From the March 1953 issue of Weird Tales of the Future #6.
Friday, April 13, 2018
The Purple Mists!
Hey, it's SCARY SCI-FI FRIDAY so let's blast off for a gruesome little tale o'tomorrow adventure that I think you all will really enjoy-- highlighted by some super spooky art from HORRORS OF IT ALL fave and friend, Hy Fleischman! So Happy Friday the 13th, fiends, and what ever you do-- stay away from the mists!! AIEEEEE!!! (Cover art by Bernard Baily)
From the March 1953 issue of Weird Tales of the Future #6.
From the March 1953 issue of Weird Tales of the Future #6.
I just woke up but it feels like I'm still dreaming when I read this. It doesn't really seem like a science fiction story but more like a legend of explorers who visit a mysterious island. But that's the way most of Hy Fleischman's stories play out -- like folk tales.The men are even using knightly swords to cut through the jungle instead of machetes, and say things like: "Only humans know how to make fires." The drawing is Fleischman's usual solid job of detail and the acid-wash victims are absolutely great!
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ReplyDeleteYes, I believe it's implied that they killed the "monsters" without realizing one of them was possibly his brother
ReplyDeleteThere's an EC story -- possibly itself lifted from textual sources -- very much like this.
ReplyDeleteThe art is very cool, the dripping metal panel on page 2 is clever, and the acid-washed spacemen are good images. The story is all sorts of hard to believe to just absolutely impossible, but I think everybody above has covered that!
I like the length, just right for this kind of tale.
And Karswell, slow down! I don't think I've seen this blog this active since it's early days! You're going to kill yourself!
I always wondered what the purple stuff was in the fridge in those Sunny D commercials. Now after reading this comic, I no longer want to know...
ReplyDelete>And Karswell, slow down!
ReplyDeleteOk... see you all again sometime in June
And the circle starts again.
ReplyDeleteNice twist bit at the end, nice vintage story. Thanks again, Mr. K.!
Here's something you just don't see all that often: a black halftone screen. I'm used to seeing the nice even dots of Zip-A-Tone or CrafTint Duotone Paper employed here and there for detail by the artist/inker. Wally Wood used every process he could get his hands on, and Fleischman even uses some here in the rocket shading on page one. See, the dots are bigger. But this is a rare case of the colorist employing black dots along with the usual C/M/Y screens. Those dots are much smaller. I like it. They really pulled out all the stops making this one, visually. I'd love to know what it looked like before it aged sixty-five years on bad paper.
ReplyDeleteFleischman's always amazing. I love those bold details. The chunky splash and astronauts looking up at the night sky on page four are great images. And I like the walking acid zombies just as much as everybody else does.