to be continued...
Saturday, January 24, 2015
The Devil's Lies
Honoring the release of IDW / Yoe Books latest Chilling Archive collection, Tom Sutton's Creepy Things, we'll be taking a look at some Sutton for the next few posts-- more specifically, this epic two-part tale of satanic evil from the March 1975 issue of The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves #50, published by Charlton Comics. Sutton unleashes all the fury of Hell in this one, some really spectacular art absolutely bursting with towering, demonic power-- and wait until you see Part Two! Better say your prayers...
to be continued...
to be continued...
Love the artwork, that's an impressive Satan! Doc Graves must be slipping though, not instantly recognizing Mr Mainyard as old Scratch himself, the guy practically had smoke curling from his nostrils.
ReplyDeleteResolution of the first part is a little weak. A little wooden cross to stymie the Prince of Darkness? Maybe Doc will bring out the big guns in Part 2!
Ooh, man! No jokes here (no, not even on "Willie Charon/Nelson"). very good writing, incredible art, powerful stuff! I knew not this "Doctor Graves" character, and I regret it.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a better version of "Gabriel the Devil hunter" (minus Desadia, unfortunately). Surely that was a great decade for exorcists in comics.
At last, one serious Doctor after the last two posts!
(P.S.: Yes, you could say that wave a cross is a too simplistic way to defy Satan... and the doctor's right arm looks a little disproportional in last page, panel 4... but who cares?)
Have Never seen this one, good Sir Karswell...
ReplyDeletewe are a life-long fan of Mr. Sutton...Thank you so much for posting this story...!!!
... on a note... some of the panels have a much different "shading-style" than in most of his works...
And he did so enjoy H.P. Lovecraft and drawing "tentacled Monsters"...
When we began Art Classes (as a teen) his "line-style" was what we were trying for... His works were a very big influence on my life since we were Young...
... A "Part 2"....Awesome... we always enjoyed "Dr. Graves"... we posted the "Hell Fire Club" (also drawn by Sutton) a while back... looking forward to "Part 2"....!!!
ReplyDeleteHellfire Club is in the THOIA Archive as well! Thanks for the comments, part two coming up shortly
ReplyDeleteOne odd thing about the word balloons in SOME of the panels is that the one on the right is meant to be read first, a little like early cartoon word balloons (' 30s and ' 20s and earlier ones).
ReplyDeleteI can't help liking Dr. Graves' reaction to that snake, which is only an annoyed look, even though (it being a horror story) it's probably meant to be a Water Moccasin (though it also looks like a Diamond-Backed Water Snake). I have such a thing for reptiles that I'm not horrified by poisonous snakes either.
You may think the snake is a benign/neutral force of nature, an elemental or something, and is actually WARNING the doctor not to enter Satan's realm (remember Satan wants the doctor ALIVE, so the snake clearly does not obey this command).
ReplyDeleteWillie Nelson "never saw the creatures so stirred up" since their habitat has been usurped by Satan.
Poor serpents, Christianity turned them into a convenient symbol of Evil...
Must. Read. Part two.
ReplyDeleteIt's coming...
ReplyDeleteI love Sutton's work, there's a lot of Colan in it (who I love more) and it's well suited for gothic horror work. The only problem with the art here is Sutton kind of betrays the twist (it's obvious anyway) by drawing the husband as constantly gritting his teeth and looking evil, and the woman, except for a panel or two, as flowing and alluring.
ReplyDeleteThat's another comparison with Colan -- both could draw women in their scratchy styles but have them seem extremely feminine and gliding.
Of course, Graves, thoughtout the entire thing, has this great bemused smirk. That's the way I like my heroes!
Looking forward to part 2!
getting warmer...
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this Karswell.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for part two.
Thank you for this! Amazing stuff.
ReplyDeleteSatan as Mainyard looks quite a bit like Barnabas Collins. I think someone was watching some Dark Shadows.
ReplyDelete