Ghostly Tales #109

Charlton's Ghostly Tales from the Haunted House #109 opens January 1974 with a genuinely unsettling cover by Steve Ditko: a man in black brandishing a whip stands at the center of a spotlight while a tiny, seemingly helpless figure in a purple suit is flung through the air around him — all of it framed by the enormous, looming face of a pale green specter that dominates the composition. The eerie green palette and Ditko's sharp linework give the scene a surreal, carnival-gone-wrong atmosphere perfectly suited to the "Hocus Pocus!" story within, brought to life by Pete Morisi's writing and art. At just 20 cents, this Charlton anthology delivers the kind of atmospheric supernatural dread the title's fans knew and loved.