Time once again to scream out for an assist with some spooky supernatural shenanigans, and who better to aim that call at than the ever dynamic, Dr. Drew! I guess it's been awhile since we've seen him around these parts, (check the THOIA archive for more!), and this is absolutely one of his more lively "secret file" entries, loaded with both macabre and murderously madcap moments. Just don't be thrown off by the story title now, because (spoiler alert) it is Wednesday after all (hint hint!) From the October 1950 issue of Ranger Comics #55, and featuring the always amazing, Spirited art (get it?) of Jerry Grandenetti. [Also fyi: I actually already posted this story back in 2016 HERE, but it was the not so nicely recolored 80's Eclipse Mr. Monster reprint version and blech-- these things always bug me when I go through my backlog and see 'em, especially considering Melani Mandible is actually a rockin' redhead and not a blonde!]
6 comments:
I also first saw this in that Eclipse reprint book. Looks much nicer here!! I've sadly long lost my copy of that book, but did it have a sidebar about the sequence of panels at the bottom of page seven being censored or bowdlerized at some point? Also (pardon my ignorance) but was this Grandenetti "ghosting" for Will Eisner, or just doing a tribute/rip-off of him?
Grandenetti does a fine Will Eisner, but I don't think he has the same flair for panel layout. It's great stuff, regardless! Page 1 with the castle against the head, and then the light below it, page 3 and it's smoke/fog panel effects. Love the house on page 3, too. Melani is very much in the Eisner style.
Is this missing a page near the end? What happened to Melani? Did the werewolf kill her off panel? Curse made "them" monsters in the second to last panel? I got really confused!
Drew can take a mace to the head, I suspect he's pretty supernatural as is!
>was this Grandenetti "ghosting" for Will Eisner, or just doing a tribute/rip-off of him?
Grandenetti worked with Eisner on The Spirit, and most of his other output, like Dr. Drew, during this phase in his career has a similar style.
>Is this missing a page near the end? What happened to Melani?
not missing a page, GCD says 8 pages, I posted 8 pages... Melani is clearly laying on the floor in the first panel on the last page, she either fainted or Charles killed her
I thought the fate of Melani was pretty vague, too--and to be honest, I didn't see her at the top of the last page till you pointed it out. Grandenetti has a way of strewing the objects of his composition blithely about, and sometimes I don't find all of them. I did wonder why the cop had to spring in and save the day when she was standing right there holding a gun the whole time. Fainting makes (a little) more sense in explaining that.
So what's the monster holding in his hand there at the end? At tattered and yellow as it is, maybe it's that old diary page we saw earlier on page two. It's interesting to compare the re-vamped art at the bottom of page seven with the original. The original is way more interesting, and makes (a little) more sense with the dialog in the final panel. That dialog looks like it was intended to be changed in the redux, too, but then it... just wasn't. It's all poorly re-lettered, but it says the very same thing. So damned odd.
It's nice to see the original colors! Happy belated werewolf Wednesday.
We'll do another werewolf weirdie next Wednesday as well, and probably take a looks at another Dr Drew tale later this summer... thanks for the comments! I have some terrible true crime up next *gag!
Why does he need to transform into a monster to strangle himself? Can't he do it in human form?
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