Saturday, January 13, 2018
Princess of the Subway
A. C. Hollingsworth had not one, but two stories featured in the Oct / Nov 1952 issue of Eerie #9 (see our previous post if you missed it somehow), and yes, it's another bit of artistically uneven fun, but this time spiced-up with a little more sexiness-- and a whole lot more weirdness!
Wow. OK, this one is a winner. The story just bounces along at a breakneck speed (to the point where it could use some editing), it's got skeletons, monsters, weird ladies, punching, and a truly goofy EC ending. 10 year olds back in the day must have loved this.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of loving things, I wonder if the bikini pin-up at the top was reworked from the original art? No where in this story was she dressed like this, and it's really just a slight change from how she is dressed in the story. Did the artist take it on himself to do this? Oe an editor? Not that I'll ever get an answer, but it's certainly interesting.
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ReplyDeletePage four, panel three is my favorite because for some bizarre reason, Dave's arm is dangling over the next panel while his speech bubble is on the next page looking like it's coming from his mouth on the prior panel.
ReplyDeleteAlso, did you like as the gun WHEN off? haha
ReplyDeleteThe princess of the depths was mean, thoughtless, uncaring and rude-
ReplyDeletea typical New Yorker of today, and possibly back in the day.
If these fish people are supposed to be Lovecraft's Deep Ones they certainly have not mastered the art of deep thinking. 'A subway car today, tomorrow the world' is such a logic free plan its no wonder one guy was able to stop them.
As always, thanks for the posts, Karswell. Even a logic free horror tale is a welcome treat.
I guess there really is just something about Hollingsworth. Maybe he liked to draw every few panels with his left hand or something? At least this story has reasonably matched lettering from panel to panel, and because of that did not seem so much like a paste job. Mr. Barnes' makes an excellent point about the princess' outfit, which really might have been a last-minute editorial change--but I wonder if maybe it wasn't changed the other way 'round. It's a little frustrating to figure because the fishy lass is wearing something slightly different in many panels (a suit with a buttoned jacket here, a belted jacket there, layers), but there are a few panels with enough abdominal detail to look like the instruction was to cover an exposed midriff rather than the other way around.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of that, I really dug that big panel at the top of page four. It's so energetic and well composed it could be a Kirby swipe. It's so good the boring colorist even got it mostly right.
But my favorite panel is number six on page two. What an excellent way to step right out of the expected narrative and into empty space: "Ah! Now we'll see who will rule on land--as well as under the water!" If I had a nickel for every time I've had that very thought....
I can't help liking that up in the air ending. Sure, she's been caught, but you don't see what happens next.
ReplyDeleteI dunno, I think the fish-lady had a pretty solid plan. I mean, look at the chaos just one errant train caused - "Don't schedules mean anything to you, you clown?".
ReplyDeleteReally dug this one.
I got to this by googling the phrase "round lidless eyes of a fish". I can remember seeing this as a ten year old, in Wales in the 70s. It really disturbed me. I was suspicious off ladies with sunglasses for a long while.
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