Monday, January 18, 2016

The Devil's Bottles

Another devilish tale that I wish we could've fit into my DEVIL TALES collection (available Feb. 9th, click HERE to order NOW!) --with scans also supplied by our fellow cohort in evil, Mike Howlett (see last post as well), this is a frighteningly fun yarn from Hell illustrated by underrated artist Hy Fleishman. Originally presented in the December 1952 issue of Weird Mysteries #2 (which contains one of my all time favorite comic book covers ever too), Stanley Morse later reprinted this one in the August 1954 issue of Mister Mystery #18, which is in fact a complete reprint of the entire contents of WM#2 but with different cover art.















4 comments:

  1. I like the Fleishman art. I don't know if he was underrated, it's just that pre-code comics had such incredible artists that just being good isn't good enough to get to the top of the pack.

    One fun thing about the art -- Hy was obviously trying to make the landlady an old bitty, but the minute she gets pushed down the stairs she's got a rocking body and a tight shirt. He just couldn't help himself!

    I like how the ending plays out, the minute our "hero" uses the 4th bottle, suddenly you know what's up, but it saves the second twist -- that he's now going to be another bottle occupant -- for the end. Which, in fact, isn't so bad now, is it? He was destined for hell, but instead of burning he's stuck in a bottle, getting out to perform evil acts. That has to be a slight improvement!

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  2. I know this one through reading some pre-code/public domain horror comics on comicbookplus.com. Now here's a man who definitely deserves what's coming to him at the end. He has absolutely no remorse once his revenge is fulfilled. He's a bad man from the start, stealing from his company--and again, no guilt, only blaming everyone else for what he did. The fourth bottle wish is a whammy of a twist--and a clever way to get him to open the forbidden bottle and lose himself to the Devil in the process.

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  3. Neat to see those linear screen tints (what, half tint instead of quarter?) in a fifties story. I'm more used to seeing them in stuff from the forties. Wolverton used them a lot, lines and dots in conjunction just like here. It's pretty neat to get so much tonal control over each color; but the effect is sometimes zany and busy, just like golf clothes.

    It's a good candidate for your upcoming "Dumb Criminal Masterminds" book. Can't wait!

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  4. Har! I'd love to compile a Dumb Criminals collection... there's certainly enough stories to fill quite a few volumes! :) Thanks for the comments! More deviltry coming up!

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