Michael J. :: Tales from the Crypt (1990)

Tales from the Crypt "Television Terror" HBO Prop Comic Book Cover

Artist: Mike Vosburg (All)

3 Comments - 1,249 Views - 3 Likes

Tales from the Crypt Television Terror HBO Prop Comic Book Cover Comic Art

Additional Images:

Screenshot #1

Screenshot #2

Comic Book Cover Credits

Colored Cover

1996 Trendmasters Candelabra

Artwork Details

Title:	Tales from the Crypt "Television Terror" HBO Prop Comic Book Cover
Artist:	Mike Vosburg (All)
Media Type:	Pen and Ink
Art Type:	Cover
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	1,249
Likes on CAF:	3 4
Comments:	3
Added to Site:	1/21/2023
Comic Art Archive:

Description

"Tonight's twisted tale, my dear couch potatoes, is filed under 'T' for television... or should that be... terror?"

This original 11.5" x 17" pen and ink cover by Emmy-winning comic and storyboard artist Mike "Voz" Vosburg was made for the "Television Terror" episode of the HBO horror anthology series Tales from the Crypt (1989-1996).

The final colored version later resurfaced in 1996 on a Crypt Keeper Candelabra Halloween decoration manufactured by Trendmasters.

According to Vosburg, fellow comic book veteran Howard Chaykin recommended him to producers of the show. His first assignment saw him concept designing the intricate sets for the spine-tingling trademark opening sequence as well as storyboarding all of the action when the camera pans through a lightening-lit macabre mansion and down a secret spiral staircase into a cob-webbed catacomb where the Crypt Keeper creeps.

Producer Joel Silver, who had procured the screen rights to the pre-code EC Comics of the 1950s, then tasked Vosburg with creating the prop comic book covers that the Crypt Keeper turns to at the start of each tale.

"I would do several roughs for each cover, and they would pick one," the artist recalled on his blog, Vozwords. "I do remember that Joel was the final say on all of them. Whichever rough was chosen, I would do a traditional pen and ink drawing. We'd get a stat shot of the cover and a negative and create a blue-line version on a board, which Richard Ory colored. It was much more illustration than just doing a comic book cover."

By the second season, Vosburg frequented the working sets on a weekly basis, snapping reference photographs of the revolving big-name Hollywood guest stars, including Kirk Douglas, Martin Sheen, Tim Curry, Joe Pesci, and John Lithgow.

In the case of "Television Terror," Morton Downey Jr. stars as tawdry tabloid hack Horton Rivers in an unflinching send-up of the real-life shock talk-show host and Geraldo Riveria's disastrous 1986 publicity stunt surrounding the (empty) vaults of Al Capone. Based in part on the story of the same name by Harvey Kurtzman, published in The Haunt of Fear #17, the craven correspondent aims to exploit a purportedly haunted house, where at least a dozen murders took place, in a cheap ploy for ratings, but he soon finds out just how break-neck live—"or is it dead?"—TV can be.

The actual Queen Anne Victorian style manor, known to locals as the Higgins/Verbeck/Hirsch Mansion, has been designated as a Los Angeles Cultural-Historic Monument after serving as the filming location for several other spooky shoots over the years, including The Night Walker (1964), Willard (1971), Ben (1972), Halloween with the New Addams Family (1977), Witchboard (1986), Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988), Waxwork (1988), the "Funhouse" episode of Freddy's Nightmares (1988-1990), and the "Halloween" episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990–2000).

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About the Owner

	Michael J.
Joined:	August 2015
Last Login:	September 2025
Country:	UNITED STATES
On CAF:	Michael's Want List Artworks Commented On Liked Art Site Activity on CAF

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Comments on this Artwork

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Redhead Demiurge
Member Since 2008

1 - Posted on 1/21/2023

Thank you for sharing this history of this piece! I always lore learning the lore of a piece of art.

matthew reed
Member Since 2006

1 - Posted on 1/21/2023

i love seeing this stuff posted! great series! great image! i remember this episode for sure.

Earl Edwards
Member Since 2024

Posted on 9/3/2025

Great and fun art. And a fantastic background story behind it all. Congratulations on the acquisition of a very cool piece.

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