From Fawcett’s 1952 issue of Strange Suspense Stories #3
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Strange Suspense Stories #3 (cover)
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TOMORROW: Bolt your thinking caps back onto your bloody severed neck stumps cuz it’s time for another THOIA CONTEST!!!
Page 2, panel 2: "got to cast off ohhh - my head!"
ReplyDeleteNice foreshadowing. :)
Loved this "ALMOST HARD-BOILED" story , unlike many other non-EC pre-code comics which are "so bad they're good" , this is well written and paced not to mention well drawn ...
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing !
Where do you shoot a headless zombie? It's like one of those Zen riddles, Grasshopper.
ReplyDeleteThis story was gorgeous. Absolutely my thing. All those thick brushes contrasted with dark pen crosshatching. It's a style that has survived mostly in political cartoons (and Shoe for god's sake)--less the vivid colors, of course. I kept waiting for an ending that wasn't, you know, obvious the minute I saw that fantastic splash; but that never happened. That's the only down side, though. The rising orange terror in the plumb sailor at the top of page four way more than makes up for the ending.
The central mystery to the plot is similar to the unmentioned mystery in lots of stories like this: um, what exactly did happen to the original head? Why was it so difficult for the wizened seaman to find? Chilling.
"um, what exactly did happen to the original head?"
ReplyDeleteAh! The subject of MY blog!
(exits singing, "My body lies over the ocean/My body lies over the sea..")
A COOL WILD ONE TODAY, LOVE THE SETTING AND JUST STRANGE SPOOKY ATMOSPHERE THIS ONE HAS. IT WOULD PROBABLY BE EVEN CREEPIER IF THE COLORING WASN'T LIKE A SKITTLES EXPLOSION BUT STILL TOTALLY COOL AND A GOOD WAY TO KICK OFF ANOTHER LOUSY WEEK OF WORK. THANKS
ReplyDeleteOoh, nice and creepy today, even if it was easy to get AHEAD of the story here. ;)
ReplyDeleteI love the art--very vibrant, almost expressionistic at times, and fast moving despite the 10-pg. length. I also love the rather ornate writing style here--"A sight so horrific as to shake all sanity from the human mind!" "Gold coins as bright as the glitter of the morning sun!" That's extra effort on the writer's part, and it shows, yes it does. ;)
Moral of the story: never play cards at Mama Chini's. It may not cost you an arm and a leg, but then again...
Boy, the headless guys have some nice shirts -- the one in the story has a jaunty striped shirt, and the one on the SSS cover wears a groovy checkered one!
ReplyDeletere: what exactly did happen to the original head? Why was it so difficult for the wizened seaman to find?
ReplyDeletemaybe he was sick of his old head and wanted a new perspective!
very cool story, always like the cover of this issue
ReplyDeletePage Nine, Panel One: “His nemesis had risen from the waters, as perhaps he had from the dead!” Perhaps? He doesn't a have a head!
ReplyDeleteHappy Monday THOIA'ers, thanks for stopping by today and joining in the head lopin' fun.
ReplyDeleteWe have one more day of September to go, and to make it extra special (cuz it means we're finally arriving into October --yippe!!) we'll be holding another CONTEST tomorrow!
Can a lonely, horny sea monster find love, even when his mate is, ummmm... okay, I'm getting ahead of myself here. You'll just have to wait and see for yourself, and then in a THOIA first you'll make the choice yourself too because tomorrow YOU WILL FINISH THE STORY. Good lord it's gonna get weird around here... see ya in the mourn.