Double Header Day again, and get ready for two of my all-time favorite loony tune Atlas tales, both of which can be found in the April 1954 issue of Astonishing #32. It's a duelin' dose of monster maiden mayhem featuring hilarious horror twists on two creeps the likes of which I'm not sure any of us have seen around here in a while, --if ever! And yes, Werewolf Wednesday is a day early because I'll be busy for the next few, but also because I want to give everyone a chance to read these before posting again. And one more thing: even though it's still technically incorrect, please read BOTH tales before screamin' "cover blurb mix-up!" haha, wtf...
7 comments:
That is a completely bizarre misunderstanding of what plastic surgery is in 'Her Other Face'. Apparently the writer thought it meant surgically attaching a plastic mask to someone's face. And yet it's kinda charming especially with the rather meta--or grasping at straws--ending. I like it when creators are burning out and just casting about for something--anything--different to put a new spin on things. Some entertaining wonkiness will sometimes emerge.
'The Werewolf Takes a Wife' is a real favorite of mine. Roaming around the internet I really discovered an affection for Paul Reimann's work. I like his ACG stuff and even his Archie superhero stuff to a degree, but this one is my favorite. I think he does an excellent job on this, but the story is so delightfully out there, too. It reads like a particularly dark folk tale or fable added to by that pitch black punchline of an ending. Superb stuff in my opinion.
If I may add so as to be clear--since I wasn't--the metaness--grasping-at-strawsness--I would wish to celebrate in 'Her Other Face' would be that final panel and final line with its medium awareness. For me it pushed the goofy absurdness of the ending enough into cheekiness to make it allowable and enjoyable.
I'm a sucker for a happy ending on a monster tale; its not hard to imagine that Essie had some plot to kill the werewolf, but no, she loved him, and she was evil (she obviously wanted to be a werewolf, too.) Slap on the twist ending (you'd think the town boys would get wise to this!) and we've got the monster love story of a generation.
All of this flips expectations for a pre-code story. There's no plot against the werewolf, from anybody. Everybody keeps their word! The twist isn't really a twist because it's not announced, but works anyway!
Page 4, panel 6 is a great image. The artist really fills the panel with detail -- look at the ceiling and equipment in the final panel, that's a lot of work.
Her other face is a bit silly and the story has enough holes to drive a vampire-driven truck through (what plastic surgeon gave her the original "mask" and didn't notice she was a vampire? If plastic surgery is somehow mask like, why not remove the first one? etc) but it's still a entertaining tale. It's really hard to have much to say after that werewolf tale!
That said, I do like that the vampire was more than happy to be loved for her money!
Honestly, I used to dread Werewolf Wednesday. I suspect I’m not alone. Maybe even back in ‘54 werewolves were already a little shopworn. How else do you get a story like that? I noticed the farmer’s daughter dark and roving eye right from when she first served soup to the beast. Yet the whole Loooove-Love-is-strange thing elicited a little lump in my throat that carried me through right to the Bonnie-and-Clyde finale. The calm, practical father is a nice plot device.
* an affection for his work... and an ignorance as to how to spell his name...
Ah man, this is my favorite werewolf tale in quite a while. Definitely digging the sort of folklore or fable vibe here; a cautionary tale about the pitfalls of collusion, or home invasion, or commodification of farmers' daughters or something. I guess it shares DNA with The Three Little Pigs, like Night of the Hunter or any other story in which the general type of bad seediness is elevated into the rarefied air of actual animal predation. I love page one of this thing so much. Ditches filled with the curdled, partially identifiable carcasses of farm critters really sells the horror right upfront. I also love the werewolf design.
I also really like that four-panel facial disintegration on the last page of story two. At first I was disappointed that the artist couldn't come up with some way to take the idea much further, but what we did get was drafted with energy and brio and I dig it.
Great comments gang! Glad you all enjoyed this dynamite double header. Got a short 'n sweet DC doozy up next from Frank Robbins... stay tombed!
Post a Comment