Is anyone familiar with a black and white magazine named Tales of Terror that first appeared in 1979? It was published by a company called Eerie Publishing and they were based out of New York. As far as the quality of writing went, it was pretty much standard fair. I just find it odd that such a magazine would debut in the late 1970’s since most of Marvel’s horror magazines had already bit the dust due to poor sales and Creepy and Eerie were suffering major declines in their readership as well.

In a way, I can understand why someone would want to publish a horror magazine. Horror was still a popular film genre in the 1970’s and while Famous Monsters of Filmland would be heading towards cancellation, Fangoria was selling like crazy in the early 1980;s. Horror movies were still popular on UHF (although they had declined significantly in popularity compared to their heights in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s)  There was definitely still a market out there for horror books….just not horror comics.

Why is this? Very few comic magazines were able to attract older readers. Heavy Metal and Savage Sword of Conan are the two that immediately come to mind. Beyond that, I can’t think of too many. I think sporty distribution of the magazines was a culprit as well as the fact that many adults had no idea these magazines weren’t written for kids.

Either way, I find it interestingly curious that a new horror magazine would debut under such dire economic times. So, if anyone has any information on this particular horror magazine, please leave a comment. I would really like to hear more about it!