FANTASTIC FEARS #7 -- ACTUALLY THE FIRST ISSUE -- WHO'DA GUESSED? -- (MAY 1953)

The numbering continues from the Ajax-Farrell comic book (produced by the Iger Studios) Captain Jet #5 (1952); there was no #6.  The second issue of Fantastic Fears was numbered #8.  The magazine then changed its numbering and the next issue was #3.  Confused?

Nine issues of Fantastic Fears were published, with the last dated September 1954.  The numbering was then taken over by Fantastic #10 in November 1954, then changed to Fantastic Comics #11 (1955) before passing on to oblivion.  The Fantastic Fears tagline was "tales of stalking horror," which became "tales of enchantment" for issue #10, and "amazing adventures" for issue #12 -- clearly a sign of the industry's response to the controversy started by Dr. Frederick Wertham's 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent.  The final issue veered significantly from horror, with its cover illustration depicting a giant robot (which had nothing to do with the stories therein).

So this is a pre-Code issue, chock full of bloody horror:

• "And Death Makes Three" -- A scientist invents an invisibility formula and sets out to rob the Bank of England, not of money, but of a tiny bit of matter that could destroy millions -- the only supply of Double U-39 in the world.  But the murderous scientist is betrayed by his equally murderous niece, who then kills her lover, and escapes by becoming invisible.  But a fast-moving train cannot see an invisible girl...
• "Curse of Coincidence" -- A man who has just rebuilt his home after a devasatting fire meets a "Jonah" who brings death and destruction wherever he goes.  A lot of gruesome deaths in this one.
• "Creeping Vines" -- A two-page text story about a jungle movie being filmed among the Ashanti people in the Radinga Jungle, where there happens to a legend of the Creeping Vines, which can expand and contract, crushing both humans and animals.
• "Hawk's Folly" --  A  millionaire moved a European castle to America, complete with a werewolf curse.  He is killed by a wolf, who is actually a female loup-garou, and his daughter is slated to be the next victim.
• "The Blood Blossom" -- A 2000-year-old seed unearthed from a Japanese tomb blossoms into a vampire lotus plant.  Memorable line after the deaths begin to pile up:  "First time I ever had to arrest a flower." (But they didn't arrest the flower -- they hacked to pieces, but, as the last panel shows, you can't keep a good bad flower down!)

Later issues of this comic book would get more graphic, with stories of decapitation, dismemberment, and extreme violence.  Ghosts, werewolves, vampires, zombies, monsters of all sorts, man-eating dogs, demons, body horror, mad scientists, and occult detectives would all become grist for this mill.

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