And I know, I still owe you guys one final story from that Mystic reprint-- it's coming up NEXT!
Saturday, April 22, 2017
HAUNTED HORROR #27 DOUBLE FEATURE
The final installment of Mr. Karswell's 3-issue "HORRORS OF IT ALL" thrillogy, aka HAUNTED HORROR #27 is finally in stores NOW, and Mr. K has a deadly double feature sampling of depraved sickness from said dead issue to gouge you right in your sockets! The Eyes of Horror first appeared in the June 1952 issue of Mysterious Adventures #8, while Modern Design originally made its debut in the March-April 1953 issue of Mister Mystery #10. I've included the original cover of Crime Mysteries #3 below as well so you can see and compare the type of editorial choices we occasionally make for the better of our own HH cover designs, we hope no one minds the changes. And apologies for the delay as I was in NYC for a few days and not able to update THOIA on the actual release date. So get it now-- get it while it's rotten!!
And I know, I still owe you guys one final story from that Mystic reprint-- it's coming up NEXT!
And I know, I still owe you guys one final story from that Mystic reprint-- it's coming up NEXT!
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10 comments:
Wait a minute, there's something in my eye...
That first story is wild, and the creature is the greatest.
The second, well... I love the non-joke opening, "Don't want to influence any of you, but you gotta watch out for these arty types. (expected pun here) THEY'LL REALLY KILL YA if you aren't ready for them." Huh?
the last panel is truly disturbing, though.
What's odd is that, when Lonny made Ruth into a lamp, he gave her what looks like a "jungle queen" sort of outfit!
Both particularly disturbing stories. I really enjoyed that first one. Everything seemed mutated by the radiation: the eye monsters, the politics -- the story's lettering! The whole eye monster mutation concept was really creepy and the monster itself was pretty well done. Was it a metaphor for communism and the Red Menace? I doubt it, but it seems to be pointing in that direction.
Yeah, I'm with Morbid. Something's up with that first story. I would love to see the original art boards for it. It plugs along perfectly fine till the monsters start popping out of eyes, after which much of the material relevant to that detail has obviously been altered--new dialog has been added to ill-fitting balloons, new captions have been forced into the bottoms of the panels. Even the lovely art looks like it may have been changed here and there (the final panel of page four, maybe: The art has been beautifully graceful so far, but here is an awkward open mouth with half-realized teeth. The monster looks like a cutout--coming from an odd part of the eye socket with a strange shadow). I would certainly guess that much of the plot of this story has been added, or at least altered, in an editorial process that happened after the art was turned in. I love stories that may have secret histories!
PS, I should mention that I think panel three of page two (of the Eyes of Horror) is one of the nicest one-frame pieces of artwork I've seen around here in a while, and part of a really super good-looking whole page. I was digging the art in this one so much that it made me really aware of what seem to be its inconsistencies.
I wonder, in 'The Eyes Of Horror', if the li'l beasty originally came out of people's mouths? That might explain all the changes. Mr.Cavin, your comment about the sloppy teeth got me thinking on that.
The Eyes of Horror is one of those interesting stories about where you draw the line with sci-fi vs horror. Of course, the line is gray and messy (the only place lines count is in sub-categories of metal :) ) -- but I'd put this one more in the sci-fi category if I had to.
I'm also with Mr. Cavin here, there must have been some rework. I think the eye monster is actually an addition to the story. It might have been a much simpler ghost/revenge story at one time.
Modern Design really, really, really overplays it hand. "Put part of me into it" is said from he first panel and then repeated over and over again! There's a writer that didn't trust the audience!
Most Cold War-oriented monster stories that I know of aren't exactly complicated (I'm thinking of those Atlas-Marvel ones that got reprinted in "Where Monsters Dwell" etc.), so "The Eyes Of Horror" was really surprising to me. The beginning even throws in the part about how recently the two countries were on the same side. It sounds like the writer really didn't know what to think of the whole subject, and I mean that in a good way.
Hope everyone enjoyed the three issue THOIA / HAUNTED HORROR mini series mash-up! When I started this blog way back in 2007, this was the dream to eventually bring some of these classic stories to print under the name of the blog that I had started-- and to be doing it for a publisher the likes of IDW was certainly much more than I ever bargained for! Thanks again to everyone at IDW and Yoe Books, and of course to all of you guys who continue to come to this website after all of these years and support Mr. Karswell's undying beast! Lots more to come-- stay tombed...
Kudos to you, Mr.K, for all the work you put into sharing these awesome tales. All I can say is..Good Lord(..choke..)!
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