Thursday, November 28, 2013
Timepiece of Terror
Here's another one from the April 1954 issue of Web of Evil #13 (see the previous Demon Inferno post too.) This is an all 'round good issue with some wild stories, so I'm contemplating posting the entire issue. Unfortunately, this is one of the worst condition comics in my collection, it's heavily water damaged and very brittle, hence why I rarely ever remove it from its bag and board. If you're interested in seeing the remaining two stories let me know, otherwise it's going back into its coffin. Okay, GCD has no artistic credit listed for this one, but there are some definite Jack Cole-esque moments scattered about-- I wonder if he had a hand in this at any point? Anyone got any clues or doubts to throw about?
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6 comments:
Congo Hell Tiger
Ghosts of Gainsbrough
Snakes of Death
Three new heavy metal bands now appearing at a rock concert near you!
This was a neat twist on the haunted clock theme, usually the clock has a ghost or demon that pops out and haunts its owner. In this case, the clock was like watching a never ending marathon of horror movies. I guess after a while it would either drive a person insane or incredibly bored
(Geez, another human sacrifice shown by the clock? That makes a dozen so far today, I wish I could change the channel or record this on Tivo or something.)
A neat tale, I like it Karswell.
One production question I've always had about stories like this -- did artists like getting grab-bags? To me, it seems it would be much more fun to illustrate than your normal terror tale because you have single panel pieces of different acts.
Then again, if you bother to character model, it could be a longer process.
It probably comes down to the artist.
I have to say, the only problems I usually have with these tales is what Alan Moore once said about horror -- if you keep poking the same place over and over, it eventually scabs and there's no more pain. I think this clock would be the same way, the worse part would be it always interrupting you.
I'd say preserve your copy, Karswell, there's more than enough material to go around without destroying a comic that's probably already on it's last legs.
These kind of stories seem to be divided between ones where the man kills the owner of the magical object to get it, and ones where he buys it from him, but the seller has a disturbing smile on his face as the buyer walks away with it (like in those Lovecraft-inspired stories about the occult books). I can't help preferring the second thing.
After thinking about this story for a couple of days, I figured out a way for Ward to get rid of the clock and himself at the same time-since he is getting royalties from his previous books, he could use some of his wealth and offer ten grand (plus one cent) to a hit man.
The killer gets the money after his enemy (himself) is rubbed out and the killer gets a bonus if a certain clock is taken from the victim's clock shop.
Let the hit man do the dirty work and end up with the clock in the process.
Or, a serial killer comes into the shop with intent of getting that clock to give him new and more gruesome ideas.
This story could turn into an anthology with the clock eventually lost at sea.
Any takers on the idea?
Haha, I'll take it!
A nice set of fun, thinking man's comments, thanks gents! I really appreciate everyone that actually takes the time to even bother commenting, and when I say "comment" I mean with something constructive that actually adds to the post, not just inconsiderate bashing of what I post, or demands in the guise of a pushy request. Yes, this is a frequent issue around here and will no longer be tolerated, hence the reason I've finally decided to disable anonymous commenting.
More Web of Evil up next!
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