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Post by Johnlprobert on Jul 28, 2008 7:44:25 GMT
Here's my contribution to obscure stuff no-one else remembers. From memory (!) here is a list of my collection of those little Top Sellers digest-sized Pocket Chiller books that are just impossible to get hold of nowadays. No idea if it's completely accurate - I was only 10!
102 Unholy Fiends 103 Pit of Hell 106 Left to Die 107 Indescribable Terror 108 Never Again 109 Evil Fangs 110 The Fiend 111 Superhuman 112 Everlasting Night 113 Mangled Mind 114 The Strangler 116 The Face in the Mirror 117 Suffer a Witch to Live 118 Shadows of the Night (?) 119 The Bat 120 The Skull 121 The Rope 122 The Hangman 123 The Night of the Cactus 126 Trip Fantastic 127 The Spider 128 Born to Be Evil 129 The Hands of Death 131 Exterminate! 136 To Kill for Kicks 137 Doctor Satan
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Post by Calenture on Jul 28, 2008 9:08:29 GMT
Thanks, John. I only remember the war titles - and I've seen their latest incarnations appear on W H Smiths racks in the past year, looking no different! Anyway, did a spot of Googling and found these covers. They are linked back to a site where there are more of the same - just click on the pics to go there.
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Post by Johnlprobert on Jul 28, 2008 11:42:14 GMT
Cheers Rog.
I watched that documentary on 'Comics Britannia' on Saturday night & was interested to note that in the 60s UK artists did the war stuff and European artists did the romantic girls' comics. The style of some of the girls art was exactly like what used to be in these little books - gorgeous women in very very 60s/70s fashions who often ended up in appalling situations, which made me wonder if perhaps these books originated overseas?
I also know that some of the ones in my list were reprints - eg 'No 112 'Everlasting Night' (I think) was a reprint of 'Followers of Satan' and contained the most disturbing image I've ever seen in a comic, where our heroine discovers exactly what happened to the secretary who preceded her. Horrible. Just horrible. EC had nothing on some of these.
Film stills were often used for inspiration as well. The final frame of 116 (Face in the Mirror - an utter bloody classic by the way, where the heroine ends up being chased around his isolated gothic castle by her seemingly handsome husband who starts to fall to bits because he needs to drain her youth to keep himself young. I'd love to know who wrote it) was an almost direct copy of that famous 'Vulnavia kissing Dr Phibes' still that wasn't in the film but was in all the film books at the time.
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Post by Johnlprobert on Jul 28, 2008 12:08:40 GMT
I think I might even make it my own little project to build up some info on these. Here are some more titles I've found (but never read):
7 Hell on Earth 13 The Nightmare 15 The Potholers 24 Hands of Evil 25 The Bloody Flowers 26 The Brides of Death 27 The Secret in the Cellar 28 The Hunchback.
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stephenbacon
Crab On The Rampage
www.stephenbacon.co.uk
Posts: 78
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Post by stephenbacon on Aug 10, 2008 19:59:55 GMT
John and Rog, I hadn't heard of these before, but they look great.
Rog, do you mean they have recently republished some of these comics (and sold them in WHSmith) ?
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Post by Calenture on Aug 11, 2008 19:53:09 GMT
Rog, do you mean they have recently republished some of these comics (and sold them in WHSmith) ? No, I'm afraid not, Steve. But I was surprised when I went into Smiths recently and saw several war comic books using the same format, just like the ones that appeared in the sixties and seventies.
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Post by Calenture on Aug 11, 2008 20:09:02 GMT
I watched that documentary on 'Comics Britannia' on Saturday night & was interested to note that in the 60s UK artists did the war stuff and European artists did the romantic girls' comics. The style of some of the girls art was exactly like what used to be in these little books - gorgeous women in very very 60s/70s fashions who often ended up in appalling situations, which made me wonder if perhaps these books originated overseas? Another belated response here. Oops! Yes, Italian and Spanish artists were often prefered for drawing Brit girls' comics, as British artists tended to go for a 'warts and all' look. Continental artists also contributed to NEL's glorious 1970's comic book, Dracula. There's a thread put up by Severance, Steve and me that really needs transferring, if it's not lurking here already. These images are nicked from it: Where these came from (hint)
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Post by killercrab on Aug 11, 2008 21:44:21 GMT
But I was surprised when I went into Smiths recently and saw several war comic books using the same format, just like the ones that appeared in the sixties and seventies. >>
That's because they are the same thing! DC Thompson continue to release their War Commando books . Quite a few compilation volumes out too - the Best of ... - that kind of thing. My local library carries some.
ade
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Post by pulphack on Aug 12, 2008 12:04:07 GMT
Commando is quite amazing really - four a month, regularly and without a break for over forty years now. the odd thing is that they were still around but you only evedr saw them in a few places until recently - now that Carlton are making a fortune from reprints, it seems that the new titles have picked up on the back of that. which maybe proves that there is a market for this sort of thing if people are reminded it's there.
i've lost count of how many volumes of commando Carlton have published, and they've also done at least one from fleetway's battle library. they've also done some old schoolfriend girls anthologies, and several jackie's (incidentally named after superstar kid's writer jacqueline wilson when she was a dc thompson office junior, for those of you who missed comics britannia!). i think i saw a look-in one as well, recently. it's proving a fertile field for them, so who knows what we may get next, dragged from the vaults of dct or fleetway!
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Post by mattofthespurs on Sept 18, 2008 9:25:19 GMT
This is the sum total of my small collection of Pocket Chillers.
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Post by mattofthespurs on Sept 18, 2008 9:28:03 GMT
i've lost count of how many volumes of commando Carlton have published, and they've also done at least one from fleetway's battle library. I think it's up to six volumes of Commando now (I have 4) and 2 volumes each of Battle Library and War Library but I could be wrong about that.
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Sept 18, 2008 10:23:14 GMT
Is it just me? The colourful spread of that collection of garish covers sends a warm glow of appreciative understanding through my soul. I can almost visualise the hours spent in seedy shops and jumble sales. The heady excitement of discovery. There's a single bookshop stocking English books near me and I feel like chucking the coat on and checking it out again...sure there were some chillers there last time
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Post by shaun Jeffrey on Sept 18, 2008 10:29:29 GMT
I love those old covers!
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Post by allthingshorror on Sept 18, 2008 10:33:33 GMT
My God - that's such a beautiful sight.
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Post by franklinmarsh on Sept 18, 2008 14:24:42 GMT
Jings! Cracking stuff, Matt. I assume The Vampire Of Dusseldorf, The Monster Of Rillington Place and possibly To Kill For Kicks are (ahem) based on truth? You've got to love The Night Of The Cactus though.
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