I wonder if it's one of those "you had to be there" things -- I'm sure these comics packed a much more potent wallop back in the day, especially in comparison to DC's tepid sci-fi stories and Atlas' charmingly goofy giant monster stuff. I finally got around to reading TALES FROM THE TOMB and GHOST STORIES a few years back, and I gotta say, they just didn't "wow" me. I've re-read both of 'em several times since, and some of the stories HAVE grown on me, but all in all they seem to fall a bit short of their "scariest comic of all time" reputation.

Several of the stories do have a bizarre, irrational, almost stream-of-consciousness "nightmare" quality that is admittedly quite effective, and two stories especially, " The Black Stallion" and "The Monster of Dread End" are actually pretty intense in their fairly straight-forward "The monster's gonna get me!" scenarios.

Also, I do appreciate Stanley's ingenuity in coming up with "outside the box" alternatives to the usual gang of werewolves, vampires and zombies. Mr. Green, the Quilted Man, the snaky sewer monster, the Were-Spider, that INSANE flying shark -- good stuff, bonus points for originality.

But man, some of the stories are SO bizarre that they're barely coherent. And others are hampered by long-winded, poorly paced, super-convoluted set-ups.

Art-wise, they're frankly nothing to write home about. I freely admit to being something of an Art Snob -- much of my enjoyment of comics comes from appreciating the artwork, and there's not a whole lot to get excited about here. A few of the stories are actually quite nicely drawn, some are
crude but still effective, but too many are awkward, slapdash, ugly or downright incompetent.

I'm not sorry I bought them (though they sure as he'll weren't cheap!) --but I was a bit disappointed after all the build- up.