Sunday, July 26, 2015
Down to Death!
The final post from the Nov '52 issue of Chamber of Chills #14 is also the cover story, though the hairy creature on the cover wearing lipstick, and the green alien in the actual tale inside couldn't possibly be any different. And mixing a bit of sci-fi with horror for an oddly familiar plot we've seen around here a few times before, it gets a bit muddled towards the end but that just qualifies it even more for this superbly crazy ass issue. Rounded-out with a one-page bonus about superstitions and I'd say we've got ourselves another full issue presentation under our belts --check the previous three posts for all of them! Hope you enjoyed it!
I think the art is perfect here. Love Ailos, he's better than the hairy Drag Queen on the cover. Some weakness in logic, though, but that's quite unimportant. In the end ,the "Thing" kills ALL his food providers and will have to wait for another stupid human. But we had to see Trask getting what he deserved. It's like messing with Satan, you're bound to lose no matter what. In a 50's comic I mean. Maybe it would have been different 15 years after, in an underground magazine.
ReplyDeleteI really like the panel where Trask stalks the streets looking for children. The things you have to do to be a millionaire...
"15 years LATER"... Not AFTER. Brain aging is tragedy :(
ReplyDeleteWow, the same plot as another story in the same issue ("The Devil's Necklace")! That has to be a record!
ReplyDeleteI think the cover/interior was a mess-up in editorial somewhere, as the caption describes the creature as "furred" but obviously not drawn that way. It's not surprising that nobody tried to at least fix the caption, but these comics were usually produced pretty fast on a tight schedule and meant to be disposable.
I'm not sure what the artist was trying to get at with the mouth, but there's a couple good panels here -- page 2/panel 2 is a good use of foreground and background.
Thanks for another complete issue!
Interesting side note -- the monster bears more than a distinct resemblance to Teneshad from Alex Toth's "Murder Mansion" in Adventures in Darkness #5, save for a few cosmetic differences (tusks and a pointed nose in place of a beak); indeed, there are even some panels which seem to be near-swipes of the story in question. I don't wish to cast aspersions on the inker, whomever he may be (ComicBookPlus suggests Rocco Mastroserio, which seems likely), but it seems clear that the anonymous penciller was biting Toth's style a little.
ReplyDeleteWhoa. It's kind of hard to imagine exactly where the monster from the actual story would even wear his lipstick. I love the swampy slobbermouth effect on the creature design here--especially in those panels, like the third one on page two, where that effect has been achieved by dry-brushing white-out. It seems like something of an improvement on the Toth original if you ask me. Monsters and stuff were never really Toth's strong suit, so he seems an odd choice for swipee in this case. Speaking of the sincerest form of flattery, I really dig the love letter to Goya's Saturn on page four. Now that's taking fro the best.
ReplyDeleteThe idea for this story was recycled (or if you prefer, swiped) in the story 'Sewer Horror' posted on February 20, 2009 on one of the worlds greatest blogs (Karswell's blog of course, the other one tied for world's best is "And Everything Else Too")
ReplyDeleteConsidering all, and I mean ALL you do for this labor of love, stating the obvious that these are the two best blogs in the world is the least we the readers can do for you, Karswell. Gotta give credit where credit is due, its only fair.
Now back to the comic story-
Trask should have asked Alios if Trask could build a mansion along the side of the cavern so Trask could invite guests to his desert retreat telling them it would be a trip they would never forget as long as they lived (which wouldn't be long with Alios's appetite.)
What a great way to get rid of enemies, rivals, gold digging girlfriends, etc. -lead them to the space man's cave for dinner (as the main course.)
The one pager was interesting, though I have to wonder if the superstitions were true or made up or a bit of both.
Super awesome if you to say, JMR, thank you very very much 😊
ReplyDeleteIt also resembles that story about the lighthouse keeper and the sea creature from over a year ago (I can't think of its name). Except that Peter doesn't seem to have any qualms about the deal, even at the beginning.
ReplyDelete