Yawns 'n flowers don't sound too scary, do they? Well, let's just see how Kenneth Landau and Ed Good deliver on these everyday things from the 1954 issue of The Clutching Hand #1 one-shot from ACG. Spooky cover by Ken Bald too!
I honestly loved ACG's horror/fantasy comics as they could manage to still be creative and interesting even after they were forced to switch their hand when the Comics Code hit The Clutching Hand apparently came out just a month before the Comics Code showed up. Chances are, if it hadn't have been enacted, this wouldn't have just been one issue. These two tales are pretty insane actually. The first one has that wild beginning. If your husband to be is working on creating an elixir of eternal life--never volunteer to be the first to try it! I'm surprised Amos didn't pour some on his fiancee's grave to try to revive her after all those years of failure and misery. I do love the 5th panel of page 3 with the zombie lapping up the stuff like crazy. I do find it ironic though that despite being so desperately hungry for the elixir, the undead still wish to depart back to their graves. The second story is short, fun and gory--loved that outcome--if only they didn't give away what was going on in the splash page. Then again, it was quite obvious that Ed Hilton's garden was really quite something...
Amos truly fit the "if it wasn't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all." First, his immortality formula was bad (he let her try it even though the first panel he says "I THINK I've got it!"). He spills formula twice! There's a lot of great art in this one, though it's got the mix-and-match ideas from a hat type of story. The zombies are great, final panel on page 3 is awesome.
I'll have to remember that sacred ground rule!
The second one I just adore. Yeah, you can see it coming, but that could be the point. It's two pages of outright mayhem and a great final shocker panel.
This seems like it would have been a great comic if it would have continued. The kind of fun, crazy pre-code horror stories.
I would normally kvetch about the splash panel spoiler in today's second story; but, sheesh, it's so deliriously weird that I'm delighted they included it. What a satisfying two-pager.
In my opinion that last panel of page two--first story--is the money shot. I want to see that cat attack animated. I really loved the first page, too. The narrative sets the tragedy up so well--poor Peggy!--that it was a sorta twist middle when the whole shebang skewed to the lurid. I think Pet Sematary might have also benefited from a last act in which Louis Creed sent the undead fam off on a wicked crime spree.
My only question is, if hallowed ground can de-spell Amos' Svengali command over his zombie henchmen, how did he ever gain that control in the first place? Isn't that the same boneyard he found these carcasses in to begin with? Ah well, maybe they were all thieves and witches, buried out by the old crossroads on the far side of the churchyard wall. It happens. But then you'd think they'd be a lot more relaxed about all the burglary, right?
I'm such a fan of the "Grade Z" anthology film GALLERY OF HORRORS that the moment I saw a scientist with a wife, I expected her and another man to betray him somehow.
I honestly loved ACG's horror/fantasy comics as they could manage to still be creative and interesting even after they were forced to switch their hand when the Comics Code hit
ReplyDeleteThe Clutching Hand apparently came out just a month before the Comics Code showed up. Chances are, if it hadn't have been enacted, this wouldn't have just been one issue. These two tales are pretty insane actually.
The first one has that wild beginning. If your husband to be is working on creating an elixir of eternal life--never volunteer to be the first to try it! I'm surprised Amos didn't pour some on his fiancee's grave to try to revive her after all those years of failure and misery.
I do love the 5th panel of page 3 with the zombie lapping up the stuff like crazy. I do find it ironic though that despite being so desperately hungry for the elixir, the undead still wish to depart back to their graves.
The second story is short, fun and gory--loved that outcome--if only they didn't give away what was going on in the splash page. Then again, it was quite obvious that Ed Hilton's garden was really quite something...
Amos truly fit the "if it wasn't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all." First, his immortality formula was bad (he let her try it even though the first panel he says "I THINK I've got it!"). He spills formula twice! There's a lot of great art in this one, though it's got the mix-and-match ideas from a hat type of story. The zombies are great, final panel on page 3 is awesome.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to remember that sacred ground rule!
The second one I just adore. Yeah, you can see it coming, but that could be the point. It's two pages of outright mayhem and a great final shocker panel.
This seems like it would have been a great comic if it would have continued. The kind of fun, crazy pre-code horror stories.
I would normally kvetch about the splash panel spoiler in today's second story; but, sheesh, it's so deliriously weird that I'm delighted they included it. What a satisfying two-pager.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion that last panel of page two--first story--is the money shot. I want to see that cat attack animated. I really loved the first page, too. The narrative sets the tragedy up so well--poor Peggy!--that it was a sorta twist middle when the whole shebang skewed to the lurid. I think Pet Sematary might have also benefited from a last act in which Louis Creed sent the undead fam off on a wicked crime spree.
My only question is, if hallowed ground can de-spell Amos' Svengali command over his zombie henchmen, how did he ever gain that control in the first place? Isn't that the same boneyard he found these carcasses in to begin with? Ah well, maybe they were all thieves and witches, buried out by the old crossroads on the far side of the churchyard wall. It happens. But then you'd think they'd be a lot more relaxed about all the burglary, right?
Got a good laugh from that last tale !!!
ReplyDeleteI liked the peeping tombie cover. I thought the flaming fiancé was well done too. I have a new expression. "jumpin' cat zombies!" The second story packed a lot in those two pages. Ol' Hilton certainly grew some gruesomeness. Thank you Mr.K.
ReplyDeleteI'm such a fan of the "Grade Z" anthology film GALLERY OF HORRORS that the moment I saw a scientist with a wife, I expected her and another man to betray him somehow.
ReplyDelete