Black Cat Comics #30

This August 1951 Harvey Comics entry in the Black Cat Mystery line delivers exactly what its tagline promises — "Strangest Tales of Fear and Terror!" Lee Elias's cover depicts a masked heroine in a black costume leaping across rocky terrain while a grotesque giant insect creature and a massive black bird loom menacingly, with a fallen figure sprawled at the bottom of the scene. The teaser for "Gateway to Death" — promising "the terrifying truth about the land beyond… and two men who dared enter the forest of horror!" — sets a wonderfully ominous tone for this pre-Comics Code anthology of dread.