Ghostly Haunts #49

History

Ghostly Haunts was a bimonthly horror-anthology title published by Charlton Comics from September 1971 to April 1978, continuing the numbering from Ghost Manor beginning at issue #20. By the mid-1970s the book was edited by George Wildman, with Nicola Cuti — who had previously served as assistant editor and was a frequent creative collaborator — writing for the title alongside the prolific Joe Gill. Charlton's notoriously low page rates and lean production infrastructure meant the creative team operated with unusual independence, and Cuti himself once remarked that whatever Steve Ditko submitted simply went straight to print — an editorial dynamic that gave the horror line an unpredictable, freewheeling energy. Paul Kupperberg broke into comics through Charlton in 1975 while still a student at Brooklyn College, and the Ditko-illustrated story in this issue represents one of his very earliest professional scripts.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Published by Charlton Comics in 1976 (cover-dated in sources variously as April and October 1976 — see flagged note), as part of the bimonthly Ghostly Haunts series that ran from 1971 to 1978.
• The issue contains a story titled 'Sleep of Ages,' scripted by Paul Kupperberg and drawn by Steve Ditko — one of Kupperberg's first published comic-book scripts, written early in a career that would eventually exceed 1,000 stories.
• A second story, 'Please Stand By,' was written by Nicola Cuti — Charlton's former assistant editor and E-Man co-creator — with art by Steve Ditko, featuring a TV host tormented by the clown performers whose show he killed.
• Joe Gill, Charlton's legendary house writer who contributed to virtually the entire Charlton line across decades, also has writing credits in this issue.
• The painted cover is the work of Pat Boyette, a Charlton mainstay whose painterly, atmospheric covers were a hallmark of the publisher's horror anthology titles in the 1970s.
• The series was hosted by Winnie the Witch, a blue-skinned 'moddish' witch character who served as the framing-device host across the run.
• George Wildman served as editor, overseeing the Charlton horror anthology line during this period.
• The four stories in the issue are titled 'Please Stand By,' 'Hoppy Ending,' 'Sleep of Ages,' and 'The Thing in the Pit,' presenting a mix of EC-style irony-twist horror typical of the title's later run.

Full credits