(CLICK HERE FOR PART TWO!)
Tuesday, September 15, 2020
The Bloody Mermaid (PART ONE)
JMR kind of spoiled the surprise in the comments of the previous post, but today we begin a two-part minor masterpiece, Sanho Kim's epically eerie, Bloody Mermaid, which took up the entire issue of Ghostly Tales #91 in January of 1972. There certainly isn't enough mermaid horror in the world, and Sanho does an outstanding job with story pacing and atmosphere here. His stylized art technique seems to have improved quite a bit since House of Spiders '69 as well. I'll have the second half for you tomorrow-- so don't swim too far out to sea while waiting!
(CLICK HERE FOR PART TWO!)
(CLICK HERE FOR PART TWO!)
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6 comments:
I didn't really get into Charlton until later ( Joe Stanton's EMan early John Byrne(!) ). Aside from TV adaptations (Six Million Dollar Man, Space 1999, Korg 70,000 BC(!) ) I likely passed this one over the rack for a House of Mystery or House of Secrets back in the day. Missed some good stuff. Mr. Kim's work has definitely come into its own at this point.
Jerry Colby should have been eaten by the mermaid. Talk about ingrates! I like how the mermaid's hair always manages to cover her assets (while I'm on the subject, a perennial question is why aquatic animals like mermaids should have hair at all, just like dolphins don't). By the way, is Colby colour blind? Or does he think greenish grey skin is a human trait?
This is such a weird premise. A mysterious creepy old man lives alone in a decrepit old castle and takes a stranger in for the night. All sorts of cryptic warnings are given. Don't upset anything, don't open any of the other rooms, you must be gone by morning. Of course Jerry's going to break one of the rules. The one thing I'm not really happy about of course is the old guy tossing the mermaid his cat for her to munch on. Innocent animal murder always bothers me.
The only thing I can guess at this point as to why Jerry has no idea that the woman held captive in his strange host's castle is a mermaid is that it must be pretty dark in there. He only saw her for a few minutes anyway. He certainly didn't notice or see the skulls in that room either. It's also odd that Jerry gets knocked out by the old man but isn't thrown to the mermaid in order to get rid of him. Also, how exactly does one acquire a "pet" mermaid?
So 69 to 72 -- I think the art is slightly better but the style is certainly the same -- I think maybe he's just getting better inking, or printing, and the colors are much, much better.
I liked the previous art, and I like this one. It's improved, I just can't exactly put my finger on it. Maybe without all the cobwebs it shines a bit better?
There's a lot to love: every splash/pseudo-splash is very gothic and very flowing, the Mermaid on page 1 (the story obviously isn't hiding that fact from us), the rain/lighting splash on page 4 (the B&W shadowing is excellent there.). The cat and mermaid dumping sequences are very kinetic.
I really like the coloring on this one, especially the use of blues. It's a really nice looking story.
PART TWO coming up later today, stay tombed!
(JMR: try resending you’re comment again, not sure where it went)
I echo Bill's comments. Jerry may have a nice sense of justice but is sort of an idiot and makes a mess of things everywhere he goes. The old man and the policeman probably should've done like the innkeeper and turned him away. Granted, then there might not've been much story.
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