Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Werewolf Valley

We’re stayin’ hairy and scary around here at THOIA for a few more days, though today we switch gears from primates to lupus! And with grate art from Art Gates (get it?) and an unusually high body count for an ACG story, this is definitely one of their better, more action packed werewolf entries. Lord knows they had enough of them!

From the April 1952 issue of Adventures into the Unknown #30








11 comments:

Unknown said...

I read this entire issue. I think it was the only ten-out-of-ten issue I have read to date.

Good post.

The Vicar of VHS said...

"We'll be wiped out by an AROUSED NATION!"

Boy, Marta, I'll say! AAAH-ROOOOOO! ;)

Great art again--LOVE that splash screen, and a nice little visual clue about Marta in her first appearance--the branch that was in front of the wolf's legs is also in front of hers. Also, cool lettering on the first attack, and Marta's half-wolf form is awesome.

And it's a neat twist in this cool story, with the werewolves taking over Bodysnatchers-style! Don't know if I ever saw many stories take that tack before.

And looking at Marta, I can't help thinking of my favorite line from Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein:

"Tonight, when the moon comes up, I'll turn into a wolf!"
"You and three million other guys!"

Well done, Karswell! I hope this is the beginning of a werewolf theme week or at least a few more cool lycanthrope tales!

"Coffee, boys?" :)

Anonymous said...

THIS IS MY FAVORITE WEREWOLF STORY YOU HAVE EVER POSTED......LOVE THE ENDING. THE ART REMINDS ME OF AL WILLIAMSON WHO DID THE ART ON THAT OTHER EXCELLENT WEREWOLF STORY YOU POSTED LAST MONTH. MORE LUPUS!

Mr. Karswell said...

>the only ten-out-of-ten issue I have read to date.

You're right Todd, this is definitely one of the more consistant, full issues from ACG.

>"You and three million other guys!"

That is absolutely one of the greatest written lines of dialog in Hollywood film history, in both horror and comedy catagories.

>hope this is the beginning of a werewolf theme week

Well I hate to disappoint but the next few posts, though still quite hairy, are not quite werewolfy. But tomorrow's post is still very much in the transformational, carnivorous spirit of things...

HORRORWE said...

I love werewolf stories. ACG always put a twist to their classic monster stories. Do you have any of the "without glasses 3D" stories? My brother had a couple of those issues and I remember the art and stories as being really good. You show a poster from the movie Terror. I haven't found it on any of your links. I'd like to get a better look at it. Is there a link?

Mr. Karswell said...

>Do you have any of the "without glasses 3D" stories?

You mean the "TrueVision" issues that ran from #51-58 right? I don't have any of them but someday...

>poster from the movie Terror

Scroll down towards the bottom: http://www.britposters.com/thriller.htm

Anonymous said...

Y'know some women can turn into total bitches when their homes are at stake.just kidding,really well done story with a since of isolation from the outside world.the idea of werewolves obeying a leader is really original,and natural too,after all wolves DO travel in packs.i wonder how Werewolf valley would fare against the town from EC.'s "Concert for Violin and Werewolf"?.

Chuck Wells said...

Ah, rustic setting, pretty girl, dancing with the devil in the pale moonlight ..... Werewolf Valley, vacation destination of the unwise.

Thoia, huh? I may register that as the name of my hot, new character.

Mr. Karswell said...

>the idea of werewolves obeying a leader is really original,and natural too,after all wolves DO travel in packs.

A recent werewolf film to utilize the "pack" idea was Blood & Chocolate, but it's not a very good film.

>Thoia, huh? I may register that as the name of my hot, new character.

If you do Chuck, I may have to send a pack of werewovles to your house.

The Vicar of VHS said...

I find that often when WW movies try to use the "pack" idea, it robs the werewolf of his/her tragic aspect--after all, Lon was a loner, isolated by his curse, and that was part of the tragedy. If you're just having a big furry party all the time (see "Howling 2: Your Sister is a Werewolf," and pretty much all the subsequent Howling sequels) it doesn't seem to work as well.

Dane said...

"Mebbe them hillbillies knew what they was talkin' about."

Oh, for an ounce of self-awareness.