I am interested in how the content of comics evolved due to both sales and public reaction. The covers below represent the pre-code evolution toward horror, and the post-code retreat. With one exception the covers are all by the same artist with the same publisher, showing how the great Bill Everett adapted to censorship of horror comics.

Pre-Code (all Bill Everett covers)

1. I Made a Monster. (and he seems to have a hard on... Look closely!)

2. I Live With Corpses (Says it All)

3. Venus, Kiss of Death. (Started as a romance/fantasy comic starring the goddess of love, who then becomes a sort of supernatural investigator and fashion writer. By this final issue, she was just the girl in the red dress that Bill Everett drew screaming in fear on hhundreds of covers. Great example of a "transitional species!"

Post Code- In some ways these watered down, almost never scary covers are more creative. The artists had to avoid code censorship, so people began to be menaced by haunted gas pumps (Bill Everett)and evil swarms of leaves (Steve Ditko). I have many more examples.