From the January 1953 issue of Mysterious Adventures #12
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And here's another cheery one-page history lesson of things you never learned in school (excluding VBS), courtesy of Harvey Comics.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
The Vultures of Doom
As we lower the long box coffin lid on Dark Mysteries for a spell, we slither over to the equally repulsive pages of Mysterious Adventures. Today’s tale has some truly jarring moments, and would make a nice ‘n evil companion piece to the City of the Dead story that I posted back in March. I guess if you learn anything from this one it's "Be careful what you wish for..."
From the January 1953 issue of Mysterious Adventures #12
From the January 1953 issue of Mysterious Adventures #12
Awright,raise hands;who knew Conrad wasn't going to outlive this story by the end of page 1?.still a very brutal and fun story with nice,Craig-ish art.kinda reminds me of THE DEVIL BAT only not as silly.now...goood-night.
ReplyDeleteMarsha without eyes is creepier than all the vampires and werewolves put together.
ReplyDelete"I can't see. I CAN"T SEE"
ReplyDelete"Hey, stupid! You've got your eyes closed."
Sorry, I couldn't resist. Yes, this gruesome tale was very Craig-ish, in a good way.
And Karswell, whoever figures out the name of the movie in your current contest deserves to win. I think that I've surrendered.
Ease up on the clues though. It's more challenging that way. Damn!
Oh man, Karswell, you just keep topping yourself with these! I knew from pg. 1 it would be something special--the vulture throne RULES, as do Conrad's hollow eyes! Of course it's clear Conrad's contempt for the Great God Beetle will not go unpunished.
ReplyDeleteLove Marsha's great lines on pg. 4:
"Hey, baby, how do you like my pad?"
"It's the nest of a bird of prey, who looks down on a helpless city with pitiless eyes!"
"Yeah, and it's got a jacuzzi!"
That Marsha, she's pretty perceptive...and STACKED!
The gruesome head-drop and plucked eyes are just icing on the awesome-cake. It's also nice here to see the "natives" portrayed in a more or less positive light; not too stereotypical, at least comparatively.
And of course, the pet vulture is great. Skull-bellied sneetches are the best on the beaches! Woohoo!
FANTASTIC POST! NICE TWIST ON THE MONKEY'S PAW TALE TOO. MYSTERIOUS ADVENTURES IS JUST AS OFF THE WALL AND GRUESOME AS DARK MYSTERIES! THIS HAS BEEN A REALLY KILLER WEEK OF POSTS SO FAR!
ReplyDeleteWhat a gruesomely fun story. The ripped out eye panels are terrific. I'm still not sure how the villager on the last page- whom we apparently never met- knew Conrad was the thief. But, not important.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part has to be Conrad's impression of Jan Brady on page 6:
"Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!"
(*ahem* sorry, someone had to say it)
Wow. Very good story and great artwork.
ReplyDeleteConrad didn't make a very good guide, did he? "What's going on here?" "Oh, who knows? Some dumb religious ceremony."
And that must be the mother of all rubies. Every red gemstone in the world probably comes from the chips made when that thing was cut into a vulture shape.
These are my favorite kinds of horror stories, ones set in a foreign location with the ignorant ugly American blundering in and deservedly falling victim to a bizarre sacred custom.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, thanks!
If you're new to THOIA and have not yet explored the unholy back corridors of my vaulted archive, you may want to check out the very first post ever from way back in July '07 which features another grawesome story from this same issue of Mysterious Advs:
ReplyDeleteThe Running Ghost:
http://thehorrorsofitall.blogspot.com/2007/07/damned-introduction.html
Also, re-reading my introduction from the debut post is kind of funny now, as this blog has changed a bit from what I originally had planned back then. Also I notice I had the issue's date wrong, it's from '53 not '51 (good to fuck up a major detail on the very first post ever... duh, me.)
>The Running Ghost
ReplyDeleteexcellent story i've gone back and read many times
may be even better than todays post
People should read this.
ReplyDelete