Thursday, April 24, 2008

Corpse That Wouldn’t Sleep

As promised, here’s another creepy chapter in the tough guy annals of my all-time favorite pre-code crime-busting private eye---Ken Shannon! Last month we saw him tackle the Weird Vampire Mob (read it HERE), but this time can he stop a creepy corpse on the prowl before his best girl Friday totally loses her marbles?

From the February 1952 issue of Ken Shannon #3











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And because I’m such a tease, here’s a few of my favorite Ken Shannon splash panels from some of his other various violent escapades. Someday soon I’ll post another one of these in its entirety, because with titles like Mansion of the Mangled Men, or Case of the Butchered Butcher, you know you’re in for 100% pure Ken Shannon ass kickings!

16 comments:

The Vicar of VHS said...

This one was a little too Scooby-Doo for me, though it certainly had its moments:

"Linda Tarrent, who went for any kind of men--except dead ones!" Nice that she's got standards!

"I quoted Mrs. Tarrent a hundred slugs for this trip and she never batted a tonsil!" Wha? What the hell are you on about, Ken?

And of course the shot of the crippled bat-man swinging in at Ken is priceless.

And I just love that his secretary is "Double-D Dawson." Someone call Russ Meyer, quick!

Anonymous said...

Great blog. Enough Said.
Love to be able to post about it on our blog TDGTTBB check it out and get back to us.
thanks
TWT

Anonymous said...

OH MAN I LOVE THESE SHANNON POSTS! I DONT REALLY THINK ITS LIKE SCOOBY DOO AT ALL BECAUSE ITS TOO WELL WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED AND A DEFINITE STEP UP IN QUALITY FROM THOSE CARTOONS AND SOMETIMES EVEN YOUR USUAL POSTS. THATS NOT TO SAY ITS BETTER, BUT YOU CAN TELL THE PEOPLE INVOLVED (REED CRANDALL)ARE JUST WAY MORE TALENTED THAN MOST.

LOVE THE TEASER SPLASH GALLERY TOO! THANKS KARSWELL FOR THE HUGE POST!

Anthony said...

The panel with Alden running scared on page 7 is almost too comical. It makes me laugh every time I look at it.

Anonymous said...

Comics should be fun and both of todays stories fit the bill. Keep up the good work.
Bluebeatle

Anonymous said...

Wow, the writing in this is so awesome. "I was colder than a blonde faro dealer." Whaaa? It's like someone just picked words and phrases at random from a 50s slang book.

The shot of Dee-Dee at the bottom of page 3 is great. She looks and sounds like she got turned into a zombie! "Ohhh, ha, ha, ha! Boo-hoo-hoo!"

And that picture of Alden on p7 with his arms outstretched is just great.

Anonymous said...

Yesterday's Zebra story is definitely one hard act to follow but this post eclipses it in nearly every aspect with better art and writing, proving you don't need sick, gratuitous violence to achieve an incredibly memorable story.

I hope more people take the time to read this one today and I do hope you post more Shannon soon. Thanks!

Mr. Karswell said...

>a little too Scooby-Doo for me

Well some of the detective films and series of the 30's, 40's and 50's that also had horror elements, (like for example Charlie Chan, Bulldog Drummond, The Crime Doctor) also occasionally relied upon what is now considered the "Scooby-Doo ending." I seriously don't mind this type of cliche in the least bit. Half the fun is getting to this conclusion.

And to some of the other commentors who want more Shannon, you don't have to twist my arm, check back in another month and we'll see what Ken and Dee Dee are up to next...

Chuck Wells said...

Ken Shannon has become an unexpected favorite of mine due to these posts, so I'm all for your posting as many of them as possible.

Danke!

Anonymous said...

people are also forgetting that just because it's not a real zombie doesn't ignore the fact someone is manipulating a real corpse with wires which is probably just as creepy when you think about it

Tim Beard said...

That pose that Alden is in on page seven is awesome. He looks like he's doing ballet to escape from the corpse.

Anonymous said...

And those three panels at the top of p10 are comics gold -- a fists-of-righteous-fury death punch, the unbelievable giant red splat Fred makes (headfirst into the pavement!), and the Tarzan rope swing down to the ground. Awesome!

Anonymous said...

I'm really starting to like this character,especially the dialogue between Ken & Dee Dee,also like how each splash lists the suspects.

Todd Franklin said...

Love the line on page 8 - "Play pattycake some other time. This is murder!" Good stuff!

Mr. Karswell said...

Repeating myself here but thanks again for all the great comments today. The overwhelmingly positive response to the crime horror posts this week have definitely proved the nay-sayers wrong--- and THERE WILL BE MORE BLOODY CRIME HORROR TO COME!

Dane said...

anonymous up there is right - and it's even creepier that it's somebody manipulating the corpse of their brother.