There came a point in the '70s when Marvel — at that point, just a decade into its existence as the company we know and love today — started to wonder if the superhero thing that had made the company’s reputation was just a fad, and whether it was time to diversify into other genres once again. What came from that was a series of horror titles that, even 50 years later, stick out as particularly memorable, and particularly Marvel-ous. Which seems like a good thing to celebrate on Halloween week, right…?

By the time Marvel’s editorial minds made the choice to pivot towards horror comics in the early '70s, monsters had already been part of the Marvel DNA for some time. Before the debut of the Fantastic Four heralded the dawn of what would become known as the Marvel Universe, Timely Comics — as Marvel