Friday, October 13, 2017
Gone is the Gargoyle
Ger calls this "one of Mort Drucker's earliest", and yes friends, it's another Atlas Tale, and this time it's from my incredibly water damaged copy of the October 1954 issue of Marvel Tales #127. This is seriously a particularly excellent issue, be sure to check the archive for "Skrak's Secret", "Buried Alive!", and "Vampires Also Die!".
This is one heck of a weird horror story. If the police officer was the gargoyle's son, how come he could wander around in a human guise and not his father? Why the heck was the gargoyle constantly going after people and not the police officer if he too was a gargoyle? Why was the main gargoyle going after his son's new wife?
ReplyDeleteI know I'm not supposed to question things like this but the entire thing was really bizarre.
Also, pink Eiffel Towers? XD!
Well, I didn't see that one coming. A real twisted twist ending, just the way most THOIA followers like it.
ReplyDeleteInteresting! I didn't know Drucker did any work prior to MAD Magazine!
ReplyDeleteWow. That took a turn there at the end I was not expecting.
ReplyDeleteThe Atlas Tales scan of the cover is just about as water damaged as yours is. The whole run must've fallen in a lake at some point. Honestly, I think it looks pretty good that way.
ReplyDeleteAbrupt, but what twist! Great premise with the gargoyle coming to life and killing. You get this feeling that something is seriously not right with him, but it's held far beyond the reader's ability to even guess. And he's so nasty to his bride. The ending was haunting! It's one of those things that opens up the imagination to fill in a crazy backstory. All kinds of levels there. Good art, too. Thanks for posting this one, Karswell!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great issue this is. Seems worthwhile to seek out a decent condition copy for posterity. I may do that.
An early Drucker work in horror? Much different than his later work, and there's a bit of Ghastly in this -- and almost seems like Ploog in a couple places (page 1, panel 3, for instance.) Of course Ploog came later but Ploog had a lot of Ghastly in him. Here, I suspect Drucker was trying to ape EC a bit (I doubt he was told to, Stan usually let the artists do what they wanted and Atlas was much better off for it.)
ReplyDeleteIt's a fun story with a bizarre left field ending. I like the cover. It's more comical than horror, which is sometimes the point.
This was written when a story about a Frenchman who acts cowardly could be a mystery to solve. Now - at least in COMEDIES - it's a huge cliche that you can't get away from!
ReplyDeleteI had this comic once upon a time. Found it in an abandoned building. The cover was smeared in motor oil waste. Made for some careful reading.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Mort Drucker, one of my favorite artists.
Brian Riedel