Love is in the scare all this month, and we mean it, seriously-- it's so strong you can smell it! But *yawn* maybe we've done this all before, so how about we try something different? Say, maybe a 25 cent ride through the 'ol Tunnel of Love'll do the trick? Mr. Karswell highly recommends that you give it a whirl, you might even come out the other side as a totally changed person. From the January 1953 issue of Mystic #16.
I left a post on this blog a couple years back on a similar story from Weird Mysteries #1 called "A Shriek in the Night" (Even the title is similar!) mentioning that I remembered a story with almost the same plot from one of the Atlas horror series, but couldn't recall the name of it or the title of the comic series in question. Turns out, it was this one! Heck,I even found the link on this very blog with my comment on it: https://thehorrorsofitall.blogspot.com/2019/02/a-shriek-in-night-easy-dies-it.html
ReplyDeleteI actually figured this out a few years ago when another blog was reviewing some of the old Atlas horror comics, and when this issue came up, the bell rang loud and clear for me.
Also,the reason why both tales are so similar is no coincidence: both were written by Carl Wessler--and this isn't the first time I've seen him recycle some of his story lines into something slightly different.
Let's be honest though, Lenore doesn't look that bad as an old lady. Also, "Charlie" seemed to be knowingly smiling as they trekked back through the tunnel again.
Yet another entry in the 1950's 'carnivals are evil' catalog.
ReplyDeleteGoing by my experiences at the PNE (Pacific National Exhibition). they were spot on! :)
A bit of The Black Ferris here, in device and setting. There's even a black ferris on the splash :)
ReplyDeleteThe art has that coloring method where they don't want to melt into the outlines (the great barker image on the splash is an example of that.) It really sticks out.
I love the inky blacks in this one, in the tunnel, in the weird lighting, lot of fun images, but this brings up one thing: were 50s dark boat rides NOT on tracks? Did you actually have to row? I didn't think that existed! I guess it's time to google!
Google done. FYI, there's a 102 year old tunnel of love in MN and it's ... well, dark ... but the boats are constrained to a very small tunnel (they are free moving) and pushed by the water.
ReplyDeleteI never had a crappy pier or weird run down amusement park near me growing up, sigh.
Aw, it's the Buck Rogers origin story. Well, with a tweak. I'd love to see the second half of this tale be about how a golden-ager duo saves the future from Armageddon. Course, I'm just as glad the story goes the way it does. It was certainly nice having someone around to prevent whatever apocalypse would have happened in '53, too.
ReplyDeleteThis art was pretty wonderful. I'm not usually a fan of the illustration technique Mr. Barnes mentions--which I guess is can be included in the blanket definition of "posterization." It always makes me think of collage, and often feels lazy. But it didn't bother me here. In fact, I would love to have a three-foot enlargement of that last panel on page three (where the effect is a bit more slyly accomplished than it is in the splash) to hang on my wall. Aside from that, I also love the way the groovy textural shapes elide the difference between the cave walls, the water, the clouds, broken here and there by the rigid lattice of webs and trees and the infrastructure of the carnival. This guy knows how to fill up a frame.
I prefer the Carl Burgos version of the story in Weird Mysteries. The art is so much nicer but in black and white.
ReplyDeleteSo many people just like colour over black and white but black and art is so much better if the art is the highest quality.
Always great to see any Atlas story though.
If you dig old-timey dark rides:
ReplyDeletehttps://laffinthedark.com/