From the Dec-Jan ‘52/’53 issue of Eerie #10
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Phantom of the Wax Works
This might be the first Harry Lazarus story I’ve ever posted that wasn’t from his pre-code days at ACG. And I don’t know about you but I love wax museum tales, even though they all sort of have that same-ish scenario of, “…so life-like, what an uncanny resemblance too--- wait--- there’s a body inside the wax?! AIEEEEE!” Clichés aside, there’s hardly a creepier place than a wax museum, and I’m not talking about just the Chamber of Horrors section either.
From the Dec-Jan ‘52/’53 issue of Eerie #10
From the Dec-Jan ‘52/’53 issue of Eerie #10
Eh,pretty good.the designs of the statues could be more imaginative,but at least we get to see a cameo by Brainiac(?),and Lazarus is a damn good storyteller.
ReplyDeleteGood story.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree on the utter creepiness of wax museums, though. It's an incredibly bizarre experience to walk around a bunch of wax statues; you really start to think that they're real people who just aren't moving, heh.
Can't help noticing the killer's name alternating between Worley and Morley, even inside single panels (see bottom of page 3).
ReplyDeleteBut other than that, Tim it's a fun read ..... right?
ReplyDeleteA frightened little girl once peed on me while I was taking her through a wax museum. Surprisingly, this doesn't make it into very many horror-related plots.
ReplyDeleteIF YOU HADNT MENTIONED HARRY LAZARUS I THINK I MIGHT HAVE FIGURED IT OUT, ALL HIS CHARACTERS HAVE THAT CRAZED MANIACAL LOOK ON THEIR FACES, ESPECIALLY IN THEIR EYES............COOL
ReplyDeleteI do feel a little sorry for Worley/Morley getting yelled at on p3. That cop is really giving it to him.
ReplyDeleteAnd what made Jack the Ripper move anyway? Apparently that was just a plot device to introduce the dead partner. But I kept waiting for the tortured souls represented in his waxworks to gang up on him. I guess the splash was only a tease.
I'm always amazed that wax museums are such huge money-makers in stories like these. I tend to think of guys running those places as one step above carnies, but apparently they're rolling in the green. Maybe somebody should write a waxworks story where the motive isn't greed, but insanity caused by the general creepiness of the place.
Yes, spelling-digs aside it's a decent tale. I like the way it uses a simpler cold color-scheme to mark the flashback sequence on page 4.
ReplyDeleteI want to live in a world where you can get rich off a wax museum's chamber of horrors. In such a world, I would seize such a prize by theft and murder, you bet.
ReplyDeleteWow, what an entertaining romp! I love the girl informing us that Jack the Ripper is COMIN' ATCHA! I also love love LOVE the neck-cracking scene--gruesome!
And it brings the silly grins as well as the chills--for instance, the spelling thing people have pointed out already. Plus it looks like they didn't leave the letterer quite enough space in the middle panel at the top of pg. 3. And what a tint job on Worley's do! It looks so natural!
"NOK! NOK!" "HOOS THER?"
At the bottom of pg. 5, Bud Abbott will be playing the role of Morley Worley.
But the biggest LOL has to be, also from page 5:
"NO! NO! YEAAHH!" Make up your MIND, dude!
This Eerie #10 is a real winner! Thanks, K!
You people are much more observant than me, I didn't even notice the spelling goofs!
ReplyDeleteAnyone else here but me like to hear more about Kitty getting peed on? Please elaborate my dear, or make up some extras...
Wait--Jack the Ripper was GREEN?
ReplyDeleteModern police techniques probably could have found him, in that event.
Like a line-up of all the green dudes in London.
I think it would be cool to make a movie about a wax museum, where if you stepped into the exhibit you would go into the scene, and be murdered, and then, like, become a part of the wax exhibit then.
ReplyDeleteAnd have somebody like David Warner play the scary proprietor.
Yeah... I bet it would be cool!
More pre-code coolness ; love the splash page and the panel in which Allen's ghost takes revenge on Peter ...
ReplyDeleteThanks