The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves #1!

 The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves #1 was published/cover-dated May 1967.

Here's the cover!


Normally, I'm a fan of word balloons and dialogue on a comic book cover, but even I gotta admit that this one goes a bit too far. The cover is, however, graced by a typically awesome Pat Boyette drawing, and a nice, if somewhat simple, listing of the main stories featured within, so overall, I'll let this one slide. I'm sure it's relieved.
 
Perhaps in order to make up for the workmanlike listing embedded in the cover, the next page we see when we open the book is this very cool illustrated "table of contents" spotlight: 


I could have sworn that the bottom panel featuring "The Witness" was drawn by the legendary Jim Aparo, but, you know, Charlton stalwart Rocke Mastroserio put his signature right there for all to see, eh?

Speaking of "The Witness," it turns out that as indicated on the cover, that will be the first story we dive into in this issue!  Check out the first page of that tale...now!


Ah, "Mr. Island," who simply does not want to get involved. I wonder if this tale will end with ol' Doc Graves commenting that "No Man is an Island?" Spoiler Alert: it does! I mean, I would have been pretty disappointed if it didn't!

It's a fun little tale, illustrated well, and narrated nicely by the "I'm a replacement for caption boxes, don't you know"-style host in the form of Graves commenting on his Case File as we go.

I don't think Graves was represented as a "Ghost Buster" who debunked the supernatural by the time I encountered his title in the late 70s, but the conceit works nicely here. Good opener!

Lest you dare assume that a formula has been established, the next story features Dr. M.T. Graves (get it??) as an active participant in the story, adventuring and condescending right along with the other protagonist in the not quite as racist as you might expect but still very racist "Drums of Darkness!"


Ah, yes, getting right on with the business of calling the white men "Bwana." Best not to waste any time letting the readers know when this book was published, eh, wot?

Unlike the first tale, the premise behind this one is poor, and the resolution is downright stupidly bad.

"White folks explain the natural phenomena of the jungle to the superstitious natives." Moving on!

Perhaps this next short, humorous little tale was meant to cleanse the palate after the previous well-drawn but other sour stinker of a story, hmm?

Judge for yourself when you gaze upon the first feline-fortified page of...."Mirror, Mirror on the Wall!"


There's no Dr. Graves to be found in this tale. Instead, we are treated to a single, silent appearance in the final panel of the story by a completely different Horror Host whom we will meet more formally in the very next story.

As for this tale, despite Rudi Palais' apparent distaste for Mrs. Crowley's cat-centric lifestyle, this is a fun, silly little piece about the Crowley's new mirror being haunted. The boys wreck that one, too, and are surprised to find her not upset with them at all this time.

I really like Rudi's art, here. He has a sketchy, almost abstract quality that reminds me of Frank Robbins, an all-time fave of mine.

 Next up, as I mentioned, we met "L. Dedd," host of another series entirely by the name of "Ghostly Tales from the Haunted House!"
 

The story has no title of its own, and its a quick two-pager where "Officer John" leads the rudely awakened citizen to the site of a car crash...where Officer John himself lies dead! GASP!!

Sure, it's predictable. But it's got great art, and it was a cool surprise to see a few pages in this book that served as a "sampler" for one of Charlton's other books.

Also, "L. Dedd" soon changed his moniker to "I.M. Dedd," which is a far better than hoping the reader guesses that the "L" stood for "Long" or something.

And now...the end approaches!  The end of the book, anyway. Check out the first page of the final story: "The Ghosts of the Stone Lovers"...below!






















This time, Graves is both IN the story AND commenting on the Case File as a Narrator! Formulas be damned! This is Charlton! We do what we want!

Also, this story features the art of STEVE FRICKIN DITKO, so just be glad that we can still have nice things!

And, it helps that this story IS actually a nice thing, with the "let's see if this is all really supernatural, harrumpf, harrumpf" business being played out nicely, and some great Ancient Roman flashback scenes illustrated by Ditko along the way!

I gotta say, even with the cringe factor baked into "Drums of Darkness," the debut issue of Doc Graves' titular title is off to a really good start.


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