Cover art by Don Heck
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Decapitation
A friend of THOIA requested a rare Ajax / Farrell decapitation story that unfortunately I do not have (nor do any of my compadres in horror), but as luck would have it, recently I aquired a rather mangled copy of the July 1953 issue of Weird Terror #6 which does contain a rather mean-spirited decap tale by Kenneth Landau. Overstreet mentions this issue as containing "Dismemberment, decapitation, man hit by lightning." Okay, hands up: Whose mom would throw a fit about a man getting hit by lightning in a comic book??!! I think I would've mentioned "iron poker to the face" before the lightning.
Cover art by Don Heck
Cover art by Don Heck
speaking of Satan, here's something you should know...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%20in%20America/Rock-n-Roll/jonas_brothers.htm
I can't pin it down right now, but there was a story, probably from EC, that served as the inspiration for this one. In that other story, the idea was that a quiz show prize would be buried where a contestant had hidden a body.
ReplyDeleteGreat story!! Love it when the killers talk to their dead victims, as they bury them or chop them up. It shows a nice, friendly attitude.
ReplyDeleteAlso, got a big laugh when you referred to the story as: "a rather mean-spirited decap tale". That would be as opposed to all those happy-spirited decap tales. lol lol
Thanks!!!
Fun tale! Thanks for posting!
ReplyDeleteFor a story titled "Decapitation" there's a conspicuous lack of any actual decapitation.
ReplyDeletePS: Don Heck's werewolf-faced-bat cover is awesome!
ReplyDeleteGreat one! Seriously; it's just too bad this wasn't a EC (so far as I know!) effort! If it were; (with a little adjustment, i.e. TV instead of radio quiz show, but, then I'm guessing this was written before TV was everywhere instead of being, say, like 3-D TV or Internet TV now); this could have been on that old HBO "Tales From The Crypt" show! :)
ReplyDelete>speaking of Satan
ReplyDeleteWe do that alot, don't we Prof?
> there was a story, probably from EC, that served as the inspiration for this one
I think you're right Daniel, unfortunately I'm drawing a big blank too.
>got a big laugh when you referred to the story as: "a rather mean-spirited decap tale".
Glad I could be here to amuse you, Jim... so what'a you sayin', I'm funny or something? You think I'm a funny guy?
>Fun tale! Thanks for posting!
That's what we do around here Diandra, put the fun back into decapitations.
>For a story titled "Decapitation" there's a conspicuous lack of any actual decapitation.
If you look at the cover it also mentions "cemeteries and shrunken heads." While there is a story called "Cemetery" in this issue, there's no actual cemetery anywhere in the story. No shrunken heads anywhere between the first and last pages either! Or vampire bats!
>this could have been on that old HBO "Tales From The Crypt" show!
Or maybe even a Hitchcock Hour or Night Gallery episode too!
Thanks for the comments, I was pretty sure everyone would enjoy this one.
I am finding myself curiously drawn to that crazy waterfowl panel on page two. It's just so incredibly odd. I mean, the whole story has a weird look to it--side by side panels with drastically different inking styles, odd color choices that are impossibly misaligned in only part of the page, etc.--but that picture with the park bench and the duck is just surreal.
ReplyDeleteWonderful. That's a classic.
ReplyDeleteIt's referenced in the works of Suarez and Sennitt, nice to see it in its entirety now.
Please MORE from Weird Terror #6!
I echo all the positive comments on this one.
ReplyDeleteReal nasty. Gruesome and grotesque. No redeeming qualities to the storyline. Downbeat "trick" ending. Classic pre-code horror.
For some reason I picture a Joe Orlando EC story, maybe from Tales From the Crypt, as inspiration. I'm too lazy to look through my Russ Cochran hardcovers, but that's what I'm thinking.
It just struck me- his name is Bobble, so it's a Bobble-head!
ReplyDeleteJust great, thanks Karswell! Great job scanning a mangled comic also. The condition of that cover does not bother me at all.
ReplyDeleteMr. Stott, "bobblehead" hahahaha
I love these stories anyway, but I have to offer a special thanks to Kars' on this one and also for "Too timid to live."
ReplyDeleteMy wife nearly died of a massive stroke four years ago and whenever
I wheel her in my office to read her these stories, she actually shows interest. Nothing else seems to make her day, and when it does, in turn it makes my own day.
She laughed like a meshuganeh yenta at the last panel in this one when she saw old ha-Satan! It was a weird cackle if delight I had not heard in way too long!
Bless you!
By the way, the schmuck had it coming! And Landau gave us a telling hint what his actual condition was in the last panel on page four. See his blacked out eyes!
If Satan himself calls people "sir" in hell, how bad can it really be?
ReplyDelete>but that picture with the park bench and the duck is just surreal.
ReplyDeleteWell maybe it represent the idea that everything ducky is just about to fly away for our poor "hero" of the story?
>Please MORE from Weird Terror #6!
I might do one more from this issue... Decapitation is the best story, the others are bit clunky and downright insulting.
>Real nasty. Gruesome and grotesque. No redeeming qualities
At first I thought you were describing my taste in the women!
>It just struck me- his name is Bobble, so it's a Bobble-head!
Haha! Did it strike you like a iron poker to the face?
>Great job scanning a mangled comic also. The condition of that cover does not bother me at all.
Just the cover itself was in bad shape... the insides are all good. Thanks!
>My wife nearly died of a massive stroke four years ago and whenever I wheel her in my office to read her these stories, she actually shows interest.
I appreciate you telling us this, and I do hope she's on the mend and that everything is okay / improving, Sir Turok.
>If Satan himself calls people "sir" in hell, how bad can it really be?
I guess I'll find out one of these days, I sure don't plan on going to the "other place."
So thanks again, it's good to see more comments coming in again... I guess it's that time of year, eh?
Hi!
ReplyDeleteThe EC story "Decapitation" called to mind for me was "In Each and Every Package," which appeared in Crime SuspenStories #22. Here's the Wikipedia description:
"A man dismembers his wife and buries the pieces in his back yard. He and his lover, who has had plastic surgery in order to stand-in for his wife, get tickets to a quiz show called 'Treasure Hunt'. They are chosen as contestants and the host tells him that they're digging up his back yard in order to hide the prize money."
The artist is the great Reed Crandall.
The Horrors of It All is pure joy!
Nice ending! Curious what the "airtight alibi" was, though.
ReplyDelete