Once upon  a time, horror comics were all the rage.  In the 1950s, impressionable young readers were told scary stories by hosts with names like The Cryptkeeper and The Old Witch, and the Vault-Keeper.  That all changed when Congress got involved and held a series of hearing on whether or not horror comics were leading to juvenile crime.  All of the horror comics were canceled and the comic book industry agreed to tone things down with the Comics Code.

Trying to suppress horror comics only made them even more popular amongst readers and collectors.  Who could have seen that coming?  Teachers and juvenile court officers may have hated them in the 50s but now, they’re some of those most valuable comics around.  Here are a few classic covers from the 50s horror comic era.