Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Ghost in the House

I know, we just had an Al Eadeh story last Wednesday, but that’s how things work out sometimes. For more Al Eadeh use the handy blog search engine at the top of the page and simply type in his name. And for another gorgeous ghost girl tale, (this time from Vince Colletta), check out Not Dead Enough that I posted last December, located in the THOIA archives.

From the May-June 1954 issue of Black Magic Vol. 4 #6






TOMORROW: Satan!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

This issue of Black Magic is chocked full of great ads too, take a gander at some of these… I’m sure most young boys who read comics back in the 50’s were just absolutely fed up with their fat legs and flabby tummies.


21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Taking interest in another woman, yeah thats the PERFECT way to end your financial problems, believe me. Kidding aside, i really didn't see that twist coming at all. I thought it would turn out they killed her and tried to forget it or somenthing, but still a good explanation for why ghosts behave as they do, very existential.

Anonymous said...

Ah, a cruel colorist, to give Helen dingy, yellowed teeth in the final panel! (And without any evidence that she smoked!)

Mr. Karswell said...

Hey HP, email me when you get a chance: karswell@hotmail.com

Mr. Cavin said...

I like this sort of thing. I always thought that when someone died and became a ghost it would seem, from their own point of view, like everyone else had become one (as well as all the furniture and the house and other things). But I don't understand why the home owner looked ghostly while the visitor did not.

And I thought the riff on the repetitive ghostly quest ("Why were we walking outside? How did we get there?") was really effective, especially in retrospect; but even that seems a bit illogical: If they died in that room, why is part of their routine to wander in from outside? To forget the part of the day they led them out there, etc.? And if I am reading too much into this, then what is the reason they have forgotten the details of their afternoon?

AndyDecker said...

OMG, it´s The Other. Only 50 years before they did The Other.

Some lovely art here and a sad, somber tone. And all the strange parts of the story neatly tie together.

Great stuff!

Mr. Cavin said...

And all the strange parts of the story neatly tie together.

Really? There must be something I am missing, then, because I felt like there were several remaining questions and un-neat un-togethernesses. I had sort of filed this story, which I really enjoyed by the way, in the "only because the writer wanted it that way" file.

Anonymous said...

This story saw its origins, no doubt, in John Collier's 1951 New Yorker short story, "Are You Too Late Or Was I Too Early" See for yourselves:

http://tinyurl.com/5kgemu

HEH said...

There's a Ghost in My House!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EInKyh5QXQ

But the version I'm most familiar with is MES & co.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31qEY7ddu5M

Anonymous said...

Al Eadeh? really? Could've fooled me.

Mr. Karswell said...

Thanks for the John Collier link Anon, I'll be digging into this stuff tonight for sure!

And thanks for the music links John! I love The Fall but the R. Dean Taylor version is still the best.

>Al Eadeh? really? Could've fooled me.

Yeah, Al had quite a few styles apparently, clean like today's story and the wonderfully scratchy style you've seen on some of my earlier Atlas posts... look closely at the faces, it's totally and uniquely him.

Horror Pariah email me!!

Marc Burkhardt said...

That Figure-Trimmer reminds me of the "weight loss" gizmo that popped up in the first season of "Mad Men."

The old ghost who doesn't know he/she is a ghost plot? One of my favorites!

Adriano (Adrio) Petrucci said...

hi friend!!!!!
do you want the "Assassinatore's Comix?
:D

Zen Wizard said...

Good story: Would have been a little better if instead of joint suicide, he had whacked her for busting his b@LL$ over the unsold stories, and then killed himself--but I'm sure the mores of the time would not have permitted that story even pre-Code.

Mr. Cavin said...

Zen Wizard: Well, actually, I'm pretty sure I could have a hundred fingers on each of my hands and feet and still not count the number of pre-code stories I've read where one spouse kills the other after inordinate nagging. Suicide seems to be rather rarer, but then this story actually includes that.

The mores of the time only seemed to dictate that culprit the get his just deserts is some twisty and far-fetched way.

Maurizio Ercole said...

Alejandro Amenabar a pre-code reader?

Prof. Grewbeard said...

"FAT LEGS!"

isn't that a Rod Stewart song?...

Anonymous said...

I can't email, have to go through all this hotmail stuff and signing up, just tried and failed. Sorry. Does this involve hosting duty?.

Mr. Karswell said...

>I can't email, have to go through all this hotmail stuff and signing up, just tried and failed.

?!!

Okay.

So who else out there has been with me from the beginning and knows the THOIA archive inside and out? Drop me a line... thanks!

Dane said...

I didn't see the twist coming either. Good stuff.

Kitty LeClaw said...

Vintage lingerie is soooooooo hot. Christ, Jesus! *fans self*

Fat Boy said...

Nice art work by Vinnie Colletta in the days before he started drawing super heroes.