Number 1161: Joe Certa's vampire and werewolf

Joe Certa, another journeyman comic book artist who began his career in the 1940s, was the longtime artist on "J'onn J'onzz, Manhunter From Mars" for DC, and was also drawing for Gold Key in the '60s. The fine work he'd done for Harvey's horror comics in the '50s put him in good stead with GK titles like Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery and Ripley's Believe It Or Not.

These two shorts, "The Vampires" and "The Monster of Auvergne," are both from Ripley's #4 (1967). Since Gold Key wasn't covered by the Comics Code Authority they could show vampires and werewolves, which were prohibited at the time by the CCA. (The Code restrictions were lifted eventually, when the little kids who were being "protected" from such mythical creatures in the late '50s and '60s were either going to college, or even if still young, had seen much worse on television.) Certa's "Vampire" came out just about the time the story of the "original" Dracula, Vlad the Impaler—well known in Eastern countries—was beginning to become known to Westerners. Certa apparently used no references when he drew the historical panel of "Drakula."

Certa was born in 1919, and died in 1986.