Monday, June 28, 2010
The Man. The Men. The Morgue.
Showin' you how they do it down at the morgue by bustin' outta June 2010 with a double shot of Atlas crime horror! Our first stiff is from the March 1953 issue of Mystery Tales #9, and fyi: this completes this entire issue here at THOIA (just check the archives), followed by a similarly titled Gene Colan gem of doom from the February 1954 issue of Adventures into Terror #28.
truly, we make our own luck...
ReplyDeleteexcellent Colan art, not that the first story's was shabby, but Colan!...
poor doggie!
Man, I love Colan. In the house that Stan built, he so seldom got to do his own inking. Waht a pleasure to see it here.
ReplyDeleteI thought the drama in the first story was well done, very Twilight Zone-ish. The seconds story I didn't like quite as much, but I had to applaud the old man for his cold-blooded vengeance! Even sacrificing his dog for revenge...that's cold, man!
ReplyDeleteI wonder though--is that splash panel on story 2 taken from a photograph, or a collage of photo/drawings, do you think? The faces there seem to have a much different style than the rest of the story. Or maybe I'm just wiggin'. :P
Thanks, Karswell, for completing the Mystery Tales #9 stories!
ReplyDelete"The Man in the Morgue" was the cover story for that issue, and while the story itself wasn't bad, it illustrates a gripe of mine about both the Atlas and Harvey horror comics. Namely, both publishers had a habit of showing very gory cover images for a story title, then presenting the story with no real gore at all -- a bit of false advertising. (At least the EC Comics delivered what the cover promised.)
I love that caption on the cover. I've quoted it before without remembering where I got it.
ReplyDeleteWas there supposed to be a lesson to the first story?
PROF: Yes sir, ahhh Colan indeed... say no more.
ReplyDeleteMYKAL: Colan's eerie atmosphere never fails to send a mundane plot right up onto a higher plane. This story is a perfect example.
VICAR: It's possible that Colan worked from photos, I think alot of guys back then did actually... and the practice is still in affect today by kick assers like Alex Ross, etc.
DREW: My pleasure, this is a great issue and deserves to be fully posted.
TODD: I think the lesson to both stories is simple: If you're a bad person on the lam, stay the hell out of a morgue!
See ya'll in July for more 50's TERROR--- and beyond!
Such good quality scans.
ReplyDeleteThank you for making them available--the stories make the night shift fly by!
GREAT DOUBLE, THE COLAN ART WAS AMAZING BUT I SORT OF LIKED THE STORY ON THE FIRST ONE BETTER. AND I WAS CRACKING UP OVER THAT EFFICIENT TITLE YOU CAME UP WITH FOR THE POST TOO,HAAAAA!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this Colan story. I love his art,he's one of the best artists in this world. Please,post more of his work!!! I discovered him as a child,reading the spanish edition of Tomb of Dracula and his early work on Atlas (think about his first vampiric story 'He wished he was a vampire') and since that day,almost 40 years ago,I love him. No one can draw a vampire with his elegance.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing: Some days ago died another golden age great artist, Tony Di Preta. Could you post any of his stories as some kind of homage? I think he deserves it.
Lots of thanks. I'll be waiting for new Colan's stories.