Three awful ladies down, one to go, courtesy of the October 1953 issue of
Mystery Tales #16. Now we all know that there are certainly fates worse than death. But are there feets worse than death? C
onfucius say
"Read on and you will see!"
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Here's a tale where you don't quite know where it's going until perhaps the part where the Chinese pearl merchant comes in--if you know anything about the horrid practice of foot binding. Of course, the practice usually took years to "perfect." You didn't just shove someone's feet into a vise--unless you lived in a horror comic.
ReplyDeleteLise thought she was finally going to be a prima ballerina, but alas, she only ended up with the agony of defeet.
The fourth page, fourth panel features a pretty close up of Lise's face, and she sure does look pretty in a kimono--too bad about those feet though. That cover is gorgeous, even though it technically has nothing to do with the story in question--then again most of the Atlas comics covers seldom matched the story they were illustrating.
Thanks, Karswell, I wondered if you were going to put up that wonderful cover!
ReplyDeleteLike Glowworm, no idea where this was going until the Chinese merchant appears, then it was obvious that feet binding was going to be the ending, only to be surprised that our merchant seems to be a trader in toe presses!
Wonderful art in this. The splash is great, with a collection of different faces. Page 2, panel 1 is clever, and the murder panel has a lot of action without showing any blood. I'm not sure why they thought she was so good, though, it seems like she's doing the chicken dance in the last panel of page 3!
It's amazing how murderous she is, and yet, she doesn't get her dream but she will end up being rich, and can always created a new dream. She actually kind of escaped a much worse fate, here.
I love these Atlas second-person stories. It's like a Choose Your Own Adventure without any choices. Or maybe it's a little bit like libel. The usual point of second-person is to involve the reader through the use of a cipher. But spending five pages accusing me of being a dancing, villainous hussy with a taste for the green is fightin' words, you know, a little damning. In my case, a little bit of a sex change. I mean, I guess I'm glad I got my just desserts or whatever by the end, but dang.
ReplyDeleteLuke everyone else it became obvious to me where this was going when the Chinese merchant showed up. In reality, foot binding started in childhood, as Glowworm said. Until then I had been waiting for one of our "delightful" protagonist's prospective victims to be a psychopathic murderer with a foot fetish. So the ending is really a fairly nice twist.
ReplyDeleteThis is a weird one! Remorseless murderess, creepy old man, and then an even older man whose motive seemingly isn't even sinister! I liked it. I'd hate to over-analyze it, though.
ReplyDeleteShe gained a fortune at the expense of her feet. How long will the old guy last, or before she finds a way to kill him, escape suspicion and inherit his money?
ReplyDeleteFour million back then could pay for reconstructive surgery, or limb transplants (its comic book land, anything could happen.)
This story could have gone on for three or more comics, much the same way many Atlas/Marvel stories could.
I have a feeling foot fetishists back then bought this comic just for the cover.
Thanks for the post, Karswell!