Sunday, April 2, 2017
The Coffin Maker!
Hey, looky here-- IT'S A NEW POST! So sorry folks, been very busy on a variety of other related horror projects lately. But to make up for it I'll be posting the October 1951 issue of This Magazine is Haunted #1 in its entirety over the next week... errrr... except it's not exactly TMIH1, but instead the early 60's L. Miller and Son black and white UK reprint from their strangely titled Mystic series (Mystic #30, to be exact.) "Wait a second!" you scream-- wasn't Mystic an Atlas title?!! Ummm, yes... you know what? It's a long dull story, so let's skip it and read a satanically creepy story already, one with nice art from Sheldon Moldoff in fact! More from this b/w reprint up next...
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12 comments:
Glad you are posting again, Karswell, but I think all followers of THOIA understand you have commitments that need your attention and from time to time the blog must take a backseat (business before pleasure as Hiram Frawley knew so well.) If the reason was you had commitments as far as dealing with own lil red devil statue we sure Don't want to know the details! (I guess we all have our own lil devils to deal with from time to time.)
Carlotta's interest in going down into the workroom would unlikely happen in real life, who in their right mind would want to go into a room where the dead are kept or being embalmed? Most women (and men) would rather do darn near anything else besides spend time in a funeral parlor or workroom containing the deceased. Spend time in a funeral parlor or have that root canal done? Where's the number of that dentist?
I am glad this story was published in the UK so horror fans across the pond could enjoy some 50's horror fun.
Thanks JMR!
Best wishes, good Sir Karswell... Always enjoy your posts !!!
An interesting story, and old horror art in B&W is always a treat to behold. Removing the usually garish or just misprinted colors reveals some great art and the stark B&W helps the shadowing (there's some great work in the last 3 pages.)
Ending is a little confused, though, first she prays, and then rises out of the coffin as if the praying did it, only to find out later it wasn't. It could be thought of as a red herring but it's too close to the real ending. That's a nit pick, though.
It's also interesting that the hero of our story is vain, nose-y and greedy for material possessions. Usually that'd be the victim for the comeuppance!
So that horror thing you're working on is the 2nd SoBM album, right? :)
This is a good day -- a new discovery by me of really good illustrator from the golden age of horror comics that somehow I had not taken notice of before! And there it is to the left, thanks to the heroic efforts of the mysterious Nequam, a whole treasure trove of Sheldon Moldoff to have a look at all tagged with just a click. Thanks, Karswell!
She deserved a gruesome fate.... Brainless, Vain and Greedy.... She gets the fortune because of a two minute prayer... God can be a d**k sometimes! :-)
An unusual twist to this tale--the gold digger actually makes it out alive in the end.
Lovely art, though I believe with the right color job the mood of the story could be more atmospherically gloomed. In black and white, this very contrasty work comes over a little too brightly lit. It would be a great candidate for a spot color job. All it really needs is a blue pass.
I thought the ending was pretty clever. I usually feel it's a missed opportunity to merely hint at out-of-frame horrors in comics, but the lack of a realized Devil in this one adds just the right question mark to the end. I mean, the story of an psycho undertaker who picks and chooses his own targets of opportunity is pretty spooky, whether or not the Devil really did make him do it.
Though I've read about him, this also my first exposure to Moldoff's work: he draw real goodly!
The story is a little weak, but the B&W (again) works a treat.
It's funny how this is more or less "Bluebeard" with a supernatural
side and without any previous wives.
It sounds "shallow," but it's funny how these characters often wish for everything but a change in their physical appearance. Hiram even says that before the deal he made, he was "an ugly creature to be ridiculed," but he either couldn't or just DIDN'T add anything about THAT to the deal. If he had, Hiram might have given Carlotta a pretty wild honeymoon along with all that jewelry!
Regarding the weak ending--"is the praying a red herring?"--I took it to mean that heaven had sent that last coffin, to put an end to the devil's deal. Certainly the devil wouldn't have killed his own agent if everything was working to his advantage!
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