Beware

There were so many publishing houses that started producing Horror comic books in the late 40’s and early 50’s. Some big, some small, but the sheer quantity invading the racks at that time made it difficult to assess which of these were of any quality at all, or if they were just rushed releases, batted out by hacks just trying to cash in on the craze…

Trojan Magazines, Inc. was one of the small companies that, as the dust of time has settled, managed to create a very wonderful, and appropriately gruesome, comic book called BEWARE that ran for only 14 issues between January 1953 through March 1955 (the Comics Code Authority, whose stamp started appearing on the covers of books beginning in April of 1955, appears to have knocked Trojan, and others, out of business).

Although the title was later to be sold to small publishers Youthful, and then to Merit, it is the 14 Trojan issues that have the blatant explicitness of content that is so appealing to collectors of pre-code horror comics.

One must only look at the covers to get a glimpse of the graphic macabre content within; images of zombies ripping clothes off of terrorized women (see Frank Frazetta’s distinguishingly disturbed cover to issue #10, in some of his rare comic book work); sea creatures of unknown origin terrorizing women (this was a popular trend); flesh-dripping zombies - zombies were very big in Beware; a skeleton driving a motorboat pulling unsuspecting waterskiers; and, to be fair, some tamer “Haunted House” covers and stories.

And one thing about Beware, is that they managed to pull off putting out a top-shelf title without contributions from many heavy-hitters in the art department. Trojan seemed to have a dedicated in-house pool of artists which drew the bulk of the stories, with only the occasional contribution by “name” talent. Obscure, relatively forgotten Trojan staffers included such names as Harry Harrison, Gerald Altman, Henry Kiefer, Al Gordon, Leo Haggler, William Zeller, Albert Tyler, Myron Fass, Sid Check, Art Gates, Leo Morey, and Jay Disbrow. 

Looking through the credits, there are only a few recognizable names that offered their talent to Beware; John Forte, Rudy Palais, A.C. Hollingsworth, Edvard Moritz, and the aforementioned Frank Frazetta.

All 14 issues of the Trojan run promised “Chilling Tales Of Horror!” on the top of each cover, and it is safe to say that they delivered.

Follow Quality Comix’s links in the online price guide to see the prices that some of these issues are currently fetching on the collectors market!