Midnight Tales was a horror

Horror comics

Horror comics are comic books, graphic novels, black-and-white comics magazines, and manga focusing on horror fiction. Horror comic books reached a peak in the late 1940s through the mid-1950s, when concern over content and the imposition of the self-censorship Comics Code Authority contributed to...

-suspense anthology

Anthology

An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...

 comic book

Comic book

A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

 series created by Wayne Howard

Wayne Howard

Wayne Wright Howard was an African-American comic book artist best known for his 1970s work at Charlton Comics, where he became American comic books' first known cover-credited series creator, with the horror anthology Midnight Tales blurbing "Created by Wayne Howard" on each issue — "a...

 and published by Charlton Comics

Charlton Comics

Charlton Comics was an American comic book publishing company that existed from 1946 to 1985, having begun under a different name in 1944. It was based in Derby, Connecticut...

 from 1972 to 1976. The book was "hosted" by Professor Coffin (a.k.a. The Midnight Philosopher, who bore an usual resemblance to Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol

Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...

) and his niece Arachne. (The book followed a standard formula where each issue's first story was a framing sequence divided up among the other stories.) The setting, Xanadu University, was a tie-in with the Charlton series E-Man

E-Man

E-Man is a fictional comic book superhero created by writer Nicola Cuti and artist Joe Staton for Charlton Comics in 1973. Though the character's original series was short-lived, the lightly humorous hero has become a cult-classic sporadically revived by various independent comics...

.

Charlton took the unusual step of giving Howard a "created by" credit on each issue's cover, providing a precedent for such credits eventually becoming common years later beginning with DC's Vertigo imprint. Charlton writer/editor Nick Cuti

Nick Cuti

Nicola Cuti , known as Nick Cuti, is an artist and comic book writer-editor, notable for his creation of E-Man and Moonchild...

 described Howard's credit being granted because the book, "... was his idea, his concept, his everything." In addition, each issue shared a theme: "One time it would be blob monsters, and I wrote three stories about blob monsters, and another time it was vampires ... and that sort of thing". Howard penciled and inked every cover and virtually every story, and occasionally scripted stories as well.

Publication history

Midnight Tales was part of a wave of new horror and suspense comics published by Charlton during this period. Its sister titles were the Charlton anthologies The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves

The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves

The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves was an American supernatural-anthology comic book published by Charlton Comics and best known as a showcase for the popular writer-artist Steve Ditko, the co-creator of Marvel Comics' Spider-Man. The eponymous Dr. M. T...

(with host Dr. M.T. Graves), Ghostly Tales

Ghostly Tales

Ghostly Tales was a horror-suspense anthology comic book series published by Charlton Comics from 1966 to 1984 . The book was "hosted" by Mr. L. Dedd , a middle-aged gentleman with purplish skin and horns who dressed like a vampire. Mr...

(with I.M. Dedd), Ghost Manor

Ghost Manor (comics)

Ghost Manor was a horror-suspense anthology comic book series published by Charlton Comics from 1968 to 1984 . Volume one was "hosted" by the Old Witch , while volume two was hosted by Mr...

(with host Mr. Bones), Ghostly Haunts

Ghostly Haunts

Ghostly Haunts was a horror-suspense anthology comic book series published by Charlton Comics from 1971 to 1978. The book was "hosted" by Winnie the Witch, a "moddish" blue-skinned witch....

(with Winnie the Witch), Haunted

Haunted (comics)

Haunted was a horror-suspense anthology comic book series published by Charlton Comics from 1971 to 1984 . The book was "hosted" by Impy, a pint-sized ghost dressed in an all-white superhero costume...

(with Impy and then Baron Weirwulf), and Scary Tales

Scary Tales (comics)

Scary Tales was a horror-suspense anthology comic book series published by Charlton Comics from 1975 to 1984. The book was "hosted" by Countess R.H. Von Bludd, an alluring female vampire in a tight-fitting dress...

(with Countess R.H. Von Bludd).

Midnight Tales appeared bimonthly; altogether, it published 18 issues. In Oct. 1985, Charlton briefly revived the title as a reprint book, changing its name to Professor Coffin, and continued the numbering for three more issues before finally ceasing publication in 1986.

Besides Howard, other contributors to Midnight Tales included Nicola Cuti, Don Newton

Don Newton

Don Newton was an American comic book artist. During his career, he worked for a number of comic book publishers, including Marvel Comics, DC Comics, and Charlton Comics. He is best known for his work on The Phantom, Aquaman, and Batman...

, Joe Staton

Joe Staton

Joe Staton is an American illustrator and writer of comic books.-Career:Staton started his work with Charlton Comics in 1971 and gained notability as the artist of the super-hero book E-Man...

, and Tom Sutton

Tom Sutton

Tom Sutton was an American comic book artist who sometimes used the pseudonyms Sean Todd and Dementia...

. George Wildman

George Wildman

George Wildman , is an American cartoonist most noted for his work in the comic books industry. He was a top editor at Charlton Comics from 1971–1985, where he also became the long-time regular artist on Popeye comic books....

 edited the book for its entire run.

Quotes

Critic Mark Andrew: