



One of my superheroes and all-around (strange) good guy Craig Yoe is an unforgettable figure. A one-man superman himself who had the audacity, bad taste and good fortune to both discover and publish the striking and remarkable S&M drawings of Superman creator Joe Shuster in his book Secret Identity. A book which now receives the first Honorary Vintage Sleaze Award for re-corrupting youth all over again 50 years after Kefauver!
He missed one.
Unlike Superman, NIghts of Horror was Joe Shuster's claim to no fame...he signed them with a pseudonym of course. Craig's book identifies twelve Nights of Horror books as well as two one-offs. Hollywood Detective and Rod Rule. Well, another one dribbled out of Super Shuster's studio and I am pleased to share it.
House of Tears, like the Nights of Horror books, is a digest sized book brought to you by wise-guy, friend-of-ours and stand-up guy Eddie Mishkin. Circa 1955 and published under the bogus imprint "Mandel Publishing" which was not actually in Chicago as it didn't exist. Yoe, who located the printer in New York, learned the print-run was about 1,000 copies for each title and they paid the artist "about $100 for the artwork per book."
The drawings are of course splendid...if you like this kind of thing. I don't really, but I do like things hard to find, and I know of only two other copies. Mine is distinguished by the original three dollar price scrawled on the cover! The precise drawings are a bit more simple and less constructed than the Nights of Horror illustrations. Maybe this is slightly earlier? Only a guess.
So as not to break the spine of my super find, I'm only showing a few of the illustrations. The book has 80 pages, with ten illustrations and lots of whip-like sound effects created by the also pseudonymous author Harold Kane. I haven't read it.
COLLECTION JIM LINDERMAN NO REPRODUCTION WITHOUT CREDIT PLEASE!
House of Tears by Harold Kane Illustrations by Joe Shuster Mandel Publishing Company No Date collection Jim Linderman
BOOKS BY JIM LINDERMAN (AND EBOOKS FOR $5.99) ARE HERE
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