Saturday, March 8, 2014
The Werewolf Lurks
In our last post we saw a werewolf that stalked, now this time we got one that likes to lurk 'n leer at leggy ladies in lingerie! It's a wild bit of lycan lunacy from the May 1952 issue of Journey into Fear #7, and hmm - tra - la - la, why it looks like a werewolf took a bite out of my cover-- wah!
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ReplyDeleteThere's also that line the moment the phone rings - "I was expecting this call."
ReplyDeleteDoes this rotary phone have caller ID?
(If so, that's one of the few later kinds of phone technology that I actually WISH had been around early on, since it's a kind of phone technology that's a lot harder to abuse than most.)
"The poor Colleen is dead!" Turns out the cop knew the victim out of eight million New Yorkers.
ReplyDeleteSure an 'twas an Oirish cop, begorrah-- but the writer didn't know you wouldn't capitalize "colleen" in that usage.
I thought this "wolf man" looked weirdly leonine.
I like the urbane werewolf angle in this one. I always get a kick out of a werewolf who dresses up to go kill. I was reminded of THE WEREWOLF OF LONDON where he turns into the werewolf, then puts on his scarf and cap before he goes out on the prowl. There was even an up to the balcony/bedroom scene like in LONDON. Not a great story, but quick and fun to read the absurd dialogue as others have noted. Thanks for posting.
ReplyDeleteSadly, everybody got to the good goofy points before I could be snarky about it, so let's instead focus on one of the stranger elements of these stories.
ReplyDeleteWhy attack only attractive women? He just murders them and runs away. There's no other angle that makes it necessary for the victims to be attractive women. He doesn't need "young female blood", there's no sexual assault (though implied, maybe, page Dr. Wertham!), it just makes it harder to find victims.
Of course, the publisher screaming at the artist "draw more pretty dames, with long stems! I like the stems!" probably had something to do with it ...
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ReplyDeleteThe Irish cop (usually a likeable one) is one cliché I never seem to get tired of.
ReplyDeleteRE: Leonine
ReplyDeleteI thought he looked pretty unique too. Might just be a weird printing glitch, or the color passes aging differently, but if someone came along and told me the face had been altered on the cover art to look more like the odd werewolf inside the book, I would be easy to convince.
I love the panel where the wolf-man's claws are scrabbling at the edge of the building, and the one beside it where he's falling. Nice stuff. I also think the empty gun is one of the most effective examples of a circular panel, something I far more often than not completely detest.
This has been a great week!