Have A Witchy Thanksgiving

Farrell Publications had several imprints when it was in swing during the mid-Golden Age, one of which was Four Star Comic Corp., but like many of the Farrell's titles they would reprint stories from former publishers. The one we're looking at now is titled Doing The Turkey Trot which was featured in Issue 5 of their horror anthology of Midnight, although it was originally printed in the first issue of Farrell's Phantom Lady comic which mainly repurposed some of the buxom brunette's earlier adventures and have the given title of The Silly Sorceress. This comedic horror was rewritten slightly to fit a Thanksgiving theme since Blood Freak was still a few decades off. If you wanted a "funny" look at the Salem witch trials, then this comic's sense of humor might work for you. In it, pinhead pilgrim Pinwheel hunts for a turkey but gets chased off by the indigenous locals who have a bone to pick with those greedy colonists, and the fact that the comic has the natives refer to themselves as "redskins" leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Pinwheel comes across a random cartoon witch doing her usual stirring up a cauldron routine who sells him a sample of her latest elixir which he immediately spills out into a nearby pond as he doesn't trust witches even though he just willingly paid three bucks for it. The elixir bonds with plants to conjure up an attractive blonde called the Lady of the Swamp who Pinwheel falls for, and he scoops her away. Once he's back in his village the Lady turns back into witchgrass leaving Pinwheel perplexed telling his neighbors that the weeds he was carrying used to be a hot mama, so they use a cucking stool to wash the witchy thoughts out of him. Whether whoever the creator of this 5-page short intended it to be a common spoof you'd find in parody comics like Bughouse, or if the story was simply a quick filler for Phantom Lady that was rewritten for Midnight comics so they could have something to put out before Thanksgiving is debatable. It's unknown if Doing The Turkey Trot was printed by one of the previous publishers Farrell got much of their material from like Quality Comics, or this was an original story, regardless of which one, Farrell needed to hire someone better at writing cartoonish satire.