Monday, March 3, 2014
Blood Moon
Post #2 in our wild 'n wooly Week of Werewolves fest, and like our last entry it's another one from DC's Weird Mystery Tales (and also written by David Michelinie), this time the Dec - Jan 1974-75 issue of Weird Mystery Tales #15. The ferociously bold line work from Rubeny is the real highlight here-- and there's the tremendous Luis Dominguez cover tease that a few of you commented on a while back when I posted a DC ad bonus that featured a smaller thumbnail version of it-- now you can see it better in all of it's full sized glory. More lycanthropes coming your way, stay tombed...
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9 comments:
Thank you for a week of werewolves, my favourite monster, on THOIA. I actually have something to look forward to this week. Great cover to see "up close". Though the story was slim, the art on the story was pretty terrific, and I like the idea of being trapped in a cabin with werewolf kids a lot.
That was great, all around, and I'm not usually a fan of DC post-code horror.
It contains all the elements that make up a good horror story; a straw-man protagonist who easy to hate, a conflict, a good monster, and a great ending of the doomed one way or another variety.
The art is excellent with great staging in action scenes. I'll have to rethink DC post-code horror if you pull up more stories of this caliber.
Man, Rubeny could really work the Jack Davis angle, couldn't he? I like the big scribbly line work too, but that gangling over-dynamism tends to create its own kind of mood, and works better as discrete illustrations (for me) than paneled narration. It doesn't help that the man seems to feel a deep-seated need to transpose the figures any chance he gets.
I wonder why that last half-page? This has the feel of a tear-off, you know, like this will fill a six-page slot as is, but also they could totally paste "the end" a little higher and sneak another ad or something into the bottom of that last page. The story really ends when he sees the kids. Continuing on for three extra beats is just padding, weirdly placed at the end of a story that might have benefited from another gnarly jungle victim or two in the middle.
I am loving werewolf week!
I wonder how many werewolf stories were written featuring the beast as the protagonist.
The belief in a man or woman turning into a beast is practically worldwide, with the belief of were-foxes and were-tigers in Asia and were-lions or were-leopards in Africa. There is even the belief of were-crocodiles in Thailand (and you thought a wolf man was the last word in scary.)
Like Brian, I don't rate DC post cade horror much. Although there is the odd gem by Jack Oleck and Wessler to be found in some. However this story by David Michelinie is excellent.
I don't think the ending is padding. I think it's driving home the real horror of Harper's situation. If we just stopped with the kids crawling in it would feel a bit flat, but because we stay, and see him trapped, cutting out only seconds before the beasts strike, we see the agonising tension of his last moments, which is the true horror.
The very 70s themes of big oil despoiling an untouched eco-system and the exploitation of indigenous people suddenly seems very current again.
A lot can be said for a blood curdling scream winding its way through the woods too in the final panel.
Thanks again for all the great comments!
Nice! Liked the artwork on this one alot! Cover too!
Wow, a werewolf story that truly surprised me! Glad Harper didn't last long enough to join the pack. Not crazy about how the parents look, but that one cub with outstretched paws is a hoot. I don't suppose they need a babysitter?
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