Saturday, September 29, 2018
Two-of-a-Kind! / Double Trouble
As we've seen over the years around here, sometimes the crime comics can actually out horror even the most horrific horror comics, and today's deadly double beheader from the July 1954 issue of Fight Against Crime #20 is no exception! A real two-of-a-kind with some serious double trouble, not to mention the SOTI worthy cover art (!!!) is just the icing on the severed head cake! GCD has no artist information on either story or the cover, unfortunately... anybody know anything?
Strange how the first story creates sympathy for the homicidal couple, at least for me. Whereas the second story just has a couple of schmucks get their comeuppance.
ReplyDeleteA gruesome twosome so unwholesome. The moths on the faces in the first tale. The bloody mess of the second offering. A great waker-upper. Thank you Mr. K.
ReplyDeleteTwo of a Kind wouldn't have been out of place in an EC comic, (though I'm guessing it was a swipe of one of their tales) or as a reprint in Eerie or Creepy.
ReplyDeleteYou are right, Karswell, some of these crime comics go toe to toe with most horror comics in the fright department.
I agree with Todd, in the first story I actually feel somewhat sorry for Eileen and having to deal with her overly clingy mother. Yet at the same time, thanks to the artwork constantly making Frank look creepy, I kept thinking Frank was going to double-cross Eileen and murder her.
ReplyDeleteAlso,any story that involves murdering a dog disgusts me--I actually LOVE that last twist in the story--not only does Nathan get away safely--he even unintentionally brings over evidence from the murder.
Also, anyone else getting a kick out of the fact that the wiener dog is named Nathan?
The other tale has a nice taste of karma at the end when Hank accidentally runs over Gloria.
Ooh yeah, there are totally horror. The first one could push it a little further, I guess ("But honey, I butchered the dog *first* --choke!"), but I find that in general, it's these crime stories that are the most truly dedicated to depictions of violence. The odd zombie design notwithstanding, we rarely see spectacular head trauma in a spookie-doo story--at least not on the order of what we're seeing here today.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite panel is probably page five, panels six of the first story (panel four is a close second), where Nathan is hanging the ax back up. If you boiled this story down to one image, that one is surprisingly effective: An ode to domestic psychopathic modus operandi and character-driven hope for the future. Maybe pride in a job well done.
This is great stuff!
ha ha. I mean *Frank*, not Nathan. Nathan is the dog. I apparently have my own version of the first story going on, in which the family pet plays a much, much larger part in the conspiracy.
ReplyDeleteFrom Mr. Calvin-"Nathan is the dog" Maybe you were thinking of Nathan's hot dogs, now that would be a shocking twist to this twisted tale. A bad taste twist but a twist all the same.
ReplyDeleteMan the art on these two is pretty hardcore.... I like how in the first tale the faces turn MONSTROUSLY EVIL!
ReplyDeleteI do not like that first story, and it's not because of the writing or the pacing or the art ... the mother deserved to die, and deserved to die gruesomely. Sure, the solution was murder, but the mother robbed the daughter of her entire life, or her very happiness, and her chance for a future. That's nearly as eye for an eye as you can get. So the ending really gives me a awful feeling, even though you knew it was coming. Ugh. They deserved to live happily ever after!
ReplyDeleteThe second story was just fun, it was a horror story just without the ghost egging one of them on, it happened by pure accident. It would have take just 1 or 2 panel change to become an obvious horror story! The comically goopy blood on the truck on the last page was very Eerie pubs!
I agree with glowworm2 about Nathan. It seems like in x amount of stories with nasty people who have pets, you're almost invited to feel the same way about the pet as the human character (like Zsa Zsa Gabor's lapdog in "The Painted Mirror" on NIGHT GALLERY). So I'm glad Nathan ended up all right.
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