My Rating
“Eternal Teacher…”
Ken Dupke arrived by carriage that night at the request of his new employer. It was an odd arrangement, Ken thought to himself. The journey across the moors beneath a quarter moon made the experience even more somber. It felt like a scene ripped from one of those old penny dreadfuls sold on the streets of London. “What have I gotten myself into?” Ken wondered as the carriage approached Benjamin Manor.
Morning comes, and Mr. Benjamin greets his daughter’s new tutor in the downstairs conservatory. Ken makes small talk with his employer while receiving a brief tour of the estate. Mr. Benjamin and his wife are quite wealthy, but they have struggled to find a teacher willing to work with their daughter. In their correspondence with Ken Dupke, they described Beth as a young woman with the demeanor and mental capacity of a five-year-old child. When Ken finally meets Beth later that day, however, he discovers something far stranger than he expected!
What dark secret awaits Ken Dupke upstairs in Benjamin Manor? Why have so many previous teachers resigned from such a lucrative position? Is repetition really the best form of learning?
“A Kiss To Save Him From The Grave”
Mr. Galt was never known for generosity, but when the wealthy old man offered to finance a new clinic for Dr. Thorton in exchange for his personal medical care, the doctor jumped at the opportunity. Galt had only one additional demand: he wanted a full-time nurse at his side. Lucille Burton quickly rose to the top of Dr. Thorton’s list.
Lucille was young, single, and had no family ties in the area. She seemed perfect for the live-in position. What Dr. Thorton would eventually discover inside the Galt mansion, however, would haunt him for the rest of his life.
Mr. Galt was not expected to survive more than a few weeks. Yet when Dr. Thorton makes his first house call on Monday, he discovers a confused Lucille wandering the halls of the mansion. Even stranger, Galt’s health has dramatically improved. Only days earlier, the old man appeared to be rapidly approaching death. Now color has returned to his face, and his energy seems renewed. It is almost as if Lucille Burton’s presence has restored a portion of his lost youth.
Who stands behind Lucille yet never appears in the mirror? Why are there no records of the Galt family producing a male child for four generations? What mysterious force controls Lucille while she sleeps?
“A Quiet Place” — Text Story
The Weirwood Inn has welcomed many guests through its doors, but none are quite as peculiar as its owner, Ellen Weirwood. Ellen is blind, though most visitors would never realize it. She has memorized every inch of the building from top to bottom and can move through its rooms and hallways with remarkable ease. Very little surprises her. Then she meets Harley.
Their first encounter leaves Ellen unsettled. She never heard him approach. Harley explains that he simply walks softly. Why does he never come downstairs for meals? He claims to dine at the university down the lane. Why does he always smell so strongly of smoke? That question he refuses to answer.
Can the university dean find any record of Harley? Who has really been staying in room number eight? Can any of the other guests provide Ellen with a physical description of her mysterious new acquaintance? Collect the series to find out!
Reviewer Notes
It took me about a year to track down the complete run of Charlton Comics’ Haunted Love, so with Valentine’s Day approaching, I decided it was finally time to crack open this gothic romance series and give it a read. Horror comics experienced something of a revival during the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. With gothic horror enjoying renewed popularity thanks to television shows such as Dark Shadows, Charlton jumped aboard the haunted-romance train with a series that combined love, ghosts, old mansions, family curses, and plenty of doomed relationships.
Haunted Love follows the classic anthology format, with issue #1 giving us two illustrated features and one short prose story. Even the advertisements provide an interesting glimpse at Charlton’s intended audience. I’ll give you three clues: fake nails, dieting products, and spa attire. This was clearly horror aimed at the romance-comic crowd, and that combination gives the book a personality different from many of Charlton’s other supernatural titles.
The stories themselves are surprisingly good. I only wish they had some sort of connection between them, even if it were nothing more than a recurring host or framing device. I did have one major question after reading “Eternal Teacher.” Considering what Beth’s parents already know about their daughter, why does her father continue spending money on tutors? Without spoiling the ending, think gothic 50 First Dates. Eventually, you would think Mr. Benjamin might realize he is throwing money down a supernatural drain.
“A Kiss To Save Him From The Grave” was probably my favorite story in the issue. It immediately reminded me of an old Hammer horror film, complete with the isolated mansion, dying aristocrat, beautiful young woman, supernatural mystery, and a doctor slowly realizing that something is terribly wrong. Tom Sutton and Joe Staton really capture that atmosphere with their artwork. I love the character designs, facial expressions, heavy shadows, and wonderfully exaggerated horror imagery. And yes, Nurse Lucille Burton is a hottie!
“A Quiet Place” also works surprisingly well despite being presented entirely in prose. The story builds its mystery around Ellen’s blindness, turning what she cannot see into the most important part of the narrative. Each little inconsistency surrounding Harley adds another piece to the puzzle until the supernatural truth begins to emerge. It is a simple ghost story, but it fits perfectly alongside the two illustrated features.
I’m giving Haunted Love #1 four out of five stars. I have always admired horror artwork from the mid-1960s through the 1970s. There is something about the monsters, haunted mansions, heavy inks, bizarre colors, and melodramatic characters that immediately grabs my attention. In my mind, this era helped define the look and personality of modern horror comics. Haunted Love may have mixed romance with the supernatural to chase a popular trend, but if the rest of the series maintains the quality of this first issue, I’m glad I spent the year tracking down the complete run.