Saturday, September 15, 2012
Dance of the Doomed
The last THOIA post from the February 1953 issue of Strange Stories from Another World #5 is actually the first story in this issue, blurbed on the tremendous Norm Saunders cover too, and unfortunately for horror comic history, this was also the final issue of this occasionally thrilling, short lived series from Fawcett Pub. For all the tales in this one see the last 3 posts, as well as Vampire's Daughter that we posted last year.
Another busy but great one, like the last post. I like the art, though it's a little bit rushed (there's some real size problems and our hero's face changes quite a bit.)
ReplyDeletePage 9, Panel 1 and 3 are good examples of that. The shopkeeper/zombie/devil guy is basically the same face as our hero.
I hate to say it, but I misread Page 3/Panel 3 when I first read it, did a double-take, and re-read it. I highly doubt what I first thought it read would have gotten by the censors :)
[>] Brian
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ReplyDeleteMaybe the book he found had some Bettie Page pix hidden inside?
ReplyDeleteAw, come on. Everybody looks like that when you pull off their face.
ReplyDeleteI feel like this story was a bit over padded, but ultimately I really like any precode tale that tries to demonstrate the surreality of hell (or whatever the demonic ghost world du jour). I thought this was getting at some especially interesting stuff at the top of page five. A lot of these stories end up kind of prosaic looking, and it's a real treat to sometimes see the artist get the bit between his teeth a little.
And, yeah, I agree with everyone else: the narration block at the top of three / three is one of the most laden veins of MST3K-type solid gold snarkbait I've ever seen. Never mind the obvious aphrodisiac quality of the Necronomicon here, just how many pulses does this monster have?
Some great graphics, but at times the text reads like a Jack Chick tract.
ReplyDeleteIn a weird, ironic twist of fate, Jack Chick is influenced by Precode horror!
ReplyDeleteEverytime I see the name of this story I think of the Freakazoid episode called Dance of Doom.
More horror du jour (thanks for that one Mr C) coming right up!