I'm a sucker for a horror comic cover.
Ever since I first discovered as a kid that there were books that weren't about superheroes (which I found boring back then), I've loved the amazing art that were on the covers. The story art and the stories themselves weren't always great, but the covers were always on-point. Horror covers, metal album covers, and skateboard deck art covered the art education of my formative years.
House of Mystery #174 was one of the first comics I bought on Candy (along with Mad #1) because of that amazing art--the beckoning hand coming out of the shadows, the group of kids trying to decide if curiosity is going to overrule their instincts to run away, the atmosphere of the gothic building.
The funny thing, of course, is none of the anthology stories have anything to do with the story told through the cover art. A perfect example of why you shouldn't judge a book by its cover.
I like to think though that aspect maybe is what led to such great art. The story had to only be told in that image. It had to be enticing as the sales pitch for the kid who was going to grab it, yet not be so offensive that mom or dad would take it away. Along the way they managed to create a wonderful mix of pulp art with noir notes and original creepy characters to boot.
I've learned despite Candy crediting Nick Cardy as the cover artist, that is in dispute: https://www.comics.org/issue/21844/
