The Unexpected #124

A terrified young man stands atop a grotesque birthday cake — complete with skull decorations and dripping candles — as a circle of reaching, cloaked ghouls closes in around him, taunting him with the words "Surprise! You didn't think we'd forget YOUR birthday, did you?" Neal Adams' cover for this 1971 DC anthology is a wonderfully unsettling piece of work, blending the mundane cheerfulness of a birthday party with genuine horror imagery. Inside, Jerry Grandenetti brings the anthology's dark tales to life, including the ominously titled "These Walls Shall Be Your Grave.