Vault of Horror #30 Values

Title: Who Doughnut?

Characters: The Crypt-Keeper (host); Danny Hughes (reporter, death); Pat (Danny's secretary, death); various Policemen; an octopus (villain)

Synopsis: Seven women had been murdered and the Police were baffled by the doughnut-shaped wounds all over their bodies, blood drained and traces of sea brine on their skin and clothing. Danny Hughes, crime reporter, was on the scene and mocked the Police for not having a suspect. The next day, Danny's secretary was murdered in the same way, and was suspected until another killing occured. Danny remembered seeing a strange figure near Pat's home, and when he saw it again, he followed it to an aquarium, and came face to face with a blood-sucking octopus!

Pages: 7.000

Script: Al Feldstein

Pencils: Jack Davis (signed)

Inks: Jack Davis (signed)

Letters: Jim Wroten

Notes: Reference is made to H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu. Letterer credit by Craig Delich.

Title: Refuge

Synopsis: He could hear the Police chasing him as he ran inside the building, clutching the gems in his hand and looking for a hiding place. He entered a large circular room with glass enclosures all around him....then he spotted something moving behind one of the glass walls. He saw fish....so he decided to hop into the water and go under to elude the Police. It worked....until he felt a horrible pain in one leg, and looked up to see the sign hanging above the tank: PIRANHA! Quickly he was surrounded, as he felt himself being torn to shreads!

Pages: 2.000

Pencils: ? (spot illo)

Inks: ? (spot illo)

Letters: typeset

Notes: The text story is found on the inner halves of the two pages, and EC houses ads are found to either side. One promotes Weird Fantasy #18 [], while the other side promotes, with covers, the Complete Old and New Testaments from the Picture Stories From the Bible series, Picture Stories From Science #2 and Picture Stories From World History #2.

Synopsis: VK starts off his column by complaining that dealers are shipping unopened cartons of EC mags to the distributor, so he asks readers to ask their dealers for EC mags. Letters are printed from Audrey Abernathy, Hazel Wilson, George Salaita, Gary Schooley, Paul George, Michael Pecker, Frank Ray Stansbury, Carol Plumb andBill Lean. Then he lists more additions to the "Horror Hit Parade" tune list, pushes the EC Tales of Terror #3 mag and subscriptions.

Pages: 1.000

Letters: typeset

Title: Practical Choke!

Characters: The Vault-Keeper (host); Bill Gaines; Al Feldstein; three pre-med students (all die); various Police officers

Synopsis: Three medical students play a series of practical jokes using actual human body parts and watching the reactions of various people. The med students roared with laughter, but then seriously wondered what would happen when it was discovered parts of a cadaver was missing, so they went to get the remaining body parts and dispose of them, not noticing a pile of coiled-up intestines that were moving toward them. The next day the Police found the body parts and the students: in a refrigerated unit with the intestines coiled around their necks.

Pages: 6.000

Script: Al Feldstein

Pencils: George Evans (signed)

Inks: George Evans (signed)

Letters: Jim Wroten

Notes: In this story are cariactures of Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein in the first panel on page 2 and in many other panels throughout the story. Letterer credit by Craig Delich.

Title: Notes to You!

Characters: The Old Witch (host); Judson Slack; Eleanor Slack (Judson's wife, death); Horton Cox; Simon Pitter (Cox's employee, death); Averill Minton (bank President, death); Bert Fields (bank employee); Mr. Popkin (candy store owner); Ambrose Baldwin (death)

Synopsis: Four different people receive to what amounts to anonomous poison-pen letters, each resulting in horrendous events surrounding their families or businesses. Three of the surviving four men meet together and begin to realize that all these recent events were connected by these anonomous letters, and Poppin knew the answer, for he had given the suspect, Ambrose Baldwin, a bottle of disappearing ink, and his letter had now become blank. The men then visited Baldwin...with their own poison pens!

Pages: 7.000

Script: Bill Gaines (co-plot); Albert B. Feldstein (co-plot, script)

Pencils: Graham Ingels [as Ghastly] (signed)

Inks: Graham Ingels [as Ghastly] (signed)

Letters: Jim Wroten

Notes: Script revision by Craig Delich, formerly Al Feldstein. Letterer credit by Craig Delich.