Need help identifying an old horror comic story

Hey all! New user here.

I've been trying to find an old horror story I read back in the mid-70's that a friend of mine had. There were multiple stories in the comic, and this one wasn't the main story. I've been looking through issues of horror comics like House of Secrets, House of Mystery, Ghosts, Secrets of Haunted House, etc. and so far no luck. Not sure if anyone here would be able to help me out, but thought I'd give it a shot.

The story is about a sheriff who basically runs a town. I remember him being overweight with a mustache and wearing a hat low so you couldn't really see his eyes. He'd go around giving people BS charges, charging them a $100 fine, or threatening them with a night in jail. I remember one encounter with a couple in a car (convertible I think), where he hits them with the charge, then demands the $100. The guy freaks out and is extremely argumentative. The next panel has the sheriff saying the option is a night in jail, and then the girl pleads with her boyfriend to just pay him so they can leave. Eventually the sheriff collects enough phony fines that he's able to build himself a brand new jail. But he keeps going on with his racket, and comes across a homeless guy and hits him with another BS charge and demands the $100. When the homeless man says he doesn't have any money, the sheriff says the alternative is the night in jail. The homeless man protests and says he can't go to jail because "they" are coming for him. The sheriff puts him in his new jail anyway. Later we see the homeless man's face at the bars and at least 2 shadowy figures show up and they talk to him for a couple of panels. The final panel of the story has the sheriff showing up to find his brand new jail is gone and has been taken away during the night.

If anyone can help me find this comic, I'd really appreciate it!!

A couple of questions to help narrow down the options:

- what country were you in? From the list of comics you looked at, probably the US.

- was the comic in color or black & white? There were lots of b&w horror anthologies in the 70s.

Also, it looks like all of the comics you checked were from DC. Try looking at comics from Marvel, Charlton, Gold Key and Red Circle, and maybe the b&w magazines from Warren, Skywald and Marvel.

This story appears in the recent collected omnibus edition called Marvel's masters of Suspense Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, I'm not at home at the minute to look for the title but it is collected inside that I'm sure of. If no one answers I'll look tomorrow.:D

[QUOTE=Quasarmodo;4804388]Hey all! New user here.

I've been trying to find an old horror story I read back in the mid-70's that a friend of mine had. There were multiple stories in the comic, and this one wasn't the main story. I've been looking through issues of horror comics like House of Secrets, House of Mystery, Ghosts, Secrets of Haunted House, etc. and so far no luck. Not sure if anyone here would be able to help me out, but thought I'd give it a shot.

The story is about a sheriff who basically runs a town. I remember him being overweight with a mustache and wearing a hat low so you couldn't really see his eyes. He'd go around giving people BS charges, charging them a $100 fine, or threatening them with a night in jail. I remember one encounter with a couple in a car (convertible I think), where he hits them with the charge, then demands the $100. The guy freaks out and is extremely argumentative. The next panel has the sheriff saying the option is a night in jail, and then the girl pleads with her boyfriend to just pay him so they can leave. Eventually the sheriff collects enough phony fines that he's able to build himself a brand new jail. But he keeps going on with his racket, and comes across a homeless guy and hits him with another BS charge and demands the $100. When the homeless man says he doesn't have any money, the sheriff says the alternative is the night in jail. The homeless man protests and says he can't go to jail because "they" are coming for him. The sheriff puts him in his new jail anyway. Later we see the homeless man's face at the bars and at least 2 shadowy figures show up and they talk to him for a couple of panels. The final panel of the story has the sheriff showing up to find his brand new jail is gone and has been taken away during the night.

If anyone can help me find this comic, I'd really appreciate it!![/QUOTE]


It appeared in Strange tales issue 81 from 1961 and was called "The Thing in the Cell" by Lee and Ditko and is collected in Marvel's Masters of Suspense, I hope that helps. Welcome to the Forum.;)

[QUOTE=tv horror;4809995]It appeared in Strange tales issue 81 from 1961 and was called "The Thing in the Cell" by Lee and Ditko and is collected in Marvel's Masters of Suspense, I hope that helps. Welcome to the Forum.;)[/QUOTE]

I wonder if the O.P. will check back in and thank you.

[QUOTE=Brad;4814929]I wonder if the O.P. will check back in and thank you.[/QUOTE]

Maybe he WAS the Sheriff and only wanted to know what happened.;) At least thank you Brad for the acknowledgement.

[QUOTE=tv horror;4809995]It appeared in Strange tales issue 81 from 1961 and was called "The Thing in the Cell" by Lee and Ditko and is collected in Marvel's Masters of Suspense, I hope that helps. Welcome to the Forum.;)[/QUOTE]

Wow, THANK YOU SO MUCH! I thought I'd set up my account to get emails for responses, so when I hadn't seen any emails, assumed I hadn't gotten any. Just decided to check back in today and saw I had several responses. I was busy going through a GCD search looking at all horror-suspense stories with between 4 and 10 pages, so you've saved me a literal TON of pages to look through. Using that site, I see that story was reprinted in Weird Wonder Tales #5 in August 1974, so that's probably the comic my friend had.

Can't wait to get home tonight and look through it. You sir, are a true gentleman and a scholar!

[QUOTE=Quasarmodo;4822656]Wow, THANK YOU SO MUCH! I thought I'd set up my account to get emails for responses, so when I hadn't seen any emails, assumed I hadn't gotten any. Just decided to check back in today and saw I had several responses. I was busy going through a GCD search looking at all horror-suspense stories with between 4 and 10 pages, so you've saved me a literal TON of pages to look through. Using that site, I see that story was reprinted in Weird Wonder Tales #5 in August 1974, so that's probably the comic my friend had.

Can't wait to get home tonight and look through it. You sir, are a true gentleman and a scholar![/QUOTE]

No problem you're welcome, as for saving you looking through all that goodness I'm sorry I stopped you as I'm sure it would have been a treat.;)

Hey everyone. Wanted to post on this thread since I didn't want to start a new one, and my topic/question is extremely similar to the OP's - so it's very appropriate here.

Here is what I'm looking for: I'm in the U.S., and back in the late '70's/early '80's I read a color floppy that had several horror stories in it. The only story I remember is this: A man driving by himself late at night stops at a diner/coffee shop in the middle of nowhere. There aren't many/any?! other patrons, and he may be the only customer. So, he starts talking to the guy working behind the counter, and the guy is very creepy. Eventually, the counter guy says something like, "Don't you know where you are?", and then one of the last panels shows the diner floating in space - or something similar. My impression was that the diner was in hell/purgatory.

Does this ring a bell with anyone? This story was definitely in an anthology horror comic, but I don't remember the name of the title, nor the company that produced the comic. I don't think it was Marvel - but it may have DC or Charlton comics. I bought (or at least read) the comic off of a spinner rack (back when those were around).

I'm not sure if this comic/series has ever been collected anywhere - but I suspect not.

Any chance it was the second story in this issue - "Truck Stop"? - [url]https://www.comics.org/issue/168656/[/url]

[QUOTE=Rob Allen;4855308]Any chance it was the second story in this issue - "Truck Stop"? - [url]https://www.comics.org/issue/168656/[/url][/QUOTE]

Thanks for the response & the link. It's very possible that this is the story, and I do think it was Charlton comics. However, I don't remember Charon being in the story - though, it's been so long since I read this I can't remember all the details.

That all being said, this comic is from 1973...and the comic I remember was on the stands circa 1978-1980.

If [I]Ghostly Tales[/I] is ever collected I may get these CE's....just to see if this is the story.

[QUOTE=ROM Spaceknight;4855476]That all being said, this comic is from 1973...and the comic I remember was on the stands circa 1978-1980.[/QUOTE]

Look again - the link is to the November 1979 issue, which reprints a 1973 issue.

[QUOTE=Rob Allen;4855756]Look again - the link is to the November 1979 issue, which reprints a 1973 issue.[/QUOTE]

Just saw this post - Thanks for the clarification. So, yes - this could have been the comic I saw. I appreciate the response & info. I have been wondering about this for years.

You might try asking at the site in my signature. There are several fans of old horror comics there.