Scary Tales #25

Charlton's Scary Tales #25 from 1981 delivers atmospheric dread courtesy of a Steve Ditko cover that sets an unsettling autumnal mood — a cloaked, wide-brimmed figure advances toward a ramshackle structure nestled among twisted trees, fallen leaves swirling in the air around what appears to be a giant wind-up mechanism looming ominously in the background. Inside, Mike Zeck handles full art duties on "The Scorpio Curse," promising the kind of tight, skilled storytelling fans of the era came to expect from Charlton's horror anthology line. A fine slice of early-'80s horror comics with two talented hands shaping every page.