rider , Nightstalkers , Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins and Midnight Sons Unlimited . In addition to its long-running titles carried over from the 1990s, Vertigo published more conventional horror, like vampires in Bite Club (beginning in 2004), and Vamps . In addition, from 1999 to 2001 they published their own horror anthology , Flinch . At Image Comics , Robert Kirkman has created The Walking Dead . Steve Niles predominantly writes horror comics, and his 30 Days of Night has spawned
14355-616: The moment their parents left the room. Wertham warned of suspicious stores and their clandestine back rooms where second hand comics of the worst sort were peddled to children. The language used evoked images of children prowling about gambling dens and whorehouses, and anxious parents felt helpless in the face of such a powerful force as the comics industry. Excerpts from the book were published in Ladies' Home Journal and Reader's Digest , lending respectability and credibility to Wertham's arguments. A 14-page portfolio of panels and covers from across
14500-692: The numbering of the defunct superhero series Sub-Mariner Comics , followed by the superhero anthology Marvel Mystery Comics becoming the horror series Marvel Tales with #93 (August 1949) and the final two issues of Captain America Comics becoming the mostly horror-fiction Captain America's Weird Tales #74-75 (October 1949 & February 1950) — the latter of which did not contain Captain America at all. Harvey Comics followed suit with its costumed-crimefighter comic Black Cat by reformatting it as
14645-610: The original Bram Stoker novel Dracula by writer Roy Thomas and artist Dick Giordano , which had begun in Dracula Lives 30 years prior. Another Tomb of Dracula miniseries followed with Blade joining a new team of vampire hunters to prevent Dracula's achieving godhood. Apocalypse vs. Dracula featured Dracula battling Apocalypse , an immortal foe of the superhero team the X-Men, in Victorian London . Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan returned to Dracula comics with The Curse of Dracula ,
14790-431: The panel-to-panel storytelling. After the artist turned in penciled pages, Lee would write the word balloons and captions, and then oversee the lettering and coloring. In effect, the artists were co-plotters, whose collaborative first drafts Lee built upon. For his part, Lee endeavored to use a sophisticated vocabulary in his dialogue and captions to encourage his young readers to learn new words, often playfully noting “If
14935-604: The pen in ink, [so] I had to make sure the inkwells were filled", Lee recalled in 2009. "I went down and got them their lunch, I did proofreading, I erased the pencils from the finished pages for them". Marshaling his childhood ambition to be a writer, young Stanley Lieber made his comic-book debut with the text filler " Captain America Foils the Traitor's Revenge" in Captain America Comics #3 ( cover-dated May 1941), using
15080-425: The pernicious influence of comic books upon children. His passionate testimony at the hearings impressed the gathering. Kefauver suggested crime comics indoctrinated children in a way similar to Nazi propaganda. Wertham noted Hitler was a beginner compared to the comics industry. Publisher William Gaines appeared before the committee and vigorously defended his product and the industry. He took full responsibility for
15225-399: The process keeping and attracting readers in their teens and beyond. Moreover, among this new generation of readers were people who wanted to write or draw comics themselves, within the new style that Marvel had pioneered, and push the creative envelope still further. Lee's revolution extended beyond the characters and storylines to the way in which comic books engaged the readership and built
15370-563: The pseudonym Stan Lee (a play on his first name, "Stanley"), which years later he would adopt as his legal name. Lee later explained in his autobiography and numerous other sources that because of the low social status of comic books, he was so embarrassed that he used a pen name so nobody would associate his real name with comics when he wrote the Great American Novel one day. This initial story also introduced Captain America's trademark ricocheting shield-toss. It would be adapted into
15515-785: The pulps, where narratives of young women assaulted by 'weird menaces' ... had filled magazines such as Terror Tales and Horror Stories for years. Variations on gothic fright had also appeared in several comics— Suspense Comics (which began in 1943), Yellowjacket (which included eight horror stories, billed as "Tales of Terror", in its run of ten issues, beginning in 1944), and Eerie (which had one issue published in 1947). Issue #7 (December 1940) of publisher Prize Comics ' flagship title, Prize Comics , introduced writer-artist Dick Briefer 's eight-page feature " New Adventures of Frankenstein ", an updated version of novelist Mary Shelley 's much-adapted Frankenstein monster . Called "America's first ongoing comic book series to fall squarely within
15660-478: The ranks of a family-run business called Timely Comics which later became Marvel Comics . He was Marvel's primary creative leader for two decades, expanding it from a small publishing house division to a multimedia corporation that dominated the comics and film industries. In collaboration with others at Marvel – particularly co-writers and artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko – he co-created iconic characters, including Spider-Man ,
15805-413: The real world, often dealing with racism and bigotry . "Stan's Soapbox", besides promoting an upcoming comic book project, also addressed issues of discrimination, intolerance, or prejudice. In 1972, Lee stopped writing monthly comic books to assume the role of publisher. His final issue of The Amazing Spider-Man was #110 (July 1972) and his last Fantastic Four was #125 (August 1972). Lee became
15950-461: The revival of Kitchen Sink's Death Rattle , followed a year later by the debut of FantaCo's horror anthology Gore Shriek , edited by Stephen R. Bissette , who also contributed stories to each issue. Bissette also edited the acclaimed anthology Taboo , which ran from 1988 to 1995. In 1982, Pacific Comics produced two series that, while admittedly inspired by the EC Comics of the 1950s, foresaw
16095-494: The right to make a motion to recover legal fees. "We feel vindicated by the Court's decision today," said POW! in a statement. "Stan purposefully created POW! eighteen years ago with me as a place to safeguard his life's work. Before he passed, Stan was adamant that POW! continue to protect his creations and his identity after he was gone, because he trusted that we would safeguard his legacy for generations to come." On January 10, 2018,
16240-583: The saga were perfectly suited to the tastes of young readers in the 1960s", and Lee soon discovered that the story was a favorite on college campuses. Lee and artist John Buscema launched The Silver Surfer series in August 1968. The following year, Lee and Gene Colan created the Falcon , comics' first African-American superhero, in Captain America #117 (September 1969). In 1971, Lee indirectly helped reform
16385-473: The same month in Werewolf by Night #15 with both chapters written by Wolfman. A brief meeting between Dracula and Spider-Man occurred in the first issue of Giant-Size Spider-Man . The Tomb of Dracula #44 featured a crossover story with Doctor Strange #14, another series which was being drawn by Colan at the time. The Tomb of Dracula ran for 70 issues until August 1979. Comics historian Les Daniels noted that "With an unbroken run of seventy issues over
16530-427: The series in yet another direction, and introduced a romance between Frank Drake and Rachel Van Helsing, which would remain a subplot for the rest of the series. However, Thomas (who had by this time succeeded Lee as the editor of The Tomb of Dracula ) felt that Fox's take did not work, and took him off the book after only two issues. The title gained stability and hit its stride when Marv Wolfman became scripter with
16675-452: The seventh issue, though Wolfman himself has contended that he was floundering on the series until the story arc in issues #12-14, remarking, "This storyline is when I finally figured out what this book was about." The entire run of The Tomb of Dracula was penciled by Gene Colan , with Tom Palmer inking all but #1, 2, and 8-11. Gil Kane drew many of the covers for the first few years, as he did for many other Marvel titles. Colan based
16820-497: The severed head of a blond woman. Mr. Gaines replied: 'Yes, I do—for the cover of a horror comic.' Though the committee's final report did not blame comics for crime, it recommended that the comics industry tone down its content voluntarily. By 1953, nearly a quarter of all comic books published were horror titles. In the hearings' immediate aftermath, several publishers revamped their schedules and drastically censored or cancelled many long-running comic series. In September 1954,
16965-529: The show went off the air), bought the Twilight Zone license from Dell in 1962. In 1965 Gold Key put out three licensed horror-themed comics, two based on the TV horror-comedies The Addams Family and The Munsters , and the other titled Ripley's Believe it or Not! , which had three different subtitles: "True Ghost Stories," "True War Stories" (#1 and #5), and "True Demons & Monsters" (#7, #10, #19, #22, #25, #26, and #29). Warren Publishing continued
17110-487: The stories were done and I needed the room. He gave me a double-sized last issue, I really needed a triple-sized book. I was stuck and had to find a way to cut 14 pages from the printed book. Thank God I hadn't dialogued them all yet, so I cut [up] pages, rearranged stuff then dialogued it so it read smoothly.' Twelve of those pages, which Wolfman had saved as photocopies, appeared in the hardcover reprint collection The Tomb of Dracula Omnibus Vol. 2 . The series culminated with
17255-469: The sublimity of love to a frigid old maid." Crime Suspenstories , issue 22, April/May 1954, was entered into evidence. The exchange between Gaines and Kefauver led to a front-page story in The New York Times : He was asked by Senator Estes Kefauver, Democrat of Tennessee, if he considered in "good taste" the cover of his Shock SuspenStories , which depicted an axe-wielding man holding aloft
17400-649: The superhero comic Moon Girl , which had become the romance comic A Moon...a Girl...Romance , became the primarily science fiction anthology Weird Fantasy . For the next four years, sardonic horror hosts the Old Witch , the Vault Keeper and The Crypt Keeper introduced stories drawn by such top artists and soon-to-be-famous newcomers as Johnny Craig , Reed Crandall , Jack Davis , Graham Ingels (who signed his work "Ghastly"), Jack Kamen , Bernard Krigstein , Harvey Kurtzman , and Wally Wood . Feldstein did most of
17545-669: The supernatural. After the fledgling medium of comic books became established by the late 1930s, horror-fiction elements began appearing in superhero stories, with vampires, misshapen creatures, mad scientists and other tropes that bore the influence of the Universal horror films of the 1930s and other sources. In 1935, National Periodicals published the first story of Doctor Occult by Jerry Siegel (script) and Joe Shuster (Art) in New Fun Comics # 6, where he confronts Vampire Master. In Detective Comics # 31–32, Batman fights
17690-455: The team title The Avengers and would revive characters from the 1940s such as the Sub-Mariner and Captain America. Years later, Kirby and Lee would contest who deserved credit for creating The Fantastic Four . Comics historian Peter Sanderson wrote that in the 1960s: DC was the equivalent of the big Hollywood studios: After the brilliance of DC's reinvention of the superhero ... in
17835-699: The title Dracula: Sovereign of the Damned . On October 31, 2022, Kineko Video released a remastered 4K scan of the film's original 16mm print. Blade , a character introduced in The Tomb of Dracula , has been featured in a series of three films: Blade (1998), Blade II (2002), and Blade: Trinity (2004), as well as a short-lived television series titled Blade: The Series (2006). Other Tomb of Dracula characters, Deacon Frost and Hannibal King , have been featured in these films (Frost in Blade , King in Blade: Trinity ), albeit in heavily revised forms. Reference to
17980-458: The title and the character as he saw fit. Moore reconfigured Swamp Thing's origin to make him a true monster as opposed to a human transformed into a monster. Moore's (and artists Stephen R. Bissette and John Totleben 's) Swamp Thing was a critical and commercial success, and in 1988 spun off the ongoing series Hellblazer , starring occult detective John Constantine . In 1993, DC introduced its mature-readers Vertigo line, which folded in
18125-475: The title character "the first superhero I had read about, the first character who could be called a superhero." By the time Lee was in his teens, the family was living in an apartment at 1720 University Avenue in The Bronx . Lee described it as "a third-floor apartment facing out back". Lee and his brother shared the bedroom, while their parents slept on a foldout couch. Lee attended DeWitt Clinton High School in
18270-638: The title to its horror roots with issue #175 (July/August 1968); a similar transformation was made to House of Secrets and The Unexpected (formerly " Tales of the Unexpected "), with the company debuting a new title, The Witching Hour . In 1971, the Comics Code Authority relaxed some of its longstanding rules regarding horror comics, which opened the door to more possibilities in the genre: Scenes dealing with, or instruments associated with, walking dead or torture shall not be used. Vampires, ghouls and werewolves shall be permitted to be used when handled in
18415-572: The title went dormant, but reappeared in 1951 as Eerie , beginning with a new #1 and running 17 issues (1951 - September 1954). Goulart identifies the long-running Adventures into the Unknown (Fall 1948 - August 1967), from American Comics Group , initially under the imprint B&I Publishing, as "the first continuing-series horror comic". The first two issues, which included art by Fred Guardineer and others, featured horror stories of ghosts, werewolves, haunted houses, killer puppets and other supernatural beings and locales. The premiere included
18560-469: The titles Strange Tales (1951–1968) and Journey into Mystery (1952–1966). Each company gradually changed from suspense stories toward fantasy, science fiction and monster stories, and then to related superhero characters during the years after the code came into effect. Charlton Comics' suspense titles, such as Unusual Tales, persisted to the mid-1960s. ACG titles Adventures into the Unknown and Unknown Worlds thrived during this Silver Age period until
18705-544: The titles Shock and Chilling Tales of Horror . A number of supernatural mystery / suspense titles were introduced in the latter half of the 1960s, including Charlton Comics ' Ghostly Tales , The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves , and Ghost Manor ; and Marvel Comics ' Chamber of Darkness / Monsters on the Prowl and Tower of Shadows/Creatures on the Loose . At DC Comics , new House of Mystery editor Joe Orlando returned
18850-570: The traditional horror comic title (e.g. Elvira's House of Mystery ). Wasteland (DC Comics) was a pre-vertigo, non-Code horror series from DC in the late 1980s. In 1982, DC Comics revived the Swamp Thing series, attempting to capitalize on the summer 1982 release of the Wes Craven film of the same name . In 1984, Briton Alan Moore took over the writing chores on the title, and when Karen Berger became editor, she gave Moore free rein to revamp
18995-429: The upcoming book The Stan Lee Story and stated "I think he was ready to go. But he was still talking about doing more cameos. As long as he had the energy for it and didn't have to travel, Stan was always up to do some more cameos. He got a kick out of those more than anything else." Lee's last words to Thomas was “God bless. Take care of my boy, Roy,” leading fans to speculate that he was referring to Spider-Man. With
19140-433: The visual appearance of Marvel's Dracula not on Bela Lugosi , Christopher Lee , or any other actor who had played the vampire on film, but rather on actor Jack Palance . Palance would play Dracula in a television production of Stoker's novel the year after The Tomb of Dracula debuted. Colan, already one of Marvel's most well-established and prominent artists, said he had lobbied for the assignment. When I heard Marvel
19285-469: The welfare of children; the concerned were galvanized into campaigning for censorship. Public criticism brought matters to a head. In 1954, anti-crime crusader Estes Kefauver led the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency . Dr. Wertham insisted upon appearing before the committee. He first presented a long list of his credentials, and then, in his clipped German accent, spoke with authority on
19430-624: Was "playwright"; he added that only nine men in the U.S. Army were given that title. In the Army, Lee's division included many famous or soon-to-be famous people, including three-time Academy Award -winning director Frank Capra , New Yorker cartoonist Charles Addams , and children's book writer and illustrator Theodor Geisel , later known to the world as "Dr. Seuss." Vincent Fago , editor of Timely's "animation comics" section, which put out humor and talking animal comics, filled in until Lee returned from his World War II military service in 1945. Lee
19575-530: Was chosen as #24 in the 100 Greatest Marvels of All Time poll of Marvel's readers in 2001. Editor Robert Greenberger wrote in his introduction to the story that "As the fourth year of the Fantastic Four came to a close, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby seemed to be only warming up. In retrospect, it was perhaps the most fertile period of any monthly title during the Marvel Age." Comics historian Les Daniels noted that "[t]he mystical and metaphysical elements that took over
19720-638: Was happy to be working with POW! again. Following Lee's death, his daughter J.C. gathered a legal team to review the legal situation relating to Lee's intellectual property from his later years. In September 2019, J.C. filed a new lawsuit against POW! in the United States District Court for the Central District of California not only related to recent events but also to regain the intellectual property rights that Lee had set up when founding Stan Lee Entertainment in 1998. The complaint identified
19865-446: Was impersonating him inappropriately. POW! considered these complaints without merit and claimed that both Lee and his daughter J.C. were aware of the terms. The lawsuit was dropped in July 2018, with Lee issuing the statement: "The whole thing has been confusing to everyone, including myself and the fans, but I am now happy to be surrounded by those who want the best for me" and saying that he
20010-522: Was inducted into the Signal Corps Regimental Association and was given honorary membership of the 2nd Battalion of 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord at the 2017 Emerald City Comic Con for his prior service. While in the Army, Lee received letters every week on Friday from the editors at Timely, detailing what they needed written and by when. Lee would write stories, then send them back on Monday. One week,
20155-544: Was inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1995. He received the NEA 's National Medal of Arts in 2008. Stanley Martin Lieber was born on December 28, 1922, in Manhattan , New York City, in the apartment of his Romanian-born Jewish immigrant parents, Celia ( née Solomon) and Jack Lieber, at the corner of West 98th Street and West End Avenue . Lee
20300-499: Was never implicated in the scheme. Following the success of Fox's 2000 X-Men film and Sony's then-current Spider-Man film, Lee sued Marvel in 2002, claiming that the company was failing to pay his share of the profits from movies featuring the characters he had co-created. Because he had done so as an employee, Lee did not own them, but in the 1990s, after decades of making little money licensing them for television and film, Marvel had promised him 10% of any future profits. Lee and
20445-449: Was putting out a Dracula book, I confronted [editor] Stan [Lee] about it and asked him to let me do it. He didn't give me too much trouble but, as it turned out, he took that promise away, saying he had promised it to Bill Everett . Well, right then and there I auditioned for it. Stan didn't know what I was up to, but I spent a day at home and worked up a sample, using Jack Palance as my inspiration and sent it to Stan. I got
20590-522: Was raised in a Jewish household. In a 2002 interview, he stated when asked if he believed in God, "Well, let me put it this way... [Pauses.] No, I'm not going to try to be clever. I really don't know. I just don't know. " On another interview from 2011, when asked about his Romanian origins and his relationship with the country, he said that he had never visited it and that he did not know Romanian because his parents never taught it to him. Lee's father, trained as
20735-523: Was released. It was titled Dracula: Sovereign of the Damned ( 闇の帝王 吸血鬼ドラキュラ , Yami no Teiō: Kyūketsuki Dorakyura , lit. The Emperor of Darkness: The Vampire Dracula ) . Much of the main plot was condensed and many characters and subplots were truncated or omitted. The film was animated in Japan by Toei and sparsely released on cable TV in North America in 1983 by Harmony Gold dubbed into English under
20880-645: Was the antagonist rather than protagonist . In addition to his supernatural battles in this series, Marvel's Dracula often served as a supervillain to other characters in the Marvel Universe , battling the likes of Blade the Vampire Slayer , Spider-Man , the Werewolf , the X-Men , Howard the Duck , and the licensed Robert E. Howard character Solomon Kane . In 1971, the Comics Code Authority relaxed some of its longstanding rules regarding horror comics, such as
21025-601: Was the final code-approved traditional anthology title to be produced, lasting only a dozen issues around 1987. As these and Warren publications disappeared, new titles from the 1980s onward would all be in new formats (i.e. glossy paper, not code-approved) or sporadically produced by small independent companies. Beginning in the late 1980s and early 1990s, independent publishers produced a number of successful horror comics franchises. FantaCo Enterprises and Millennium Publications boasted lineups almost exclusively devoted to horror, vampire, and zombie comics. For instance, 1985 saw
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