It's the first day of a brand spankin' new month here at
THOIA, and oh yeah, happy
April's Fools Day, fiends! Or wait-- is it
Easter and did
Mr. Karswell just pull a fast one on you and actually post a tale of death and resurrection? You will soon find out, as
L.B. Cole and
Jack Alderman paired up on art duties (dig that splash!) to spin you an eerie yarn of petrifying premature burial-- as well as love from beyond the grave! From the August 1944 issue of
Suspense Comics #5.
And you didn't really think I'd leave you without an Easter treat this year, did you? Well, hop on over to my other blog
HERE and sink your teeth into a fuzzy tale of holiday fun and fear and long ears and BIG appetites!
Hope everyone had a hoppin' great day too!
Very genteel, this story-- heck, the fact that the coffin was not fastened shut granted the lady an unexpected amount of mercy (since the door of the crypt was open to fresh air).
ReplyDeleteRather sweet ending to this one. Love how Julien doesn't even hesitate when he discovers what's become of Victorine and rushes immediately to her rescue.
ReplyDeleteI like how when you get locked into some places you are just "trespassing," but when you get locked into a cemetery vault you are "buried alive." Then your marriage is over and you presumably get to make up a whole new name and stop paying taxes.
ReplyDeleteHappy Easter! And April Fools' Day!
Even though it doesn't sound automatically familiar to me, I wonder if this story (since it's described as true) ended up in a lot of paranormal books, or maybe even a "ONE STEP BEYOND" episode.
ReplyDeleteThe buried alive tale is a genre unto itself, with stories of this kind pre-dating Poe's tale 'The Premature Burial'
ReplyDeleteAt least in this tale the would be victim is rescued from such a terrible fate.
The art was really well done in this tale. Thanks for the post Karswell.
This story looks like it's cobbled together from various Poe stories. It's not as good as the previous story, it relies on way to much narration and the way characters are introduced (you get the psychic connection before the introduction of the guy) is clunky.
ReplyDeleteStill, it's got some great art! There's some wacky perspective problems but that just ads to the fun. The splash is crazy but gorgeous.
Very much somebody trying to figure out how to do a good horror story. Interesting!
Thanks again for the comments and I hope everyone had a safe and fun holiday weekend. Speaking of, don't forget to check out the Easter story over at my other blog linked at the bottom of this post!
ReplyDeletePoe's "Premature Burial" is a very short story, and about 2/3 of it is an introduction with possibly true stories about that subject that Poe has learned (or maybe he just made them up, since he was famous for journalistic hoaxes). I haven't read it in some time, but I'm pretty sure one of them is about "star-crossed lovers," with the woman being buried alive and the man rescuing her, and the two of them running off together afterwards. So that might be THE inspiration.
ReplyDeleteThe "psychic link" between Julien and Victorine is what made me think of "Fortean" books and "One Step Beyond" episodes and so on.