Here’s another quality entry from the May 1954 issue of
Web of Evil #14. And with its lighthouse setting and vengeful soggy dead, all this story needs now is a bunch of glowing fog,
Adrianne Barbeau, (plus a hauntingly minimal electronic score) and we’d be all set!
TOMORROW: A Chilling 3-Day Theme Begins!
+++++++++++++++++++++++
And for those who get so scared reading these stories that they can't stop biting their nails, this vintage ad is for you...
One of your best posts, and my favorite so far this month. Really interesting how the corpses aren't out for revenge, they just want their old lives back as if nothing happened and are justifiably pissed, but still enough of a menace to be scary.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great story. Nothing to mock, just an original idea und an unexpected conclusion.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this story evokes memories of The Fog. It also feels almost like a Stephen King tale, where the supernatural is a chilling fact of life that most of us can't (or don't want to) see, and the few who acknowledge it are considered kooks and crazies. It's an extremely well-crafted and surprisingly original story.
ReplyDeleteGreat story, one of my favorites so far - it's a shame that lighthouses are so underused as a setting.
ReplyDeleteA lot of the time the protagonists are idiots that deserve to get their butts reamed by the Undead. But I really liked old Pearly.
ReplyDeleteThis one also had some of the best artwork I've seen.
I really love lighthouses. Interesting considering that I live in a place that's completely landlocked. I must have lived seaside in another life.
Those sailors must have had pretty distinctive haircuts to all be so easily recognized in their faceless, decomposed state.
ReplyDeleteWHAT A GREAT POST AND THE ARTWORK COULDNT BE ANY MORE PERFECT. WHEN THE UNDEAD INVASION BEGINS ON PAGE 4 IT REALLY FEELS SCARY FOR ONCE.
ReplyDeleteMANY OF MY FAVORITE THOIA POSTS ALWAYS SEEM TO COME FROM THE WEB OF EVIL SERIES, I'D LOVE TO SEE MORE..............THANKS!!
Great suffering sunfish! Looks like ol' Eddie Evans was able to keep his captain's hat in the sea all those years. The townsfolk sure were able to recognize the skeletons pretty well.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the other posts about this tale being top-notch. The panel with the undead crawling onto the docks is eerie.
And ol' Pearly takes one for the team.
the zombies in this one are really awesome and scary looking and the artwork as a whole couldn't be better.
ReplyDeleteevery village needs a madhouse. another great story karswell.
No wonder there were so many corpses in the harbor, what with old Pearly only turning on the lighthouse once a month.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to, what?, eighth?, the fact that this is a fabulous story. I wish the Fog had been this cool an idea (though I do love the Fog...). For once I have to hand it to the originality of these pre-code antecedents. Wow.
I do not feel like the art was particularly super this time. I think the artist was cool, and decided to draw things I really wanted to see, but he did not draw them as well as I imagine them. This story would have been a better fit for Sinnott or Luster. Folks who made things murky and humid and diffuse. Kremer or Maneely.
If there's one thing I've learned from this story is that telling a zombie he's already dead is no way to stop him. Even in death, people just hear what they want to hear.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments today everyone (nice to see Lily Strange back too, where have you been?!)
ReplyDeleteTomorrow we lower the thermostat and head to the colder regions of horror, so you better bundle up, it's gonna be spine chilling!
>the colder regions of horror
ReplyDeleteYou've got one set in Ohio?
This really was a good read. Man, Pearly's resolutely deciding to drown himself was disturbing.
gotta love the pocket-size fingernail brush
ReplyDelete