We'll be sticking with the supernaturally charged, weird terror tales of the old west for the rest of the week, and like our last Ghost Rider vs. Frankenstein post (CLICK HERE if you missed it), here's one of the creepy-coolest "Tales of the Ghost Rider" back-up stories from the same mag, (aka: the December 1952 issue of The Ghost Rider #10), and also illustrated by Dick Ayers. And since these are only 4 pages long, how about a bonus yarn to fill ya full of lead, --so saddle up for a spooky shoot-out from The Ghost Rider #14 as well! And after the stories, head over to AEET HERE for a whole mansion full of grim grinning ghosts just waiting to greet you!
I love vampire that go to an incredible amount of trouble just to get a meal!
ReplyDeleteI like the menace in every panel that has our vampire pal, and a great transformation sequence.
The second story is a lot of fun, just for the image of the ghost standing behind our chicken gun fighter and shooting for him, and the guy even doing the "no hands" thing! The last panel is particularly spooky, it's always a bit off putting to see those eternal fates, though if the guy was smart, he'd make a deal with the next guy to walk into the graveyard.
One year? Bah. I'll never understand why they don't bargain for a extraordinary amount of time. Sure, Satan, I'll sign, but I want to live rich and happy for three hundred years. Then I'm all yours, brother. Actually, I imagine three hundred years is plenty of time to make everyone turn to exotic sin, just out of boredom. Frankly Satan would reap a bundle walking the earth, handing our short-term immortality.
ReplyDeleteSomething about the second story reminded me of Kurtzman. All those hunkered figures and throwaway gags. But also not much the art itself, as the breakdowns.
But Ayers keeps impressing me. I'm not much of a western fan, so, between you and Pappy I've received one hundred percent of my golden-age Ghost Rider experience. The faces and character designs in both of these stories are just magnificent. The splash panel of My Friend the Hangman is a bona fide master class in balancing art and word balloon, in crosshatching, and in using the art and the color to make both better. I've never seen comic book flames I liked so much. The third and forth panels of page two really impressed me too. I usually just read over silhouette frames, but that one is magnificent.
In the first story the hangman looks somewhat like Vincent Price. Come to think of it, Price could have starred in a TV version of this story via Twilight Zone or Night Gallery, or Ghost Story / Circle of Fear.
ReplyDeleteThe second tale was great too. I wonder if Lafe Fogarty bemoaned his fate for eternity in a nearby old west ghost town.
You could easily see where the first tale was going but that transformation sequence is awesome! Also really love the fourth panel of the vampire staring at Bart on the third page. The last two panels on the final page are awesome although I swear the final panel reminds me of Goya's famous painting of Saturn Devouring His Son.
ReplyDeleteThe second story is a lot of fun, I love that since Slim Banion was a con-man when he lived, he talks in salesman lingo when making his deal with Lafe. Also his design is pretty awesome as well. The "Look! No hands!" panel made me laugh. I also LOVE the first panel of the final page. I actually WASN'T expecting the deal to end with Slim stealing Lafe's mortality. Makes me wonder though if Lafe could manage to pull the same shtick with some other chap.
Glad everyone's enjoying the Dick Ayers Ghost Rider filler tales... we'll do another one and jump into some more varied content this weekend. As always, thanks for all the great comments!
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