Thursday, July 26, 2007
The Face of Death
One of Marvel / Atlas Comics biggest advantages over most of the other pre-code horror publishers was simply by having a writer / illustrator like Bill Everett on their team. A truly amazing talent, he easily revivaled anyone working in the EC bullpen, and secured his place in comic book history by creating the ageless anti-hero Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner. Everett's work in the horror genre is equally brilliant and eerie and unlike anyone else, as in this fine example from the spring 1952 issue of Adventures into Weird Worlds #4.
wow great ending!!!! i was thrown off for a second by the bottom panel on the third page... wondering why the dudes face was falling apart but its a printing mistake right
ReplyDeletemore everet!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!
Sorry! I was actually going to point that out in the intro to avoid confusion, but yes, a printing error that actually creates one of the more creepier moments in the story, ha ha...
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine swears they made a halloween mask out of the last panel, anyone ever see it? I sure haven't.
Also, more Bill Everett coming up next week ABSOLUTELY! I'm thinking about doing a post just showing examples of some of his horror covers, sound good?
ReplyDeletesounds great! some covers are better than the shit inside
ReplyDeletei was thinking this one is kind of like NOTLD or even 28 days later with the people holed up inside while evil is going on outside just swap the zombies for the kiss of death
Oh, no, no, no, no! You must go much further back than those films and turn to classic horror literature to find the genesis of this very same idea. Most notably, I kindly refer you to Poe's fantastical allegory 'The Masque of the Red Death'. Certainly, you know the brilliant Corman film starring the inimitable Vincent Price as Prince Prospero. In the original tale, a group of nobles barricade themselves in a palace in an attempt to escape the plague of the Red Death ravaging the countryside. And then an uninvited guest appears among them... Guess who? Here is the closing paragraph of the E.A.P. story: "And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall. And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all."
ReplyDeleteGoing well above and beyond the call of duty, a truly brilliant observation and story comparison Michael, thank you! Even Poe applauds you from the darkness of his crumbling crypt.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Edgar Allan, I found a great comic book adaption of The Black Cat which I hope to post in the next week or so, everyone stay tuned...
never saw red death but ill look for it sounds like a good one
ReplyDeleteIt's mandatory viewing! ...or else
ReplyDelete-P. Prospero
All of the 60's Corman / Poe films are essential viewing: House of Usher, Tales of Terror, Pit and the Pendulum, The Raven, Tomb of Ligeia, Premature Burial, Haunted Palace etc... don't miss any of them!
ReplyDeleteWith these kind of stories I always have to think "so what percentage of the time is she hot versus the time she has a skull face>" I think I could make this work!
ReplyDeleteI can't second, third, forth, whatever about Everett. His horror work at Atlas, from aliens to zombies, was always great. He had that cartoon-to-realistic look a lot of artists had a very hard time with.
This is a very slight variant on the plot of Edgar Allan Poe's The Masque of the Red Death.
ReplyDelete