Tales of Ghost Castle was a horror

Horror comics

Horror comics are comic books, graphic novels, black-and-white comics magazines, and manga focusing on horror fiction. Horror comic books reached a peak in the late 1940s through the mid-1950s, when concern over content and the imposition of the self-censorship Comics Code Authority contributed to...

-suspense anthology

Anthology

An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...

 comic book

Comic book

A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

 series published by DC Comics

DC Comics

DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...

 in 1975. Tales of Ghost Castle was "hosted" by Lucien, who later became an important supporting character in Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman

Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...

's The Sandman. Much of the artwork in the series was by Filipino

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

 artists, many of whom had been recruited by Joe Orlando

Joe Orlando

Joseph Orlando was a prolific illustrator, writer, editor and cartoonist during a lengthy career spanning six decades...

 and Carmine Infantino

Carmine Infantino

Carmine Infantino Carmine Infantino Carmine Infantino (born May 24, 1925, in Brooklyn, New York is an American comic book artist and editor who was a major force in the Silver Age of Comic Books...

 in their 1971 recruiting trip to the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

.

Writers on Tales of Ghost Castle included Sergio Aragonés

Sergio Aragonés

Sergio Aragonés Domenech is a cartoonist and writer best known for his contributions to Mad Magazine and creator of the comic book Groo the Wanderer....

, Robert Kanigher

Robert Kanigher

Robert Kanigher was a prolific comic book writer and editor whose career spanned five decades. He was involved with the Wonder Woman franchise for over twenty years, taking over the scripting from creator William Moulton Marston. In addition, Kanigher spent many years in charge of DC Comics' war...

, Paul Levitz

Paul Levitz

Paul Levitz is an American comic book writer, editor and executive. The president of DC Comics from 2002–2009, he has worked for the company for over 35 years in a wide variety of roles...

, David Michelinie

David Michelinie

-Biography:Some of his earliest work is for DC Comics's House of Secrets and a run on Swamp Thing , following Len Wein and preceding Gerry Conway, illustrated by Nestor Redondo. Michelinie did a run on Aquaman in Adventure Comics which led to the revival of the Sea King's own title in 1977...

, Jack Oleck

Jack Oleck

Jack Oleck was an American novelist and comic book writer particularly known for his work in the horror genre.The brother-in-law of comics pioneer Joe Simon, Oleck's comic book career was basically in two parts. During the Golden Age of comics Oleck wrote for EC Comics and the Simon-Jack Kirby...

, Martin Pasko

Martin Pasko

Martin Pasko is a writer and editor in a diverse array of media, including comic books and television.Pasko has worked for many comics publishers, but is best known for his work with DC Comics over three decades. He has written Superman in many media, including television animation, webisodes, and...

, and Mal Warwick. Artists on the series included Aragonés, Bill Draut, and the Filipino artists Ernie Chan

Ernie Chan

Ernesto "Ernie" Chan is a Filipino-born American comic book artist.-Biography:Chan migrated to the United States in 1970, and became a citizen in 1976. For a number of years, he was obliged to work under the name "Ernie Chua" as that name had been wrongfully entered on his U.S...

, E.R. Cruz, Buddy Gernale, Alex Niño

Alex Niño

Alex Niño is a Filipino comic book artist best known for his work for the American publishers DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and Warren Publishing, and in Heavy Metal magazine.-Early life and career:...

, Frank "Quico" Redondo, Nestor Redondo

Nestor Redondo

Nestor Redondo was a comic-book artist best known for his work for DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and other American publishers in the 1970s and early 1980s.-Early life and career:...

, and Ruben Yandoc.

Publication history

Tales of Ghost Castle was one of several horror-mystery-suspense published by DC Comics during this era. Others include Doorway to Nightmare, Ghosts

Ghosts (DC Comics)

Ghosts is a comic book series published by DC Comics for 112 issues from September-October 1971 to May 1982. Its tagline was "True Tales of the Weird and Supernatural" , changed to "New Tales of the Weird and Supernatural," as of #75 , and dropped after #104...

, House of Secrets, House of Mystery

House of Mystery

The House of Mystery is the name of several horror-mystery-suspense anthology comic book series. It had a companion series, House of Secrets.-Genesis:...

, The Unexpected

The Unexpected

The Unexpected was a DC Comics horror comic book, a continuation of Tales of the Unexpected. It ran 117 issues, #105-222, from 1968 to 1982.-Publication history:...

, The Witching Hour

The Witching Hour (DC Comics)

The Witching Hour was a DC comic book horror anthology that ran from 1969 to 1978. Its tagline was "It's 12 o'clock... The Witching Hour!"...

, Secrets of Sinister House

Secrets of Sinister House

Secrets of Sinister House was a horror-suspense anthology comic book series published by DC Comics from 1972–1974, a companion to Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion.-Publication history:...

, Secrets of Haunted House

Secrets of Haunted House

Secrets of Haunted House was a horror-suspense anthology comic book series published by DC Comics from 1975 to 1982.-Publication history:...

, and Weird Mystery Tales

Weird Mystery Tales

Weird Mystery Tales was a mystery anthology from DC Comics, which ran from July/Aug. 1972-November 1975. Like its sister books House of Mystery and The Witching Hour, it was known for its "monstrous stories" with shock endings....

.

Debuting in May/June 1975, Tales of Ghost Castle only lasted three issues before being cancelled.

Lucien the librarian

In Tales of Ghost Castle, Lucien is portrayed as the guardian of a castle in Transylvania

Transylvania

Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...

 abandoned by both sides during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, watching over its forgotten library with his companion, a werewolf

Werewolf

A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...

named Rover.