The Haunt of Fear - Artists and Writers

Artists and Writers

Artist Graham Ingels took over the art duties of the Haunt of Fear starting with issue #4. He became the Old Witch's primary artist for the remainder of the comic's run, though his art had been appearing since the second issue. Ingels would take over the cover duty with issue #11, in February 1952. Other artists who contributed to the title were Feldstein, Johnny Craig, Wally Wood, Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Davis, George Roussos, Harry Harrison, Joe Orlando, Sid Check, George Evans, Reed Crandall, Jack Kamen and Bernard Krigstein. Ingels' artwork on the eight page lead stories, and his splash pages, particularly on issues #14 and 17, set a new standard for horror illustration. These have rarely if ever been equaled since.

"Poetic Justice", in the twelfth issue, was adapted for the 1972 Tales From the Crypt film from Amicus Studios, in England. The movie starred Peter Cushing as the kindly old junk collector. Ingels drew "Wish You Were Here" from Haunt #22. It was also adapted for film. "Horror We? How's Bayou?" in issue #17 is considered by many E.C.'s best drawn horror story ever. Perhaps it is the best by anyone, in any era. The homicidal maniac's creepy visage was taken from an old movie still of the silent film, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920 film), which starred John Barrymore. The story artwork won an award as best E.C. horror art at the 1972 E.C. Fan-Addict Convention.

Gaines and Feldstein were responsible for writing all of the stories until the end of 1953. An unauthorized adaptation of Ray Bradbury in another one of EC's comics. eventually led to a series of authorized Bradbury adaptations. Features included "Grim Fairy Tales", horror based parodies of well known fairy tales such as Sleeping Beauty and Hansel and Gretel. The parodies began appearing in issue #15, in 1952.

The title's most controversial story was "Foul Play" (#19, 1953). It was written by Feldstein and drawn by Davis. It featured a crooked baseball player being dismembered, with his body parts used to play baseball by his murderers. The story was singled out by Robert Warshow in his 1954 essay "Paul, the Horror Comics, and Dr. Wertham". He described it as "the outer limits of ... 'good taste'." It was also one of many examples used by Fredric Wertham in his book Seduction of the Innocent. Author Grant Geissman used the title of the story for his book on EC artists, Foul Play (2005).