From the October 1953 issue of Mysterious Adventures #16
TOMORROW: Zombie Time!
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Sunday, January 11, 2009
A Pound of Flesh
Man, this week we had fem-bots rampaging all over the place! Today’s tale is a bit different than Tryst with Terror and Death Kiss though, as you soon shall see… and what say we play the "Casting Call Game" too, cuz yeah, it’s been a while. My picks: Shelly Winters as Hilda, Don Knotts as Herbert, and Barbara Payton as the “new” Hilda.
From the October 1953 issue of Mysterious Adventures #16
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From the October 1953 issue of Mysterious Adventures #16
Vintage Ads
Interesting how Herbert is not punished, suggesting that he has done no wrong.
ReplyDeleteReally glad this was played as a humor story, if it wasn't it would be downright cruel(not that that's a BAD thing, per se.).
ReplyDeleteIf it was played straight it would just be disturbing, i mean it's not liked she was a nag or was stealing money to buy food(like that EC. sword swallowing story.). But as it is it's so f-ed up it's hilarious.
My cast: Woody Allen(in his younger years)as Herbert, Diana Dors(in her later years, even though i always thought she still looked good.)as Hilda. Mel Welles as Doc, and Shelley Duvall as the robot.
I agree that the morality of this story seemed somewhat skewed. At first, I thought it might be one of those "fat/skinny spouses who hate each other" sort of tale. But the thing is, Hilda seems like a nice enough gal, despite her weight problem-she honestly seems to love Herbert, bringing him lunch and acting generally nice to him. Herbert, on the other hand, seems like a bitter dork who's upset his wife isn't as perfect as she was years ago (and old Herb ain't exactly Johnny Depp himself). At the end, though, Herbert gets his very own beautiful little fembot, and poor old Hilda dies. (One Herb started building the robot, I figured out what the "skin" was gonna be, but I thought there might be a wrap-up where the robot became as fat and gluttonous as the real Hilda-guess not.)
ReplyDeleteWho in his right mind would order diet stuff from a comic? Toxic shock, anyone? Not that the young form bra was especially for that demographic eiter :-)
ReplyDeleteStill, the gal in the first ad looked more a heavy bandaged car accident victim than a girl in sexy underwear, so maybe this was the right place. "Hey, pa, I seen Judy make out with Carl in the car. Look here in my comic, can my big sister need such a nylon armour to protect her modesty? It´s only 2,98." *gg
Love those ads. Keep them coming, Karswell.
The story was nice. Always astonishing what those guys can whip up in their cellar.
OOOO, I CAN TELL THIS IS GONNA BE A GOOD ISSUE ALREADY.......... MEAN SPIRITED IN AN ODD WAY LIKE EVERYONE IS SAYING SO FAR, I CAN'T BLAME HERBERT REALLY THOUGH, I WANNA KILL ANNOYINGLY NICE PEOPLE TOO SOMETIMES.
ReplyDeleteThat "Kal-X" chewing gum reminds me of the classic Philip K. Dick novel The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch... wherein the title character brings a terrible, reality-altering drug to Earth. (Be Choosy. Chew Chew-Z!"
ReplyDeleteHey, two whole stories and not a hint of the supernatural. A vampire turns up in the quickie but this ish is a pretty fair imitation of Crime SuspenStories, so far. Top drawer stories, too. A refreshing change.
ReplyDeleteKars & HP have the casting covered perfectly, but if Shelley & Don, et al, aren't available, howzabout Wally Cox and Brando in a blonde wig...?
I know. Cruel, hunh?
Fantastic art and story..far and above the standard dreck..more like this please!
ReplyDeleteThe stabbing panel was quite shocking with the dripping blood and everything. I can't believe there was no twist ending, no karmic revenge on Herb for murdering sweet Hilda. It sure wasn't her personality he liked. Geeesh.
ReplyDeleteMysterio's comment is well put.
People... if the twist had been what you were all expecting you'd be commenting like you did about yesterday's post with the same old same olds. Nothing pleases you!! ha
ReplyDeleteOkay, more Mysterious Adventures #16 tomorrow, and it's a particularly brutal zombie tale full of slashings, stabbings, crackin' stranglings, eye injury, and other random bone crunching violence from beyond the grave. Just like grandma used to make!
that was just plain nasty...
ReplyDeleteDon't gain weight, girls, or this could happen to you! Nice message. Grr.
ReplyDeleteOh, and your robot is not perfect, Herbert - you foolishly put the key for winding her up about an inch lower than her hair in the back.
The creator of this one has no concept of weight. Poor Miss Hilda is at least 400 pounds. And she would have thus had to lose about 270 pounds to end up looking like she did as a robot.
ReplyDeleteHilda should have just squashed Herbert when he came at her with the knife. That would have been justice. But not nearly such a gruesome ending to the tale.
I don't know if you ever saw an odd little 60's movie called The Loved One. It had a character called Mr. Joyboy, who was played by Rod Steiger. His mother was a morbidly obese woman, played by Ayllene Gibbons. She would have been perfect as Hilda.
>don't know if you ever saw an odd little 60's movie called The Loved One
ReplyDeleteI've seen it many times actually, and it's one of my favorite films. I looked big Ayllene up on IMdb and it's kind of funny, she only appeared 11 times as an actress in her tiny 6 year career, the first two times simply credited/non as "The Fat Woman" in House of the Damned and My Fair Lady. (also once as "Big Annie.")
Thanks for stopping by Lily and playing the casting call game.