(BONUS!)
Monday, January 17, 2011
The Sealed Coffin!
I challenged myself to find a Standard Comics story that was more deranged than our previous dances with wolves post, and I do believe we have a contender-- and from the same August 1953 issue of The Unseen #11 even! Yes, it's a pre-code classic with all the right (or wrong) elements: a jungle curse, a pretty blonde (who doesn't stay that way for long), murder, grotesque deformity, a dame socked in the kisser, a vengeful spirit, and so on... I think you're definitely gonna like (or despise) this one!
(BONUS!)
(BONUS!)
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7 comments:
I have to say I like this one; it's relatively forward thinking for the 50s, especially in the depiction of the African tribe (witch doctor aside) ... the bad guys are believable (giving a grieving father "more money then they'll ever see" as if it equals a dead son and then driving off is something you'd expect of self-centered people.)
I feel sorry for the Val, she didn't deserve it -- but my favorite stories are always where a bad person get his/her grisly fate and it's better when the villain is believable and the vengeance is justified.
Oh, and "It's your guarantee of wholesome reading"? Really, Standard? Wholesome? You're going with that?
I love how the doc on page 5 just lays it out. Folks are always asking doctors to tell them straight. Welp, there you go, Myra: A concise medical diagnosis in layman's language.
Fantastic art in this one. Myra really gave me the heebie jeebies; and that wallop was fantastic!
"Myra really gave me the heebie jeebies"
Same here. Myra the Elephantwoman looked really creepy.
I'm glad I don't seem to be the only one who likes this story unironically. Yeah, it was a bit on the crazy side, but I kinda dig that and the art was simply terrific.
Well I liked it too. I liked how the Hollywood couple are steadily revealed to be mindlessly self-absorbed and wantonly evil. I also dug the fact that black Africans actually looked like black people here--as noted before that seems pretty modern compared to the industry norm at the time: Caucasian characters colored-in light gray. Still, I could have done without the juxtaposition between the kid and the monkey on page two.
The easy-to-miss awkward and logic-free construction of the day comes from the bonus, though: "True or false? Did it really happen?" Uh, these are definitely the kind of people who cheat at twenty questions.
beautiful art on this one, but my favorite is the hilarious last panel in the bonus story
blam!
Well, everyone seemed to like this one--- hurrah! I want to add that I think Standard Comics were one of the most underated of the pre-code horror publishers, (especially where the artistic talent is concerned) and if these stories aren't good enough examples then I'll eat a hat from the 50's. Off a zombie's head. Underground.
Gruesome! The face distortion was especially creepy. I kind of wish the same had happened to him, and they did something on the theme of these two people whose careers are built on beauty being reduced to social outcast, but as is, GREAT. The double death bonus was pretty awesome, too. Thanks!
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