''The House of Hammer'' was a British black-and-white magazine featuring articles and comics related to the

Hammer Film Productions Hammer Film Productions Ltd. is a British film production company based in London. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic horror and fantasy films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Many of these involve classi ...

series of

horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction **Japanese horror, Japanese horror fiction ** Korean horror, Korean horror fiction *Horror film, a film genre *Horror comics, comic books focusing on ...

and

science fiction films Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial lifeforms, spacecraft, robots, cyborgs, interstellar ...

. The brainchild of

Dez Skinn Derek "Dez" Skinn (born 4 February 1951) Miller, John Jackson"Comics Industry Birthdays" ''Comics Buyer's Guide'', 10 June 2005. Accessed 14 August 2010WebCitation archive is a British comic and magazine editor, and author of a number of books o ...

,Dakin, John. "'Marvel Revolution' in England," ''The Comics Journal'' #45 (Mar. 1979), p. 14. almost every issue of the magazine featured a comics

adaptations In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the po ...

of a Hammer film, as well as an original comics backup story, such as the long-running feature ''

Van Helsing A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some varying in the scope of the word across ...

's Terror Tales''. Contributors to the magazine included some of the UK's top comics talents, such as Steve Moore,

Brian Bolland Brian Bolland (; born 26 March 1951)Salisbury, Mark, ''Artists on Comic Art'' ( Titan Books, 2000) , p. 11 is a British comics artist. Best known in the United Kingdom as one of the definitive Judge Dredd artists for British comics anthology ' ...

John Bolton John Robert Bolton (born November 20, 1948) is an American attorney, diplomat, Republican consultant, and political commentator. He served as the 25th United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 2005 to 2006, and as the 26th United Sta ...

, Trevor Goring, David Lloyd, John Stokes, and Brian Lewis. Lewis painted most of the covers, usually featuring the Hammer film being adapted in comics form in the interior pages. Regular columns by

Denis Gifford Denis Gifford (26 December 1927 – 18 May 2000)Holland, Steve, Obituaries: Denis Gifford', ''The Guardian'', 26 May 2000. was a British writer, broadcaster, journalist, comic artist and historian of film, comics, television and radio. In h ...

and

Ramsey Campbell Ramsey Campbell (born 4 January 1946) is an English horror fiction writer, editor and critic who has been writing for well over fifty years. He is the author of over 30 novels and hundreds of short stories, many of them winners of literary awa ...

were also part of the mix. Known colloquially as "''HoH''," the magazine endured a few name changes, becoming ''Hammer's House of Horror'', then ''Hammer's Halls of Horror'', and then simply ''Halls of Horror''. (Adding to the confusion, the U.S. edition of the magazine was originally known as ''House of Horror''.) ''HoH'' was published from 1976 to 1978, went on hiatus for more than three years, and then returned from 1982 to 1984. Originally published by Williams Publishing (formerly known as Thorpe & Porter), the British publishing arm of

Warner Communications Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

, the magazine was later produced by Skinn's own company,

Quality Communications Quality Communications was a British publishing company founded by Dez Skinn that operated from 1982 to 2008. The company's most notable publications were the monthly comics anthology ''Warrior'', which featured early work by writer Alan Moor ...

. It published 30 issues in all. In assessing ''HoH'', media historian David J. Howe notes that:

Publication history

Origins

Before coming to Williams Publishing, Skinn had been an editor at

IPC Magazines TI Media (formerly International Publishing Company, IPC Magazines Ltd, IPC Media and Time Inc. UK) was a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the United Kingdom, with a portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year. Most of its ti ...

, where in 1975 he created and edited a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imagination, imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, Paral ...

-themed magazine called ''The Buster Book of Spooky Stories'' (which Skinn had originally wanted to call "''Chiller''" and which only lasted two issues). Howe, David J
"The House of Hammer,"
''Archival Mutterings'' (16 May 2013).

Warner/Williams

When Skinn moved to Williams in 1976, one of the other publications Skinn oversaw was the fold-out

poster A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or wholly text. ...

magazine ''Monster Mag''. Frustrated by the lack of editorial pages in that publication, Skinn revived his ''Chiller'' idea with the new company. Realizing, however, that the Columbia-Warner House building where he worked was down the street from the

offices, he decided to make his new magazine tie in with Hammer films. Hammer's

script editor A script editor is a member of the production team of scripted television and radio programmes, usually dramas and comedies. The script editor has many responsibilities including finding new script writers, developing storyline and series ideas wi ...

, Christopher Wicking, was a comics fan familiar with Skinn's work, and through Wicking and other connections, a licensing deal was made and ''The House of Hammer'' was born. Freeman, John
"House of Hammer Returns?"
''Down The Tubes'' (Feb. 19, 2016). ''The House of Hammer'' debuted as a monthly in October 1976, published by Top Sellers Ltd, a Thorpe & Porter imprint. The magazine was distributed nationally in the United Kingdom through newsagent's shops. ''The House of Hammer'' was given the 1977 Eagle Award for "Favourite Professional British Comic Publication."Previous Winners: 1977
at the official Eagle Awards website, archived at the

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and s ...

. (Retrieved 9 September 2018.) Being successful in the U.K., with issue #19 (June 1977), the magazine received U.S. distribution (through Curtis Circulation) after an initial one-off compilation issue. (The first issue of the U.S. edition was later used as the cover image for the British edition #17 eb. 1978. The U.S. edition was called ''House of Horror'' up through issue #20, but was forced to change its name after rival magazine publisher

Warren Publishing Warren Publishing was an American magazine company founded by James Warren, who published his first magazines in 1957 and continued in the business for decades. Magazines published by Warren include '' After Hours'', '' Creepy'', '' Eerie'', '' F ...

copyrighted the ''House of Horror'' name in the US. Issue #19 (Apr. 1978) of the British edition was called ''Hammer's House of Horror''. With issue #20 (May 1978), both editions of the magazine then became known as ''Hammer's Halls of Horror''. ''The House of Hammer'' was again nominated for "Favourite Professional British Comic Publication" at the 1978

Eagle Awards The Eagle Awards were a series of awards for comic book titles and creators. They were awarded by UK fans voting for work produced during the previous year. Named after the UK's ''Eagle'' comic, they were launched in 1977 for comics released in ...

, losing out to '' Starburst'' (another

creation). The magazine lasted till issue #23 (July 1978) before it was abruptly cancelled when

sold its publishing division to W. H. Allen & Co., which decided to close the whole operation down. (The cover for the unpublished issue #24, originally scheduled for Sept. 1978, was revealed in a later issue of the revived magazine.)

Quality Communications

The title returned in late 1982/early 1983 on a bimonthly schedule. Simply titled ''Halls of Horror'', it was published by Skinn's own

and edited by Dave Reeder. The first issue was a new #24, an all-comics special mostly filled with reprints from earlier issues. As

Hammer Films A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nails into wood, to shape metal (as w ...

had gone out of business in 1979, this second iteration of the magazine moved away from Hammer specifically, covering horror (and science fiction) films more generally. Quality's ''Halls of Horror'' lasted seven issues through issue #30 (1984), plus a Dracula comics special.

Publication details

The magazine's volume numbers changed every 12 issues; volume 2 started with issue #13 (Oct. 1977), and volume 3 started with issue #25 (Jan. 1984). * ''The House of Hammer'' (issues #1–18, Oct. 1976–Mar. 1978), Top Sellers Ltd. (General Books) * ''Hammer's House of Horror'' (issue #19, Apr. 1978), Top Sellers Ltd. (General Books) * ''Hammer's Halls of Horror'' (issues #20–23, May 1978–Aug. 1978), Top Sellers Ltd. (

Thorpe & Porter Thorpe & Porter (widely known as T & P) was a British publisher, importer, and distributor of magazines and comic books. At first, the company was known for repackaging American comics and pulp magazines for the UK market. Later on, it became a pu ...

) * ''Halls of Horror'' (issues #24-30 .g., vol.2, #12, and vol. 3, #1-6 1982–1984), Quality Communications

Columns

* ''Golden Age of Horror'' by

* ''History of Hammer'' by Denis Gifford and then Bob Sheridan * ''Campbell's Comments'' by

— in the

era * ''Effectively Speaking'' by

John Brosnan John Raymond Brosnan (7 October 1947 – 11 April 2005) was an Australian writer of both fiction and non-fiction works in the fantasy and science fiction genres. He was born in Perth, Western Australia, and died in South Harrow, London, fr ...

* ''Horror Around the World '' by Barry Pattison * ''Post Mortem'' * ''Answer Desk'' — answers to readers' questions * ''Media Macabre'' — news section

Features

Comics adaptations of Hammer Productions films were featured in almost every issue. Editor Skinn made a point of basing the adaptations on the original film scripts rather than the finished movie (thus some adaptations contained scenes that did not make it to the final film as it was released). Steve Moore handled many of the script adaptations. Skinn had a very specific idea for the kind of comics art he was looking for in the magazine, at first leaning toward Spanish artists like

Carlos Ezquerra Carlos Sanchez Ezquerra (12 November 1947 – 1 October 2018) was a Spanish comics artist who worked mainly in British comics. He is best known as the co-creator of ''Judge Dredd''. Biography Early work Born in Ibdes, Zaragoza (province), provin ...

Esteban Maroto Esteban Maroto (born 1942) is a Spanish comic book artist. Career Born in Madrid, he began his career in the 1960s with series like ''Cinco por infinito'', published in English by Continuity Comics as '' Zero Patrol'' (heavily retouched by e ...

Luis Bermejo Luis Bermejo Rojo (12 August 1931 – 12 December 2015) was a Spanish illustrator and comics artist known for his work published in Spain, Italy, Great Britain, and the United States. He has illustrated a number of novels, and worked for a while ...

, Blas Gallego, Pepe González, and Alberto Cuyas. (The UK was a popular market for Spanish artists as the exchange rate meant the work paid well.) But as things evolved, Skinn found UK artists up to the task and most comics in ''HoH'' ended up being illustrated by Britons, such as

, Brian Lewis,

Paul Neary Paul Neary (born 1949) is a British comic book artist, writer and editor. His first work was for Warren Publishing in the 1970s before working with Dez Skinn at Marvel UK as well as work for '' 2000 AD''. He later became editor-in-chief of ...

, Trevor Goring, and David Jackson. Ultimately, the magazine adapted 18 Hammer films into comics form. ''

's Terror Tales'' was also a regular backup comics feature, featuring stories by Steve Moore,

Steve Parkhouse Steve Parkhouse is a writer, artist and letterer who has worked for many British comics, especially '' 2000 AD'' and ''Doctor Who Magazine''. Biography Parkhouse has worked in comics since 1967, when he drew the occasional "Power House Pin-Up" ...

Bernie Wrightson Bernard Albert Wrightson (October 27, 1948 – March 18, 2017), sometimes credited as Bernie Wrightson, was an American artist, known for co-creating the Swamp Thing, his adaptation of the novel ''Frankenstein'' illustration work, and for his o ...

, and others; and art by such creators as Angus McKie, Trevor Goring, Brian Lewis,

, Martin Asbury,

Dave Gibbons David Chester Gibbons (born 14 April 1949) is an English comics artist, writer and sometimes letterer. He is best known for his collaborations with writer Alan Moore, which include the miniseries '' Watchmen'' and the Superman story " For th ...

Joe Colquhoun Joe Colquhoun (7 November 1926 – 13 April 1987) was a British comics artist best known for his work on ''Charley's War'' in '' Battle Picture Weekly''. He was also the first artist to draw ''Roy of the Rovers''. Biography Born in Harrow, Midd ...

, and

. ''Van Helsing's Terror Tales'' appeared in issues #1-6, 9, 11-13, 15-24, and 29; a ''Van Helsing's History of Horror'' story appeared in issue #7. The first three issues of ''House of Hammer'' featured a serialized comics "sequel" to the 1974 Hammer film ''

Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter ''Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter'' is a 1974 British swashbuckling action horror film, written and directed by Brian Clemens, produced by Clemens and Albert Fennell for Hammer Film Productions, and starring Horst Janson, John Carson, Shane ...

'', written by Steve Moore and illustrated by Ian Gibson. Issue #6 featured the adaptation of '' Dracula: Prince of Darkness'' (1966), by Donne Avenell and

, which included the character of Father Shandor (spelled "Sandor" in the film's credits). ''Father Shandor, Demon Stalker'', written by Steve Moore, then became a recurring feature in ''House of Hammer'', appearing in issues #8, 16, 21, and 24. That feature moved over to the

anthology comics title ''

Warrior A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracies, class, or caste. History Warriors seem to have ...

'' in 1982–1984. In 1977–1978, in between ''

Judge Dredd Judge Joseph Dredd is a fictional character created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra. He first appeared in the second issue of '' 2000 AD'' (1977), which is a British weekly anthology comic. He is the magazine's longest-running c ...

'' assignments for

contributed to ''House of Hammer'', having been introduced to the magazine through Trevor Goring, who had adapted '' The Plague of the Zombies'' and asked Bolland to ink it.Pruett, Joe (ed.) "The 1970s – House of Hammer," ''The Art of Brian Bolland'' (Image Comics, 2006), , p. 65. Soon, Bolland was asked to draw ''

Vampire Circus ''Vampire Circus'' is a 1972 British horror film directed by Robert Young and starring Adrienne Corri, Thorley Walters and Anthony Higgins (billed as Anthony Corlan). It was written by Judson Kinberg, and produced by Wilbur Stark and Michael ...

'', and he "pile on the gore" for his first Hammer horror adaptation – although he found much of the "blood painted out" in the printed version. Issue #18 (Mar. 1978) featured a 13-page reprint story, "Frankenstein, The Werewolf, Dracula," by American comics superstar

Neal Adams Neal Adams (June 15, 1941 – April 28, 2022) was an American comic book artist. He was the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates, and was a Creator ownership, creators-rights advocate who helped secure a pension and re ...

(with inks by

Dick Giordano Richard Joseph Giordano (; July 20, 1932 – March 27, 2010) was an American comics artist and editor whose career included introducing Charlton Comics' "Action Heroes" stable of superheroes and serving as executive editor of DC Comics. Early li ...

and Terry Austin). The story had been originally produced in 1975 for a

Power Records (Peter Pan records) Peter Pan Records is an American record label specializing in children's music. The label was introduced to the public in March 1948. The label was owned by the Synthetic Plastics Company of Newark, New Jersey until the 1970s. The label became ...

book and record set, and was later expanded (to 42 pages), translated, and published in the French magazine ''L'Écho des Savanes Spécial U.S.A.'' #5 (Editions du Fromage, 1978). Adams reprinted the expanded story in his own series, '' Echo of Futurepast''; the collected 42-page story was reprinted in Vanguard Publishing's ''Monsters'' in 2003. David Lloyd's adaptation of ''

Quatermass 2 ''Quatermass 2'' (retitled ''Enemy From Space'' in the United States and Canada) is a 1957 black-and-white British science fiction horror film drama from Hammer Film Productions. It was originally released in the UK as ''Quatermass II'' and was ...

'', titled "Enemy from Space (Quatermass II)", in issue #23 (July 1978), was Lloyd's first major work in comics. In late 1978, Skinn moved to

Marvel UK Marvel UK was an imprint of Marvel Comics formed in 1972 to reprint US-produced stories for the British weekly comic market. Marvel UK later produced original material by British creators such as Alan Moore, John Wagner, Dave Gibbons, Steve D ...

. Many of the British creators he brought to Marvel UK to create original material were people he had already worked with on ''The House of Hammer''. (Meanwhile,

went bankrupt and shut down in 1979.) When the magazine returned in 1982, issue #24 was a 48-page all-comics issue, featuring reprints from issues #2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, and 13. A number of ''Van Helsing's Terror Tales'' were reprinted, as were the adaptations of ''

The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires ''The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires'' () is a 1974 martial arts horror film. The film opens in 1804, when seven vampires clad in gold masks are resurrected by Count Dracula, played by John Forbes-Robertson. A century later, Peter Cushing as P ...

'' and ''

The Quatermass Xperiment ''The Quatermass Xperiment'' (a.k.a. ''The Creeping Unknown'' in the United States) is a 1955 British science fiction film, science fiction horror film from Hammer Film Productions, based on the 1953 BBC Television serial ''The Quatermass Expe ...

''. Issues #25 and 26 featured the magazine's first adaptation of a non-Hammer Productions Film:

Roy Ward Baker Roy Ward Baker (born Roy Horace Baker; 19 December 1916 – 5 October 2010) was an English film director. His best known film is '' A Night to Remember'' (1958) which won a Golden Globe for Best English-Language Foreign Film in 1959. His later ...

's ''

The Monster Club ''The Monster Club'' is a 1981 British anthology horror film directed by Roy Ward Baker and starring Vincent Price and John Carradine. An anthology film, it is based on the works of the British horror author R. Chetwynd-Hayes. It was the f ...

'' (1981). Adapted by Skinn, the 25-page story (divided into two parts) was mostly illustrated by

, with four pages by David Lloyd. The strip was originally produced in 1980 as a promotional tool for the film, and had been published in a publication called ''The Monster Club'' magazine. Quality's final publication related to ''Halls of Horror'' was a 48-page ''Dracula Comics Special'', published in April 1984. It reprinted the 21-page adaptation of Hammer's 1958 ''

Dracula ''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taki ...

'' film, by

and

; and the 15-page adaptation of '' Dracula: Prince of Darkness'', by Donne Avenell and

; it also included a 6-page John Bolton "Dracula Sketchbook."

Hammer films comics adaptations

Collections

In 1985,

Eclipse Comics Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market. It was ...

published two issues of ''

's Halls of Horror'', composed of Bolton material originally published in the magazine. That same year, Eclipse also published the one-shot ''

's Black Book'', which included some of Bolland's stories from the magazine. In December 2018, Dez Skinn self-published a one-shot "issue #24" of the magazine, calling it ''The Unseen Halls of Horror''. It featured new articles and previously published material, including Steve Moore and John Stokes's adaptation of ''

The Brides of Dracula ''The Brides of Dracula'' is a 1960 British supernatural horror film produced by Hammer Film Productions. Directed by Terence Fisher, the film stars Peter Cushing, David Peel, Freda Jackson, Yvonne Monlaur, Andrée Melly, and Martita Hunt. ...

'' (seen in issues #27–28), and a ''Van Helsing's Terror Tales'' story, "The Night Holds Terror," by Tise Vahimagi and Brian Lewis (which originally ran in issue #29). In 2020, Skinn self-published ''House of Hammer Collected Classics'', square-bound collections of all the comics which appeared in ''HoH''. Two purchasing options were offered: a single volume of all the comics or a five-volume trade paperback "bundle."

Legacy

In 2016, the British publisher

Titan Comics Titan Publishing Group is the publishing division of Titan Entertainment Group, which was established in 1981. The books division has two main areas of publishing: film and television tie-ins and cinema reference books; and graphic novels and ...

announced a new line of comic book adaptations of Hammer horror films.McMillan, Graeme
"HEAT VISION: Titan Comics Partners With Hammer Films For New Horror Books (Exclusive),"
''Hollywood Reporter'' (February 19, 2016). (Hammer had returned to film production in 2008.) Titan's first adaptation was of ''

The Mummy A mummy is an unusually well preserved corpse. Mummy or The Mummy may also refer to: Places *Mummy Range, a mountain range in the Rocky Mountains of northern Colorado in the United States * Mummy Cave, a rock shelter and archeological site in Pa ...

'' (1959). Titled ''The Mummy: Palimpsest'', the five-issue

limited series Limited series may refer to: *Limited series, individual storylines within an anthology series *Limited series, a particular run of collectables, usually individually numbered * Limited series (comics), a comics series with a predetermined number ...

appeared in late 2016/early 2017, written by

Peter Milligan Peter Milligan (born 24 June 1961) is a British comic book writer who has written extensively for both British and American comic book industries. In the UK, Milligan has contributed to numerous anthology titles including '' 2000 AD'', '' Revo ...

and illustrated by Ronilson Freire. The company's adaptation of ''

'' (1974) was a four-issue limited series published from October 2017 to January 2018. It was written by

Dan Abnett Dan Abnett (born 12 October 1965) is an English comic book writer and novelist. He has been a frequent collaborator with fellow writer Andy Lanning, and is known for his work on books for both Marvel Comics, and their UK imprint, Marvel UK, sinc ...

and drawn by

Tom Mandrake Tom Mandrake (born 1956) is an American comics artist, perhaps best known for his collaborations with writer John Ostrander on several series, including ''Grimjack'' (from First Comics) and ''Firestorm'', ''The Spectre'', and ''Martian Manhunter'' ...

.Freeman, John
"Hammer Films Captain Kronos returns to comics,"
''Down The Tubes'' (Mar. 18, 2017).

References

Sources

* ( Top Sellers Ltd./General Books) * (General Books) * (

) * (

) * Skinn, Dez
"Getting on track with The House of Hammer,"
DezSkinn.com. * Skinn, Dez
"House of Hammer Volume Two,"
DezSkinn.com. * Skinn, Dez
"The End of HoH,"
DezSkinn.com.

External links

Monster Magazine Galleries blog
''Hammer's Hall of Horror'' #22 (vol. 2, #10) at Archive.org

by

and

from ''House of Hammer'' #17
''House of Horror'' issues #1–30 and ''Dracula Comics Special'' at Archive.org
{{Hammer Horror Film magazines published in the United Kingdom Comics magazines published in the United Kingdom Horror comics Monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom Magazines established in 1976 Magazines disestablished in 1984 Film magazines