All the world's a stage, as
The Horrors of it All shines a shivery spotlight on a spine chilling
Al Luster crime classic from the April 1953 issue of
Mystery Tales #10.
If today's story wasn't scary enough for you, just remember that
Halloween is in 100 days!
Oops!
ReplyDeleteThere were a couple ways this could go (the victim turns out to be a monster and lures the killer in, for instance) but I'm always a sucker for the "sudden large crowd."
I like the chase, it's well paced and helps build up the good laugh at the end, it also keeps you guessing about which ending you are going to get.
I really like the art, the splash is great and the rain isn't distracting. The killer is subtlety grotesque and I like all the action sequences (staircases, moving around things.)
Honestly, this would have worked just as well in a crime comic, probably even better.
Talbert deserved it. All he had to do was go to the policeman and tell him "there's a man running around behind me with a pistol openly in his hand. I'm afraid he's going to kill me."
ReplyDeleteAlso, Lefty is misnamed. Going by how his gun keeps jumping from one hand to another, he's obviously Ambidextrous Vale.
Strong art, well paced with a nice well earned twist. Like others have said, thought there was a supernatural twist coming. I'm so used to "He's a Werewolf!" "She's a Vampire!" type endings, it's nice to have a "Crime Does Not Pay" finale. And Boy is Lefty ugly! I wonder if he was going to use that thousand dollars for dental work?
ReplyDeleteHe does seem to have a code of ethics - "I don't do business that way!"
ReplyDeleteIf he's so excited by a thousand dollars, then (assuming he believed Talbert) two-thousand had to be pretty tempting.
I certainly didn't see that coming! I like it!
ReplyDeleteWow, page three's amazing. I love Al Luster's stuff.
ReplyDeleteI definitely saw the end coming last weekend, which is when I read the somewhat more padded--and certainly more verbose--version of this story from the 1959 one-shot Eerie Tales, where it was retitled "The Stalker." I like this version way better.