From the March 1954 issue of Marvel Tales #121
Thursday, August 2, 2007
The Cannibals
Let’s take a little trip to Africa for our next story, (all expenses paid too), courtesy of Atlas Comics... with Mighty Mac Pakula as our guide through the deepest, blackest heart of jungle horror. If you suddenly hear the distant beating of native drums then you better hang onto your head and run screaming for your life!
From the March 1954 issue of Marvel Tales #121
From the March 1954 issue of Marvel Tales #121
That was some seriously gorgeous artwork right there,very cinematic,and with a mounting sense of dread,I felt my pulse quicken in anticipation as the page downloaded,and that's the first time a comic-book story has done that to me in years!,I kind of saw the ending coming,but who wouldn't with the splash panel?,I noticed on the page where Mark first mentions the hand-thing that Cabot(Sebastian's cousin?)has his hand stretched out in a weird way,so I thought Cabot was the father luring his son out on a ruse,if it was meant to be misleading,it was DAMN subtle,I also must mention that once when I was working as a babysitter I worked for this couple that had done relief work in New Guinea,and had eaten human flesh!(I am NOT making this up!)and said that nah,they were just a normal couple and had just done it for a ceremony a few times,I'll say this:once was enough for me!!,I never had any weird experiences but you can imagine how it must have felt,especially when it was late night.
ReplyDeleteYes, of the countless jungle horror stories from Atlas (that I currently own) this is definitely one of the most bleak and unnerving. It is nice to see though that when the natives are done hacking away, boiling, and eating the human flesh that they actually bother to hang the skull up as decor instead of being wasteful.
ReplyDeleteGreat personal story too... maybe we should start up a new blog devoted to weird cannibalistic babysitting tales!
another atlas classic..... the terror in their eyes on the last page makes my skin crawl!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteGRUUUUESOME!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteniiice.
ReplyDeleteAtlas was one of the few pre-code comics that could write a tale with an obvious ending -- this one you could see coming for a while because they kept pressing a point -- and have it even better than if it was a snap ending.
ReplyDeleteYou know our explorers are doomed from the first panel. and the dark inking and the shadows play that out further. There's an incredible sense of menace throughout the whole story. And the guide isn't even evil, something that is almost cliche in these types of stories! A real winner.