Don’t be squeamish with this edition of ‘The Cryptologist’. Its only spiders and they aren’t really there to eat you.
The second part of writer Mark Voger’s look at film stars who also appeared in horror films picks up on several you already know like Claude Raines, Spencer Tracy, Charles Laughton, Ray Milland and Humprey Bogart. Did I just write Bogart? Yep. The 1939 film ‘The Return Of Doctor X’. You heard of it? Me neither. Thing is with the studio system, actors and actresses acted in what films they were told to perform in. Some, like Ray Milland, still did simply for the work later in his life.
An obvious selling point is whenever an article on Neal Adams is included and for this Cryptology, we have one here. This one focuses on his horror material. If you’ve missed out on his ‘House Of Mystery’ covers and one story there, you have enough information to track them down.
Going over to the Batman’s more horror output moves from Adams to others as well does mean this issue is a bit more comicbook material than usual.
Writer John M Navroth has a look at the Super 7 ReAction model range based off classic horror covers. Some of them glow although I would fall short of calling them toxic. You probably get more radiation from any buildings made of granite than these glowing models.
Then its back into pre-Code horror comics with writer Michael Bonesteel and some interesting covers.
Writer Steve Kronenberg has a look at some of the B-movies featuring spiders from the 1950s. Not the common type but the monstrous size ones that should set some of your hearts fluttering. He comes back later to some the latter movies.
I used to think ‘The Spider Baby’ was just a joke on the TV comedy series, ‘Father Ted’. Writer Don Vaughn puts me right on that subject. There have been two films with that name. The first in 1967 starring Lon Chaney, Jr. and then in 2007. There’s even been a musical. Watch your diet with this one.
Getting away from the spiders, writer Tim Leese looks at the Hammer version of ‘The Quatermass Xperiment’ (1956). It was given the title ‘The Creeping Unknown’ in the USA. It was also responsible for giving Hammer a decent push into horror films. It’s a shame the TV version wasn’t better preserved, simply because, back in the day, it cleared the streets as Britain’s population watched it and I would have loved to have compared the two.
If you don’t like spiders, I’m not sure if you’re going to buy this issue, did I say there were a lot of photos, you might open cautiously. Some of the depictions don’t really match the real spiders in terms of eyes or mouths in their depictions. They just get the idea of legs, big abdomen and webbing people up. Less so the way spiders digest their prey. That I would have thought would have been more horrifying than anything depicted here. Spiders are good. They remove a lot of insects. Few are concerned for humans as prey.
GF Willmetts
October 2026
(pub: TwoMorrows Publishing. 82 page illustrated magazine. Price: $10.95 (US). ISSN: 2997-4-416X. Direct from them, you can get it for $10.95 (US))
check out websites: www.TwoMorrows.com and https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_194&products_id=1899&zenid=g0cjc7ipme2j80evqcv91n6tc3
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