Thanks to Todd Hunter for the scans!
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
The Flayed Hand
The great submissions just keep coming! Today’s post is from the July 1944 issue of Classics Illustrated #21 titled “3 Famous Mysteries” and contains a spine chilling re-telling of Guy De Maupassant’s excellent The Flayed Hand, featuring wonderfully weird art by Allen Simon. Other stories in this issue are the Sherlock Holmes adventure The Sign of 4, and Poe's "tale of ratiocination" The Murders in the Rue Morgue. (FYI: I'll be posting Rue Morgue early next month.)
I have to wonder what the Hell kind of marriage they had before he snapped. I never thought about it before, but if you marry a green guy with red eyes, yellow fangs, and no shirt, your judgment is probably a little bad to begin with. Oh, well.
ReplyDeleteANOTHER GREAT SPLASH TODAY! LOVE THE ROUND PANEL OF THE SEVERED HAND AND THE GARGOYLE ON PAGE 2 AND THE BOTTOM PANEL ON PAGE 6 WITH HIM LURKING OVER THE CITY. VERY COLORFUL AND SPOOKY STORY.
ReplyDeleteWell, now we know where Rob Zombie got the inspiration for his "look"! :)
ReplyDeleteI was unfamiliar with the de Maupassant story, but the art here is definitely the star. I do admit to being a little distracted/put off by the type-set titles and dialog. How common was it to do that rather than hand-lettering, I wonder?
But a great tale. Only in centuries past would it seem perfectly natural to take the severed hand of a maniac home "as a warning to others!" Wait, who's it warning if it's IN YOUR HOUSE? Your wife and kids? I'm sure they got the picture--DAD'S A FREAK!
I also love the "back scratcher" panel. You could make a mint selling those at horror cons.
Waitaminnit--"Henry Matson"..."Charlie Manson"...prophetic?
The artwork on the hand is particularly good. I imagine it gave nightmares to many kids.
ReplyDeleteBut what the deal with the final speech bubble? "The dead never betray their secrets" -- said the dead man as he tells us his secret? Where did the story come from?
Another villain who can't stop monologuing.
One thing you have to admit about Classis Illustrated, They had a great writing staff LOL. Great story and great art. As for the typeset lettering, I think Classis did that to make their stuff more like a "real book" as opposed to those nasty old funnybooks that turned kids into flesheating zombies.
ReplyDeletebluebeatle is right vicar, most of the classic illustrated lettering is not hand lettered, at least none of the issues in my collection are anyway.
ReplyDeletethis is a cool post though, the splash would made a great black light poster. looking forward to rue morgue!
>Rob Zombie. Hahaha!!.at least no one let this guy behind the camera,and seriously he looks more like a younger,more er....handsome version of Warren's Uncle Creepy.
ReplyDeleteThis is fantastic. The artwork is really great. I am totally looking forward to the Poe adaptation.
ReplyDeleteThanks to all the great comments today... I seriously believe I have THE BEST commentors in the blogsphere, everyone who stops by is very articulate, obviously informed, and funny as Hell. I think I may start a weekly contest and on Fridays award the best comment of the week with something akin to a Marvel "no prize." Sound like fun? If it makes me shoot Mountain Dew out of my nostrils (and there have been many of those) then it's a winner!
ReplyDeleteSee ya'll tomorrow with a Kaiju-esque attack!!
"I was unfamiliar with the de Maupassant story, but the art here is definitely the star."
ReplyDeleteDe Maupassant had several stories about disembodied hands, but most of this was made up for the comic either way. I wish I were fluent in French: De Maupassant is only as good as his translator.
I've read the original Guy de Maupassant story and this is a very loose adaptation. I'd say pages 6 and 7 are the only ones that are actually faithful to the original. The rest of the comic version is made up by the folks at classics illustrated...
ReplyDeleteI had a copy of this comic when I was a kid...an original edition. And it DID freak me out. The first time I read it I was in the house with my sister. Our parents had gone out and it was very late at night when I read it. I got so scared I woke my sister up and told her the whole story....I was about 9 or so.
ReplyDeleteShe laughed...which helped, but back in my room I was scared as ever! It kept me up all night.