Top 10 Greatest Classic Horror Comics in Comic History By Eric Diaz  [10 more lists]

Lasting only 27 issues from 1950-1955, Tales from the Crypt is probably the most famous and notorious horror comic book series in history. Started by EC Comics publisher William Gaines in 1950 (along with sister horror titles The Vault of Horror and The Haunt of Fear) this horror anthology series was so popular that it came under fire from parents and ""good God-fearing Americans"" for corrupting America’s youth.

EC Comics and Tales from the Crypt were a particular target for the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency, who so terrorized the comic book industry that they created the self censoring "Comics Code" that forbade anything too racy or grisly in horror comics.

In fact, comic book publishers were no longer able to use the words ""terror"" and ""horror"" in titles, and zombies, vampires, ghosts and other horror staples could no longer be used in comic book form either.

Bill Gaines’ horror comics empire was effectively over, and the Crypt Keeper went into early, unfortunate retirement.

But a whole generation of kids remembered those comics, and Tales of the Crypt was ressurected not only as a feature film in 1982, but also a long-running syndicated horror series.

And it is because of this incredible legacy that Tales gets the #1 slot.

What if there was a zombie movie that simply didn't end? A good one? With no CG BLood?

No National Guard save, no magic cure at the end... the zombie apocalypse is actually an Apocalypse, and you have to learn to survive in it forever, go crazy or die.

That is pretty much the simple (yet genius) idea behind Robert Kirkman's epic comic book series from Image.

Essentially a family drama, the series follows police officer Rick Grimes and his family as they try to live in a world where the dead rising is simply a fact of life like pimples and bad reality shows. Soon to be a television series, The Walking Dead remains one of the finest examples of horror in the comics medium for the modern age.

Much like the original Romero Night of the Living Dead, the horror and intrigue of the comic revolves around people's reactions to the zombies, how they cope and the very human situations that occur when people are put in constant danger.

Easily the greatest Horror comic being written today, it's soon going to be an AMC TV show which promises to be a truly amazing show.

By 1971, the self-censoring Comics Code relaxed their limitations on what could be published in mainstream comics, and once again vampires, werewolves and other ghoulies could return to comics; thus making it, creatively, like that scene in Ghostbusters where all the ghosts are let out into the streets.

Marvel was ready to unleash The Tomb of Dracula, which lasted 70 issues from 1972-1979. Written mostly by Marv Wolfman (I know, right?), and all 70 issues were drawn entirely by artist Gene Colan (and unprecendented feat in this day and age, where comic book artists are lucky to stay on a year for a single title, much less eight) Tomb of Dracula ushered in a wave of Marvel horror books, like Werewolf by Night and Monsters Unleashed.

Probably the biggest contribution to Marvel lore from Tomb of Dracula was the vampire hunter named Blade. Of course, Blade started the Marvel Movie juggernaut which continues today, so Marvel’s current mega success owes quite a bit to Tomb of Dracula in the end; making it one of the most influential comics series in comics history.

DC Comics had their own crop of horror titles during the pre-code heyday, although nothing as bloody or explicit as those over at EC.

In 1951, DC unleashed the House of Mystery, a horror/suspense anthology series. But the folks at DC were feeling the anti comics backlash big time by the mid 50s, and started publishing sci fi stories in that title instead (don't know about you, but that s**t must have been confusing to a kid, to open up a book called House of Mystery to find no house, no mystery, and spaceships and aliens instead.)

By the 60’s, the book was a home for characters like The Martian Manhunter (of all things). By the early 70s though, with Comics Code restrictions looser again, House of Mystery began to live up to its name once more.

They added a "host", a creep old guy named Cain, and the book continued this way until 1983, scaring little kids and no doubt creating an entire generation of f*ture goths ""too cool"" to watch John Hughes movies.

Side Note: After the book was cancelled in 1983, it was revived a few years later as Elvira's House of Mystery, with the big boobied TV horror hostess standing in for Cain, but that book only lasted a year or so.

With Dracula now firmly established at Marvel, they now turned to another classic monster for inspiration…this time, in the form of Werewolf…by Night. It was your traditional werewolf saga, only this time set in the Marvel Universe…so when protagonist Jacob Russoff went in his endless search for a cure, he would run into the likes of Iron Man or Spider Woman.

Eventually, he learned to control his abilities, and could change shape at will.

This was probably done to make him more of a traditional super hero, when sales started to sag and the 70’s horror comics boom was ending.

A RIDICULOUSLY "HOLLYWOOD" STORY REGARDING THIS TITLE:
According to Stan Lee, a wealthy and famous Hollywood producer once offered Marvel a serious amount of money for the rights to Werewolf by Night. Stan Lee told him to just change the characters’ name, as it was a standard werewolf story and he wouldn’t have to pay so much for just the title.

So even back in the day, Hollywood grasps on to ANY built-in audience that's possible instead of making something original.

But the producer insisted, Marvel got paid what was most a nice amount of money, and the movie never even got made. Ah, Hollywood logic/magic.