Thursday, April 22, 2010

Freaks Revenge!

A gorgeously insane feline tail is from the November 1951 issue of Journey into Fear #4 (and undoubtably inspired by Tod Browning's 1932 horror film classic FREAKS.) So dig your claws into our purrrfect post!











Bonus one-pager (same issue)

10 comments:

Unknown said...

I like this one. It doesn't remind me of any other to date.

Anonymous said...

"That spider-man is beginning to give me the creeps." Truer words never were spake.

Mykal Banta said...

Spider man gave me the shivers, too. Frankly, I have a crush on the Mona. Ok, she was a cruel, viscous liar, but what spirit! The freaks, God love them, were sort of mealy mouthed - only the horrid spider man seemed to have any balls (wow, another horrible image). "Help me, you fools!" is the last thing Mona shouts, commanding and insulting to the last. You gotta love that.

The Vicar of VHS said...

Freak that I am, I'm in love with Mona's gams! Her kimono, her slit skirt, her catsuit, her torn clothes in the final scenes...meow, baby!

As a character she definitely shares a lot with Olga from Tod Browning's FREAKS, though the human oddities here are generally less odd than the ones in the film--coneheads, ant-dudes, a bearded lady, and of course the Spider-Man...wait, spiders have EIGHT appendages...wonder where he's hiding the other two?

This was a great one, with some very quotable dialogue:

"We must work the curse on her!"

"Though I'm armed like a spider, I loved her like a man!"

And my fave:

"Stand back, lest I am tempted to throttle you!"

I can see myself using that last one on a daily basis. ;)

Great stuff as always, Karswell!

Anonymous said...

AWESOME STORY! I HAVE TO ADMIT I AM KIND OF IN LOVE WITH MONA TOO. IT WOULD BE FUNNY ON THE LAST PAGE IF INSTEAD OF THE BIG CATS KILLING HER THEY ACTUALLY JUST JUMPED HER AND.......WELL.......YOU KNOW. OOOOO THAT RED DRESS.

AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY KITTY!

Trevor M said...

What a surreal take on FREAKS. It reads like a strange nightmare. Thanks for posting it!

Drew said...

The best pre-code story about freaks (depicted as a mistreated group) that I can remember was in an early 1950's Harvey comic. The story was, if I recall correctly, simply titled "Freaks."

The beautiful woman in the story mocks the deformed men in her circus and somehow ends up on a whole island of deformed people (the result of atomic bomb testing, I believe) -- and her beauty ironically condemns her to be rejected as a "freak."

If any readers can identify the Harvey comic where this story appeared, I'd be grateful. Thanks!

Prof. Grewbeard said...

very unique, still it brings to mind Fletcher Hanks and his protracted threatening and torturing of the antagonist. a good'un!...

Mr. Karswell said...

Anyone have any clues on the story Drew is talking about? I don't think I have it but it does sound familiar.

Oh well, thanks for all the great comments, and I hope Kitty had a mewlicious b-day tew!

We'll be finishing out the month of April with some Baffling horror from Beyond the veil of Ace terror! Don't miss a single post...

Kitty LeClaw said...

"... And so ended the fate of the ambitious woman who lived for herself alone and thought she could outwit powers no man will ever really understand..."

Great story... Thanks, Mr. Banes :)