Chamber of Chills #13
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeChamber of Chills #13 is a solid mid-run representative of Marvel's Bronze Age all-reprint horror anthology format, a model the series settled into permanently after issue #7. Its significance lies less in any single debut than in what the issue embodies as a whole: the post-1971 relaxation of the Comics Code Authority made it possible for Marvel to dust off 1950s pre-Code Atlas-era genre material and return it to newsstand readers for the first time in nearly two decades. The issue also serves as one of the earliest widely accessible reprints of Al Williamson's pre-Code Atlas science-fiction work, giving Bronze Age readers a window into a style of illustration that had been largely suppressed by the Code. As part of a bimonthly anthology overseen by editor-in-chief Len Wein, it sits within a broader editorial project — championed originally by Roy Thomas — that deliberately positioned horror anthologies as a thematically unified line distinct from Marvel's superhero output.
In "When the Creature Escapes," a man’s defiance of his wife’s warnings leads to a string of eerie misfortunes after he removes the hex signs from their barn. Written by Carl Wessler and illustrated by Don Heck, this chilling tale from Chamber of Chills #13 (1974) builds suspense as a sudden turn of fortune—winning the lottery—seems to prove his skepticism was right… until a final, unsettling moment reveals the truth behind the good luck he thought he’d earned. The cover, by Larry Lieber and Frank Giacoia, captures the story’s creeping dread.
In "When the Creature Escapes," a captured sea creature—trapped in a tank at an atomic testing facility—reaches out to the scientist who brought it there, trying to communicate through telepathy. But the man, convinced the creature is evil, turns on it with a gun when it escapes, hunting it down in fear. Only after the creature is dead do the scientists reveal its true purpose: it had shut down a runaway atomic pile, saving them all.
In "The Hex!" from *Chamber of Chills* #13 (1974), a man’s decision to remove old hex signs from his barn sets off a chain of unsettling misfortunes, despite his wife Jo’s warnings. As his health declines and his skepticism hardens, a sudden turn of fortune brings him a lottery win—only to find her already painting a new symbol on the barn, as if she’d known all along.
In "Trapped by the Little Men!", a man is abruptly awakened by tiny, insistent figures who claim he must come with them—only to realize, in a flash of dawning horror, that his ancestor was Gulliver from "Gulliver's Travels."
In "Honest Abe," a humble doctor with just five dollars in his pocket pleads with a wealthy landowner to spare his charity clinic, only to find the bill he hands over has magically transformed into five thousand dollars—leaving him stunned and the future of the clinic uncertain.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Marvel's Chamber of Chills was launched in November 1972 as one of four horror/science-fiction anthologies conceived by editor-in-chief Roy Thomas to give the line more cohesiveness than earlier anthology experiments like Chamber of Darkness and Tower of Shadows. The series ran new material through its earliest issues before transitioning entirely to reprints after issue #7; by issue #13, the book was a dedicated reprint vehicle drawing almost exclusively from the 1950s Atlas Comics catalog. By the time #13 reached stands in August 1974 (cover-dated November 1974), day-to-day editorial duties had passed to Len Wein, who shepherded the title through its all-reprint middle period. The cover was penciled by Larry Lieber and inked by Frank Giacoia, a pairing that handled several issues in this stretch of the run.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published by Marvel Comics; released on newsstands August 13, 1974, with a November 1974 cover date — confirmed by both the Marvel Database and League of Comic Geeks.
- Cover art penciled by Larry Lieber and inked by Frank Giacoia.
- Editor: Len Wein, who served as editor-in-chief for this issue.
- The issue is entirely composed of reprints from three different 1950s Atlas/pre-Code titles: World of Suspense #7, Adventures Into Mystery #18 (listed in the reprint indicia as Mystery Tale #18, which MyComicShop notes is an error), and Astonishing Tales #4.
- Lead reprint story: 'When the Creature Escapes' — pencils by Al Williamson, inks by Ralph Mayo, originally from World of Suspense #7 (1956). A sea creature is captured and brought to an atomic testing facility. The story's plot hinges on a scientist's fatal fear of non-human intelligence — a theme resonant with early Cold War-era science fiction.
- Second reprint: 'Missing Persons!' (originally from Adventures Into Mystery #18), art by Werner Roth; features an alien-abduction premise in which extraterrestrials kidnap humans for study in preparation for conquest.
- Third reprint: 'The Hex!' (originally from Astonishing Tales #4), art by Don Heck; a man ignores his wife's warning about protective hex signs on their barn and suffers a string of misfortunes as a result.
- The series as a whole — including this issue — drew primarily from 1950s pre-Code material that the Comics Code Authority had effectively suppressed for nearly two decades; the 1971 loosening of the Code made reprinting such stories in a Code-approved format possible.
Full credits
Reprints
↩ Reprints Mystery Tales #18 (1954), Mystery Tales #29 (1955), Adventure into Mystery #4 (1956), Astonishing #60 (1957), World of Suspense #7 (1957)
Reprinted in L'étonnant Spider-Man #46 (1975), Capitaine America #45 (1975), L'étonnant Spider-Man #48 (1975)
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