Scream Door had one of the coolest fanzine names ever, as well as great artists such as Berni Wrightson, Michael Kaluta, and more!
Scream Door 1: 1971
Publishers: Mark Feldman and Robert Lewis
Scream Door was aptly named, since horror was its main topic. Indeed, some of the stories inside were originally slated to appear in the mainstream horror magazine Web of Horror. You will see a few artists who are well established as masters now, but were just young upstarts at that time. Below, you see the cover by the already incredibly skilled Berni Wrightson.
Berni also has a really nice pin up in this issue you will see a little later. One of his studio mates, Michael Kaluta, contributes a story with an ending worthy of the great EC stories of the 50s. Below you can see a few pages.
Another artist that plays a large part in the sequential aspect of this fanzine is someone I did not know of (and haven’t heard of since), by the name of Seane Todd. The art looks sort of like Tom Sutton to me…and, you won’t believe it…as I was typing this, I googled the name Seane Todd and it was indeed a pseudonym for Sutton! I am so proud! Where is my award? If you want to read a great interview with Sutton conducted by the incomparable Gary Groth (from a 2001 issue of The Comics Journal), go here. Since Sutton was working at the time for publishers like Warren and Skywald, he probably used the name to either publish work they did not accept or work he wasn’t supposed to be doing. Sutton also did a ton of great work for Charlton. What actually caused me to think it was a professional artist was the quality of the lettering, believe it or not! Below you can see a few pages of this varmint-featuring story, called simply, Rat.
There is a third story by Bob Juanillo you can see a bit of below. It says “to be continued,” but as far as I know, Scream Door only lasted one issue.
As I said earlier, there is a great pin up by Wrightson, as well as several very nice illustrations by Stephen Hickman (who went on to be a very good book cover illustrator). Below you see Wrightson, then Hickman.
Lastly, since I mentioned Web of Horror earlier, below you can see a cover by Berni Wrightson that was supposed to be used, but the magazine was cancelled.
Well, I hope you weren’t too horrified by your journey behind the Scream Door! Please go here to download a pdf of the whole zine so you can read the complete stories and see the art I did not feature (as well as a short story by publisher Feldman).
Ken Meyer Jr.
kenmeyerjr@yahoo.com
Great work as usual, Ken! This looks like it was a great first issue. Any idea why it tanked?
The “Rat” story, and a sequel, both later appeared in Marvel’s “Aaargh!” comic. Sutton was planning a massive Rat epic, involving a post-Holocaust Rat society. Successive episodes ran in Death Rattle, but only for a couple of issues. Sean and Todd were the names of his sons.
Any day I get to see ANY work from Berni Wrightson is a GREAT DAY!
Thanks for the comments, guys! Dunno why it didn’t go further, Billy. I thought I was gonna hear more from Hickman on FB, but nothing so far. And thanks for the Sutton info, Russ!
Dear Ken;
This title did go further. Scream Door #1 is actually the (unknowledged) 3rd issue of I’ll Be Damned (which is why folks searching for I’ll Be Damned #3 will never find it). It went back to the original title for the 4th and finale issue. The whole story’s in my new book The Star*Reach Companion–out last month from Twomorrows Publishing.
Also Tom Sutton used the name Sean Todd at Skywald as well. It’s apparently the first names of his two sons if legend is correct.
Rich, thanks, that makes sense, since I’ll Be Damned also used those unpublished Web of Horror stories…thanks!