Everyone have a great weekend, and check back on Sunday for the start of a mini-Ace fest!
NEXT: Reptiles In Love!
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Just ImagineFrom the Dec. ’72 issue of Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion #8
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I'll be honest, I don't remember the time I was turned into a monkeypigman and hanged by a vine, but if that comic says it happened then I guess it did.
ReplyDeleteOh, THAT kind of bat!
ReplyDeleteThere's something about a Basil Wolverton story that sends chills. I remember reading "Brain Bats of Venus," and I never forgot that story. It began, like this story, in the second person narrative, and the protagonist doesn't survive. A gem of a story. The illustration style reminds me of what was done in the independent comics of the late '60's to early '70's.
ReplyDeleteW0W! is this a scan of the original?--the colors are dang *luminous* (esp. the 1st panel) :o Long overdue kudos fer ALL the komix kreeps YE've provided! :D
ReplyDeleteGreat colors and art on this one! I admit I'm a little upset that we didn't get the dripping swamp monster from the splash page, but still, what a splash! That bat really ties the whole thing together. :)
ReplyDeleteA few notes:
* 2nd person narrations are hard to pull off--and this is no exception.
* "I know this part of the swamp like a book!" But Jack, YOU'RE ILLITERATE!
* Bottom of pg. 1, Jack looks a lot like Boris Karloff. This is a good thing.
* Top pg. 2--Jack loses his bookmark.
* Cops seem strangely unfazed by the Beast Man. Of course they *do* work with swamp people all the time.
And I totally didn't see the ending coming. Cool story--very unlike what I'm used to!
And the bonus tale is a real winner as well. Is that Kitty playing the introductory role ther? ;) The art on the druids and ceremony is fantastic.
But am I wrong in reading a sexual subtext into the wife's despair at her husband's "lack of imagination"? Let's see--she cries when he won't open his mind, she wants to go see places with chains and torture implements, she married a guy who owns a hardware store....dude, SHE WANTS IT KINKY! Give it to her! ;)
Thanks, K!
>W0W! is this a scan of the original?
ReplyDeleteYes, these are Brian's scans from the orignal Weird Mysteries issue. But like all the scans here at THOIA I do spend some time adjusting the color and contrast. Nothing I hate more than comic book blogs with murky faded (and crooked) scans.
ALSo: Basil's Brain Bats is available right now in the THOIA Archive in case anyone needs a revisitation:
http://thehorrorsofitall.blogspot.com/2007/10/brain-bats-of-venus.html
In fact, there's alot of Basil Wolverton here at THOIA... just use the handy search engine up thar at the top of the page.
And good points on both stories Vicar--- especially the second one, haha!
Wolverton's unique style was indeed the influence on the style of the legendary '60's "head comics" illustrator R. Crumb.
ReplyDeleteAhhhh, Wolverton. His art will chew your brain up and then spit it back into your empty skull before you even know it's missing.
ReplyDeleteFunny thing is, transformed cabot looks a lot like Pumbaa from Disney's THE LION KING. Hakuna Matata.
Really love the way the artist draws hands and worm's eye perspective in the second story, giving everyone longer than usual arms and samll heads, but it works.
So if the moral of the story is to exercise the imagination, wouldn't just about every modern hollywood screenwriter end up Druid fodder?*hurm*...I think I know how to stop the remake plague...
Basil Wolverton- just so unique and one of my favorite artists ever, somewhere between Fletcher Hanks and Richard Corben.
ReplyDeleteas for the second story, another asshole gets what he deserves...
Great Wolverton art as always. Vivid colors, freaky swamps, idiot-savant/batshit-insane story line. I note that LSD was invented 10 years before "Swamp Monster".
ReplyDeleteMAN BOTH OF THESE WERE AWESOME!! WOLVERTON WAS THE BEST , NO BUTS ABOUT IT....... I THOUGHT I HAVE SEEN MOST OF HIS 50'S WORK BUT THIS ONE WAS NEW TO ME!
ReplyDeleteTHE DC STORY WAS KIND OF TYPICAL FOR THE 70'S BUT I LOVED THE ART, ESPECIALLY THE SCARY DRUID PANELS ON PAGES 4 AND 5.
I like how the genius in the first story goes from cold-blooded killer to monster who just tells the police to go away. They luck out twice!
ReplyDeleteAttention Wolverton freaks: There's gonna be the first massive Basil Wolverton exhibition of his original art at the Gladstone Gallery in New York on June 19th!!!!
ReplyDelete