Nights of Horror (1954) a notorious underground fetish comic book series featuring art by Joe Shuster. One of the original creators of Superman along with Jerry Siegel.

After getting the Superman origin story in a new series at the time action comics #1. Joe and Jerry sold the rights of Superman to Detective Comics for $130 in 1938 as well as freelance contracts to continue the story.

Years later they filed a lawsuit in 1946 to void the terms of the original contract but lost. They would also try to create a new comic series Funny Man, but it failed to gain any popularity.

Nights of Horror

By 1954 Joe Shuster fell on hard times after the long legal battle for the rights of Superman, developing sight problems and not being able to find much work in the comic industry. 

Short on cash Joe began doing work for his neighbors new publishing company Malcla where they printed adult books out of a basement in Queens. Joe was commissioned to do the artwork for “Nights of Horror” a fetish comic series featuring scenes of BDSM, Bondage, Torture, Interracial Sex, Voyeurism, Lesbianism and many other things seen as risque especially in the 1950s. The series ran for 16 issues. Ironic as it may be there was actually very little nudity in the comic. 

It wasn’t discovered until much later that the art was by Joe Shuster as he never signed or credited himself in the books because it wasn’t the type of content he wanted to be remembered for. But his iconic art style can’t be missed, all the characters within Nights of Horror look oddly similar to early Superman comic strips. It’s like Lois Lane, Clark Kent, and Lex Luthor are starring in a black and white art house porno. 

The Brooklyn Thrill Killers

Nights of Horror would gain national media attention and backlash after being blamed for the actions of a group of teenage boys labeled the “Thrill Kill Gang” They went on to terrorize citizens in Brooklyn New York, whipping random women in the street, setting someone on fire and actually killing two men. One by drowning the other by beating him to death.

While Dr. Fredrick Wortham a psychiatric expert was assesing one of the teens Jack Coslow to see if he was mentally fit for trial. Jack said he bought the whip from a horror comic book ad. Fredrick went out and bought Nights of Horror and asked if they were the type of comics he read and coslow agreed.

“I wish to emphatically point out that such crimes did not exist before this comic book era.”

– Dr. Fredrick Wortham

Even though Jack Coslow never specifically stated he read Nights of Horror but just similar comics, Nights of Horror would still face public scrutiny after Wortham testified and blamed the comics for their behavior.

The mayor of New York at the time Wagner ordered police to seize and destroy all copies of Nights of Horror in bookstores. 2650 copies were found and destroyed. Now causing Nights of Horror to be a very rare comic worth thousands of dollars per issue.

In 1978 when the Superman movie was being released a lawsuit was made on behalf of Joe and Jerry, it wasn’t until this time did Warner Brothers and DC comics finally do good by Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel and provided a yearly pension of $20,000 until their deaths 1992 (Shuster) and 1996 (Siegel).