Bruce Jones and
Richard Corben teamed up for this grueling piece of tragedy and terror on the high seas in the October 1976 issue of
Creepy #83, reminding us in this post-
JAWS era that it's still never going to be safe to go back into the water for any reason. Ever.
cool story that works just as well without the epilog too
ReplyDeleteThe horror of floating at sea, surrounded by sharks, and watching your friend die....Jones and Corben captured this so well here. I always loved the scene in Jaws when they're talking about their experiences and Robert Shaw's character tells the tale of the USS Indianapolis.
ReplyDeleteSo good to see the site still going strong. I've been absent (minded) for a while.
I'm a huge fan of the Warren magazines (and their competitors, like Skywald) but this story shows where Warren magazine had a habit of falling down.
ReplyDeleteWithout the epilogue, this would have made a great "man's adventure/horror" story, but the ending just seems unnecessary. It's a great story (Jones writing was always best with horror) and the Corben art is great -- but the tacked on ending drags it down a bit.
They tried to hard to be EC sometimes :)
Bruce Jones and his yattata yattata yattating...
ReplyDeleteI don't really think the epilogue ruins the story, but agree it's not all that neccesary... it does feel a bit tacked on as the real horror of the story was obviously their ordeal at sea.
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree SFD, that simple storytelling scene in JAWS is chilling. "Show me the way to go home..." indeed.
Thanks for the comments!
Corben at his best! This is a simple story but very well told and full of tension. I don't think the ending ruins it but it did seem unnecessary. Thanks for posting this excellent piece.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome Luis, thanks for writing-- got one more from Corben coming up next!
ReplyDeleteFor the record, this is the version of the story that was reprinted in "Comix International"---and as such it is missing the first page of the story (a b&w prologue), as well as printing the epilogue in red tones. The complete story (including the prologue) is posted at the "Cloud 109" blog site.
ReplyDelete>For the record, this is the version of the story that was reprinted in "Comix International"
ReplyDeleteAs is the other Corben story "Bowser" that I just posted today. I was wondering why GCD said this story was one page longer than the version I have... unfortunately, they didn't bother to add the prologue to this issue.
Wow -- the missing intro page makes the epilogue so much more balanced.
ReplyDeleteI read this story just a few days ago in the Heavy Metal Corben Special, and it also was missing that first page. Weird.
What a great time Jones and Corben were.
I was expecting that but it was still creepy.
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