Sunday, January 12, 2020
"Killer's Arms"
This nicely illustrated tale of jungle brutality from the November 1954 issue of Strange Suspense Stories #22 just might contain the single most screwball scientific experiment concept ever posted here. It's too hilarious and way too fun to deny-- Hell, even Ed Wood would be jealous of this plot! And you thought last week's "brain atoms" was over the top...
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11 comments:
Strange-- it feels like it's missing a couple pages before the finale. No scenes of the doctor trying to fight strange new urges, or having blackouts and waking up to terrible things happening?
I didn't notice anything strange, though it probably would've been even more fun with another page or two, sure... GCD confirms that it's only 5 pages long
I agree that the beginning is paced and that the ending is brisk, but I still dig this cockamamie thing. Grafting serum is a great concept. I guess you just think on an animal and start pouring. Instant outcome! That certainly makes surgery easier.
I love page three so hard I don't know what to do. That close-up of the gorilla eyeballing the damsel though the tent fabric is just awesome comic bookery. The big red "CRUNT" is almost too much!
I don't think there's a page where you can do a funny comedy riff on the absurd story, but let's skip all that because ...
... that ape is excellent!
Is it realistic? No. But it's awesome! Plate errors couldn't even ruin it (the errors on page 3 is distracting, I know this stuff wasn't meant to last forever and people didn't care but I wish this page didn't have that error.). That aside, page 3, panel 2 is great, the entire ape attack after that is kinetic and violent and as comic as it gets. Panel 3 is staged great (it's very cinematic) and the final panel on that page has to one of the great pre-code apes.
Page 3 should hang on a wall.
I love you, Tongo! :)
What can one say, but...ARRUGHH!!
Ape-tastic!
PS, I was glancing back over this one again this morning and something jumped out at me. Lately I've been reading a little about subliminal marketing, especially smoking advertisements that don't feature cigarettes. Instances in ads or media where imagery is presented showing people holding crayons, for example, like they are smoking them. It's an interesting topic, if only tangentially related to this post. Also, it's all very likely a conspiracy theory. That said, some kind of motivation--if only semiconscious withdrawal pangs--must have stimulated that cool vertical panel gutter running up the middle of page four. It looks very much as if Dr. Dad is drawing the very comic we're reading with his syringe. Or, you know, like he's smoking it.
Thank you Mr.K., Mr.C. beat me to the punch. AR-RU-GHH! is really the proper reply to this enjoyable madness.
Haha, great comments... the only thing I can add here is that at one point the scientist not only has the gorilla arms he needs, he also has two extra human arms. I guess putting the gorilla arm on your own body as per the original experiment intent was out, and even just sewing poor Jonathan's own arms back on was never an option. Gentlemen, to science!
He may share his last name and glasses, but Jonathan is definitely NOT Superman. I got a kick out of the fact that the gorilla that mauls Johnathan gets to have a name. I also love that narration introducing Tongo to us.
Nothing about this makes sense, and I have so many questions, but there's really no point in asking.
And I guess it's a happy ending as long as you like the weregorilla and assume the wife's just going to wake up OK with everything.
But… uh… um…
Oh, never mind.
::Cryptkeeper Voice::
I guess Johnathan and Anne decided to forgo a formal wedding and el-ape! I wonder if they'll toast the union with chimp-agne? Heehehehehehehhehehe!
(Okay, sorry. Those were terrible even by the lowest of standards. It just seems there's some awful puns out there for this one though, dunnit?)
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