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Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Face in the Ball / Wake Me Before I Die
The Jan. - Feb. 1975 issue of DC's The Unexpected #161 also has two creepy tales illustrated by the wildly unique Jerry Grandenetti. I love seeing how this bold stylized look of his developed during this era, coming from his grandly detailed and intricate Eisner style of the Golden Age some 20 years earlier.
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What great artwork. "Face in the Ball" page 2, panel 1, is a perfect example of making everything look more spooky by minimizing any right angles. Almost everything is slanted or turning inwards.
ReplyDeletePage 5, Panel 2 also shows that, but with body position. When I was young, I hated this kind of art because I was an idiot, I always thought of it as sloppy.
Great artwork, but the stories are strictly for the birds.
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing the stuff dear.
ReplyDeleteI love the art on the first page of Wake Me Before I Die (well, all except for the splash, which--while a compelling image--feels a little too precious and designy for this story). Especially the middle row of panels. I like the exacting layers of blue, the line detail, and those inky shadows adding some dreamlike cubism. Super neat stuff.
ReplyDeleteI also like the Spirograph ad, but think it's a little counter productive for them to include the same pattern twice in five panels if they are going to try making the opposite point in the panel seven dialog.
dig it man like totally my bag dude I can really get it on in the scene. far out and groovy like wow art. Just dont let the man see this art he make think weve been smoking some reefer.
ReplyDeleteLove horror comics!
ReplyDeleteFace in the Ball has the look of a pre code story, on page four it looks like the guy is wearing purple (or faded purple) the most popular color of pre code!
ReplyDeleteIt could have been confused with a pre code comic story if John had killled his fiance and partner, fed them to the flesh eating ball, been pulled into the ball and the evil faced fiend was free to roam the earth, etc.
These are still fun tales to read so many years after they first came out.
Half dozen comments in and not a single "Face in the Balls" horror joke... you guys surprise me all the time!
ReplyDeleteJack Oleck! I read that this guy used to write like a script a day, no foolin'. He always reminded me of my favorite pulp writers like Jim Thompson.
ReplyDelete