I’ve tried for many years to identify the two horror comics below. They were among the earliest scary stories I ever read. (Comics really are a great stepping stone to more advanced reading, people.) God bless the Internet.

It was waaaaaaay back in … 1980 or 1981. My family had taken a vacation to Nashville, Tennessee, and that was one LONG car ride. Both of my parents were unwaveringly cool about encouraging me to read, so they always picked me up something good when there was reading material available on the journey.

I’m pretty sure I was a second-grader at the time? (This is nearly a half century ago, folks, so the details may be fuzzy.) But the two stories you see represented below knocked my socks off. Unless I am mistaken, they appeared in Charlton Comics’ “Haunted,” #12 and #17, respectively.

The first (as you can probably tell) was about a little boy who finds a monster egg at the beach — and then brings it home to incubate it secretly in the basement. (Things get predictably sea-monstery.)

The second comic I am a little less certain of … the story I remember had a female protagonist who visited a mansion owned by a villain. She was consigned to a sprawling garden on the grounds that sprouted demonic vines that had skulls for faces. Our heroine somehow prevailed, and even managed to claim the villain’s mansion. (I guess he left the deed lying around in the open.) The story ended by explaining how she paved over the hellish garden with concrete. The concrete cracked every year, presenting the demon vines with possible escape — so she assiduously had it repaved every year. That ending really gave me the creeps.

One thing still puzzles me … these comics were originally published in 1973 and 1974. Would a tourist trap or local drug store really be selling back issues of a horror comic from six to eight years prior?

And any comics historians out there see that I’ve gotten any of the above details wrong, please just shoot me a note or leave a comment. I’d love to learn more. 🙂

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