Who Did Better Horror Comics In The 70's?

[protector2814]

Anthology over at DC. Anti-Hero Monsters over at Marvel. Both companies carved their own niches when Horror mattered & I'm not sure which company did a better job they were both so good.

It was the DC Anthology Horror Comics I 1st recall reading. Long trips to & from the beach in the back of my Dad's Chevy with a stack of House of Mystery, Ghosts, The Witching Hour, Weird War Tales, etc...
"Borrowed" heavily in terms of style from earlier EC horror anthology comics, DC slightly toned down the gore but more than delivered on craft & mood. Werewolves, demon possession, witches, undead, cursed items, ghosts, etc ... all was covered.

At the same time Marvel was knocking out Werewolf By Night, Dracula, Tales of the Zombie, Frankenstein's Monster, Son Of Satan, Scarecrow, Gabriel, Devil Hunter. I came a little late to the party with some of these characters, but quickly caught up & almost immediately grew to love them, as I still do.

The best artists in the business worked on the books' Joe Kubert, Neal Adams, Mike Ploog, Gene Colan, Earl Norem, I could go on. Equally, the cream of the crop writers wrote fantastic tales of dread for both companies.

Which company, DC or Marvel, gets your vote for the best when it came to cranking out Horror?

* the following pics are just examples of 4 of the many great titles both companies published.



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[Alex655321]

I am a marvel zombie but hands down to me it was DC.

Always liked both the witching hour and house of mystery.

[joefixit2]

EC Comics, there is no close 2nd.

[wktf]

This is a tough one. I definitely bought more Marvel, especially Tomb of Dracula which was an incredibly high quality horror series. But Marvel's other horror titles were not nearly as consistently strong. So, even though Tomb of Dracula is my favorite horror comic book I give it overall to DC for the quality of their overall line of books.

[protector2814]

Originally Posted by joefixit2

EC Comics, there is no close 2nd.

EC Comics had been gone for 15 years by the 70's. I know they were the best Anthology based horror & sci-fi comics, but I didn't''t include them in my 70's comparison question 'cause they weren't around.

[Juggernaut]

I have not picked up any DC or Marvel horror comic ever.

I know of the of the characters from the MU like Zombie and Dracula and so on. But I don't have any of them.

If you guys and any reccomendations?

As a kid I did stumble on a horror comic that was great.

These vampires put a tap... you know like a vine tap into a humans thoat and drank his blood.

To this day I have know idea what company made this comic. But if I could get that for my collection I would.

Childhood memories are the best!

[wktf]

Tomb of Dracula has consistently been rated the best horror comic series of all time.

[Juggernaut]

Originally Posted by wktf

Tomb of Dracula has consistently been rated the best horror comic series of all time.

I could kick myself for not getting the Omnibus.

[Babytoxie]

DC, without a doubt.

I have a hard time referring to the bulk of Marvel's '70s horror titles as "horror". The stories were still constructed like a standard Marvel comic, and many of the character designs and covers brought superheroes to mind. Not that they were bad, just more of a supernatural comic, rather than horror, IMO... kinda Doctor Strange-ish.

DC was a different story. Swamp Thing, the "Houses", even The Demon, etc., all struck me as horror titles (though Swamp Thing did drift away a bit). The anthology titles had an EC vibe going for them, and others had the right Gothic atmosphere. Wein and Wrightson's Swamp Thing was the first comic that actually scared me. Of course, I was 6 years old or so, but those first several issues were some frightening stuff to this kiddo - the Un-Men still weird me out to this day.

[protector2814]

I kinda agree w/ you BT in terms of what Marvel was producing horror-wise with their color comics, but I'm including their Curtis, B&W magazine horror titles on their side for the 70's. Many of their popular color horror heroes spun-off within the B&W pages of Curtis mags into much harder & freaky-er versions. Brother Voodoo was a back up in Tales of The Zombie, Satana started in Vampire Tales and the for mentioned Gabriel, Demon Hunter starred in a few issues of Marvel/Curtis' Haunt of Horror mag. These stories were gore-filled terror fests, all ripe with traditional horror and creepiness. Vampire Tales was a Marve Vampire semi-anthology & the stories truly stood apart as stand-alone horror tales.

DC tool the lead from EC in the 50's. In fact, more than a few EC guys started the DC anthology horror that was so great. DC Showcase collects House of Mystery, Ghosts, The Witching Hour & more. These were all just kick-ass books. I'm still deciding which I liked more so I can answer my own question.

Juggernaut - also look for these. -