Vintage Comics: Midnight, Issue #2: The Needless Night, Fortune or Fate pt. 2, Forever and Ever (Pg. 14 - End )

Sometimes you read a 'horror story', and you realize it's either the first time that writer ever approached the subject, or perhaps they were attaching the word horror just to gain a larger audience. In finishing this issue, I felt there were some sad moments. A bit of death. And an ironic twist. The first story approaches a semi-Faustian deal that ultimately teaches the bad guy a lesson, but there's no real bite or substance. It's like the writer pulled out halfway through and decided he didn't really want a horrific retribution for the devil's bargain. The second story finishing up Fortune or Fate is pretty much the closest to actual horror the whole comic came to. The last story...well, at least I was taken by surprise. I expected one character to be evil, and he ended up just having a bit of bad luck...

Midnight. Reminding us all that the people responsible for getting horror comics banned back in the mid-20th century...probably hadn't read nearly enough comics.

Vintage Comics: Chamber of Chills – The Ghost of the Rue De Morte, How Death Valley Got Its Name, Weird Worlds (29-36)

Finishing up the final portion of this ‘Chamber of Chills’, the first story focuses on that age-old saying…curiosity killed the cat. Sometimes it seems being a skeptic is far more dangerous than it’s worth, especially when it comes to investigating an apparent ghost in a shady area of the city late at night. You’d think the man would have at least had a gun to defend himself with.

Then we get some fun facts about a group of people who struggled to get across Death Valley, and a bit of mythology. The ancient Greeks and Romans sure could be brutal with their stories. Anyway, it was fun to read this issue, but I still can’t let go of the nagging fact that there’s a serious case of excessive exposition…