''Ghostly Haunts'' was an American horror-suspense
anthology
In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors.
In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically cate ...
comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
series published by
Charlton Comics
Charlton Comics was an American comic book publishing company that existed from 1945 to 1986, having begun under a different name: T.W.O. Charles Company, in 1940. It was based in Derby, Connecticut. The comic-book line was a division of Charlton ...
from 1971 to 1978. The book was "hosted" by Winnie the Witch, a " moddish" blue-skinned witch.
''Ghostly Haunts'' was part of a wave of new horror and suspense comics published by Charlton during this period. Its sister titles, with many of the same creators, were the Charlton anthologies ''
The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves
''The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves'' was an American supernatural-anthology comic book published by Charlton Comics, often featuring stories by writer-artist Steve Ditko. The eponymous Dr. M. T. Graves was a fictional character who hosted the stor ...
'' (with host Dr. M. T. Graves), ''
Ghostly Tales
''Ghostly Tales'' was a horror-suspense anthology comic book series published by Charlton Comics from 1966 to 1984 (though it was primarily a reprint title from 1978 onward). The book was "hosted" by Mr. L. Dedd (later changed to I. M. Dedd), a m ...
'' (with host Mr. L. Dedd, later I. M. Dedd), ''
Ghost Manor
''Ghost Manor'' is a horror video game that was released by Xonox in 1983 for the Atari 2600 and VIC-20. It was generally packaged in a double ended cartridge and a cassette tape along with one of three other games in an effort to appeal to ...
'' (with host Mr. Bones), ''
Haunted
Haunted or The Haunted may refer to:
Books
* ''Haunted'' (Armstrong novel), by Kelley Armstrong, 2005
* ''Haunted'' (Cabot novel), by Meg Cabot, 2004
* ''Haunted'' (Palahniuk novel), by Chuck Palahniuk, 2005
* ''Haunted'' (Angel novel), a 200 ...
'' (with hosts Impy and then Baron Weirwulf), and ''
Scary Tales
"Scary Tales" refers to several different versions of a Halloween-themed compilation of Walt Disney shorts, as well as an alternate and condensed version of "Disney's Halloween Treat" (1982) by the same name or derivation debuting in different ye ...
'' (with host Countess R. H. Von Bludd).
Although Charlton's low page-rates and slapdash production values typically resulted in few notable characters or stories; ''Ghostly Haunts'' featured some memorable stories in the old
EC Comics
Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books, which specialized in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, war novel, military fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction from the 1940s through th ...
vein, especially in its later issues (one theory for this being that the Charlton line was so obscure that it often evaded the eye of the
Comics Code Authority
The Comics Code Authority (CCA) was formed in 1954 by the Comics Magazine Association of America as an alternative to government regulation. The CCA allowed the comic publishers to self-regulate the content of comic books in the United States. ...
''Ghostly Haunts'' debuted with issue #20, taking over the numbering of ''
Ghost Manor
''Ghost Manor'' is a horror video game that was released by Xonox in 1983 for the Atari 2600 and VIC-20. It was generally packaged in a double ended cartridge and a cassette tape along with one of three other games in an effort to appeal to ...
'' volume one. ''Ghostly Haunts'' was published bimonthly; it went on a publishing hiatus between issues #53 and #54, which lasted from January to August 1977. Charlton's horror titles all went on hiatus during this period; ''Ghostly Haunts'' was cancelled shortly thereafter, with its April 1978 issue, #58, being the final one published.
Altogether, ''Ghostly Haunts'' published 39 issues.
Regular contributors to ''Ghostly Haunts'' included
Jack Abel
Jack Abel (July 15, 1927 – March 6, 1996) at the Lambiek Comiclopedia. November 24, 2009. was an United States of Amer ...
,
Vince Alascia
Vincent Alascia (January 14, 1914 – September 3, 1998), at the
Pat Boyette
Aaron P. "Pat" Boyette (July 27, 1923 – January 14, 2000) was an American broadcasting personality and news producer, and later a comic book artist best known for two decades of work for Charlton Comics, where he co-created the character the Pe ...
,
Nicola Cuti
Nicola Cuti (October 29, 1944 – February 21, 2020), known as Nick Cuti, was an American artist and comic book writer-editor, science-fiction novelist; he was the co-creator of ''E-Man'' (with artist Joe Staton) and Moonchild, Captain Cosmos, a ...
,
Steve Ditko
Stephen John Ditko Page contains two reproductions from school yearbooks. A 1943 Garfield Junior High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen Ditko". A 1945 Johnstown High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen J. Ditko" under extracurricular act ...
Wayne Howard
Wayne Wright Howard (March 29, 1949 – December 9, 2007) was an African-American comic book artist. He is best known for his 1970s work at Charlton Comics, where he became American comic books' first series creator known to be credited on cov ...
,
Sanho Kim
Sanho Kim (born 1939 in Korea) is a South Korean comic book artist, considered the first artist working in a manhwa style to be published regularly in the United States. The bulk of Kim's American work was for Charlton Comics' horror comics, a ...
, Rich Larson,
Pete Morisi
Peter A. Morisi (January 7, 1928 – October 12, 2003),Peter A. Morisi Social Security Number 076-20-5 ...
, Steve Morisi,
Don Newton
Don Newton (November 12, 1934 – August 19, 1984) was an American comics artist. During his career, he worked for a number of comic book publishers including Charlton Comics, DC Comics, and Marvel Comics. He is best known for his work on The Phan ...
,
Charles Nicholas
"Charles Nicholas" is the pseudonymous house name of three early creators of American comic books for the Fox Feature Syndicate and Fox Comics: Chuck Cuidera (1915–2001), Jack Kirby (1917–1994), and Charles Wojtkoski (1921–1985). The name o ...
,
Don Perlin
Don Perlin (; born August 27, 1929) is an American comic book artist, writer, and editor. He is best known for Marvel Comics' ''Werewolf by Night'', ''Moon Knight'' (a character he co-created), '' The Defenders'', and ''Ghost Rider''. In the 1990s ...
,
Warren Sattler
Warren Sattler (born September 7, 1934) is an American artist and cartoonist, who contributed work to many popular publications from the early 1960s through the 1990s.
Biography
A lifelong Connecticut resident, Warren Sattler started cartooning a ...
,
Joe Staton
Joe Staton ( born January 19, 1948) is an American comics artist and writer. He co-created the Bronze Age Huntress (Helena Wayne), as well as the third Huntress (Helena Bertinelli), Kilowog and the Omega Men for DC Comics. He was the artist of t ...
, and
Tom Sutton
Thomas F. Sutton (April 15, 1937 – May 1, 2002)
He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force after graduating from high school in 1955, and worked on art projects while stationed at Fort D.A. Russell (Wyoming), Fort Francis E. Warren, near Laramie, Wyom ...
. ''Ghostly Haunts'' was primarily edited by
George Wildman
George Wildman (July 31, 1927 – May 22, 2016) was an American cartoonist most noted for his work in the comic books industry. From 1971 until 1985 he was a top editor at Charlton Comics, where he also became the long-time regular artist on ...
, who took over the title from Sal Gentile with issue #26 (August 1972), and helmed the book for the rest of its run.