IN STORES 10/10/12
Saturday, October 6, 2012
The Haunted Ghost / Specter's Revenge
We're just a few days away from the release of Haunted Horror #1, the new comic book series of precode reprints from IDW / Yoe Books, (in stores 10/10/12), co-edited by Craig Yoe, Clizia, and myself. And in the meantime, the classics keep coming atcha here at THOIA with a double shot from one of my favorite artists, the seriously underrated King Ward. Ward's unique, atmospheric style, clever framing, and odd angles puts him in a different league than most of the other more static, traditional ACG artists of the era. His nightmarish monsters and spooks are always truly creepy and evil, and in the less disturbing story moments I really love the way he playfully poses his characters (panel 1 on page 3 of the first story is a good example of how to make two people merely sitting there look interesting.) From the Dec '51 issue of Advs. into the Unknown #26, and the Feb '52 issue of Advs. into the Unknown #28.
IN STORES 10/10/12
IN STORES 10/10/12
You're right, King Ward is pretty good! I like his angles and his monsters are terrific. The first story was especially fun in it's inventive lunacy and silly ending. Thanks for posting.
ReplyDelete"No no! I'm not one of those scary dangerous ghosts! All I want to do is peep on your fiancé while she changes clothes and goes to the bathroom and stuff. Okay?" Okay! That first story was delightfully psycho. Sky bugs from the fifth dimension? Pay 'em to go away.
ReplyDeleteI also totally dig Jerry's polka-dotted peejays in the second story. Ward's art is a lot of fun here (love the occasional impressionistic sky), and the two middle frames on page four of Specter's Revenge feel very raw and effective. Love to see what that art looked like before running through the dirty fifteenth century toy printer they were obviously using for this.
Par for the course in these lesser books (IMHO), was always the overly complex logical rules; and the solution was always finding your way around the rules. The rules were almost always blabbed by the monster in the most counterproductive way ever. The Specter's Revenge was a great example of that.
ReplyDeleteDid they use the same paper they used to strain the coffee grinds for these? Yikes!
Best panel in a while was story 2, page 2, panel 5. The ghost is really channeling Dr. Smith from Lost in Space there. You can just see the evil gears turning!
Kars: Monday I'm calling my comic shop and getting your mag in my pull list!
I am comin to NYCC and staying at Craigs, so I am looking forward to seeing the book! You were my inspiration for doing my own blog, remember that?
ReplyDelete>You're right, King Ward is pretty good!
ReplyDeleteI have another half dozen stories from him in the THOIA Archive-- don't miss 'em!
>All I want to do is peep on your fiancé while she changes clothes and goes to the bathroom and stuff.
What else could possibly be more fun than doing this while being a ghost? I'm banking my afterlife on doing just this!
>Monday I'm calling my comic shop and getting your mag in my pull list!
Excellent! Let us know what you think, Brian!
>I am comin to NYCC and staying at Craigs, so I am looking forward to seeing the book! You were my inspiration for doing my own blog, remember that?
Craig told me you were going to be staying with him, I wish I could be there at NYCC to meet you too Ger, have fun! Your own blog continues to be an inspiration to all bloggers everywhere!
More KING WARD here:
ReplyDeletehttp://thehorrorsofitall.blogspot.com/search?q=king+ward
Karswell i know u will love this next question. Will the new Haunted Horror comic be in blood-curdling colour or B/W ? I must know or i will lose my feeble herb-mushed mind. BTW thanks for all ur offerings here.No, really, thank u. Bull Dozer
ReplyDeleteHaunted Horror will be in FULL COLOR, Mr. Dozer-- don't go losing your mind until the stories in our first issue do it for you!
ReplyDelete