DC Comics' The Unexpected.

"Surprise surprise! The Unexpected hits you between the eyes!" There aren't many comics so awesome that Cilla Black has been moved to record a song in their honour - but DC comics' The Unexpected managed just that feat.

And deservedly so. With its tales of dread and terror, it was right up there with all those other DC comics that were virtually identical to it.

Of course, what set DC's horror titles apart from each other was they usually had some sort of gimmick; whether it be Ghosts' boast that all its tales were true; or having a host, such as Cain, Abel, Death or the three witches.

Off the top of my head, I don't recall what The Unexpected's gimmick was.

Perhaps it didn't have one

And perhaps that was the most unexpected thing of all about it?

Regardless, let's take a butcher's at the few issues of the mag I ever owned...

Issue #150 gives us one of my favourite Nick Cardy covers.

I have a memory of a tale that ends with a bunch of dead people playing cards in the skeleton of an unfinished apartment block.

I have a feeling it may have been drawn by E R Cruz.

I have a feeling this may have been the issue in which it appeared.

This is the first issue of the title that I ever got. And it's one of the pivotal comics of my youth.

Why is it so pivotal?

I don't know but I do remember it making a huge impression on me at the time.

Oddly, despite that, I can't remember anything much about its contents. I have a feeling there may have been a story about a youth ending up trapped inside a watch as a just reward for his wrong-doing.

I got this one in Blackpool. Possibly 1978.

Is this the one with the volcano whose lava flow dries in a shape matching the profile of its good-for-nothing victim?

If it is, I always like that one.

If it isn't, I still always liked that one.

I remember nothing about this issue at all other than that I got it on a Sunday, and the title The Horrible Harrow Formula .

What the Harrow Formula was, I have no idea but I can tell, just from its name, that, like the Unexpected itself, it's not a thing to be messed with.