NEXT: Another visit from The Prince of Darkness!
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Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Satan's Stradivari!
A really wonderful splash with some terrific lettering kicks off this typically eerie satanic tale from the November 1952 issue of Worlds of Fear #7. GCD notes that K. G. Murray reprinted this one in the 70's in Doomsday #14... I don't know much about this series but it appears to be a mix of golden and silver age horror tales, reprinted in black and white.
Loved, loved, loved the art! The splash page was simply stunning and the gaudy coloring gave the story a sort of feverish, surreal tone. Also, I couldn't help but notice that every other pre-code jerk looks like Vincent Price. What's up with that?
ReplyDeleteI AGREE WITH THE GOBLIN, VERY AWESOME ARTWORK HERE........... ANYONE KNOW WHO IT IS? THE STORY WAS COOL TOO BUT I FOUND IT WEIRD HOW BRANDO SIMPLY DISAPEARED FROM THE PLOT WITHOUT TYPICALLY GETTING MURDERED. HE WAS AFTERALL THE MUSICAL GENIUS AND NOT DEVERE.
ReplyDeleteThe art does look familiar, and I've wracked my brain trying to come up with a name, but can't. And yes, that splash is absolutely incredible! I love the choice of shooting the skull as a negative. Really plays well with the color.
ReplyDeleteBrando's disappearance would have been a disappointment for me, too, had it not been for that amazing conception of DeVere playing for the roaches and mice. Love that. Seems like it could have all stopped there with DeVere deluded and starving, since (as ALL CAPS points out) he didn't actually kill anybody. So not a perfect story, but a lot to love here.
I don't know. I am a little refreshed that this one took the turn it did. I am unconvinced that DeVere was all that evil, frankly. He seems like somebody with an overriding faith in his own art. Sure, he took Brando's stuff, gave himself the credit, but that's a pretty petty real-world event, no? It's the plot of Dolly Parton's Nine to Five. Mostly we just blame the victim. What was Brando's problem anyway, that he couldn't, you know, make it on his own?
ReplyDeleteBut then, when it was proven that no one would listen to Dabney Coleman's music anymore, he did not relent to majority tastes. Nor did he attempt to cash-in on the worth of the instrument himself. All his greed ever amounted to was creating what he thought was beautiful music for himself alone. It seems very much like the story did end here, Anonymous. With the realization that this is all there was ever going to be for him.
I like it. I would have preferred to read it cast a little nobler, like I have done. Some heartbreaking philosophy about the loneliness of the creative drive stripped to the only true audience of any rigorous artistic pursuit: skull-headed guys in suits.
What a magnificent tale. Man, this stuff is the read deal. This is a beautiful blog. I'm in. As one audience member said when fleeing a Jan DeVere concert, "It eats into your soul!" -- Mykal
ReplyDeleteHow about an update on this story called Satan's Stratocaster?
ReplyDeleteTaking a tip from the Hillbilly Hits ad, I guess in my intro I could've made some comparison to Charlie Daniels' "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" too. Bah... too easy.
Another World of Fear tale-- NEXT!
"...I could've made some comparison to Charlie Daniels..."Yeah, it was pretty hard to resist. Especially after panel three, page six where the artist actually drew the evil hiss.
ReplyDeletegreat art - reminds me of Argento and Bava.
ReplyDeleteA great story!
ReplyDeleteDoomsday was an Australian mag. I thought it was published by Gredown but I guess not. Anyhoo- those Aussie mags printed Charlton, Eerie Pub, Skywald and other stuff on dirt cheap paper with super snazzy covers.
Do a search on GREDOWN and you'll find a great blog on a guy trying to documant them all... and there's HUNDREDS!
I liked the story fine, but I liked Cavin's take on it about as much. It's good to see this place all lit up again.
ReplyDeletewhy in the hell did the valet guy PUT UP with that shit? sorry, i can't get over it...
ReplyDeleteHowdy,
ReplyDeleteArtwork could be by Edward Goldfarb. It looks like other work he has done.
Brian James Riedel
>could be by Edward Goldfarb.
ReplyDeleteThanks Brian, you could be right!