Monday, September 8, 2008

He Who Laughs Last

Is there anything funnier than watching the tables turn on an annoying practical joker? Wait, did I say “funny?” I actually meant frightening. Check this one out…

From the Feb ‘53 issue of Adventures into Weird Worlds #15







And if you haven’t already, howz'about becoming a 100% PRE-CODER by "following this blog" and adding yourself to the gadget over thar on the righthand sidebar (underneath my profile.) Costs nothing, and you don’t even have to own a blog. So come on, join our gang--- we dare ya!

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Vintage Lucky Skull Ring AD

Made of Eternium “The Eternal Metal.” You wouldn’t know it from this illustration, but apparently “it looks expensive!”


(Thanks to Brian Hirsch for the AD!)

20 comments:

  1. Anonymous9/08/2008

    This plot was re-used by Ditko in the Googam era,i think,but it still gets me every time(haha).as for joining "officially",i dunno i wouldn't wanna dissapoint my friends here in the catacombs of Nephren-Ka....

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  2. That was a good one. Yes, the guy was a ragingly insensitive dickhead and deserved his fate, but it also makes a fine PSA: if you drop a spider down someone's back, you are going to Hell.

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  3. The Spiritual Reality of The Long-Term Effect of Johnson-Smith Catalogs on Born Sociopaths.

    but was he really born that way or did his mother sit on a Whoopee Cushion when she was pregnant with the poor slob? questions for the dark void...

    and speaking of dark questions and glowing skeleton costumes, can i mention my new(first)blog here? i'm uploading the entire 1966 Collegeville costumes catalog onto it for starters and i thought someone might be interested to see such a sight.
    http://www.magiccarpetburn.blogspot.com/

    i hope this isn't an imposition...

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  4. Any clue as to the artist's identity? He or she did a great job on the characters' facial expressions ... especially Uncle Don as he was pulled to his fate.

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  5. Anonymous9/08/2008

    I dunno. Could H_ll possibly have room for every fool who is simply blind to his own destructiveness?

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  6. Could H_ll possibly have room for every fool who is simply blind to his own destructiveness?

    They are constantly adding wings. Fortunately there's no shortage of labor as they get all the world's jerry-builders. Unfortunately the wings keep falling over. (It's almost worth getting damned to see it - the toppling-domino effect operating on a continental scale.)

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  7. I like the artistic "license" (or "cheating") used in the splash. The skeletal shadow obviously couldn't look like that, but it plays as point-of-view impressionism.

    These Atlas stories are so obviously the grandparents of Chick Tracts.

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  8. Anonymous9/08/2008

    A FRIGHTFULLY FITTING END...... AND THAT SPLASH IS THE BEST! CHICK TRACTS DO HAVE THIS SORT OF TWISTED VIBE, HOW FUNNY

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  9. Anonymous9/08/2008

    Oh man - that skull ring is made of SOLID ETERNIUM? What a steal!

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  10. Anonymous9/08/2008

    But he floated up towards heaven, so that means ... God was in on the joke?

    Not saying it wasn't deserved, but man, that's cold.

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  11. On pg. 2, I have to say I agree with Unc. She's better off without that stiff stuffed suit! Although even I question the efficacy of using a fake bat to "cheer her up."

    >>But he floated up towards heaven, so that means ... God was in on the joke?

    I was kind of hoping St. Peter was REALLY St. Peter, and was gonna boot him through a hole in the clouds as a gag. I guess the Heavenly sense of humor ends with the platypus. Deadbeats!

    I don't want to start any blasphemous rumors
    but I think that God's got a sick sense of humor
    And when I die I expect to find
    Him laughing...
    --Depeche Mode

    I think I used to have one of those skull rings--I love how it touts the produce as "A heavy-duty ring for HE-MEN!" That's right, sissies need not apply. Also: "Day or Night--packs a wallop--a knockout!" So what they're saying is, you could go all Phantom on the schoolyard bullies' butts!

    The ghost who walks...the ghost who kicks ass!

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  12. Anonymous9/08/2008

    The Ditko version told the story better, with a tighter plot and creepier ending.

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  13. Would anyone like to email me the scans of the Ditko version? It would be so lovely to post them together here for comparison.

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  14. Damn practical jokers!

    Oh, wait- that sounds kinda harsh considering what happened here.

    I can always tell the story is gonna rock when it starts off with a splash page filled with skeletal artwork.

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  15. Great artwork and storytelling , and the splash page's a real killer ! I wish I could speak a better English to go on with the praises this gem deserves ...
    Thanks for sharing !

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  16. A double-whammy of skeletal goodness: and that ring ad rocks! I've never see nthat before. My blog is jealous. I'm about that, however.

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  17. I meant "above" that, but perhaps I am "about" that after all.

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  18. >I meant "above" that, but perhaps I am "about" that after all.

    I guess I'm occasionally about being above it all too Fred. We of the snobby horror elite are sometimes like that.

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  19. I believe I actually have one of the "Lucky" skull rings. Got it from my dad who found it at the bottom of a community pool in late 1940's or early 1950's. Will send a photo to anyone who's interested. Trying to find out more about the company in the ad to see if there's more info on the ring (like where it was made, how many sold, material etc).

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