Vault of Horror #12
"Portrait in Wax!" is a chilling tale from Vault of Horror #12 (1950), a standout story written, drawn, and inked by Al Feldstein, whose sharp, suspenseful storytelling and stark visuals deliver a haunting descent into paranoia and dread. The issue follows Gloria as she flees her husband Ralph on a train, only to find herself trapped in a nightmare where every passenger lies dead—and her husband’s final act may be more twisted than she ever imagined. Johnny Craig’s cover, a masterclass in eerie composition, captures the story’s dread with a haunting image of a woman frozen in terror, perfectly mirroring the tension within.
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Gloria was in a cab, running away from her husband Ralph...heading toward the train station and the train that would take her away from this man whom she thought was trying to poison her. Seated on the train, she kept imagining him at every turn and remembering the $25,000 insurance policies Ralph had taken out on them both...then she remembered that poison bottle he had brought home. Asleep in her berth, Gloria suddenly awakens at what she thinks is a scream, and goes to wake the conductor...but he is dead in his berth. In fact, everyone is dead in their berths! She jumps off the train and locates a farmhouse that has a freshly-dug grave outside. She enters the house and spies a coffin in it....then sees Ralph behind her, who grabs Gloria, puts her in the coffin, nails it shut, drags it to the grave and buries it. Suddenly, she awakens in her berth on the train.....sees Ralph with an attendant in a white coat, who takes her off to a nice house with bars on it so that Ralph can never get to her again!
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).