Unusual Tales #10

Charlton's Unusual Tales #10 (1958) serves up exactly the kind of unsettling strangeness the title promises, with a Steve Ditko cover that stops you cold: a headless, formally dressed figure — top hat floating above an empty collar, cane in one hand and a traveling bag in the other — strolls beneath glowing gas lamps as if nothing is amiss. The eerie confidence of that faceless gentleman perfectly captures the "eerie-chilling-suspenseful" mood Charlton advertised, and Ditko's fluid linework makes the impossible feel unnervingly matter-of-fact. Inside, stories including "Never Again," "Man from the Ages," and "The Edge of Fear" await, with writing by Joe Gill and art by Ditko at his atmospheric best.