Time once again for Weird War Wednesday (umm, have we ever actually done a Weird War Wednesday before?), --well no matter, -- cuz here it is in all of its high flyin' glory, from the April 1983 issue of Weird War Tales #122! And don't let the title fool any of you long time THOIA freaks who think you know what a "hand of glory" is, I doubt you'll see this ending coming, errr, until you get to maybe page 5, and / or if you clue-in on a certain character's name. And don't cheat and go running to look at the last page either, ya party poopers!!
9 comments:
As they say in Marvel comics: *choke* GASP!
Sadly, on the way to the ending, this story makes little sense. Roger wants glory and fame -- like his brother, a WWI ace ... who nobody is going to remember later on, but everybody will remember a pilot that took on King Kong!
That said, I adore that last panel. I love the city in blue wash with the bright yellow tower (and planes) in front of it. That's a great image! I could have even done without the skull pilot and I love skulls! King Kong looks awesome, too, how he is mostly in shadow with the two bright eyes. Honestly, that's one of the coolest Kong art I've seen in a long time!
Nice twist in the end.
This is getting into a sensitive area, but it's always interesting to see an American character in the ' 30s "itching" for there to be another war.
That's usually only associated with people in a certain other country, but there's no reason it should be.
Now THAT was a twist I didn’t see coming! It’s rare for these old done in ones, to actually work especially at the site.
Ah, so not the hand of glory that's a dried hand from a hanged man used by thieves to put everyone in the vicinity to sleep and open any door. This is a figurative one. Gotta admit, never saw King Kong coming at the end. But hey, if he's the one who takes the ape down, that would definitely be awesome. Sadly, I think that's Roger's plane that King Kong's peeling like a banana in that final panel.
The process used in that final panel is called a "color hold"--the inked artwork for the New York cityscape in the background was "held" from the key plate (black, printed last) and instead included on the cyan plate, printed first. It's a neat effect, most often used for cover lettering and the occasional ghost.
This was quite the clever story. I think my favorite panel is the last one on page five. I love the stippled shadow of Kong's hand falling across the biplane. It makes fate look like some kind of gravestone rubbing. Which strikes me as apropos.
I was going to mention the color scheme, but Cavin pointed out its appearance.
The blacks look extra black, not the faded black associated with comics from decades ago.
The blacks and the colors are vibrant, more of an illustration appearance than the typical comic coloring I expected to see. Then again, I had drifted away from comics in the early eighties, so I wasn't aware of any technical changes occurring in the realm of comics.
Well, I guessed the ending as soon as I read that they were going to New York, but I still don't understand how King Kong's hand is the "hand of glory".
surrrre ya did
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