Gallery of the Gross: Best Horror Comics

Gallery of the Most Graphic, Horrific and Best Horror Comics

Ask any collector: the most awesome horror comic books were published in the 1950s.

Then the infamous "Seduction of the Innocent" court case led to the imposition of the Comics Code Authority, effectively censoring all American comic books for decades.

Click here to read more history about this topic.

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Gallery of the Best Pre-Code Horror Comics

Punch Comics #12
Gangster Shoot-Out inside Giant Skull!

Record sale: $55,000
Minimum value: $800

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Weird Mysteries #5
Gross Frankenstein-style image of brain being placed into creature's head!

Record sale: $20,000
Minimum value: $300

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Crime SuspenStories #22
Classic severed head cover!

Record sale: $15,200
Minimum value: $950

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Spellbound #14
Romantic Evening With Zombies cover!

Record sale: $9,000
Minimum value: $200

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Mister Mystery #12
Flame approaching naked eye!

Record sale: $7,250
Minimum value: $800

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Black Cat Mystery #50
Radiation-rotted corpse cover!

Record sale: $72,000
Minimum value: $1,650

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Crime Does Not Pay #24
Woman's Head Pushed onto Gas Burner cover!

Record sale: $24,000
Minimum value: $900

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Underworld Crime #7
Woman Threatened by Hot Poker!

Record sale: $21,600
Minimum value: $600

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Fight Against Crime #20
Decapitated woman's head cover!

Record sale: $30,000
Minimum value: $430

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Lawbreakers SuspenStories #11
Madman holding severed tongues cover!

Record sale: $9,300
Minimum value: $40

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Chamber of Chills #19
Classic Undead Anniversary Cover!

Record sale: $102,000
Minimum value: $900

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Beware #10
Buxom Redhead Dragged into Grave by Undead!

Record sale: $3,800
Minimum value: $120

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Venus #19
Girl Kissed by Skeleton Disguised as Lover!

Record sale: $52,500
Minimum value: $600

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Tomb of Terror #15
Exploding face cover!

Record sale: $45,600
Minimum value: $200

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Crime SuspenStories #20
Hanged men on front cover!

Record sale: $30,000
Minimum value: $240

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The Thing! #7
Vampire Gouges Out Man's Eyes!

Record sale: $3,600
Minimum value: $260

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Mister Mystery #11
Huge Ants Attack Buried Human!

Record sale: $22,800
Minimum value: $400

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Horrific #3
Bullet hole in centre of forehead on cover!

Record sale: $5,040
Minimum value: $940

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Out of the Shadows #8
Monster Shrinking Human Heads cover!

Record sale: $2,450
Minimum value: $420

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Web of Evil #5
Classic Electrocution Survivor cover!

Record sale: $4,320
Minimum value: $360

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Ghostly Weird #122
Astronauts Turned into Zombies!

Record sale: $4,320
Minimum value: $140

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Spellbound #3
Couple Attacked by Giant Worm Creature!

Record sale: $2,000
Minimum value: $120

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Weird Chills #2
Classic Eye Injury cover!

Record sale: $1,240
Minimum value: $130

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Chamber of Chills #23
Woman kissing zombie cover!

Record sale: $4,500
Minimum value: $70

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Weird Mysteries #12
Man Reunited With Rotted Wife cover!

Record sale: $9,600
Minimum value: $160

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Sensation Comics #109
Man's Fingers Come to Life and Try to Kill Him!

Record sale: $850
Minimum value: $100

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Exposed #1
Man Throttles Nagging Wife!

Record sale: $8,400
Minimum value: $130

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Astonishing #30
Disembodied eyes melting human flesh cover!

Record sale: $5,220
Minimum value: $180

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Mysterious Adventures #19
Undead Motorists Come Back for Revenge!

Record sale: $2,250
Minimum value: $130

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Mister Mystery #16
Mummy Bondage cover!

Record sale: $1,560
Minimum value: $50

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History of Comic Book Censorship

You may find the idea of any kind of censorship abhorrent.

But perhaps after you've see these examples of the most gross and sought-after Pre-Code horror comic books, you may feel some sympathy for the prosecutors, and the parents of 1950s children.

Decapitation, skin melted off by acid, lit matches going into eyes, a woman cornered by a man holding a double handful of severed human tongues... This is pretty extreme stuff.

It may seem tame today (especially to fans of The Simpsons and the Itchy and Scratchy Show), but the quality of this 1950s artwork, and the controversial subjects, led to these books becoming both highly desirable AND rare.

That combination is never bad if you happen to own some of the classic horror books!

Seduction of the Innocent and Book Burning Campaigns

Seduction of the Innocent (SOTI) is a big topic best left to this Wikipedia article (opens in a new tab or window).

I can sum it up by saying that a US Congressional inquiry concluded that children should not be subjected to images the like of which you'll find in the comic books on this page.

Two things happened as a result.

First, the Comics Code Authority dictated what was acceptable, or not, and forced distributors to carry only comic books with the Code stamp on the front; second, church groups organized comic book burnings to dispose of these "evil" publications.

This has led to many pre-Code horror comics being scarce to rare in any condition.

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