After today's post, head over to my other blog for a hilarious "Splater Version" of Siskel and Ebert's At the Movies-- PLUS, a spoof on precode horror and Creepshow!
CLICK HERE!
Friday, October 25, 2019
The Little Black Box / Black Crows!
What October would be complete without an Atlas tale-- or two! Yes, THOIA is back in black with a couple of truly dark, mortifyingly mysterious terror tales! And jolting Joe Maneely lights it all up with a super hot little number from the March 1952, debut issue of Mystery Tales #1, --it's guaranteed to give you heart burn! Followed by a scary story from the January 1954 issue of Mystery Tales #17 about an 80's rock band from Georgia that released 8 studio albums and-- just joking-- it's the long awaited return of astounding Al Luster to this blog! And whoa, despite being one of my all-time Atlas favorites, this is the first Luster post we've seen around these parts in nearly 10 years! That alone should be enough to shake your money maker! ;)
After today's post, head over to my other blog for a hilarious "Splater Version" of Siskel and Ebert's At the Movies-- PLUS, a spoof on precode horror and Creepshow!
CLICK HERE!
After today's post, head over to my other blog for a hilarious "Splater Version" of Siskel and Ebert's At the Movies-- PLUS, a spoof on precode horror and Creepshow!
CLICK HERE!
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ReplyDeleteManeely, truly one of the great missed opportunities. If he would have made it to Marvel's superhero revival he would have been up there with Kirby, etc.
ReplyDeleteManeely sneaks in some nudity on page 2, panel 5! The story is OK, not quite the great ones that Atlas usually delivered. It's in the "trade places with the monster" category but, honestly, I can't see him being trapped in the box for long. It seems about anybody would eventually be overcome with the desire to look inside.
The witches/sisters are a great visual, I love the cross panel sound effects and the sequence where our pal burns up. Maneely just ruled, period, with almost everything he drew.
The Black Crows is fun, that's a really good concept (it logically doesn't work, sheet music is a lot more than just dots on the page but I'll allow it because it's such a fun concept.) I do have to wonder about the abrupt fate of the wish granter -- was he a previous scarecrow? Was this another switch places story? It seemed to be going somewhere but was truncated.
I like the more cartoon-y crows and especially the ghastly last panel.
Nice stuff!
Except for the nose, Luke Bramby looks a little like Conrad Janis of MORK AND MINDY and QUARK.
ReplyDeleteI could understand him messing with the box if it STOPPED giving him what he wanted, but what is the point of doing it beforehand? That's a little like harming the Golden Goose to see what makes it lay those eggs, while it's still LAYING them.
Thank you Mr.K. for these great Halloween treats. It was covers like that had me buying Nat. Lamp.
ReplyDeleteExciting. After all these years, I just assumed the Al Luster well had dried up. I think my first comment here was to request more of his stuff. Ha! I dug this story. It doesn't particularly showcase that freewheeling weirdness that I love most in Luster's work, but that bird attack on the last page is marvelous.
ReplyDeleteI am also interested in the overarching mechanism of the story. It hints at something pretty complicated in the clockwork of this local morality: If both parties are equally bound to the contract, what third party enforces that? But also: Who stood to gain from the deal and why? Usually in stories like this, some Devil wins at the end, gaining by both reaping a soul and by bolstering the balance of evil in the world. But in this story the figure who offers the bargain is just as much a tool of the plot as the victim is, as the very birds themselves are. The benefit is to bring more art into the world, but two people have to die to make that happen. It's kind of fourth wall breaking, in that it intimates a higher authority no less wanton than a writer experimenting with omnipotence just to amuse a horror audience.
I like the Russ Heath cover on that issue, too.
(And I love all the Maneely, always, especially that splash! But this was comment already running long!)
Anyone else feel these stories ended too abruptly? Maybe I was reading them too fast.
ReplyDeleteI realise the crow comic was drawn before the easy availability of reference photos on the internet, but come on, even I could draw better crows than that!
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