Saturday, September 22, 2018
Web of the Widow
Keeping the bone scorchin' thrills a'creepin' with another one from the August 1954 issue of Haunted Thrills #16. Man oh man, isn't that a great splash! And please don't let that gigantic block of opening narrative text turn you off-- this one is worth its webs in gold! Seriously, step into the THOIA parlor this morning-- don't make me SPLAT! you across the face!
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ReplyDeleteI swear I saw this in Eerie pubs, but I might be mistaken.
ReplyDeleteThis seems like a creature from the pits I could make a deal with. Get to hang out with an exotic beauty, and anybody screws with you that day, well, you've found her next victim!
"Don't worry, I'm not interested in you that way!" Hey, throw the guy a bone before you turn him into bones!
This is a fun story!
Yep reprinted I half dozen times in the Eerie pubs —just follow the GCD link in the intro above
ReplyDeleteI was actually hoping after you posted that insane "Devil's Bride" story from the same issue that you would post this one--which is just as awesomely crazy.
ReplyDeleteI love the panel where Suthina first meets Molly. Molly's speech panel is jagged and icy compared to how civil her response sounds which is a great touch.
There are a lot of stories where we see ants devour people quickly leaving only bones--never saw one where the spiders do the same thing except for this story truthfully.
Oh, but that ending is fantastic--not only does the villainess win this time (and we do have a sympathetic male protagonist who absolutely does not deserve this--nor does his wife who has every right in this story to be suspicious of Suthina compared to other horror stories) but she gets to crack a joke worthy of the Cryptkeeper himself. I too, love that the salesman is named Fly.
This story made me think of the tale under 'Werewolf Hunter Mistress of the Web' from Ghost Comics #3 featured in Pappy's blog. Similar themes but a different ending.
ReplyDeleteThe splash featuring the two guys about to get the kiss of the spider woman made me wonder if Suthina in spider form wouldn't be out of place in one of Lovecraft's tales or realm of alien deity bestiary.
Oh yeah that splash is really super. All the illustration here is pretty great, although I feel like the artist only starts crosshatching when he's in a hurry. I, for one, would shy away from hatching too much in story with so many webs.
ReplyDeleteSo I'm going to be the guy who bitches about animal morphology this time around. What it is with mid-century New Yorkers and spiders? I see this everywhere, in maybe every instance. Here, Spider-Man's costume, you name it. It's so weird. Were arachnids rare in the Big Apple? Did the rats eat 'em all up? It's like comic book creators have never really seen one in person, so they've all become scared of camel crickets instead.
And for my money, camel crickets are a lot weirder looking. So I'm into it.
This one delivers on all points. I too liked the art. The surreal ending, was that fourth wall breaking, or whatever you would term it coming from 2 dimensions. The " But I will eat you". The splash as you wrote. The plot, who were these enemies. He brings a house guest who threatens to torture a menial. Great fun Mr. K, thank you so much for posting.
ReplyDeleteBrian Barnes has already mentioned one of the oddest things - this might be one of the few stories of this kind where the female character not only doesn't try to vamp the male character, but actually tells him the OPPOSITE thing.
ReplyDeleteMy only complaint is what the artist does to Suthina's mouth in the last panel. I know the ending of the story is a punch line, but that makes her look
a little too comical.
'My only complaint is what the artist does to Suthina's mouth in the last panel.'
ReplyDeleteYeah, he turned her into Tori Spelling..much more horrifying than a were-spider.
Great tale!