Random Comic Book Splash Page #13

Paramount's spooky chiller LET'S SCARE JESSICA TO DEATH was already playing theatrically when DC Comics' THE UNEXPECTED #139 hit newsstands in the summer of 1972. Editor Murray Boltinoff--writing as "Bill Dennehy," one of many pseudonyms the prolific author used in comics--and artist E.R. Cruz were responsible for "Let's Scare Lisa to Death," the second of three stories in this September 1972 issue, which actually came out in July.

The terrifically atmospheric splash page may have actually been Cruz's first work for DC. For fifteen years, the Filipino artist was a DC mainstay, specializing in spooky art for the company's horror/mystery and war titles, including G.I. COMBAT, GHOSTS, HOUSE OF MYSTERY, WEIRD WAR TALES, HOUSE OF SECRETS, and many others. I don't remember Cruz ever drawing one of DC's superhero titles, which may have kept him off the comic book business' A-list, but his work was tremendous, just the same.