Like our previous post, this story is also from the November 1953 issue of Adventures into Terror #25. And for those of you experiencing deja vu with that title, yesss, THOIA has another entry in our Ace Magazines archive HERE bearing the exact sssame name --which also confused me into thinking I had already posted this slithery Atlas classic! I guess I may as well post the full-page "Snakes Alive" novelty gag mail-away offer again too... gosh, I'd love to find one of those ties.
7 comments:
Ah yes, a snake peeping out of your bow tie, that's going to really make you the life of the party.
OK I had to laugh at that ending ... as I was reading, I was imagining that Markov turned into snakes, or his head popped off and snakes came out, or they were ... I don't know, but I have to say, I certainly didn't get the reveal!
There was another Atlas tale I remember where the killer had an extra set of arms, which is why his finger prints never matched. All of this works only if the cops are the absolute biggest idiots on the planet and never, you know, check the guy!
BTW: Again, really good animal art from the unknown artist. Somebody did their research.
And check out the cover -- it's well known that Atlas just had the titles and so the cover art was usually substantially different from the story but this has to be the real champion of that!
This is Marvelous. Literally. I can only assume this was full-blown Stan--he's the only comics writer I know of who came out of the gate bravura first an plot second. The whole first page is dazzling with storytelling brio you just don't find elsewhere. Frankly the whole thing is. "There's a lot of time between sooner and later...." Brilliant.
I'd love to see the 1970 Italian movie about this. Body count, black leather gloves, the kind of police that spend the runtime showing up just right after everybody is already killed (but one): That's a giallo as far as I'm concerned. Mimsy Farmer as the unlucky ophidiophobe housekeeper who works for every single victim!
2024 is turning out pretty great so far!
At the bottom of Page 2, it's funny that the medical examiner's left hand glove looks more like an actual hand that he's holding. For a second that threw me.
Once more I got slightly ticked off at a line about a "slimy snake," till I reread it and realized the cop was referring to Markhov himself.
(There's still no such thing as a slimy snake, but at least he meant it figuratively.)
The family members should have had a supply of snake antivenom on hand, or bought a pet mongoose or two.
Love all the positive comments, thanks you guys! A few more Atlas creeps on the way! In fact, there's one circling overhead now and just about to swoop down like an eerie early bird! Stay tombed...
>Mimsy Farmer
see also Lilli Palmer! XOXO
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