Saturday, November 12, 2016
The Three Monkeys
Someone reminded me a few weeks ago via email that I had yet to upload the last of the stories from the April 1953 issue of Adventures into Darkness #9 --click the GCD link to get the other story titles and then just search the THOIA archive! Kind of surprising too, because it's a pretty good looking tale. (FYI: HAUNTED LOVE fans note, one story from this issue wound up in issue #1.
Well, while Jim never saw what was coming, we sure did!
ReplyDelete"Oh, Jim! You promised me you were through with traveling! We were going to make final plans for our wedding!"
ReplyDelete"It will have to wait! Now get out!"
Hold on to that one, Gloria, he's a gem!
Any story where someone says "AIEE-EE!" is tops with me.
Hey, I get it. Hands and feet, times three monkeys--that's twelve monkey's paws equaling thirty-six wishes! If I were Bradley, I'd start with a tube of aloe vera maybe.
ReplyDeleteThis story should have ended on page 2, with that riding crop Gloria was carrying rammed through his head! What a dick!
ReplyDeleteOne interesting part of this story is there seems to be no supernatural element; there's no ghosts, there doesn't seem to be a curse (he was caught by mortals), and there's really no reason for him to stay. He's being a little melodramatic with the "doomed, doomed!" speech.
Also, what the heck WAS Jim? A researcher? What? He was interested in the 3 monkeys and immediately forgot about them when he saw jewels!
Gloria really dodged a bullet, didn't she!
Those Atlas-Marvel horror stories (which I know well from reprint comics like "Where Monsters Dwell") have a real thing for intruders into cults like Jim, but they usually make the character twice as bad, like having him kill someone instead of bullying him.
ReplyDeleteThis is a little like the movie "Cult of the Cobra," except that that film has characters you feel more sorry for. Though I can't help feeling bad for Jim too.
This was one of the most common "horror" stories in the comic book world.
ReplyDeleteI can think of four other renderings right off the top of my head.
Thank you for all your hard work.