Horror comics the Code. While the genre has had greater and lesser periods of popularity, it occupies a firm niche in comics as of the 2010s. Precursors to horror comics include detective and crime comics that incorporated horror motifs into their graphics, and early superhero stories that sometimes included the likes of ghouls and vampires. Individual horror stories appeared as early as 1940. The first dedicated horror comic books appear to be Gilberton Publications' "Classic Comics" #13 (August 1943), with its full-length adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde", and Avon Publications' anthology "Eerie" #1 (January
Kidnapped (novel) now set forth by Robert Louis Stevenson." "Kidnapped" was first published in the magazine "Young Folks" from May to July 1886, and as a novel in the same year. The central character and narrator is 17-year-old David Balfour. (Balfour is Stevenson's mother's maiden name.) His parents have recently died, and he is out to make his way in the world. He is given a letter by the minister of Essendean, Mr. Campbell, to be delivered to the House of Shaws in Cramond, where David's uncle, Ebenezer Balfour, lives. David arrives at the ominous House of Shaws and is confronted by