Saturday, October 7, 2017

The Face in the Picture

How about another weird classic from the Nov. '51 issue of Mystic #5? It's a 7 page story too (!!!) which seems unusually lengthy for an Atlas horror tale-- but I'm not complaining! I mean, the monster in the splash is pretty goofy, and you'll see that ending coming from a mile away, but the attractive Al Hartley girls really keep this one sailing along!















So. Everyone's behaving themselves nicely. And as long as this nice behavior stays consistent, then so will my own desire to post more Atlas tales. Seriously. The second anyone starts acting like a fucking little douche bag again --and you know who you are-- it's OVER. No more Atlas. EVER.

10 comments:

  1. Don't ban Atlas, Karswell, ban the haters instead.
    What better way to deal with the trolls than to banish them? If trolls can't post they become powerless, which is the one thing they can't stand but can't defend themselves from either.

    All horror comics should be given a chance to be seen, especially Atlas, since this might be one of the few places to see the work of the writers and artists who worked for Atlas. It would be a shame for their work to become forgotten over time.

    As always, Thank you so much Karswell for the hard work you do to bring us these great horror comics.

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  2. I didn't mean to get you upset Karswell, but I can understand your frustrations with the anti Atlas crowd.
    No hard feelings I hope.

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  3. Yeah, I saw the "twist" coming a mile a way. Then again, that sexy next door neighbor had the last name of Leach--which is already a clue in itself.
    This is already a weird story to begin with because unlike most horror stories where the husband is in an affair and plotting to kill his wife--the wife in question is actually pretty.
    Things get pretty crazy though once the doctor friend gets added to the story making Paul's decision to finally kill his wife because she must be a monster in disguise really wild. I am amused by how Paul actually believes his dying doctor friend rather than taking him for a man going delusional during his final moments.

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  4. I also love that aside from the splash page and the panel showing the monster's foot, we really don't get to see the monster's actual form until the very end in the picture.

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  5. Not upset, but of course not many of you know the whole story. And these jerk offs are not anti-Atlas, they're Atlas Only Matters and everything else I post is apparently garbage... that line of comment can eternally suck a fat one

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  6. A good read, but the story only works because of how amazingly convenient it is! His wife has a phobia, but she's not the monster. His neighbor happens to be a monster. He happens to be friends with the only guy that knows about the monsters, and their weakness happens to be our hero's hobby.

    And why the hell is Maida up to? Why all the work to capture our hero? This is long before he knows anything is up! Also: "Clean breast of the thing." Paging Dr. Wertham! :)

    Hartley does a great job, and I like his monster, as goofy as is it. I poke fun but this is another good Atlas tale.

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  7. Clara and Maida are both lucky Facebook and similar things haven't come along yet, though not for the same reasons. Maida and her group would be exposed on the Internet, and Clara would go into ten times more of a rage finding out SHE'S all over the Internet.

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  8. Poker? I hardly know her!

    I feel like Hartley was channeling Romita just a little here, especially in those first few romance-like pages. I mean, Paul's a dead ringer for Peter Parker in some of those panels.

    Thanks for the Atlas. Keeping my fingers crossed that the situation is finally over and we can all go maturely forward, forgetting all about it.

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  9. Page seven, panel four: I distinctly remember seeing that exact same panel in an EC comic...but I can't remember which one, so I don't know who copied who.

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  10. Found it! Tales from the Crypt #24, "Midnight Snack" second to last panel. Came out a few months earlier.

    It's not exactly the same, but it's pretty close.

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