The original color version presented here today comes from the November 1953 issue of Voodoo #12.
TOMORROW: Time for some head…
Monday, January 26, 2009
Skulls of Doom
The bad news is it's Monday mourn… but the good news is you’re about to get 3 days of vicious Voodoo madness from Farrell Publications! Fans of Pappy’s Golden Age Comics blog might remember this crazy story that he posted back in October HERE. His version is the black and white reprint from the March 1969 issue of Eerie Publication’s Terror Tales #7. It also features some slight, additional gore and other art adjustment / upgrades.
The original color version presented here today comes from the November 1953 issue of Voodoo #12.
The original color version presented here today comes from the November 1953 issue of Voodoo #12.
Top of Pg 3; at first I tought he was telling Tabu "while I'm sawing the skull open, you can be embalming." And then I thought that Tabu must have been a very specialized sort of household help.
ReplyDeleteThis was a fun one.
Man, that ancient Vishnu really gets around. I had no idea he'd been a blue god in Egypt, too. Now that he's recovered his brain, I suspect he'll be off after that second pair of arms he also seems to have been buried without. Anybody know of any recent post-op transplant pianists off on an newly inexplicable and murderous binge? Perhaps Vishnu is offering some kind of reward.
ReplyDeleteOn a side note: Happy Year of the (earth) Ox (the domestic Ox, at least in Vietnam, is a water buffalo not a cow. In other cultures this is not always the case). Tet, the Vietnamese lunar new year celebration, lasts all week long; but today is the very first day of the new astrological cycle. So happy new year again! It is a fortuitous day to finally get caught back up on the forty-odd days of pre-code I missed during my five-week holiday to the states. I've certainly been in withdrawal.
Thanks to Karswell and also everyone else here. I love this site. Hope your new year is badass.
PS, this story is notable for having what may be the longest "YIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEE-"s ever seen in print (final panel, page seven). I've sort of been collecting instances of scream dialog, and at seventeen characters--so long the brainless mummy must actually interrupt the screaming to get his own balloon in edgewise--it's certainly the lengthiest I've come across so far.
ReplyDeleteYou know, of all the silly ideas I have read so far in these pre-code comics this must be one of the most laughable. Let´s exchange my brain with one of a mummy and I will be brilliant. It isn´t even possible to apprach this with any kind of logic :-)
ReplyDeleteUnbelievable ...
So THAT'S what a human brain looks like.
ReplyDeleteIt's great how some of these old tales treat the brain as if it were some kind of hard drive... just pop a new one in, and your head works better than ever!
ReplyDeletePoor Tabu. That's what you get for undivided loyalty, huh? Vishnu should have come after the writer of this story for his geographical mistakes. Vishnu from Egypt???
ReplyDeleteWithout having seen the Eerie Publications version yet, I can only imagine the added gore added to the semi-decapitation scenes!
About tomorrow, Karswell .... A little head never bothers me.
ReplyDeleteI'm just saying?
THIS IS A CRAZY ONE, I REMEMBER THE EERIE PUB POST AT PAPPYS. I ALWAYS APPRECIATE THE ADDED GORE BUT NOTHING VISUAL CAN EVEN BEGIN TO TOP THE INSANE OVERALL CONCEPT IN THE FIRST PLACE.
ReplyDeleteAND THE TERROR TALES COVER IS JAW DROPPING!!!
First things first, I'd like to welcome back Mr C from his lengthy holiday... your keenly insane observations were truly missed, as evidenced by your return comments today.
ReplyDeleteSo do some of you actually want more logic in a pre-code story? I'm just curious. Personally, I'm all for less logic and more TP'd skeletons. The Vishnu of this story is like a giant walking horror prank.
So what, exactly, does "Vishnu" need that brain for? He seems to be doing just fine without it, what with traveling across the ocean disguised as Claude Rains, cooking up his plan to get his noggin puddin' back -- not to mention his somehow impossibly knowing who has it in the first place. Add to this the fact that all he really seems to want to do is "sleep," and it's even more confounding. God knows I'd sleep a whole lot better without mine!
ReplyDeletePS: Hell, he's even retained his sense of "humor," making wisecracks as he yanks what looks like a damp wad of dirty socks from Morris' cranium.
ReplyDeleteDo I want more logic in a story? Now that is a good question. I guess it depends on the genre. And on my willingness to suspend my disbelief (where everybody has his own preferences). Why can I accept that Vishnu´s ghost can does his revenge, but the very idea of changing your brain but keeping your memories and personality is so stupid it pulls me out of the tale?
ReplyDeleteOf course it is like somebody wrote these days here. If they don´t act stupid there wouldn´t be a horror tale :-) If you don´t accept that logic sometimes takes a holiday in these tales, you can´t enjoy them. Still, it bugs me when something doesn´t make sense within the framework of the story. Like Annie Wilkes used to say, the writer has to play fair :-)
at least Vishnu was polite about it. "and now, PLEASE, i want my brain!"
ReplyDeleteFARREL PUBLICATIONS: MAKING HAMMER FRANKENSTEIN FILMS LOOK MORE AND MORE PLAUSIBLE WITH EACH SUCCEEDING PAGE OF THIS STORY. Okay i'll stop with the demotivators. Seriously though, this is quite possibly the screwiest thing i've ever read in any medium. Yeah it's silly that Fisher thinks the brain would have useful knowledge, but what's even more crazy is the fact that both Maximillian and Fisher retained their own personalities and memories, it's just...damn. As for logic in comic books, i gave up on THAT when i read an Iron Man story in TALES OF SUSPENSE that used the word "transistors" in such an innacurate way that even a mechanically challenged person such as myself laughed, and the real clinker was a Batman story where he slipped a rubber mask over his cowl and impersonated someone perfectly(Batman sucked back in the early 60's anyway, never got into the character until the 70's when Denny O' Neil darkened him up again.)without visible ears, i also laughed at the illogic. I was 7. Still, suspension of disbelief is required to enjoy just about anything, this just requires WAY too much.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite thing about the Terror Tales #7 cover is that despite the gruesome bloody beheading by Mr. Mad Scientist Werewolf, he was still kind enough to cover his victim's breasts with a cloth so as to not offend anyone with senseless nudity.
ReplyDeleteNice head variety in his collection too!
I hope there's a sequel where Tabu takes revenge.
ReplyDeleteWelcome back, Cavin!
I bought that issue of Terror Tales about a month after getting married in 1969. My wife took one look at it and instantly regretted her matrimonial choice.
ReplyDelete...and speaking of head, and we were, weren't we? (Your blurb says TOMORROW: Time for some head.) Frau Pappy also opened up a copy of a Robert Crumb comic of mine right to the page where ProJunior was blowing his load through Honeybunch Kominski's nose.
And just think! (She must really love me.) This woman is STILL WITH ME!
How... Wha... but he...
ReplyDeleteThat's not...
Eh?
Thanks Todd and Karswell. It's really great to be back.
ReplyDelete