Maurice Gutwirth nicely illustrates one of the more memorably sexy, precode vampire women of the 50's (love those upside down bat wings!), in this early
Ace horror tale from the January 1951 issue of
The Beyond #2. And how gorgeous is that
Warren Kremer cover!
For some of us, the name "Sinistra" and attractiveness go together even before reading this story. That's the name of Quinn O'Hara's femme fatale character in the comedy GHOST IN THE INVISIBLE BIKINI.
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ReplyDeleteI liked the feel of this one a lot. I was put in the mood of old Italian and Mexican gothic horror movies. In fact, I'm pulling some DVD's I haven't seen in a long, long time to watch later after reading this story. Casa Negra's stuff is great! I liked the twist end on this one -- it did surprise me for some reason, even though it was well set up. He's not a very cinematic illustrator, but you're right in that he's good with a comic book pretty girl. Thanks for posting this!
ReplyDeleteSo, you can't take a picture of a vampire, but using "infrared film" you can actually spot an invisible bloodsucker? Well... why not?
ReplyDeleteI love this Lunablanca, its dramatic-comedic writing is perfectly balanced ("I'll try to tow you out, senorita... or is it senora?"; "If i can get past the old sourpussed hag of a countess who owns the joint" ... "I am Countess Sinistra!"... quite a nerd, this guy, I like him.)
I'd like to know who wrote it. The art is fine, I didn't know Mr. Gurtwith. His lovely vamp reminds me of Margaret Brundage's covers, only more "cinematic".
"You won't need that camera anymore! You won't need ANYTHING anymore! Not even a grave! What I leave of you, the rats will finish!"... Vamp Queen of the month!
And we have mediterranian countries (Italy, Spain, Greece) as vampire dens, in the great gothic tradition.
Mestiere is right: Franco didn't join the Axis because he was, as Fidel Castro said, "a cunning Galician". Hitler said he'd rather have "three or four teeths pulled off", than have to speak to such a man again. He was obviously immune to the Fuhrer's charm. Unfortunately, Mussolini wasn't.
But I digress. One last remark: mistreating of Italian language is, in my opinion, far worse in pre-code horror comics.
I'm going to a bar and scream I CLAIM YOU FOR MY OWN! I suspect it'll work, or do I need to kill a vampire first?
ReplyDeleteIf I'm going to get killed by a vampire, I guess the one in the miniskirt would be good. Of course, that's all she had going for her and she was the worst vampire I've ever seen. I would say she couldn't catch an injured man that just fell a couple stories but she actually couldn't!
Jokes aside, I like the way the vampire woman was drawn, very inhuman poses, tall, slim, with batwings. A lot of the kind of work you'd see Colan do later, just without the fine draftsmanship.
Dying in the clutches of a blood-sucking vampire is apparently fairly wimpy! I love the art in this, especially page seven. The middle panels are all quite good, but I have a soft spot for anything as graphically poetic as seeing a castle window shatter into lightning bolts as Rick escapes through it. Awesome! Plus, I agree with everyone that this was a great vamp design: Like Irma Vep and Robert Blake's Great Red Dragon had a baby. Some kind of Seven Year Itch revenant, her bat wings forever blown up by the hot fumes from hell's subway grate. Totally magical!
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ReplyDeleteI don't think that line "Maria and I shouldn't worry" is actually an error. I think it's just a variation of lines like "I should care," which actually means "I DON'T care."
ReplyDeleteOr maybe it IS an error, I don't know.
"Why wouldn't the girl clean up the castle?" is right. Since she's already under the Countess' power in general, you'd think she'd have become her "Cinderella."
I definitely agree with Trevor Markwart. I've always incredibly attached to Italian horror films, from the ones considered masterpieces all the way to the ones considered awful. It took me a long while to finally catch many Mexican ones, but now I'm the same way about them.
Link to the slide doesn't work.
ReplyDeleteI was referring to:
http://hubpages.com/hub/Classic-Hollywood-Pin-Up-Girls
Jane Russell as the Countess.
Without the obvious choice of Maila Nurmi, I think I'd pick Merle Oberon in that role... pictures of her ( in her earliest acting days ) she has a very seductive and sexy vampiric look to her, almost cat like
ReplyDeleteI don't have much to add but I wanted to say that this was a great vampire tale, it deserves a big thumbs up for the sexy vampire alone.
ReplyDeleteI was going to suggest, as I generally do in all things, a twentysomething Hedy Lamarr (especially for the bits of this double role where she is mortal)--but I think Merle Oberon is a marvelous choice! I would also be enthusiastic about Mia Sara, who played Oberon in the TV miniseries Queenie. Or perhaps Amanda Donohoe, who may actually already be a vampire.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, stuck on classic Hollywood I forgot Amanda Donohoe from the "white worm"!...
ReplyDeleteMaybe Veronica Hamel should have been a fine vampy in her Hill Street days.
Merle Oberon, great, but Russell looks a bit more "tigress". Must admit Hedy (not Hedley!) Lamarr is a perfect choice for a surprisingly vast number of roles.
Way fab image of Sinistra when she first appears in Manning's room.
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