Scare Scape

Who is John King?

Beast Meisters, Weirding Women, and fellow Scare Scapers the world over have mourned with us the loss of our greatest and grimmest King of Scare, the late John King. No doubt you, like our staff, cried tears of blood when you learned that the once great and gloomy artist and writer had died in a tragic accident in his private creepy mansion in the isolated town of Dimvale.

We all remember King’s classic covers from issues 275 through to 347 as the glory days of Scare. Indeed, King’s ultra-realistic style and unforgiving depictions of gore and ghastliness are what made him the readers’ favorite cover artist. In fact, it was you, dear readers, who by sending letters flooding in like locusts in praise of his raw (and bloody) talent forced us to give King his own strip: King’s Disturbing Things.

The strip’s varied and harried tales of demonic deceit, pestilent plunder, and murderous madness was the raven feather in our creepy cap for six hideous years. Most famous for his tireless research into the lost black magic arts, King brought an unwelcome touch of credibility to the horror fantasy realm.

Sadly all bad things must come to an end, and, as you know, two years ago King lost his sight in an undiagnosed illness. Unable to work, King’s black heart was broken. Now, he has left us forever to join his fellow corpses in the underworld.

Please join us on a commiserative, commemorative trip down a memory-haunted lane as we present you with this humble and horrible special collector’s edition of some of King’s favorite, most fiendish works.


John, we salute your bones and dance reverently on your grave.


The King is dead. Long live the King.


The Editors and Staff. Scare Scape.

PS: Look out for more reruns of King’s top torture tales in our regular comic, starting next week.