Black cats are as important to Halloween as witches and jack-o-lanterns, so let's fire up a hellish tale of ferocious felines, and ancient, hissing evil from the July 1953 issue of Web of Mystery #19. By the way, how many of your own 9 lives do you cool cats have left remaining?
I definitely like this one, although there's one hard to explain moment, at least visually. "Amalie, what's come over you?" is kind of a small thing to say when she's actually turning into a cat before his eyes.
It's 1953 but an older type of horror tale where somebody figures out the weakness (pretty obvious here!) and ends the monsters, instead of a vengeance type ending.
It's a fun read, I like the crazy over-sized cats, and page 4/panel 3 entertains me (I have two cats and would never harm a cat, but it has such a blazing saddles horse-punching feel to it.)
Artist did a good job with the cats, though, I'm not exactly sure what their plan was. They lead him to the house, then ... tried to kill him? Then turn him? No wonder they lost, they didn't seem to have a concrete plan!
I also love how at least twice they just blurt something out -- the fire first and then "not one of us yet." Yeesh, get a clue, buddy!
If I remember my Frank Baum, it's actually scarecrows that don't like fire. Whitches don't like water. Course, I didn't see many crows hanging around the cornfields in this one, either.
Sheesh, try to help a guy, try to include him when he barges in out of nowhere, try to neck with him a little, and he burns you all up for it. I love this story. I feel like the art is a little pedestrian when it comes to composition and space, but the figure drawing is really excellent. And no story with this much twofisted cat-punching action can possibly be criticized much.
If there's anything that's possibly touchy about that interrupted scene it's that Burton and Amalie are distant relatives. But they're probably SO distant that I kind of agree with Mr. Cavin's necking remark, especially considering how exotic Amalie is.
Um...if someone offered me the chance to be able to turn into a cat at a whim, I'd take it! What's the downside here? It sounds like a superpower! And with central heating, I've got no need to be cold as a result...
Our hero's kind of dense here, isn't he? His ancestors' surname literally translates to that of "The Black Cats" and the townsfolk associate them with witchcraft. Not to mention, he keeps seeing black cats wandering about the inn and hasn't quite put two and two together yet. The most obvious clue of all? He beats up the cat and hasn't figured out that it's actually the old woman of the home--even when the next morning, her head is bandaged EXACTLY where he punched the cat. In classic folktales, when a witch was injured in animal form--say an hand chopped off while in the shape of a cat, or horseshoes nailed to her feet, she'd remain that way in human form--which means, she'd be missing a hand or have horseshoes nailed to her hands and feet. Even when Amalie transforms before his very eyes into a cat creature, he STILL hasn't figured out that the cats are actually his own ancestors. Also, what was the cat trying to do to him while he was sleeping? Suck out his soul? It's a possibility!
I definitely like this one, although there's one hard to explain moment, at least visually. "Amalie, what's come over you?" is kind of a small thing to say when she's actually turning into a cat before his eyes.
ReplyDeleteIt's 1953 but an older type of horror tale where somebody figures out the weakness (pretty obvious here!) and ends the monsters, instead of a vengeance type ending.
ReplyDeleteIt's a fun read, I like the crazy over-sized cats, and page 4/panel 3 entertains me (I have two cats and would never harm a cat, but it has such a blazing saddles horse-punching feel to it.)
Artist did a good job with the cats, though, I'm not exactly sure what their plan was. They lead him to the house, then ... tried to kill him? Then turn him? No wonder they lost, they didn't seem to have a concrete plan!
I also love how at least twice they just blurt something out -- the fire first and then "not one of us yet." Yeesh, get a clue, buddy!
If I remember my Frank Baum, it's actually scarecrows that don't like fire. Whitches don't like water. Course, I didn't see many crows hanging around the cornfields in this one, either.
ReplyDeleteSheesh, try to help a guy, try to include him when he barges in out of nowhere, try to neck with him a little, and he burns you all up for it. I love this story. I feel like the art is a little pedestrian when it comes to composition and space, but the figure drawing is really excellent. And no story with this much twofisted cat-punching action can possibly be criticized much.
And I certainly didn't see the end coming.
If there's anything that's possibly touchy about that interrupted scene it's that Burton and Amalie are distant relatives. But they're probably SO distant that I kind of agree with Mr. Cavin's necking remark, especially considering how exotic Amalie is.
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ReplyDeleteUm...if someone offered me the chance to be able to turn into a cat at a whim, I'd take it! What's the downside here? It sounds like a superpower! And with central heating, I've got no need to be cold as a result...
ReplyDeleteOur hero's kind of dense here, isn't he? His ancestors' surname literally translates to that of "The Black Cats" and the townsfolk associate them with witchcraft. Not to mention, he keeps seeing black cats wandering about the inn and hasn't quite put two and two together yet. The most obvious clue of all? He beats up the cat and hasn't figured out that it's actually the old woman of the home--even when the next morning, her head is bandaged EXACTLY where he punched the cat. In classic folktales, when a witch was injured in animal form--say an hand chopped off while in the shape of a cat, or horseshoes nailed to her feet, she'd remain that way in human form--which means, she'd be missing a hand or have horseshoes nailed to her hands and feet. Even when Amalie transforms before his very eyes into a cat creature, he STILL hasn't figured out that the cats are actually his own ancestors. Also, what was the cat trying to do to him while he was sleeping? Suck out his soul? It's a possibility!
ReplyDelete