Monday, February 20, 2012
The 13th Floor / The Deadly Plague!
Around here, we call two Dick Ayers tales in one post a "Double Beheader!" And while there's no actual beheadings in either reprint today, both tales are still full of freaky fun and creeps and ickies! Let's kick it off with "The 13th Floor", originally featured in the October 1952 issue of Adventures into Terror #12, and followed by "The Deadly Plague!", (originally titled "The Polka-Dot Man") from the January 1955 issue of Mystery Tales #25.
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9 comments:
first tale, classic. second one, SILLY! :)
Actually, they're both pretty silly, Prof!
I'm in agreement with Prof here, the first story was great, and very clever.
Second one, not such much. I thought for sure the mysterious man was going to make him all black (therefore, removing the spots) as the twist.
The first story shares title and plot elements with the Venus story reprinted in the issue with the first Werewolf by Night story.
The second story made me think of an Animaniacs episode-
"Polkadots?"
Dot Warner "Oh, all right" then she dances the polka.
Anonymous said:
"
The first story shares title and plot elements with the Venus story reprinted in the issue with the first Werewolf by Night story.
"
Yup, Marvel Spotlight, and the exact same ending.
http://marvel.wikia.com/Marvel_Spotlight_Vol_1_2
The Venus thing was a Bill Everett piece, very nicely drawn (The WbN was early Ploog, also very nice.)
http://marvel.wikia.com/Venus_Vol_1_16
Actually, a bit more effective as you don't see the hanging guy (which makes little sense) but the squished remains of the evil hot villain women.
I'm pretty sure (without digging through all my Bronze Age comics) that I have the "Deadly Plague" as a reprint in a '70s Marvel horror comic.
I actually like the first story, in a surreal Twilight Zone kinda' way.
No need to dig, this is scanned from the Beware #6 reprint as stated in my intro (anybody read my intros anyway?)
I liked both of these, actually; but the polka-dot story sort of edges the other out because the art is so pleasing. Plus, heck, it's nice to read something that was intended to be silly. One imagines that, at twice the length, it would have developed into a Sneetchian story in which armies circulated from black house to black house, changing their stripes to spots and back as the perceived benefits shifted. And that's PhD-level social satire if you ask me.
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