Ghostly Tales #139

Charlton's long-running horror anthology reaches issue #139 with a cover by Tom Sutton that pulls no punches: a massive, red demonic Lucifer looms with fanged menace above a terrified blonde woman and a recoiling man, his declaration — "I foreclose the spell granting you eternal life and beauty… so say I, Lucifer!!" — crackling in a burst of hellish energy. It's a wonderfully unsettling image that sets the tone perfectly for the interior tale "Dearly Departed," scripted by Joe Gill with art by Steve Ditko. For fans of late-1970s horror comics, this is Charlton doing what it did best.