Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Snow Madness
A polar vortex has descended upon the midwest this week, so to assist in the cool down, here's an ice cold chiller originally presented in the August 1954 issue of Dark Mysteries #19, --and apologies for the quality, some black and white reprints tend to be a bit on the dark side thanks to the original lousy reproduction. So stay cool, ghouls! Lots more blood freezers coming up all this month!
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ReplyDeleteI've read so many of these "who's the vampire" stories that I basically assumed it was the tow truck driver, but for the twist to work, the driver has to forget he's a vampire. Don't remember that from the lore!
ReplyDeleteI like the suspenseful nature of the story, though, and the mind games the tow truck driver plays on himself.
I actually kind of like the B&W nature of this, even as dark as some of it is. The splash with the skeleton probably looked a lot goofier in color. Here, it a great image. The weather probably looks a lot more ominous in the stark B&W also.
A neat twist on the monster with amnesia angle, similar to the man-turns-into-werewolf and can't recall what he did under the night of the full moon.
ReplyDeleteNow which do you suppose was more chilling in the story, the frigid snowstorm or the icy fear that gripped the woman's heart when she realized her doom at the fangs of the vampire?
This story made a strong impact on me, not because of the vampire in the tale but because of the winter weather that played a supporting role in the story.
This year along my part of the east coast we had a snow storm almost every week. It felt like winternatiy, it was even mild to almost chilly until mid-June! With a winter like this one we had, I'm tempted to become a fan of global warming.
For those experiencing the cooler temperatures in the middle of the country, Don't Knock It! At least the air conditioning bill will be lower this year over last. Of course, if it is cool now I can only imagine what winter will be like come November.
Mestiere: Frankly, I'd bet that a lot of pre-code comic writers didn't feel like they could completely trust the art to do half the heavy lifting of the storytelling simply because of the possible terrible nature of the printing--seen here in shifty color-leached and post ink-washed terribleness; but often seen in badly registered and otherwise misaligned full color badness, too. Well, that and also because, often, whatever artist got the assignment really was perfectly terrible (and sometimes the colorist was, too). Better safe than sorry, you know.
ReplyDeleteBut the art here was wonderful! Even the egregious posthumous mishandling that saw it into this particular reprint couldn't diminish it much. I love the snowy claustrophobia of all those vehicle interiors. It sure would be nice to see the original pages (or printing) sometime.
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ReplyDeleteIndeed! Great points from everyone, glad you guys dug it despite the poor printing.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to say the twist really worked on me, due to those "mind games he plays on himself," as one of you put it.
ReplyDeleteDue to the twist, that opening scene will really stay with me - a vampire who reads pulp magazines! (And even finds one of the stories too sad.)