Saturday, December 26, 2009

Village of the Vile

The June 1974 issue of The Witching Hour #43 clearly states on the cover "Village of Evil", but instead inside the lead-off story is "Village of the Vile", one of the many cool horror tales written by George Kashdan for DC Comics (and to make things even more memorable the art is provided by the great Alfred P. Alcala!) We're winding down Devilcember, and this is it for our "Flash Forward" detour into the Satanic Silver Age, as well as our shiver inducing glimpse into The Witching Hour series, hope everyone enjoyed it!









Eegads--- more cat cruelty?!! Maybe it really is time to end this Witching Hour fest! It is interesting though to note how popular Satanism was in mainstream comics during this era. Hell, even Superman and Lois Lane turned up the heat in a few issues!

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Vintage AD

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

WASNT SURE I LIKED THE ART AS MUCH AS SOME OF THE OTHER WITCHING HOUR STORIES YOU HAVE POSTED, BUT THE MIDDLE TRANSFORMATION PANEL ON PAGE 6 IS AMAZING.

THANKS AGAIN FOR HELPING ME THROUGH THE HOLIDAYS!!

sfdoomed said...

I hope they're still going to make that call to the Humane Society. Sacrifice yourselves to Satan all you want, but leave the frikkin' cat alone!

These Witching Hour stories have been a good Christmas treat.

Mykal Banta said...

Karswell: Again with the cats. You evil thing. I have just become a cat lover, too, after a lifetime of hardcore, macho dog loving. Wow, did that no look right in print. Isn't Miss LeClaw about ready to start with the backfeet rabbit kicks?

Man, I had no idea about The Witching Hour. Great, great post. I read it twice. That Alcala is all that and a Coca-Cola, too. Thanks. -- Mykal

Cindy M said...

Poor kitty! :*-(

The artist who drew "Village of the Vile" has a style similar to some of the MAD Magazine artists. Given the time, maybe not a coincidence.

And what's up with Satan and Lois in "Peter Pan" style outfits? Red of course...not green. And now Lois has cloven hooves; guess her fancy shoe collection is history.

Mr. Karswell said...

Look for more Witching Hour posts in 2010, as well as more examples of Silver Age horror... I'm glad to hear that some of you enjoyed the stories, it is most definitely a series to keep an eye out for when hitting the conventions and comic shop back issue bins.

>And what's up with Satan and Lois

Well unfortunantly it's not really Satan in this issue of Lois Lane, but SATDEV from the alien planet INFERINO--- where everyone has horns and hooves! It's an exceptionally fun / cornball issue, and highly recommended reading even if you're not into the superhero stuff.

Prof. Grewbeard said...

i remember well the heightened interest in the occult in the 70s. imagine Anton LaVey being able to publicize the opening of a Church Of Satan in '68 and it actually being fashionable! just try that now, wise guy. let's face it, the stupid just keep getting stupider(like this sentence!)...

Anonymous said...

Oh god, now I totally must read those Superman comics!

Matt

Cindy M said...

Karswell: "Well unfortunantly it's not really Satan in this issue of Lois Lane, but SATDEV"

Oh brother. Lol! How clever: Satdev. I wonder if that name is a combination from two others?? Hmmmm. ;-p

"from the alien planet INFERINO--- where everyone has horns and hooves!"

Why am I not surprised? And are they any relation to the Reptiloids of Alpha Draconis? Just wondering.

Markovitch said...

Just wanted to say THANKS for putting these old comics up...completely nuts ideas, but you gotta love that! :)

Michael Jones said...

Evil/Vile. DC was into anagrams, I guess. (Planet Inferino is close.)
It doesn't appear that Alcala did any artwork for Mad, mostly DC horror, Swamp Thing and my personal fave, Kong the Untamed.