Ghostly Tales #168

Charlton's long-running horror anthology reaches issue #168 with a cover by Steve Ditko that pulls no punches: a massive, snarling green creature looms within a glowing archway, flanked by hulking purple demons, while a caped figure and a second person stand their ground in what the cover promises is "The Secret of the Sacred Cave." The tag line warns that "you'll never be the same after you learn…" — a perfectly calibrated bit of dread that sets the mood for the Joe Gill–written, Sanho Kim–illustrated stories waiting inside. At sixty cents in 1984, this is Charlton horror doing exactly what it does best.