The House of Mystery No. 175 Cover by Neal Adams

Kids in peril was an effective theme Adams used for his DC horror covers. Scare the kids, they’ll love it and they’ll buy the comic.

Here the too-curious trio put themselves in peril on the roof while they witness something demonic going on in the room below. It’s a nice touch that the boy concerned about the massive gargoyles flanking them – that must be one strongly-built roof to hold that much stone atop it – that he’s holding onto his friend so he isn’t pitched into the yawning abyss below.

New colour and presentation by myself.

As published. Those gargoyles ended up being pretty murky. Was it a result of printing technique, or did the Comics Code Authority think the monsters were too threatening to be shown in all their glory?

DC’s modern colouring of the cover. We get to see the gargoyles now.

Original art scan from Heritage Auctions.

Art made production ready. As ever, I’m not a fan of boxed art and so the foreground gargoyle gets his clipped wings restored.

New colour version.

Re-created trade dress added.