From the October 1953 issue of Adventures into Terror #24
Sunday, August 5, 2007
The Body Snatchers
Finally, the third story in my Al Luster tribute, come with us as we head out to the graveyard to find us some body! I hope you enjoy this sampling of Luster's work as much as I do. And keep your eyes on this blog in the coming weeks for more examples of Al Luster, as well as more spotlights on other individual artists and writers who made 50’s pre-code horror still so memorable after all these years.
From the October 1953 issue of Adventures into Terror #24
From the October 1953 issue of Adventures into Terror #24
If only they'd succeeded in killing that student Adolf...great story,though,and you're right,the work of Al Luster is almost elemental in being able to create an atmosphere(be it rural hellholes,Polynesian islands,or Universal horror graveyards)and the use of camera angles(especially in the4-panel-1-grid)gives his work a cinematic,almost Krigstein-esque feel(though it may have been through necessity,it works),and believe it or not,I didn't see the ending coming;I thought it was going to reveal the rival survived and was trying to beat Knopf at his own game!.
ReplyDeleteLuster's lifetime body of work appears to be surprisingly slim too which is a shame, at least from what little info I've found online detailing his stories... possibly he's done more under another name or maybe he has work that just hasn't been cataloged yet online. Would love to find more info about him and know if he's even still alive.
ReplyDeleteSpotlighting some Kirby next week, not that he needs spotlighting but it seems an overall opinion most people have about him is that he didn't do much horror... which is totally false.
sounds cool..... Jack did alot of great stuff in the 50's with his black magic series
ReplyDeleteI hope it is from BLACK MAGIC,I read a few stories of his in DC's reprints,great,scratchy,trap-hatch art,but fairly commonplace stories,with the only difference being that some were purportedly true,so i'd love to see some good stories from BM,or will it be from that other series where readers sent in stories based off their own nightmares?,love to see either,and i at least hope it will be better than some of his Atlas monster comics,which were great when they wanted to be but were mostly;"pah,foolish humans!,tremble before the son of Goom!;Googam!"
ReplyDeleteYou'll just have to wait and see...
ReplyDeleteThe murder panel on page 3 is my favorite. I lovehow you only see the crazed doctor's eye!
ReplyDelete