I was trying to remember another example of an individual horror comic story itself constructed in an anthology manner, as well as being featured within a horror anthology comic book. I'm coming up empty though, does anyone else remember one? This tale from the September 1954 issue of Weird Chills #2 is a lot of fun and actually pretty good, reaching for a horror high despite a writer / artist not quite up to par with the concept, (see also focal requirement for better fluidity!) Could be worse, it could be better, and it's still as 100% entertaining as anything Amicus Studios released...
I really like this art! Would I want to see a lot of it? No, but for such a dream-like story that bounces all over the place, the thick amateur lines, the muddy as a swamp inking, and the dull coloring really work for this one.
ReplyDeleteThe person's got talent -- the facial expressions are excellent. The scientist looking over the monster, the maniac, the husband, etc. He really captured the emotion!
Then you get stuff like the vampire woman's head shot, which has all sorts of weird indents and jutting, but I've seen that panel a bit and people seem to like it!
EC definitely did a lot of first person, from the author's perspective stories. A famous one about Karmen, for instance, but yeah, I swear I've read a story like this, but can't place it.
Man this story has everything but the kitchen sink thrown in. I kind of dig the cheated husband's goofy swirly glasses when he finds out what's going on. That panel is fun. I also couldn't help giggling at the narrator deciding to name a character George. That's my favorite part! I also noticed a typo in the 6th page on the first panel mentioning the "tail" of the mad scientist.
ReplyDeleteI see what you're saying. It would be really nice to see somebody totally berserk go nuts illustrating this one--Rudy Palais or Al Eadeh, maybe. But I gotta say that the rough work here certainly doesn't fail in the same way dull respectability might have. This is not great illustration, sure, but it's definitely lively and I enjoyed every page.
ReplyDeleteBut now I kind of want to see some story try to get even farther down the meta rabbit hole than this one did. I liked that the last page had upped the ante to one-story-per-panel (though they were just clips from the one-story-per-page part), but maybe the last half page might have been a reader reading the comic, with six little panels taking up half the space? And a finely-drawn house ad displaying the covers of six more comics, etc. A Droste Effect, fully disappearing into the sixty-dots-per-inch pulp fiber vanishing point of fifties' comics media.
This story could go on and on- the narrator, the essence of evil itself, recanting the horrors he has witnessed to his new minions of horror - authors of horror tales to terrorize the world in literature form.
ReplyDeleteThen again, would the spirit of evil have just one head? Why not the heads of Poe, Lovecraft, De Sade and even worse villains throughout time?
While the art is less than stellar, and one can dream of how a master of horror comics could have handled this tale (Wolverton, Nostrand, Cameron, etc.) the story itself makes up for the artwork.
Another terrorific find in the pit of horror comics, Thanks Karswell!
You are all mighty welcome, lots more on the way as April winds down... stay tombed!
ReplyDeleteDoes the last panel on page four contain an extra hand? Or is that a necklace?
ReplyDeleteHaha, definitely an extra hand— aka claw!
ReplyDeleteGood catch, Anon!