My Rating
“Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead!”
There was one young woman in the township of Salem whom every eligible bachelor seemed determined to avoid. Henrietta Hanks was a lass saddled with a terribly sour disposition, and her rather plain appearance did little to improve her prospects. What man would ever fall in love with her?
Certainly not Edward Reeves. The rugged redhead had walked with practically every eligible girl in the village, yet even he wanted nothing to do with Henrietta. Bitter, lonely, and desperate for affection, the young Puritan muttered beneath her breath that she would gladly sell her soul if it meant having just one man love her.
She should have chosen her words more carefully.
Not even a minute passes before Dame Magus crosses Henrietta’s path. The elderly woman behaves as though she somehow heard the desperate plea. She invites Henrietta to meet her inside an old barn at precisely two minutes past midnight.
Then it dawns on Henrietta.
Dame Magus is a witch!
Will the Devil finally give Henrietta her due? Can one man satisfy the love-starved Puritan? What price must she pay for beauty and affection? And what could possibly make the dead smile?
“Reunion”
Daniel Morton and Cleo Drake were the perfect couple. At least that is what all their friends said. Young, happy, and deeply in love, the two seemed destined to spend the rest of their lives together.
Then tragedy struck.
Only days before their wedding, Cleo drowned during a terrible boating accident off the shores of Crab Island. U.S. Coast Guard divers searched the surrounding waters for days, but Cleo’s body never surfaced. Daniel refused to give up. For the next six months, he conducted his own searches, hoping against all odds that he might somehow find the woman he loved.
Eventually, grief and depression begin taking their toll.
One afternoon, while wandering through a nearby fishing village, Daniel encounters a man named Tony and his mysterious companion, Nadia. Tony claims that Nadia has something Daniel desperately wants.
A message from Cleo.
A message from beyond the grave!
Can the mysterious Nadia really communicate with spirits? How much is Daniel willing to pay for one final goodbye? What happened to Cleo’s missing body? And is there room for two people inside the mind of a spiritual psychic?
“Ghostly Gallery” — Text Story
Years ago, a famous movie producer spent a small fortune relocating an entire castle, brick by brick, from the Scottish Highlands to the western United States. Eventually, the unusual property changed hands and landed in the possession of millionaire philanthropist Jim Davis.
Jim has big plans for his newly acquired castle. Rather than allowing the massive structure to sit empty, he intends to transform it into a haunted tourist attraction. Now he just needs a few ambitious young go-getters willing to manage the unusual business venture.
Enter Ben and Eileen Kelly.
At first, the castle appears to offer exactly what Jim needs: spooky rooms, ancient architecture, mysterious legends, and enough atmosphere to convince paying customers that something supernatural might be wandering the halls. The real question is whether the ghosts are part of the attraction—or actual residents.
Can Ben convince the first group of guests to spend an entire night inside the haunted castle? Will a disembodied voice convince Ben and Eileen Kelly to marry? Could the strange events surrounding the couple have roots in another lifetime? Do they believe in past-life regression? Collect the series to find out!
Reviewer Notes
We have Ditko!
I have to admit when I’m wrong. From the research I had done before starting this series, I thought Steve Ditko began drawing Haunted Love with issue #5. Nope! The legendary artist arrives one issue early with “Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead!” I’m glad to see Charlton mixing up the artwork because that kind of variation works perfectly within an anthology-style horror comic.
I like Joe Staton’s artwork, but Ditko brings something completely different to the table. His panel layouts feel more energetic, and he packs additional texture into the backgrounds, clothing, faces, and shadows. You can also see plenty of cross-hatching throughout the story. I’m not always a huge fan of that technique when an artist overuses it because too many lines can turn a panel into visual mud. Ditko knows how to make it work. Here, the added texture gives the Salem setting a dirty, weathered appearance that fits a story involving witches, Puritans, and deals with the Devil.
“Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead!” was easily my favorite feature in this issue. The story has that wonderfully nasty sense of humor found in so many older horror comics. Henrietta wants love, beauty, and attention, but this is Haunted Love. Nobody makes a deal with a witch in a comic like this and walks away without reading the supernatural fine print. Ditko’s artwork makes the whole thing even better. He puts the details in the Devil—literally!
“Reunion” also worked much better for me than some of the stories from the previous two issues. The setup involving a grieving man desperate to contact his dead fiancée immediately raises the question of whether Daniel has found a genuine medium or another con artist looking to profit from tragedy. Then the story starts twisting that premise into something considerably stranger. Most importantly, the ending actually feels like an ending rather than Charlton suddenly discovering it has run out of pages.
And that brings me to another observation: I have no complaints about shoddy endings this time! Nicola Cuti did not contribute to this issue. Coincidence? I’ll let you decide. Either way, both illustrated features have enough room to establish their supernatural mysteries and deliver satisfying payoffs without making me wonder if somebody accidentally left the final page at the printing plant.
“Ghostly Gallery” rounds out the issue with another text-only feature. I like the premise of transporting an entire Scottish castle to America and turning it into a haunted tourist attraction. Unfortunately, Charlton once again fails to tell us who wrote the story. Four issues into this series, I’m starting to think the unidentified text-story writer may be the greatest mystery in Haunted Love.
If you are a Steve Ditko fan, I definitely recommend tracking down Haunted Love #4. His artwork alone makes this issue worth adding to a Charlton horror collection, while the stories represent a nice improvement over the uneven material from issues #2 and #3. Add witches, séances, ghosts, reincarnation, a Scottish castle, and a Devil drawn by Steve Ditko, and you have exactly the kind of bizarre mixture I want from a 1970s supernatural romance comic.
I’m giving Haunted Love #4 four out of five stars. The series still has its quirks, but this issue feels like Charlton finally figured out how to balance the “haunted” with the “love.”