Tuesday, May 8, 2012

A Very Grave Matter

Today's tale from the August 1953 issue of Spellbound #16 is a fun Stan Lee quickie with an absolute groaner of a plothole, but dig that Russ Heath art! And because it's so short I thought I'd pad things out with a neat, 5-page article glimpse into the making of Creepshow, from the April 1982 double issue of Cinefantastique Volume 12 #2 and 3. In the last post I gave you the link to the cool Creepshow Father's Day figure coming out this fall, in this post (and the next) we'll be digging a bit more into Stephen King and George Romero's excellent anthology film tribute to our favorite subject around here-- pre-code horror comics!









7 comments:

Brian Barnes said...

This one asks you to suspend enough disbelief to cross the Grand Canyon, but it's great!

Stan really knew how to play to his artists strength, and the tale is simple and very stacked, but it all works, and the reaction shots are gems. And for once, the coloring is actually non-detrimental to the work.

I still have my original copy of Creepshow around somewhere, this makes me want to re-read it!

Mr. Cavin said...

That last panel is freaking awesome.

lala said...

how do you find all these old comics?? the scans are amazing too!

Mr. Karswell said...

>I still have my original copy of Creepshow around somewhere, this makes me want to re-read it!

Yeah, I re-read mine too, and then watched the movie again for the 666th time. I'll have more on Creepshow in the enxt post as well.

>That last panel is freaking awesome.

Indeed! I love it so much I had to make it my facebook profile picture just now.

>how do you find all these old comics?? the scans are amazing too!

Ebay, antique malls, comic shops, also-- look in my basement, I never throw anything away :)

Thanks for the scan compliment, I work hard to make these crumbling old masterpieces look fresh, Lala.

Trevor M said...

Look up Russ Heath on Wikipedia and scroll down to his extended adventure in the Playboy mansion. It's a priceless story!

Ghastly Gil Smith said...

The Creepshow comic adaptation by Bernie Wrightson was actually my first horror comic as a kid. I picked it up at the library once, kept it for three weeks staying up reading it night after night, and after returning it I never found it at the library again.

I discovered Tales a few years later through my aunt's boss who passed some reprints to me through her. He supposedly ran errands for the E.C. offices as a kid during their horror heyday.

Mr. Karswell said...

Cool stories Trev and Gill!

For anyone interested, I posted the Creepshow "Fathers Day" story a few years back, check the THOIA Archives... more zombies and Creepshow stuff coming up ASAP!