Thursday, March 7, 2019
The Thing That Walked At Night
Here's a weird one for ya, a day late (of course) for Werewolf Wednesday, and from the same issue as our last double header post of stories-- the Winter 1953 issue of Ghost Comics #9-- with wild 'n wooly art by one of Fiction House's most dynamic art duos, Bill Benulis and Jack Abel!
This darn story is all over the place. Why was Joan given up in the first place, if she was Fred and Alice's actual daughter in the first place. The answer for why Joan keeps going "where the wild things are" in the night is really bizarre too. I know, atomic bombs are responsible for radiation poisoning, but the last time I checked, they didn't result in people growing hair and horns and wandering out at night to feast upon their neighbor's dog.
ReplyDeleteAlso, "She really isn't dangerous,Fred!" Really? I'm not exactly convinced with the way Joan's holding that tree branch like a Louisville Slugger.
Also, what the heck is up with that panel of a naked baby holding a watch to show us that time has passed?
"And if you'd known the truth—even you would have agreed…"
ReplyDeleteSo, uh, maybe just tell him instead of murdering him?
Then again, telling a dying man, "She really isn't dangerous" after she's killed every dog and cat in the neighborhood doesn't reflect a strong grasp of the truth.
Plus, it looks like she's about to beat or stab her mother to death with that tree branch, so perhaps it's a moot point.
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ReplyDeleteSome great art to back up the wacky doodle story. The splash is awesome, the hair framing the moon and the girl flowing with the hair. It's a striking image. A little misleading to the real monster, but I like the cat-girl-radioactive-x-men image, too.
ReplyDeleteThe same kind of framed flowing image repeats Page 5, Panel 1. The border flow on page 2, yikes, don't do that!
I suspect the baby is supposed to represent baby time (and all the time they ignored) but some editor should have nixed that idea -- if they cared, that is!
I love SUDDEN MURDER PINIC. Great band name!
Little Joan from Japan- what happens when a Neko cat girl goes bad. There's a Manga/Anime story waiting to be written.
ReplyDeleteLoved the bat guano crazy of this story, a great read for a Friday.
GIRL MONSTERS! I love girl monsters! More please!
ReplyDeleteWow, pages two and three were like a brisk round of Snakes and Ladders. Not my best game, but I got to the final square eventually.
ReplyDeleteI think a couple of things might have improved this. One: the last two pages have standard panel progressions, and I think that works out a lot better than the alternative. Two, I'm not a big fan of floating caption blocks, and I think exposition should be placed in the frame where the eye will hit it first (which would be reversed from the norm in a lot of this story's structure). Lastly, they really needed to show some horror: some scary pet predation; or at least that box full of dog and cat carcasses. But nobody dared to even draw the box? I would have been really confused, but luckily I'd already read all about it three panels early.
Great monster, though! A Hag Cat! I agree with Mestiere that somebody brought some folklore with them back from the war. It's a really neat idea for a story.
Wonderful posting. The art and story created a nice horror movie tone. So many unanswered questions in this one but who cares? The unorganized surreal aspects just enhanced this tale for me. Was it sad or funny that darling daughter was about to whack mommy? "How bizzare, how bizzare". Thank you Mr. K. this was a fun onion.
ReplyDeleteI've read at least one fictional story (and heard of at least one non-fictional story) about a husband arranging for his own baby to be adopted by him and his wife in order to "cover his tracks." This would be a supernatural story of a WIFE doing it (for very different reasons).
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of horror movies, that explanation at the end looks ahead to FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD.