Again with a first person titled post-code freak-out tale this week, --because it's all about YOU, dear doomed reader, muhhh-hahah, --featuring awesome art by yet another pre-code horror legend, and this time it's petrifyin' Paul Reinman leading the journey into jolting terror! We'll definitely be visiting a few more haunted houses before the month is out, so get ready for some serious spook overload! From the July 1960 issue of Journey into Mystery #59.
Hey, not bad for post code. This one was a lot more subtle than the similar Benulis and Abel story eight years earlier in Mystic #13. To be fair, it had a lot more room to breathe with two extra pages. And, well, I guess much of the subtlety comes from the CCA keeping any mention of horror or fun purely speculative. But lots of horror stories really feel chintzy with their raison d'être censored by the code, sort of like a standup act without any punchlines. This one navigates around that problem quite nimbly.
ReplyDeleteMan I love funhouse horror. All creepy carnival stuff is great, of course, but the funhouse is the best.
I agree with Mr. Cavin, this works pretty well for a post code, and I think one of the factors is we've been well enough associated with the "satan grabs a bad guy in a weird place" story that we can do it without specifically mentioning or showing the stuff the code forbade.
ReplyDeleteThe best part of this was the look of the funhouse, the sharp-toothed entrance and the jack-o-latern face.
Neat little chiller.
ReplyDeleteEscaped criminals in comics always talk about hiding out until in blows over. Apparently back in the day they only searched for people who escaped from death row for so long and then just give up
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