Saturday, October 3, 2015

THE BEYOND #1 (NOVEMBER 1950)

How about something horror-ish for the first Saturday on October?

The Beyond was published bimonthly by Ace Magazines and ran until January 1955 -- a total of thirty issues.  (A 1954 attempt to go monthly lasted just one issue before reverting back to the bimonthy schedule.) Ace Magazines was part of A. A. Wynn's corporate umbrella, which also included the Ace Books line of paperbacks.

As you could tell from the cover, the first issue of The Beyond would rely heavily on monsters.  In addition to the werewolf, there are stories about a mummy, a devil doll, ghosts, and zombies.  All in a pre-Code issue.

In "The Werewolf Strikes!" noted European scientist Professor Drago moves to  a small New England coastal town to continue his research for a means to cure him of lycanthropy.  His efforts are to no avail for when the moon is full Drago must feed his bloodlust.  Young Joel Carlton is hired as the Professor's assistant; he must reside in Drago's home while his beautiful, pneumatic, blonde fiancee with the wasp waist must remain in town.  The killings increase and the Professor begins to lust after Joel's gal.  As he hypnotizes the object of his lust, a full moon begins to appear.  Will blondie get it?  Or will Joel be able to save her?  Enquiring minds want to know,

Next up, a one-page filler, "True Tales of the Supernatural #3."  (Since this is the first issue, I assume #1 and #2 appear in another Ace comic.)  In this, a 19th century Irish landlord has a prophetic dream about a brutal murder.

In "The Relunctant Ghost," a psychic has enslavved the spirit of a murderer to use its supernatural powers to grant the wishes of his clients.  Things do not turn out well.  Then the psychic gets greedy and things turn out less well.

What's this?  "True Tales of the Supernatural #4"?  Why, yes.  In this filler, a body disappears and a ghost walks.

A master puppeteer makes a mistake when he puts the soul of Jack the Ripper into 'The Phantom Puppet."  Said puppet develops a liking for knives and for blood.  More pneumatic blondes with wasp waists.

Another filler is "The Mummy's Curse," a two-page text story included to get around postal mailing regulations.  There's a mummy.  There's a curse.  The end.

Our final tale is titled "Master of the Undead."  A jerk-faced publisher rejects Peter Brandon's zombie book because it "smacks of research.  Research is no substitute for the real McCoy."  Yep, Peter needs to have real experiences with zombies to give his novel a realistic atmosphere.  (The scripter evidently has problems with pubishers and editors -- certainly not all of them are jerk-faces.)  So Peter heads to the Caribbean to confront real zombies.  He finds them.  Or does he?  An Am-I dreaming? or Am-I-awake? story with another pneumatic, wasp waist blonde.

Enjoy.

http://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=29718


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