Nights of Horror Paperback – September 30, 2012

The description was absolutely correct. The two stories by Gar King were very unremarkable and so was the artwork by Joe Shuster, the Creator of Superman. The booklet was copyrighted sometime after between 1923 and 1963, but not renewed. This book really isn’t worth buying, especially if the reader only wishes to see some very unremarkable Joe Shuster art work.

Fun book!

I admit that I bought a copy. This is my confession."Nights of Horror" was a cheap unprofessional under-the-counter sleazy comic/text mag that ran for about 15 issues around 1954. This was the era of increasing social and political pressure (the political correctness of the day) to crack down on controversial media. This particular obscure comic got connected, rightly or wrongly, to a couple of evil New York kids who perpetrated a "thrill killing" and other rottenness, and ended up with a grandstanding Senator waving a copy. For more of the history (some background text and many illustrations), see Craig Yoe's book, "Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman's Co-creator Joe Shuster".Anyway, it's said (and presumably considered a hard fact) that Superman co-creator Joe Shuster drew the ten illustrations for this rag. And issue Number 4 has been dutifully reprinted by those wonderful people at "The Academy Club" (I'm speculating here that the "Club" isn't "club" in the sense of a group of people, but "club" in the sense of an implement by which you give some poor helpless slob a good whacking), who seem to specialize in fetish material. It's 80 pages, and other than the illustrations, this issue contains two stories about women in ridiculously horrific situations. Considering that an original copy will set you back many hundreds of dollars if you can even find one, this is the only way you can travel back in time to read some 50's-era specialty sleaze in the form it was meant to be read.The writing is unengaging, at least to my eye. Utterly boring. Yes, it describes fetish stuff, but it's mechanical, and the characters have no depth whatsoever. I'd think that the only thing that ever made this interesting was the fact that it was illicit and you had to hunt it down. Illicit stuff tends to be more fun; isn't that so? And maybe if you're 12 and get your hands on this through a strenuous campaign, you'll be uncritically ecstatic as you read it sequestered in a favored hiding spot. But I can't say I got that thrill from a simple Amazon click. Darn it, the mainstreaming of sleaze is a fiendish plot by rotten killjoys, if I may be so bold as to opine. And the stories are such trash. Forgive me for being a literary snob, but it seems you ought to get to know a gal as a person rather than as a cartoon caricature before you tie her up and whip her.Anyway, rating this on the 5-star scales makes no sense. I'm posting a neutral 3 stars, but ignore that. Either you want to check this out or collect it for its weird little place in history, or you should ignore it entirely. I purchased it out of curiosity, thinking it might have just a smidgen of merit, and I was disappointed. I'd happily give my copy to a comic buff or pervert if I happened to know one. (But please, this is not an invitation for comic buffs or perverts to solicit me. It's cheap enough that those in need can acquire their own copy. By the way, in addition to hard copy, it looks like you also can get it as an eBook from Lulu. Also, you can search the Lulu site for other marvelous offerings from The Academy Club. It looks like a lot of trash to me, and not the good sort. But perhaps connoisseurs and specialists will be appreciative.)