Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Ugliest Man in the World / Hades Highway

Concluding our look this week at the January 1953 issue of Out of the Shadows #7 (fyi: this issue is now posted here at THOIA in its entirety), and we have two more bat shit bonkers tales, "The Ugliest Man in the World", and "Hades Highway" both featuring the unique art stylings of pre-code fan fave Jack Katz.







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Craig Yoe does it again! Presenting the first volume in Yoe Book's thrilling new series "The Chilling Archives of Horror," and fittingly features the first and foremost maniacal monster of all time--- Dick Briefer's FRANKENSTEIN! This large-format book arrives in stores this fall from IDW Publishing, and lovingly reproduces a monstrous number of stories from the original 1940's and 50's comic books, PLUS: rare Briefer photos and letters, original art, drawings by Alex Toth and much more! 112 pages / $21.99

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15 comments:

Brandi said...

"Guarantee of wholesome entertainment" indeed!

bzak said...

Howdy,

I've said it brfore and I'll say it again, Pre code Katz is way better than First Kingdom Katz!

Brian James Riedel

Anonymous said...

BOTH ARE KILLER TALES AND IT LOOKS LIKE KATZ DID THE COVER OF THIS ISSE TOO RIGHT?

Unknown said...

I expected more of a resolution to the first story, but what I really want to know is how a press did that to his teeth. And for that matter, how everyone thought it was just makeup after it did that to his teeth.

Mr. Cavin said...

"I--Maybe I'd better do what Liza's vision said..."

These were awesomely psycho. I love it how Carter went from a) attempting to kill his wife to keep himself out of jail, to b) confessing simply to get her to die already--all in just a handful of panels.

I also love the extremes to which these stories take the standard pre-code dialog narration thing: "The brakes don't work, and I can't control the steering wheel!". And that top right panel on the last page of HADES HIGHWAY (which should have been called DEAD MAN'S CURVE) is fabulous.

But for all that, I still think I like the first story better. Obvious as it is, that very lack of tedious switcheroo ending really hit home. And the frames where ol' Ron Carney grinds his fingers into a bloody mess on the walls of the cellar freak castle are just solid gold. Red gold.

Prof. Grewbeard said...

..., just ...

Corpse Parade said...

The first story was very surreal and way ahead of its time

goblin said...

'Hades Highway' was about three or four pages too long, IMHO. I don't get why Herb chose to punish Liza for a crime she neither commited nor knew about and didn't just take revenge on his killer right then and there.

KW said...

Ugliest Man in the World is such a great title. He IS ugly too! I was dubious of the claim but I guess I'm a believer now.

Anonymous said...

Never heard of Jack Katz before but now I'm a fan, thank you!

Mr. Karswell said...

How about next post we take a look at another Jack Katz tale? We'll stick with the same publisher but switch series titles to Adventures into Darkness. Three's a charm, eh?

And as usual, thanks for all the tremendous comments!

Mykal Banta said...

Karswell: This represents a Jack Katz introduction for me, so I say bring on more katz! Highly stylized and interesting stuff. His work drips anxiety - his characters all seem horribly doomed. Thanks for posting.

Unca Jeffy said...

Jack Katz has now entered my own personal "Hall of Heroes".

Thanks Karswell!

Mr. Karswell said...

My pleasure! As mentioned I have another Katz tale on deck, but in the meantime check out "The Groping Ghost" by Jack Katz in the THOIA Archive, posted waaaay back in 2008, right here:

http://thehorrorsofitall.blogspot.com/2008/11/groping-ghost.html

Unknown said...

For some reason the Ugliest Man in the World makes me think of those people who get tons of plastic surgery. There is generally nothing wrong with their appearance in the first place, but by the time all is said and done, they have become hideous.