Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Murder Mansion
More great Toth terrors for you today, and man is this ever a crazy creature feature! Originally presented in the August 1952 issue of Adventures into Darkness #5, does anyone else appreciate the weird humor here? Fantastic stuff, and not to be confused with the same named Harvey tale by Lee Elias that I posted many moons ago.
Hey, I'm the first one up! I guess a midnight confessional from one of the Sisters of the Lugubrious Virgin has more than one use!
ReplyDeleteCool story--very well plotted and realized. I love the almost Arabian Nights quality of it--the demon is basically a djinn, right? And his refusing to take orders after growing to an unmanageable size is a neat, weird touch. As to the ending--we've seen the like before, but well-done it still brings the shivers.
Not much to laugh at here--what gives? ;) I guess the demon design is unusual, but I dig it for that. Cool stuff!
Is this as screwed up with the original ink job? I suspect so, shudder shudder.
ReplyDeleteAnd what don't we do when we find mysterious old latin books with sinister illustrations? That's right kiddies! We do not read bits out at random! And we never employ a demon without seeing its references! Nice darkly humorous story, and Teneshad's wierd design gives him a good sinister-servile look.
ReplyDeleteWhat can be said that's not been already said about the work of such a master ?
ReplyDeleteLOVE the pacing and storytelling on the last two pages ; those pages alone speak volumes of Toth's comprehension of the comic medium ...
Thanks
I second all of the neat comments above and for some strange reason, I liked this story better than alot of the others that you've posted lately, Karswell .... and that's saying something.
ReplyDeleteHALF OWL, HALF DEMON, ALL EVIL! EXPERTLY TOLD AND JAW DROPPING ART (I AGREE ABOUT THE SCREWY RECOLOR THOUGH.) TOTH REALLY UPPED THE WEIRD FACTOR TIMES TEN WITH THIS ONE!
ReplyDeleteNote to self: Summon demon for interior design and personal shopper duties.
ReplyDeleteEverything I needed to know, I learned on THOIA...!
Day Two of our Tremendous Toth Tribute, glad to see everyone's enjoying these reprints. At first I was worried there'd be a bunch of "I've already read this in SOTI a million times" comments but I guess I worried for naught. And as mentioned tomorrow I have some Toth originals (not re-prints) for you on his actual b-day. Thurs and Fri will be more re-prints though. Unless of course someone donates some scans? Hint hint...
ReplyDeleteI guess the humor I was referring to comes more from the demon's rather non-chalant way of being a demon, his lax atitude strikes me as funny, but creepily funny cuz his freakish face is both muppety and horrific and his ultimate intentions are still always 100% pure evil. A strange balance that works on odd levels, even for Toth.
Beautiful stuff!
ReplyDeleteWow, talk about not being genre-savvy. Original owner missing? Demon? Obviously only profit can come from this.
ReplyDeleteThat’s some psychedelic sweet art!
ReplyDeleteToth has been criticized for his minimal linework and use of cross-hatching,but he employs it beautifully in my opinion,and his excellent use of good,solid blacks is unparalelled.as for Teneshad's design,wonderful.i may even recall seeing a similar design in one of his HB cartoons,i certainly wouldn't let that kind of monster go to waste!.
ReplyDeleteThe skeleton of this (so to speak) wasn't a very original story, but there were so many little interesting details and little twists - to say nothing of the artwork, as everyone's mentioned - that it was a downright engrossing read.
ReplyDelete[COMMENT NECROMANCY!]
ReplyDeleteI find it an amusing sign of its time that when the guy wishes for a luxurious, palatial bedroom for himself and his girlfriend... it still has separate beds! Murder and trafficking with supernatural powers is one thing, but God forbid we imply they sleep together!