Friday, August 10, 2012

Tell a Tale Three Times: Part 3 "Ghost of Castle Karloff"

This is becoming a just a tad repetitive...
...but it's the last version of this story, we promise!
You can find the first one HERE and the second one HERE!
This version is from St John's Strange Terrors #1 (1952), and it's the only time any iteration of this tale made the cover...
"Zoombies?"
Most comic book publishers used outside studios who "packaged" their books, providing complete writing and art services.
One of the the biggest one was Harry Chester Studios, which started out as a "packager" for MLJ/Archie and Centaur providing complete editorial and art services, before setting up their own comic publishing operation, Chester/Dynamic!
When Chester/Dynamic folded at the end of the 1940s, the studio returned to supplying stories and art to others, particularly St John Publishing.
Chester was an extremely budget-conscious (some might say [ahem] cheap) guy who didn't hesitate to recycle existing material with minor modifications for different clients.
Most people think the Lady Satan story was only modified once!
In fact, the Grand Comics DataBase notes the re-use of this tale as "Phantom", but not as "Ghost"!

In another example, competitor Iger Studios reworked existing art for a 1940s Spitfire Saunders story involving Nazis from Elliot's Bomber Comics, which was re-edited into a 1950s Phantom Lady tale with the heroine battling Commies!

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1 comment:

  1. Where you wrote "Chester" I think you meant "Chesler". Thanks for showing us this example of recycling!

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