This is another odd little publication, courtesy of the short-lived Atlas Comics in 1975. Atlas tried to take on the world of comics--and Marvel specifically--and one of the prongs of their attack was a line of black and white mags.All in all, they weren't that bad at it--better, in fact, than they were at the color line, IMO. Not only did they put out Thrilling Adventure Stories (the second issue of which, already profiled here, was one of the finest single-issue comics of the seventies), but they did this, Weird Tales of the Macabre, which features some fine talent.
The nice spooky cover is by Jeff Jones (if only those logo colors had been a bit less garish), and the first story "The Demon is Dying!" is written and drawn by Pat Boyette. Set in a faraway land of Skaaland, this is a gruesome, violent tale of an evil man that many wish dead--and they get it.
"Time Lapse", drawn by Leo Duranona, is a contemporary tale with a twist ending; very reminiscient of the kind of stories you'd find in Warren mags at the time. The very next piece finds Atlas aping the Marvel b/w mags, with a text piece on Dan Curtis, the man behind Dark Shadows.
"A Second Life", drawn by Leo Summers (I think--the individual stories aren't credited, so I'm attempting to match the group credits at the front of the magazine with the art styles for each story), is a EC-esque tale of a guy who bumps off a beautiful woman and thinks he can get away with it. Next is "The Cheese is for the Rats", a gruesomely-funny story exquisitely rendered by the master, Ernie Colon. Ernie did a lot of work for Atlas, and it was all uniformily superb.
The next story, "Tour De Force", is a sort-of werewolf tale drawn by Ramon Torrents, about some people making a horror movie on location, far from the backlots of Hollywood. Ernie Colon is back drawing the final tale, "Speed Demon", a tale of a cocky race-car driver, which has got to be the first--and maybe only--horror tale set in the world of Car Racing.
All in all, not a bad start for a company's fledgling line of b/w magazines. They did do a second issue, which I have yet to get, but it's on my list (along with a million other ones!)...
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