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And when you're done here, head on over to my other blog HERE for a very special "Halfway to Halloween" story, --because yes, today is indeed very much your lucky day!
Thursday, April 30, 2020
A Sight for Sore Eyes / Let's Face It
Quick question: When in need of a special medical procedure, how many of you are willing to just go to some random dude in a cabin out in the middle of nowhere who maybe knows a thing or two about maybe being able to help you out? Let me see your hands... 1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 6?! ...oh, wow, a lot more of you than I expected! Okay then, you're gonna love this double feature, and both tales are also from the macabre March 1953 issue of Spellbound #13 --see our last post too!
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And when you're done here, head on over to my other blog HERE for a very special "Halfway to Halloween" story, --because yes, today is indeed very much your lucky day!
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And when you're done here, head on over to my other blog HERE for a very special "Halfway to Halloween" story, --because yes, today is indeed very much your lucky day!
Oh lord CHOKE!
ReplyDeleteMore funny Atlas endings. These work so well because there's no supernatural menace or vengeance to be had, just dudes getting themselves into trouble. Note the second story throws in the gold diggers, even though she doesn't have much to do in the story other than deliver the punchline.
Both fun well paced stories. Great splash on Eyes, but Face is a bit of a letdown on the splash. GCD guesses Orlando on the art. I ... guess? I can see it, I'm really bad at art spotting anyway.
Speaking of art, what is up with Eyes? Inker went crazy? Was that just the pencil-er's style? It's so black! There are times when the only color is a solid color slapped over a chunk of black. The scenes in the office look like it was lit by a candle! I'd love to see the original boards. I wonder what went wrong? Still, it's full of good images -- the doctor eating the apple, for instance, and the ending panels.
That's a great cover, the composition is really solid.
These two seemed a bit like TV horror anthology plots. I agree there is some terrific drawing in the first story, but someone took the title a little too seriously and muddied the damn thing up, to the point where so much is lost/unrecognizable! The second entrée was much cleaner but lacked a little art-wise comparatively. Both were enjoyable fun! I can't forget my thank you Mr.K.
ReplyDelete"Let's Face It" could have been the origin or remake of Two-Face.
ReplyDelete"A Sight For Sore Eyes" was a surprise ending, he really turned into four eyes.
Thanks for the horror fun, Karsewll.
Two more "bad" characters who don't deserve what they get. With the big exception of Roger threatening that man. Unless you count his vanity as an awful thing, which I don't.
ReplyDeleteAnd Luther Cain is about the LEAST horrible of all the horrible bosses in these kinds of stories.
Whoa, A Sight for Sore Eyes is one of the more willfully psychotronic stories we've had around here in a while. I love the splash and last three panels of page two (I like the subtlety with which the artist introduces the barely-glimpsed dude jumping out of the way of Luther's car). Those mesmerizing coke bottle glasses are right out of Mad Love. But later, when Luther is succumbing to the terrifying doctor's anesthetic, and sinking into a universe of frightened eyes under the knife, well, that's just top-notch nightmare stuff right there.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the way Jack Abel conveyed the theme by subjectively lowering the lights here--an effect I feel worked pretty well (and maybe worked even better before it was subjected to cheap printing and sixty-odd years of caustic aging on bad paper, but still...). Looking through the archives, Abel certainly doesn't shy away from the ink, but the look of this story definitely feels like a premeditated act of storytelling.
I honestly don't see what you guys are talking about with the first story being apparently "muddy"... I mean, it looks like the print process was maybe a bit overwhelmed but good lord, anyone having trouble seeing what's going on in the panels maybe needs to visit the eye doctor to immediately obtain an extra set of peepers!
ReplyDeleteOkay, we'll take a break from the Atlas tales for a bit, we'll even flash forward a couple decades to check out an old Russian folklore classic, it's up next-- so stay tombed!
Both these are fun. I think my favorite part of the first story is Mr. Cain already wanting to renege on the deal while reflecting on how kindly Caleb and Em are treating him. I also don't entirely think having four eyes and being able to see perfectly is the worst fate imaginable, although it certainly is a little freaky. (OK, a lot freaky.)
ReplyDeleteI like how in the second story Cora never makes any pretense of being more than a cold-hearted gold-digger. That first panel is scary—not sure to what extent it's trying to be—and I wonder how much of it is the timeliness of everybody suddenly wearing a mask today.