Wednesday, October 1, 2014

A Weird Picture of Murder

A not too totally terrible tale from this usually underwhelming, poorly edited Star Publications horror series, this one being the lead-off cover story from the March 1953 issue of Spook #23. George Peltz artwork is pretty flimsy and uneven, but the story does have a few moments and I actually really do like the two panels at the bottom of page 4. Cool cover art by L. B. Cole.








6 comments:

  1. The art was super uneven. Some panels are great, some the people look terribly warped and distorted. The last page almost looks like it was done by a completely different (and more accomplished) artist. How can this be?

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I see the editor had something better to do that day!

    The cover is ... interesting. Is it traced? Light box photo reference? The face and the skull look completely different from the rest of the image, as if redrawn later. Maybe re-used art from a non-horror title?

    The actual title "Weird picture of murder" looks like a later edition, also, as it's over a finger and isn't really placed correctly, though I do like the squeezed paint concept!

    ReplyDelete
  4. The ghost put the 'finger' on his killer.
    Something is wrong with the artwork but I cant put my finger on it.

    I think I will stop with the corny zingers now.

    The comic's story of the relationship between artist and model made me think of Andrew Wyeth and his favorite model Helga Testorf. The relationship didn't end in foul play but it most likely infuriated the spouses of both artist and model.

    ReplyDelete
  5. oh those temperamental artists...

    ReplyDelete
  6. "My Dirt..., Come to my stickies mistrustibility-ism i.e. view tightly, evernut yes or andromeda! [S]top Xpizza Jiggies bag so pink cyan now..... fraulein Finger"

    Yes. What did you mean by your letter, Fraulein?

    I love the left half of the cover. That's a really scary dude with really neat coloration. I am as skeptical of the right half as Mr. Barnes. At least the book wore its unevenness right out on the front!

    ReplyDelete