Summer swamp swing time here at THOIA, --so find you some frightening fun on the run-- before it findssss you! From the December 1952 issue of Mystic #15, art by Vic Carrabotta.
Summer swamp swing time here at THOIA, --so find you some frightening fun on the run-- before it findssss you! From the December 1952 issue of Mystic #15, art by Vic Carrabotta.
Ha! Even though the concept of a snake farm where all the snakes are just slithering around in a wire mesh (!!!) enclosure is ludicrous, it doesn't matter. This is the kind of fun Atlas stuff that rose them above the competition. It's just entertaining, and it turns the regular O. Henry device into the setup-punchline device -- both using the same dynamic for the same effect.
ReplyDeleteThe cover blurb is completely unrelated, again -- great Maneely cover, BTW.
Wonder if Stan wrote this? It seems like him. I love the constant look of fear and the coloring works here, even when it monochromatic. Nice one!
I always really love it when Vic Carrabotta's ribbed, wrinkly world pops up here. Vic's vision is texture-forward; it feels like all other considerations beyond the chewiness of these images--things like the figure drawing, character model consistency, frame composition--was strictly a secondary consideration. Well, there is obviously attention paid to the energy that drags the reader's eyes from panel to panel, but that seems more like a function of the dense environmental mood than some construction of positive-space shapes, or whatever it is Alex Toth would use. Somehow I feel like this is as good a method as any for differentiating between horror and other genres of comics: What draws the eye? Moldering swamp lines!
ReplyDeleteStory-wise, yeah sure, it's all about setting up the punchline, but I'm still totally charmed by the idea that this hardened criminal is influenced by trespassing signs. It feels like the fussy trait of a Dick Tracy rogue wondered over from the papers. I'll bet Gould would have milked it for more than a set-up line or three, but then again, we don't really know what happens to Al in the sequel. Maybe following the signs saves his bacon again and again. I'd like to think so.
Agree with Brian. This is so dumb, it owns being dumb and is just goofy fun. I assume the other guy gets torn apart by dogs instead of snakes. Anyway, it's nice this comic doesn't take itself too seriously.
ReplyDeleteAnother wild and crazy one, with a very uniquely ugly and desperate atmosphere. The art reminds me of the work of Mad Myron Fass in some panels. The ending reminds me of that catchy insurance jingle: "Like a good neighbor/Snake Farm is there!!"...
ReplyDeleteA gator farm would have worked better an made more sense, but Atlas logic is beyond human ken.
ReplyDeleteGreat tale, snakes or no.
Poor ol' Tony couldn't catch a break. Born with a Kurtzman/Davis face. Imprisoned. Chased by hounds. Kilt by a mess o' snakes. All because he wouldn't heed the signs.
ReplyDeleteThank you Karswell The mono-colored faces stood out for me as conveying emotion/escalating dangers. At the end I started hearing the Five Man Electrical Band.
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