Ghostly Haunts #53

There's something darkly comic about the cover of this December 1976 Charlton offering — a squat, fang-bearing creature in a striped shirt grins hopefully at a blonde woman while clutching a bouquet of daisies, equal parts menacing and oddly lovesick. Mike Zeck's cover art balances genuine grotesquerie with a wry sense of humor that sets a perfectly unsettling tone for the tales within, including "The Bayou Devil Cat." Ghostly Haunts #53 is a fine example of Charlton's knack for wrapping supernatural chills in covers that stick with you long after you've closed the book.