Here's something different for you, from the October 1973 issue of The Witching Hour #35. And similar to an emotionally fueled episode of The Twilight Zone, we discover that sometimes man can be just as monsterous as anything supernaturally charged with evil. But is it horror?
7 comments:
Yeah. I kind of saw the twist coming on this one pretty quickly. I mean, why else would poor Millie be dressed in black and crying throughout the train ride? At least that one woman was kind and stood up to all the other jerks, including her husband.
The story could have had different ending, if the child in question-
-was a ghost in search of her mother.
-was a spirit who weeps whenever a train is about to get into a fatal accident.
-was a variation of The Weeping Woman waiting for a victim to comfort her then spirit said victim away.
A horror tale can go in any different direction the writer can think up.
While the denouement was telegraphed right from the start, I loved this one. The artwork is terrific - the close up of the tracks as the train comes in is outstanding, especially since it's a "throwaway" panel - and the woman's concern is in no way overdone. Its it horror, though? Depends on whether anyone is there to meet the little girl and take care of her afterwards. If not, it's the most horrifying post on this site.
"What!?! This wasn't a train ride it was a hearse ride!! I want my money back!"
What is up with Mordred in the last panel? Why is she so angry about the ending to this story? It looks like she's about to eat somebody's head off!
There's some fine work in the art, and a lot of complicated scenery; the tracks on page 2, the girders on the final panel, the netting in the train. Some really good work, which is something you could almost always depend on in the 70s DC horror comics.
It halfway reminds me of the ending of THE REBEL SET, which most people probably know as an MST3K episode.
The artist, Norman Maurer, is extremely underrated, and unknown to most comics readers and collectors. In my mind, he's one of the greatest cartoonists to ever work in the medium. His Three Stooges comics are incredible. Also, he was married to Moe Howard's daughter.
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