Sunday, September 2, 2007

When Death Comes A-Calling

No, it's not a new Danzig song, it’s more “toddler in terror ©” chills from Atlas (boy, they sure loved to terrorize the kiddies back then didn’t they?) This one features some really crisp, creepy art from possibly Jazzy Jay Scott Pike. Anyone know for sure? [GCD now thinks it's Al Luster. -- Nequam] Whoever did this, his rendition of Death is both fun and frightening.

From the March 1954 issue of Journey into Unknown Worlds #25





10 comments:

Anonymous said...

GREAT STORY! KIND OF SAD THOUGH THE KID LOSES HIS MOM AND THEN GETS KILLED TOO ONLY TO HAVE THE CRIMSON GHOST---I MEAN DEATH GIVE HIM A REPRIEVE......THOUGHT ID THROW THAT ONE IN SINCE WE'RE CRACKING MISFITS JOKES

Anonymous said...

Who says all horror comics were tasteless trash,that was a genuinely touching story about the power of love,all when i was expecting a gruesome story where death unmasks to reveal mom staring back,or the mangled kid comes back to life and is rejected by his father,wow,great story,i see a lot of redeeming social value,but Wertham wouldn't have,he'd have said:"this story tells kids it's okay to play in traffic and that they can have power over god's divine plan,we must stop this from destroying western civilization!"but what did he know?,and yes i think the Reaper does look like the crimson ghost,i also think the art is by Al Luster.

Mr. Karswell said...

I think every aspect of REAL life was seriously and insanely skewed through the eyes of Wertham.

"The Eyes of Wertham." (Sounds like a horror movie.)

Tomorrow's post has a similarly touching side to it as well as grave robbing, corpse mangling, satanic science and so on... yeah yeah yeah, I find those things touching too, so what?

Mr. Karswell said...

>i also think the art is by Al Luster

I would agree on Luster if we were talking about Death's skull face only... it's weird but this looks like a big mish mash of cooks to me. For instance, look at the two last panels on page 3, who drew those in comparison to everything else in the story?

Anonymous said...

WOW! What a story! Completely different, which is unusual for the churning-out variations of themes usually done by Atlas. Really a fine story - thanks!!!!

Anonymous said...

i don't think this is al luster either......i went back and looked at those other luster stories you posted and it doesn't quite feel the same plus the atlas site says jay scot pike too but with a question mark......cool story though

crimson ghost should sue!!!!!!!!

Lethargic said...

See, kids if you're cute enough and have big enough eyes, even death is negotiable!

Bill the Butcher said...

That kid is such a talker, goes on and on and on and on....Death is too good for him.

Unknown said...

It looks like Al on the Death figure alone, not the rest of the art.

Unknown said...

Death and some of his panels are Luster, there may be 2 others involved, one being Pike.