Saturday, October 17, 2009

The Hand of the Ancient Evil!

A sinister, severed hand floats through the air and into the room, and clutched in its demonic claw dangles the rotted corpse of a once beautiful woman! Here we have one of the more strangely inspired variations on the ever classic "Monkey's Paw" tale by W.W. Jacobs. Even stranger though is the thick lined, stylized art on this one, not at all like the slick, more refined, traditional ACE styles that I've featured here at THOIA over the years... it's kind of weird and clunky at times, but for those reasons I kind of like it too.

From the January 1953 issue of The Beyond #18









And don't miss out on our DRAW ME CONTEST which started Thursday... check the last post for all the details (at the end of "The Gypsy's Curse" story!) Sad news too on the passing of George Tuska (1916 - 2009) R.I.P.



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True Tales of the Supernatural #36

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I rarely comment, but I really liked this one. I not as knowledgeable about the artwork as most of your readers, but if this pen work is different, I'd like to see more like it! I was also impressed by the lack of hamfisted racism in the depiction of the Chinese characters -- no "So solly" yellow peril crap.

In addition to "The Monkey's Paw," I think you'll find that this story also calls to mind W.F. Harvey's "The Beast with Five Fingers" once or twice.

Unknown said...

Disembodied hands are awesome. I would like to see one as a protagonist.

Prof. Grewbeard said...

really gotta "hand" it to you, Kars...

...which reminds me- have you heard the one about the blind prostitute?...

Anonymous said...

CREEPY STORY! AND I SEE WHAT YOU MEAN, IT IS LIKE THE PERSPECTIVE IS OFF AT TIMES WITH THE ART ESPECIALLY IN THE FACES BUT IT STILL MANAGES TO HAVE A LIKEABLE QUALITY AT THE SAME TIME.

sfdoomed said...

"If the hand is not for sale, then why the F*#@ do you have it displayed in the window!?"

I must say that I got a kick out of this take on the Monkey's Paw. The little effort to provide an origin of the cursed manus is appreciated, and the hand bringing home the dead fiance was downright frightening!

On a final note, I also feel like this sinister hand is more powerful and horrific than other "hand" tales. This one snaps necks like twigs instead of merely choking its victim (and might throw in a good eye gouging for laughs if it so desires).

THE APOCOLYTE said...

"What strange vapor is that which appears?"
I really think everybody should talk this way!

Later in the story, on page 4, panel 3:
"Then, a strange thing happened..."
Hmmm. You mean, something stranger than the decayed, severed hand that was crawling toward him in the previous panel?!

The events on the last page were a great payoff, though! I wish the artist could have captured the 'eye gouging' a little beter...

TALK TO THE HAND! Don't blame the hand if your stupid enough to ponder "I wonder what would happen if I ask the hand to bring me my dead girlfriend?" and it shows up with her rotting carcass! There are so many other great things one could do with an extra hand...think about it!

Anonymous said...

Brrrr, nice one!

Mr. Karswell said...

Cool to see some new names and faces around here, thanks for the comments, each and everyone!

Okay, who's in the mood for some serious decapitation panels? Well how about a decapitation splash and a decapitation cover too?!!

Hold onto your hat, it's coming...

Mykal Banta said...

Karswell: coming in late on this one, but I liked the story of the hand a lot for its blunt directness and (as you say) heavy, simple line. Also, you gotta love those four color faces! Yellow, Blue, Purple, Green, Red, and even a flesh colored one here and there. The beauty of four color? It all looks perfectly normal. -- Mykal

Anonymous said...

Who is in the mood for decapitation you ask?

I am!!!!!