Friday, June 19, 2020
Hand of Glory / Demon Count
A few more of these ominously fun one page quickies from the original 50's Phantom Stranger series (see our previous post if you somehow missed it), and like said post, all of these are also eerily illustrated by Mort Drucker. Anyone in need of an additional hand at some gory glory need merely CLICK HERE and HERE! after today's post!
I've seen the hand of glory myth a number of times, but the throwing milk at it is new. How embarrassing is that? Go to all the trouble to get one and it's defeated by milk and you get soaked in the process!
ReplyDeleteThe whole Hand of Glory has a lot of awesome art from Drucker. The camera angles with the candles are all really well thought out.
I love the frog-like demon in "Demon Count." And a great piece of good girl art. I guess we know how the X-men's Polaris got her powers now!
The male demon in the final panel looks just like the Grinch!
ReplyDeleteWasn't there a Hand Of Glory story somewhere in the archives here? I sort of half remember one.
ReplyDeleteBut the sun isn't a perfect circle, is an oblate spheroid like the earth. That's why the running around in circles doesn't bring luck! I just realised!
It's cute how they don't say what it is that succubi do. That succs!
>Wasn't there a Hand Of Glory story somewhere in the archives here?
ReplyDeleteYes there are two, and if you read my post intro you'll see that I even included the direct links to both stories.
Scrolling down the page quickly, I initially misread "Demon Count," omitting a vowel.
ReplyDeleteThat, doubtlessly, would have been a much different story and one that could only be drawn in one of the post-'60s alternative comics, not in a precode magazine.
"I've seen the hand of glory myth a number of times, but the throwing milk at it is new. How embarrassing is that? Go to all the trouble to get one and it's defeated by milk and you get soaked in the process!"
ReplyDeleteI'm a bit of a folktale nerd, so truthfully, the throwing milk at it is actually a common way--and usually the only way to counteract the glory hand's spell. Usually, the milk was thrown on the hand of glory when it was left unattended. It wasn't just thrown at the thieves like Dorothy throwing a bucket of water at the Wicked Witch of the West. Also, why milk? Quite simple really. Milk represented birth and life, the opposite of the hand of glory which was made from death itself.
I'm with Grant. Noticed it right away. That demon in the last panel is definitely stealing Christmas.
ReplyDeleteI really like the first panel of the Magic Circle page. Not sure how I would react to my fellow poker player blithely announcing how he's going to employ magic to start beating me. I mean, is that cheating? Look fellers, "I been losing all night. I'm gonna make a quick deal with the devil before the next hand, okay?"