Friday, January 24, 2020
The Wig-Maker
Time to venture back into the odd old west for a tale that's half spooky / half silly, and 100% howlin' Harvey at this late precode horror / humor vein stage of the 50's game. Yeah, everybody could see Wertham's hammer of doom a'fallen', so many of these terror titles began to take the hint and turn up the funny volume. Things went from gory to corny fast, but not all was lost, like this hairy scary (*tag! *gag!) from the Feb '54 issue of Witches Tales #23. And FYI: There's even more wig weirdness in the archive if you've got a hankerin' to dig 'em out-- just don't ever say that Mr. Karswell didn't go to great lengths to root out that 'ol black humor for ya's!
This one has such a weird and politically incorrect ending to it--I love it! I do love how Boone's morbid way of obtaining hair for his wigs has a rather upbeat charm to it with him merrily dancing and singing while scalping the corpses he digs up. There's a man who truly loves his job.
ReplyDeleteThank you Mr.K. for that crazy cover. The crossed eyes, yellow tongue and smoking wigged skeleton add up wonderfully. Once again you give us a shock shampoo with this gruesome yet musical thwackery. I'm getting balder and balder myself so this resonates with me. Perhaps the wig maker visits me at night? The ending didum seemum out of place in today's world, but we played cowboys and Indians growing up. Were we evil? I think not. A super selection by you once again is appreciated by yours truly.
ReplyDeleteThat ending is going to "make-um me sad!" :)
ReplyDeleteBut it was the 50s so I can let it slide ... a bit. The rest is great fun! I love how cartoon-y and over the top Lem's actions are. Page 2/panel 7 and page 5/panel 2 are awesome, I love that he's skipping and hoping after chopping off corpse hair from a grave! Every one of the grave robbing panels is just a joy.
I don't think our ghost Native American got a good trade, he lost a fabulous head of hair for Lem's old hair!
It's a really uninformed question to ask, but is Geronimo really buried at a place called Webster? If not, that's a pretty strange thing to work into the story, stranger than the "political incorrectness" part.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that really caught my attention is that - even though I don't know their exact years - almost every one of those songs is an anachronism in a story set in 1890. There are so many that it must be a deliberate joke, but a halfway subtle one.
A really loopy story, but fun. Loved the popular songs! And those outrageous accents.
ReplyDeleteNice to see people picking up on the songs, its why I added that fun little old time radio ad at the end
ReplyDelete