Digging into the
Crypt of Shadows today,
Marvel's best
Silver Age horror 50's reprint series in my opinion, with two pre-code tales brought back to evil screaming life for a whole new generation of hopped-up 70's horror heads (like me) to enjoy. First up, from the Sept '73 issue of
CoS #5, a bone chilling
Sol Brodsky yarn about a ghoulish grave robber, followed by an early
John Romita story of witchcraft and bullfighting from the Jan. '75 issue of
CoS #15.
The Man Who Steals Gravestones! (originally presented in the Jan. '53 issue of
Advs into Weird Worlds #14)
++++++++++++++++++++++
The Man Who Sold His Soul!*
(originally presented in the Dec. '52 issue of
Suspense #25)
(*request for Todd Hunter! Enjoy!)
10 comments:
Thanks! Hopefully he became a great steak.
i haven't been moved to comment in a while, but this pair did the trick. the first one was short but very sweet, the second had excellent story development and would have made a great short film or episode of The Twilight Zone. Bravo!
Both good pieces. Thanks for posting them. Somehow I didn't see the twist to the first one coming and expected something else from the mysterious tombstone buyer -- like a vampire thing, maybe. But the ghost of the dead man in the coffin below twist, with the grave literally swallowing the villain up -- nice. And what a creepy looking villain and one of the most heartless. A solid little story. Unfortunately I picked up on the twist in the second one quickly, but the early Romita art was entertaining to look at.
Speaking only for myself, I'd rather steal gravestones than actual corpses. :-p But I won't do either. He is one freaky-looking dude; what a bony face! He needs to eat more often. Maybe he's a zombie gravestone stealer?
The Cry of Satan. When he was a baby? Must have been the worst case of colic ever.
ANOTHER SOLID ATLAS DOUBLE!! LOVED THEM BOTH, ESPECIALLY THE FIRST ONE!
I love how Creech grows hair in that one panel for no reason. Graet creepy concept, though. Brodsky's manic style really sells it.
So that's supposed to be a bull?
The witch must have had an awful sort of skin condition to be green like that.
Did she request her Enrico steak rare, medium, or well done?
Two great stories this time! I wasn't expecting the ending in the first one either. It's strange how easily one can be sucked into the ground. And even though physics and engineering mechanics have never been my thing, I can't help but notice that the pulley system he has for tombstone theft seems to be missing an important leverage piece. Anyone else notice that?
The second story was the best. I gotta say I felt pretty sorry for Enrico. Why was he forced to stay in the graveyard so that he couldn't go watch a damn bullfight now and then? At first I thought maybe this was one of those "trapped souls in the graveyard" stories, but no, it was just his job. He totally got a raw deal there at the end, though he really didn't do anything bad in life to deserve such a fate. Being poor? Even a deal with Satan would have at least gotten him a few years of pleasure in life before eternal damnation!
A nice batch of comments on this one, thanks everyone. And I apologize for the delay in getting another post up before July runs out, I'm trying... check back later tonight! If not, see ya next month!
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