Friday, January 16, 2015
The Fangs of the Fiend
Here's a weirdly illustrated ACG tale from the August 1952 issue of Forbidden Worlds #8. I say "weirdly" because sometimes Art's art here is awesome, and sometimes it's unusually less than so... but it's at least always fun and generates an interesting atmosphere of shadows and swirling mists and leering faces everywhere on the walls and vases. I guess I'm just all "WTF Panel 4, Page 2??!!"
There's certainly some art that's a bit goofy here and there, but one thing I like about it is the artist never skimped on the backgrounds. A lot of artists in this period would have a lot of solid backgrounds, and this guy (or gal) is pretty much always filling the panels.
ReplyDeleteColoring isn't that bad, it's off centered, but it's lush.
The story's got a lot of unnecessary "as it turns out" stuff, but is still a fun, breezy read.
I especially like the ghost and the drooling native zombies, they are as good an image as the werewolf is silly.
a good read Sir Karswell... and an enjoyable tale..
ReplyDeleteI really like Nora's almost complete lack of facial expressions...like she's seriously Botoxed! Gugh!
ReplyDeleteHow ironic is this, my son owns a comic book store in State College. I'll have to tell him about your site. And yes, I do have a few comic book character cookbooks, lol...
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing, J.D.
When I read: "Nothing to worry about, honey! I had the necklace in my shirt pocket – and the fangs gashed my chest when I fell!" I almost fell of my chair laughing. It's so on-the-nose that it's hysterically funny.
ReplyDeleteI looked at "WTF Panel 4, Page 2??!!" and wasn't sure what you meant, but what struck me is how inept Page 4, Panel 2 is. Especially how there's some good creative stuff in here -- he can obviously draw better than that in quite a number of panels. How did that happen? Was this a jam with the ACG office boy given a chance?
However, a very entertaining tale with a bizarre ape/werewolf monster. Thanks for posting!
That's exactly what I meant-- that panel is atrocious! haha
ReplyDeleteI think Louise has me confused with JD somehow?!
This is yet another story that clashes with that image that earlier suspense stories have, the image that they have "helpless female" characters and nothing BUT helpless ones. Maybe Nora is pretty resourceful, and of course there's the part where she refuses to leave Jim's side, and they solve the whole thing together. (Maybe Jim sound a little chauvinistic when he says "I'm seeing to it that you get rid of this place," but that's only after Nora makes it clear that she feels the same way.)
ReplyDeleteI'm just glad this one doesn't have a grim ending. Everything about it seems to lead up to a nice one for the two of them, and that's what you get.
Dang, that has to be the most words I've ever seen in a final panel. Holy cow! Keep 'splaining, Lucy! I really loved this headlong werewolf lunacy--even with the occasionally stiff art and intermittently boring coloring. I loved all the flamboyant forced perspective panels, with huge, unnecessary foreground objects (that last page two image is particularly wonderful: the candle seems to be slouching down the hallway just the same as the couple). The car crash panel at the bottom of page three is particularly magnificent. I also really liked the werewolf. It kind of reminded me of a Kurtzman monster.
ReplyDeleteYouse guys is nuts. Dis art is da beez neez!
ReplyDeleteMy two cents: writer says to Art: "Be sure kids can see the ghost has one finger missing while he grabs the necklace, and I also want a very close look at his ghastly face"...
ReplyDeleteNot the smartest of helpful ghosts, anyway. Once he took the damned thing, he should have gobbled it, or destroyed it in some way (matter of fact, he should have done this before his death). But who knows? Ghosts have strange ways...
If I was a native spirit, I'd be very angry for being stuck in a cellar thousands of miles from Homeland, without the comfort of at least some bottles of Amontillado...
The Ghost, the Natives and the Furry monster are the best things to see anyway. The latter reminds me of "the curse of the Mandibles", a great Dr. Drew story reprinted in the Eighties in an issue of Mr. Monster (Morbid you already realized I love the character and one reason is the many great 50's comics reprinted and analyzed in the Eclipse run).
There's only one Karswell but, you know, accidents happen...
I was about to write: "My two cunts: writer says to ..." etc.
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ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong, I still really like the art here, wonky or slick, this early ACG effort by Art Gates (as credited by GCD) is still pretty wild, weird and wonderful. Check the THOIA archive for more examples by him.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the great comments!
.....My Feelers of Horror loved the sometimes "Caligari"-like dimensions, & jam-packed panels, but my favorite one here is definitely on page 4, 3rd panel....I mean, Lookit that guy! yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!....That's some scary shit right there, bro!
ReplyDeleteIndeed! That is a beasty not to be messed with!
ReplyDeleteNew post coming right up...