Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Date with Death! / Man Who Was Afraid!
The final two stories from the April 1952 issue of Astonishing #12 that I could've sworn I'd already posted here at THOIA (my records say I did, but neither are to be found in the archive?!) Sorry for the confusion. Anyway, this completes this issue, check the archive for Gene Colan's Torture Chamber, Horror Show, and Bill Everett's "A Playmate for Susan." Paul Cooper pencils with a question mark are credited to Man Who Was Afraid --I think that's a goddamn good guess, certainly looks like it to me. Anyone have any thoughts about the art on Date with Death?
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10 comments:
Love these stories! Has Marvel ever reprinted any of its pre-Code horror? Any collected editions?
Brad S, yes, Marvel reprinted a number of the Atlas stories, is beautiful Marvel Masterworks editions. They can be pricey, but you can find used versions of Amazon for $20-$30. Well worth it, get the single edition of Menace if you can.
First story was about as prototypical an Atlas story as I've seen, well drawn, well paced, but not exactly a surprising ending. The skulls in the captions is something I don't remember ever seeing in pre-code Atlas, though!
The second story a great take on the jerk gets his deserved fate. More great art, and the leprosy island is pretty old-hat in these tales, but I kind of though (as it was a Caribbean island, that everybody would die on the boat but become a zombie.) So I was fooled!
Now to see if this actually makes it into the comments!
The first story is a very good retelling of an old tale with a new twist. As I recall the old tale, a man living in the middle east meets death in the marketplace and it beckons to him. Terrified, the man flees to the home of his master (the doomed man was either a servant or a slave) and begs to flee the city and go to Damascus thinking he will be safe. The master agrees and lets the man go and the man's master goes to the market place to plead for the life of his servant/slave. When he meets death, death tells him "I was surprised to see him in the marketplace, you see, I have an appointment with him on the road to Damascus."
I guess we can't escape our fate no matter how hard we try.
The second story had the typical twist ending, though a better twist would have been that the natives were cannibals and told the hypochondriac that eating the flesh of a healthy man would keep them healthy.
(Can't win for losin')
I love all these great old tales, even if I don't post all the time, I want you to know how much I really appreciate these comics, Karswell.
Man, I really love a good plague ship story. I especially like the woodcut-looking illustrations--those deep and curvy blacks really make the mood for darkness and despair and fear. The four-part lightning bolt panel in the middle of page three is mighty!
Back in February, Pappy posted a good version of the classic "meeting Death" joke, this time from Ghost Rider #8 (1952). I'm not usually much of a Ghost Rider fan, but this three-pager is great. Check it out here.
We'll be flash forwarding to the 70's in the next post and taking a look at a couple ghostly moments from Wayne Howard-- stay tombed and keep those comments coming! THANKS!!
Like JMR777, I've heard that story at least one other place (the Boris Karloff movie TARGETS, which of course is a famous NON-supernatural horror film), but that's about the only reason I guessed the end.
Since the word balloon is coming from him, is that elongated face at the bottom of Page 2 the face of Joe Ryan himself? Because for some reason it makes HIM look as spooky as the character he's running from.
My eternal pleasure :)
Here is an earlier version of the tale
http://www.k-state.edu/english/baker/english320/Maugham-AS.htm
Much like the vanishing hitchhiker tale, its true origin is lost to the sands of time.
The first story is usually knows as "Appointment in Samarra"
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