Tuesday, February 28, 2017
Horror in the Glass
Eye doctor Rick writes in: "I recently received a copy of your terrific Devil Tales collection and love it. For obvious reasons I thoroughly enjoyed the Satan's Spectacles story on page 119 and was curious to know if there are more stories like this about evil glasses." Needless to say, after looking into this somewhat blurry inquiry, Mr. Karswell managed to shed some light on the December '51 - January 1952 issue of Dark Mysteries #4, thus bringing into focus a truly hazy crazy old gem that is indeed, just what the optometrist ordered! (Special guest appearance by Hank Hill, various panels.)
I went back and used the now wonderful tag system and looked at other jobs by this artist -- I'm not sure why he had such a Ditko vibe on this one.
ReplyDeleteIt's a fun little story, though it's not wonder he lost the girl -- the guy's all consuming hobby is eyeglasses! I also missed the stories where the artist drew in a skull for no reason. Maybe that should be a tag? "Extra Skulls." :)
I'm glad the tag system has been of use to you! I hope Master Karswell doesn't mind that I changed one tag from "mystic mirrors" to "artifacts of doom", as the glasses play a much bigger point in the plot than the mirror does...
ReplyDeleteTagging for "gratuitous scary things" (skulls and otherwise) might make an awfully large job...
So.... This ISN'T early Ditko? ..... I've always assumed his was a singular style.... Maybe he did the inking?
ReplyDelete@Nequam -- 'tiz only a joke, as many things I say. Trying to tag all the extra skulls, bats, and gnarled trees would be a herculean task! Hell, "how did X mysterious appear on the corpse in the grave" would take nearly as long!
ReplyDeleteMen shouldn't make passes over dead people's glasses.
ReplyDeleteInspiration for a horror comic story- A wronged sculptor creates lifelike masterpieces, the title of the tale, Medusa's Glasses!
ReplyDeleteSomeone else will have to illustrate the tale since my artistic talents are meager to say the least.
Oculist, occultist, whatevs.
ReplyDeleteWhile I have been known to do plenty of shit that might make a cat mad--cats being fairly perturbable, after all--wearing these glasses would never have been one of them. Not only do they look heavy, but the pad arms have actual freaking talons. My nose gets red using the regular kind. I'd end up with scratch marks all over my schnoz, just like all those times I got my face too close to a pissed off kitty. Perhaps this story is actually an allegory for poor sexual performance, then? Probably. What else can page two, panel five really mean?
"They're mine now, and I want the whole world to see them." Pretty big swagger if we're actually talking about evidence of grave robbery. Makes a lot more sense if we're talking about Ray's delusions of sexual prowess. Also, why wouldn't the corpse of Arthur Kent be wearing the glasses he was buried in? Pretty sure that's evidence that this whole shebang was really just a killing spree to cover up Ray's conjugal failings; but dressed-up, yet again, as the devil's work.
Does anyone remember a bizarre JLA story from the '70s where the heroes are forced to wear glasses that put them under the control of some villain?
ReplyDeleteNot sure I'd dig up a grave, and I don't wear glasses, but I want a pair - just on the design alone!
ReplyDeleteThat's just what I was thinking when I first saw them.
ReplyDelete