Vault of Horror #34 Gaines File Pedigree 5/12 (EC, 1954) CGC NM- 9.2 Off-white to white pages....

Record Price at Heritage Auctions: $4,800.00

Sold: Nov 6, 2025

Best Place to Sell Vault of Horror #34

Publisher: EC, 1953

About Vault of Horror #34

Cover by Johnny Craig. Story art by Jack Davis, Graham Ingels, and Reed Crandall.

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COVER DETAILS

Title: Star-Light, Star-Bright

Characters: The Vault-Keeper (inset); The Crypt-Keeper (inset); The Old Witch (inset)

Pencils: Johnny Craig (signed)

Inks: Johnny Craig (signed)

Notes: The cover title is taken from the 1st story, from which the cover was based.

STORY DETAILS

(6 Stories)

Title: Star Light, Star Bright!

Characters: The Vault-Keeper (host); Hartley Quimb

Synopsis: As the rain fell in sheets, Hartley stood over the open coffin as he nervously and sickenly watched people run up to the corpse and do terrible things to it. Hartley discovered that was the only way the understaffed guards at the facility could keep the inmates in line. At dinner, the guards told him that this man [whom he was replacing as head master] was killed by the inmates for vowing to take this privilege away from them.....and he nervously looked at the dining inmates as they stared at him. Hartley excused himself from dinner and went to his room, fearing the inmates hated him and would kill him. He layed back on his bed and gazed up at the skylight. Out of a deep sleep, Hartley was suddenly awakened by the inamtes, who grabbed him, stuffed rags into his mouth and placed him in a coffin and placed a lid over it that had a window cut out so that he could see. One pinched his nose and then they carried him out of the facility and to the cemetery....things got blurry and he "woke up" back in bed, still staring at the skylight, nervously believing it had all been a bad dream. That is, until he saw an inmate's face suddenly appear over head and a shovel full of dirt hit him in the face!

Pages: 8.000

Script: Johnny Craig

Pencils: Johnny Craig

Inks: Johnny Craig

Letters: Jim Wroten

Title: While the Cat's Away...

Characters: The Crypt-Keeper (host); John Younger; Frank Weston

Synopsis: John & Frank had been working their little travel agency scam for almost a year. They would book trips for wealthy clients, then clean out their homes of valuables while they were away. This time they scheduled a little trip for a Mr. Kingman, who lived alone in the suburbs, and when his plane for Ecuador took off, they went over to clean out his house. The place was a run-dwon wreck, with nothing of value they could see. They went down the cellar steps and found a metal door warning them not to enter, signed "T.C.K." They broke in and entered a library and founded a secret passage, which they entered, and came upon a group of zombies. They fled down another passage and ran into a room of vampires, then headed down yet another hall and ran into werewolves and then into another with mummies! By the time John and Frank reached the front door entrance, they were stark raving mad......and never noticed that the owner had just returned: the Crypt-Keeper!

Pages: 7.000

Script: Al Feldstein (co-plot, script); Bill Gaines (co-plot)

Pencils: Jack Davis (signed)

Inks: Jack Davis (signed)

Letters: Jim Wroten

Notes: Script credit from Tales of Terror: The EC Companion.

Title: Sudden Death!

Characters: Curt Benbow

Synopsis: Curt placed the still hot gun into his pocket as he looked down at the corpse, then strolled over and picked up an axe and began chopping at the ceiling beams. He would weaken them to the point that he could leave and they'd collapse on the body making it seem as if he had died that way. Unfortunately, one of cross beams broke too soon and Benbow was buried in the rubble that fell. When he recovered consciousness, he found out he was paralyzed, with only his feet sticking out of the rubble. Then he heard them....an army of rats who began to eat at his feet, and he only hoped that his heart would stop beating before they could chew his feet off from his ankles!

Pages: 2.000

Pencils: ? (spot illo)

Inks: ? (spot illo)

Letters: typeset

Synopsis: First off the VK presented new additions to his Horror Hit Parade, then letters from Milo Phompson, Tim Smith, Michael Reynolds, Nelson Bridwell, Bonnie Lee Warner, Michael Girage, Tony Cohen and Larry & Ricki Lobi. He finially pushed the Third Annual Tales of Terror and subscriptions.

Pages: 1.000

Letters: typeset

Title: Smoke Wrings

Characters: The Vault-Keeper (host); Hubert Tillings (death); Lorna Jackson (villain, death)

Synopsis: Hubert told Miss Jackson about a new revolutionary billboard ad idea for the Llama Cigarette Company, an idea she said she would pass off to her superiors as "her" idea, and any monies that came in would be handed over to Hubert. Soon billboards went up, but soon found out he'd been played for a sucker and when he approached her about it, she killed him. Later, the billboard seemed to exact revenge upon poor Lorna!

Pages: 6.000

Script: Bill Gaines (co-plot); Al Feldstein (co-plot, script)

Pencils: Reed Crandall (signed)

Inks: Reed Crandall (signed)

Letters: Jim Wroten

Notes: Script credit from Tales of Terror: The EC Companion. Letterer credit verified by Al Feldstein, added by Craig Delich.

Title: Where There's a Will...

Characters: The Old Witch (host); Dr. James Crotty; Millard Walker (lawyer)

Synopsis: The relatives of Harold Farber were gathered in his house awaiting his certain death while Dr. Crotty and lawyer Walker went upstairs to see the old man, and tell him what vultures they really were. While old man Farber didn't believe them, he asked what they advised doing with his estate funds, and they recommended a charity. He agreed....IF they could prove what they said. They all agreed to stage Farber's death and then let him listen from inside his coffin at what his relatives were saying about him. Before the realtives arrived at the funeral home, Farber eased himself down into the casket w/a microphone to listen in, and he heard enough. When the lid was opened, he jumped up at them, told them off and signed over his estate to the Happy Home for Orphaned Children.....then fell over dead. All those assembled looked at the corpse, then began to laugh, as they greeted the President and Treasurer of that charity: the lawyer and the doctor, who thanked the "relatives" whom they had hired to play out this little scene!

Pages: 7.000

Script: Al Feldstein (co-plot, script); Bill Gaines (co-plot)

Pencils: Graham Ingels [as Ghastly] (signed)

Inks: Graham Ingels [as Ghastly] (signed)

Letters: Jim Wroten

Notes: Script credit from Tales of Terror: The EC Companion.

Data Courtesy of Grand Comics Database under Creative Commons license

GoCollect Price Guide Report for this comic

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CGC Census Report*

Grade	NG	PG	CVR	0.5	1.0	1.5	1.8	2.0	2.5	3.0	3.5	4.0	4.5	5.0	5.5	6.0	6.5	7.0	7.5	8.0	8.5	9.0	9.2	9.4	9.6	9.8	9.9	10.0	Total
Universal	0	0	0	2	0	2	4	4	5	7	9	20	14	8	5	10	5	5	6	2	3	1	2	1	5	0	0	0	120
Qualified	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Signature Series	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
CGCxJSA	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Restored	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	0	0	1	1	1	0	1	3	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	14
Total	0	0	0	2	0	2	4	5	8	7	9	21	15	9	5	11	8	6	6	3	4	1	2	1	5	0	0	0	134

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