Spellbound #4

Atlas Comics' Spellbound was one of the great pre-Code anthology titles for eerie, suspenseful storytelling, and this June 1952 issue sets the mood perfectly with a Russ Heath cover dripping in dread. A menacing, dark-suited man looms over a tiny blonde woman dressed in red who sits smiling in a green chair, seemingly oblivious to the danger as he rasps, "Come in, dear! I've been expecting you!" — his unnaturally elongated hands reaching toward her in a dimly lit, coat-filled room. Inside, Don Rico's writing and Dick Ayers' art (inked by Ernie Bache) bring you "The Knave of Diamonds," one of several tales crafted to keep you genuinely, pleasurably unsettled.