Time to head back to the graveyard to pick up a body or two, via the October 1952 issue of Beware #12 from Youthful. Some of the art is a little wonky in places, but that's always been the macabre magic of Harry Harrison in my book, as perspective problems mostly always translate into surreal nightmares, plus he does a great job with the weird spirits and narrow, claustrophobic paneling. Love that splash too!
A young Stephen King read this one!
ReplyDeleteNothing makes a good pre-code horror comic than being chased to your death by a shambling corpse, but I like the wacky twist in this one -- he didn't rise from the grave to kill him, but was brought back to life by the old mad scientist ...
... or did he? I don't know if the author felt deep enough about this story to lay any seeds of doubt but did the scientist succeed? Or did he come back because he was murdered? It's kind of an interesting story element!
Colorist wasn't doing this tale any favors, BTW. I'm not sure how I would do better but things like page 6 are just too white.
Well it seems to me like an awful lot of the cyan on page six has faded. It would certainly break up the white if that was as vibrant as originally printed, though this look--broad, slathered on strokes of blue along the lab coat creases and things--has never been my cup of tea. It's usually all too clear that the work has been done by another, often less capable, hand from the actual story illustrator. So I kind of like it better this way.
ReplyDeleteI like the artwork here just fine, too--especially pages four and five. I have to assume Harrison was an Alex Toth fan. Those guys feel like Toth figures. I really like the way the man signed his name in the graveyard dirt at the bottom of the splash.
Completely irrelevant: But the bikini lass getting prawned on the cover of this ish looks remarkably like the woman from the Roxy cast poster of the Rocky Horror Show. I doubt there's any reason for that, but I dig the picture all the more because of it.
Anyone up for a killer game of pinball? It's coming next, stay tombed... and as always, thanks for the comments!
ReplyDeleteI feel like if you're going to kill your best friend for money, you should hold out for more than a hundred pounds.
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