Shock Suspenstories #1

In "Yellow!" from Shock Suspenstories #1 (1981), a young soldier stands before a firing squad, condemned for cowardice in battle. His father, a colonel, delivers a final, heart-wrenching lie—telling his son the guns are loaded with blanks—so he might die with dignity.

In "The Monsters!", a group of alien refugees arrive on Earth, leaving behind their grotesque, mutant offspring—monstrous in the eyes of their creators but perfectly ordinary to human eyes. As the children grow up unaware of their true origins, they begin to uncover strange memories and powers that set them apart.

In "The Rug!", Conrad and his friend Reggie head into the woods for a quiet hunt, but tension brews when Reggie voices his disgust over Cartwright’s practice of turning slain bears into rugs. After Conrad finally bags a grizzly, the peace shatters with a second growl echoing from the dark—something far from the hunt he’d planned.

In "Kickback!" from *Shock Suspenstories #1* (1981), Jo, a young wife growing weary of her paralyzed husband, devises a chilling plan to stage his death by locking him in the cellar with canned goods—only to be undone by a new lover who ends up trapped in the same way. The story unfolds with a cold precision, turning a calculated act of murder into a grim echo of its own design.

In "Gee, Dad... It's a Daisy!" from Shock Suspenstories #1 (1981), a family of space explorers lands on a strange, lush planet where the flora is anything but harmless—intelligent, predatory plants put on a chilling show of affection, turning a simple game of "She loves me... She loves me not..." into a deadly test of survival.

In "The Patriots!", a chilling 1981 tale from Shock Suspenstories #1, a blind Korean War veteran becomes the target of a mob's fury during a military parade, his refusal to remove his hat in honor of the flag igniting a violent frenzy fueled by fear and propaganda. The story unfolds with stark intensity, exposing the dangers of blind patriotism and the fragility of justice in the face of collective hysteria.

In "Halloween!" from Shock Suspenstories #1, a new matron at an orphanage stumbles upon a horrifying secret: the orphanage's manager has been embezzling funds meant for the children. When he tries to silence her, the kids—quietly watching, quietly waiting—decide to make their own kind of holiday gift.

In "The Guilty!", a prejudiced sheriff uses a false confession to convict a Black man for a white woman’s murder, then stages his execution in the woods, claiming the man tried to escape. The truth lies buried in the shadows, and justice is a lie dressed in law.

In "The Big Stand-Up!", a lonely broadcast technician finds himself drawn to a mysterious signal from a planet eighty light years away—only to have his quiet life upended when the woman from the transmission arrives in a rocketship, towering over him at a staggering 200 feet tall.

In "Stumped!" from Shock Suspenstories #1, a desperate trapper’s plan to eliminate his rival backfires in a gruesome twist when the man he set out to kill ends up trapped—but the trapper’s rage drives him to a shocking act of self-inflicted violence. Written by a master of suspense and illustrated with raw, unsettling detail, this seven-page tale explores the dark edge of obsession and the cost of revenge.

In "Split Second!", a desperate twist of fate traps a young lumberjack in a hollow log after a brutal attack, forcing him to fight for survival in the dark—while his wife, Liz, becomes the next target. The story unfolds with chilling precision, blending raw tension and grim stakes in a tale where every second counts.

In a future where marriage licenses must be renewed every three years, a man hires a woman to be his wife for the duration—no intimacy, just a contract. As their time together unfolds, she finds herself growing attached, unaware of the truth behind his cold demeanor. When she plans to extend their union by claiming she’s pregnant, he reveals a shocking secret that upends everything.

In "Uppercut!" from Shock Suspenstories #1 (1981), a desperate fight promoter pushes his last-ditch boxer to the edge, only to find himself trapped in a nightmare he never saw coming. When the man wakes in a police morgue, his body violated and his own guts missing, he realizes too late that the price of a brutal fight wasn’t just blood—it was his life.

In "Hate!", a man’s participation in a hate-fueled arson plot takes a devastating turn when his mother reveals a shocking truth: he was adopted, and his biological parents were Jewish. The revelation shakes the foundation of his identity, forcing him to confront the choices he’s made—and the kind of person he truly is.

In "What Fur?", Captain Limpfort takes a strange job flying a furrier to a distant planet—only to discover the aliens there have a very different idea of fashion. When the crew realizes the locals aren’t just into fur, but into harvesting it from humans, the mission takes a terrifying turn.

In "Cold Cuts!", a man’s chilling attempt to hide his wife’s murder spirals into dread as his carefully hidden body parts are unknowingly used as dinner. When his friend casually reveals he’s been eating the meat from the locker, the truth begins to cut deeper than any knife.

In "Dead Right!", a woman takes a fateful step after a fortune teller’s cryptic warning: marry a man she finds repulsive, only to discover too late that the prediction was a twisted game of fate. When the prize money comes unexpectedly, her escape plan unravels in a deadly turn of events that leaves her trapped in a nightmare she never saw coming.

In "Sugar 'N Spice 'N..." from Shock Suspenstories #1 (1981), a brother and sister cross paths with the reclusive "Old Crab" after losing their ball in her yard—only to be warned away with a chilling finality. When Halloween night brings a reckless prank, their childhood dare takes a terrifying turn, blurring the line between mischief and something far darker.