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Saturday, November 17, 2012
Sleep, Perchance to Die!
It's been a few years since we've looked at a Mort Meskin tale, how about this one from the June - July 1951 issue of Black Magic Vol. 1 #5-- some really great, super intense panels in this one! And after the post, you know him, you've loved his comments here for many years now *drum roll* -- don't miss Mr. Cavin's awesome Halloween art project from this past October, where he uploaded a different self created image every single day of the month on Facebook! Click HERE for all the awesomeness and lots, lots more!
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12 comments:
This is a great psycho-tale....made all the sweeter by the occasional and palpable touch of the grand master, Jack Kirby in unexpected places.
A hand here... a layout there...yet Meskin shows through strongly, also.
Wow. That was laborious! Great art, hackneyed story. This seems much more like a late 50s tale than a pre-code.
Thanks for the fun read; even the bad ones are good!
Black Magic tended toward the psychological and subliminal more than the gruesome for gruesome's sake. I have read that this was one way Kirby worked out his World War Two demons.
So this must have been pre-Iron Maiden for Steve Harris? No wonder they bent towards horror :)
I have to agree with Tim, this seemed more to be post-code/DC like story. The art was simplistic and a bit rushed in places but it actually works here. The solid colors, the stark drawings, gave a real feel of horror in places (especially the boulder scene.)
An interesting tale, a psychological tale that one would not expect in a 50's comic. While it could have been better, we have to remember the comic publishers had to crank out a new comic monthly so a few average stories here and there had to be expected. They couldn't all be pure gold all the time (and for a dime a comic you couldn't expect Shakespere or Dickens)
As I said, an interesting tale, artwork was above average, story was unique (dream warfare) a good find and good read. Nice find Karswell.
Cor, I loved the story here. It might have benefited from maintaining its internal logic (why do the first two dreams, which are shared, come true in a real-time, literal way, whereas that last dream, which is apparently unshared, come true in a metaphorical, Final Destination-type way?); but the idea here, the sharp character constructions, and even the story's tone were head and shoulders above the precode norm. At least I thought so.
Thanks Karswell.
Some intense panels indeed. The highlight of the post for me though is Mr. Cavin's Halloween portraits! Pretty terrific collection -- I had to study a few of them for awhile to really soak in the inventiveness of them.
The two panels in the middle of page 3 is what sells it for me.
And pretty much all of page six is awesome, too. I really love the visual juxtaposition of that dude murderously clutching a big rock in panel two and then worriedly holding his own head in the very next panel. I think there's an awful lot of verve on display here for the fact that most of the story is just a couple of guys talking. People have been comparing it to post-code psych stories, but it's a lot more like a romance comic in this way.
Thanks a lot Trevor M! I'm glad you dug those. If you look around at the link, you'll see that it's the latest thing in a Halloween folder that includes advent projects from the last few years (though none are as comic-art inspired as the one above).
can you scan the devils bible for me my copy is a little worn out and chipped. I need it by this weekend if possible. I have to curse someone so do it asap. thank you ... Demon Lord 666
I enjoyed the psychological tale and agree with the others that seemed a bit post code (but still a good one!).
This was a full on Charles Atlas sand-in-the-face revenge fantasy for twerps. I was surprised to see Sally get away with breaking Cliff's heart and totally dumping him for the jock oaf, especially after he admitted to trying to kill her with the rock as well.
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