Sunday, December 7, 2008

Fate Has 1000 Faces

How about we finish out our weekend with a cruel ‘n whacky ventriloquism creeper from the October 1952 issue of Strange Fantasy #2? And not to spoil anything (because you’ll know where this one is going almost from the get-go), but the ending will probably still make you do a shivery, half-grin double take.

(All comments today require your best explanation behind the story title too. ---Karswell)







THIS WEEK: Zombies! Monsters! Ghosts! And--- Jack The Ripper!

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Hungry for more creepy ventriloquist puppetry today? Head over to Magic Carpet Burn as The Professor hosts another THOIA submitted tale from the Karswell '48 Archive.

Dear god it’s ---Charlie McCarthy (and Mortimer) in The Haunted Hide-Out!

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13 comments:

  1. Project Director12/07/2008

    I think I saw a different version of this one... with a slightly cuter mini-Mignon.

    I think the title refers to fate hiding in even the faces you'd least expect.

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  2. blackwalnut200112/07/2008

    The title should be... The Face Has a Thousand Fates!

    No, no. I've got it... He fell in love with a mere FACE, the fool. But then FATE intervened, and showed him that his love had quite another face, an unexpected face. Spurning her, he saw the FACE OF DEATH! And THAT was his... uh... fate. Or something.

    Explain THIS: "LOVE, a wise man once said, is the companion of DEATH!" This wise man was not, perhaps, quite as wise as, say, Buddy Hackett. Or a box of hair. But wise, I'm sure, if he had enough wine in him.

    That Mignon had a real talent for making a convincing mannequin, though, eh? If she'd come along in the 90s she could have been a designer for REALDOLL, maybe wouldn't have had to jump out the window.

    A mighty fragile doll, though. First touch and her head falls off. I've known women like that.

    Last panel, cop says: "Hmmm -- a strange accident! I wonder if they knew each other!" You know, that's JUST WHAT I'D THINK if I came upon a jumper who'd fallen on a citizen.

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  3. Anonymous12/07/2008

    Tsk, tsk. I thought MAGIC was fun when you're dead!. Stupid lying trailer!. Kidding aside, i think the Wallnut is right about the title.

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  4. AndyDecker12/07/2008

    Fate has a thousand faces ... and one of them is the ugly one :-) Very logical, or not?

    I thought the story rather mediocre, still the unPCness made me grin, and the end let me chuckle.

    Stalkerboy got what he deserved. Nice poetic justice.

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  5. Wings129512/07/2008

    Interesting little story, although it can't really play for long if she is wooden and can't move without losing her head.

    And the title might be in reference to the fact that he falls for a beautiful face, but it is a false face.

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  6. Anonymous12/07/2008

    GREAT ENDING......MAYBE IT WAS FATE THAT HER UGLINESS WOULD FALL ON HIM OUT THE WINDOW?

    NO IDEA WHAT THE 1000 COULD BE FOR, MAYBE THE NUMBER OF WARTS ON HER FACE?

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  7. sfdoomed12/07/2008

    I always thought it was a good idea to impress a woman you're in love with by insulting the looks of her little companion. The guy could have been at least a bit nice to the real Mignon, but alas, he set himself up for some pre-code justice instead.

    I think ProjectDirector and BlackWalnut covered the title dilemma (one made sense, one made me laugh!).

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  8. Dane12/07/2008

    I have no idea about the title, but now you've managed to put the song "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" in my head. Thanks a lot, now it'll be in there all day.

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  9. Mr. Karswell12/07/2008

    Thanks for all the great comments this weekend everyone... and don't miss the other stories I have posted on Killer Kittens and Magic Carpet Burn today too (and while you're there take a look around their archives, you'll definitely find some other fun horror stuffz to totally dig as well!)

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  10. Mr. Cavin12/07/2008

    Well, to be "two-faced" is to be duplicitous or treacherous; to lie. So I imagine that to be "1000 Faced" is to be as flagrantly and in-your-face dishonest as that splash panel. To promise something like a creepy horror story and serve up some treacly after-school special type troubled romance soap instead.

    My advice to you is to read that story again right now, in every case substituting the word "wood" with the the words "a nauseating corpse".

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  11. Kitty LeClaw12/07/2008

    This Satanic HNIC graphic you made is pretty much the most adorable thing I've ever seen!! XX

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  12. Anonymous12/08/2008

    Tons o fun! One of the best stories you've posted!

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  13. Unknown2/27/2021

    I can't believe this was not inspired by the John Keir Cross story "The Glass Eye" which appears in his collection "The Other Passenger" (1944). It was later made into an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents with Jessica Tandy in place of Georges and Billy Barty standing in for Fifi.

    Billy doesn't jump out of a window. Furious at being discovered, he angrily orders Ms Tandy out of his room and runs off to join a circus!

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