Hope everyone has a great holiday-- we'll be back next week with at least a few more double features before the koo-koo clock strikes doo-doom on 2017. Stay too-toombed!
Saturday, December 23, 2017
The Lost City / Tough Guy
Woke up with the first snow of the year on the ground today-- yup, it's definitely winter now-- ugh! Anyway, with that in mind, how about a couple of chillers from the April 1953 issue of Journey into Unknown Worlds #17, starting off with a spooky Sheldon Moldoff trip to The Lost City. And if that story (plus the icy awesome Bill Everett cover) prove a bit too frightfully frigid for you, then let's turn the heat way up and venture way down into the lost paradise-- it's our second sinful feature, highlighted by some super satanic illustrations from the always underrated John Rosenberger.
Hope everyone has a great holiday-- we'll be back next week with at least a few more double features before the koo-koo clock strikes doo-doom on 2017. Stay too-toombed!
Hope everyone has a great holiday-- we'll be back next week with at least a few more double features before the koo-koo clock strikes doo-doom on 2017. Stay too-toombed!
For once, the terrible printing actually helps a story! The Lost City is full of great images and a lot of atmosphere. Obviously our co-pilot is evil right off the bat, but the dark shadows and the heavy inks make it all the better. I love how much he looks like Satan; one wonders if there was a bit of a rewrite anywhere or it was just left up to the reader. I really liked this one!
ReplyDeleteThe second one has great art and is a funny little tale -- through a modern lens it could be offensive, though, but you have to take art for the time that it was made. I thought for sure they were going to bring down his mother or wife (possibly even more offensive!) but no, it was clothes. Still fun. Two nice stories.
Happy Holiday's to Karswell and everybody here that comments and reads!
Could the writer have ever dreamed of the kind of laugh his choice of the name "Charro" would eventually get?
ReplyDeleteIt also gives a whole new vibe to the idea of being stuck on the plane with a co-pilot of that name. Not everyone likes EVERYTHING about the OTHER Charro, but for a male there would be worse fates than being stuck on a plane with her.
The second story seems just right for one of those early ' 70s Marvel reprint comics like "Vault of Evil" and "Crypt of Shadows" and so on. A lot of those stories tried to be funny to begin with, instead of just having punch line type endings.
The first one is rather strange to me--right off the bat, we know there's something creepy about Charro--heck he might have even killed off the original co-pilot. Yet it seems weird to me--if Charro's underwater city is so secretive--why did he want Rusty and Jimmy to visit it in the first place?
ReplyDeleteThe second tale made me laugh pretty hard--that was a good one!
Dynamite art twice in a row! Usually I am a little leery of the "it's really a dream!" third act reveal (and doubly so of the "no it's not!" late third act dream switcheroo), but the colorful writing really saves this one. Can't wait to see the Howard Hawkes movie!
ReplyDeleteHappy Christmas, Karswell (and everyone)!
RE: Tough Guy--Ah, yes. Toxic masculinity.
ReplyDelete