Monday, November 16, 2009

The Witch of Terror

You thought last weeks "Flame Widow" was a vile, vicious murderess--- it's time you met Clare Mangin, as THOIA begins a week of "Crime Horror" tales, or more precisely, crime tales containing horrific elements. It's seriously gonna get ugly around here for awhile, folks...

From the August 1953 issue of Startling Terror Tales #6











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Vintage AD


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Bonus Quickie

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

MAN THAT WAS GREAT, HEARTLESS DAMES WITH BETTY PAGE HAIR ARE MY FAVORITES! AND SHE DEFINITELY GAVE THE FLAME WIDOW A RUN FOR HER MONEY!

Mykal Banta said...

True, Clare brings a certain physical prowess to her work, as amply demonstrated by her full wind-up technique with a fireplace poker; but I still give the crazy-mean award to the Flame Widow. Clare just cold-heartedly kills them - FW truly enjoyed listening to them screech as they burned alive. -- Mykal

Kitty LeClaw said...

If not being a simpering skank means that a woman is a witch, well, I guess I'm a witch, too!

Martin totally deserved it... what a douche!

Trevor M said...

You got any stories starring Kitty LeClaw, Karswell?

Mr. Karswell said...

Anyone else look at the splash and hear Stuck In The Middle by Steelers Wheel?

The Vicar of VHS said...

Wow, this is a tale after my own heart! I love Clare, and she can tie me to a chair anytime! Of course with my bankroll, she's probably way outta my league!

A few notes:

* WTF? Where'd her little mini-man come from on pg 2 panel 1? And how do I get that gig? :)

* Love the breathless narration here. "Clare was! Sort of! Moody and mysterious!"

* Clare is like the female Coffin Joe.

* By the time she smacked him in the face on the bottom of pg. 3, I knew I was in love.

* Top of pg. 5: "You forgetting that you promised to feed, honor, and obey me already?" When did FEED make it into the vows?

* "Certainly odd that we should meet that way...just casually bumping into one another at a bar!" ZOMG HOW FREAKIN' WEIRD!

* Lack of evidence? I guess a fingerprinted fireplace poker and blood all over the house won't stand up in court in Wichita. "But it's quite apparent you are an evil and wicked woman!" I'll say! AAAAAROOO!

* I hate to see Clare go down in a sting like that--especially without delivering on the bondage promise of the splash. But Clare doesn't cater to any man's whims, that much is plain.

I loved the BLACK SORCERY ad too! It's nice how all those ads on that one page go together. They must have assumed at least a partial female readership, no?

Great as always Karswell! I'm going to have to stop being so scarce around here.

Bunnies,
The Vicar

Anonymous said...

Good post, at first I thought the art was very simple and not so great but it really worked well to help tell the story. Do you know if this was based on a real person or actual events?

Anonymous said...

It was certainly interesting for me to read this blog. Thanks for it. I like such topics and anything connected to them. I definitely want to read more on that blog soon.

goblin said...

"'Scuse me, Ma'm… but women aren't allowed at the bar without an escort!"

"What's the matter? Forgetting that you promised to feed, honor and obey me already?"

With guys like these around, it's really no wonder Clare turned to murder.

Mr. Karswell said...

Thanks for the comments, and it's good to see some old familiar faces around here again too. More ugly ass crime coming up next...

Prof. Grewbeard said...

"I'll help you Marv...right out of EXISTENCE!!!"

emphasis mine...

Unknown said...

I own two copies of "Stuck in the Middle with You" and make a special point not to watch Reservoir Dogs so I can go on enjoying them.

I also enjoy how the bonus quickie has no commas.