As I thusly vowed, it's now time to get to some long awaited requests, and first up it's an ACG vampire classic from the June - July 1954 issue of Out of the Night #15! Mr. Cavin wanted to see something by THOIA fan favorite, Lin Streeter, and I am of course always happy to fulfill that request! So horrifically happy in fact, that we'll see more by Lin in our next post as well! Stay tombed for lots lots more...
What could possibly go wrong?
ReplyDeleteI gotta say, I was not expecting the snake pit. It's like... it's like the original draft meant to include the words "stake pit" and then later, when the typo was discovered, everybody just rolled with it anyway.
Pages two and three have to be the most exciting looking wall of exposition I've seen yet. Lin Streeter's a genius, of course. The paneling evokes broken glass. I particularly like the literally hair-raising panel when young Uncle discovers the vampire's torture chamber full of corpses. Why the vampire even manages such a chamber is interesting to dwell on.
But my favorite page is number four, and my favorite panel is the fourth. This is what I look for in Streeter's stuff, this kind of squeaky-clean--and blatantly Golden Age--visual storytelling. I love the stacked nature of the frame: Deep background silhouette, middle ground victim, and foreground protagonist--doubled by his larger-than-life shadow on the door. It sure compresses a bunch of communication neatly into a small space.
This recommendation was a brilliant idea!
PS, I meant to mention the crazy cover on this issue. Amazing!
ReplyDeleteThis one has one of the most bizarre and perhaps sadistic ways of dealing with a vampire that I've ever seen. Yet I love how pleased Uncle Otto is with himself! Though to be fair, I keep thinking the snake tank is full of water. Also, I love the panel where the vampire smacks Phil with a chair. It's just amusing to me.
ReplyDeleteIt's great how writers come up with different takes on the vampire lore. No story is too bat guano crazy for horror comics.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the vampire in this story inspired the vampire look in Salem's Lot or The Night Flyer.
I'd like to imagine the uncle and the vampire have been doing this for years. The uncle keeps building more and more elaborate traps and eventually the vampire escapes and they do it all over again.
ReplyDeleteI can understand that after be tracked for 50 years he wants to get some enjoyment out of all of this but it's downright sadistic and pretty dangerous to think that trap will hold -- and yet he asks the doctor for plasma laughing like a batman villain.
There's absolutely no way anybody could predict this ending. It comes out of nowhere, the vampire forgets he has wings, it is just wild. I love the snakes. Some are drawn well, some are cartoony, the whole thing ... it's impossible not to love it.
Even the weird panelling works here.
So how does Uncle Otto stop the vampire from simply murdering the snakes? For that matter, how does he intend to lei the snakes fed? Throw in a squad of mice every day or two?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mr Cavin, this was probably meant to be a stake pit, with the vampire impaled on stakes embedded in the floor. It would make a lot more sense too.
If true, I'm sure Lin thought a stake pit would be a bit cliche at this point in comic history, seriously who wants to see a vampire die in the same old usual way? Plus, if it wasn't supposed to be a snake pit, explain all of the snake pit dialog on the last half of the last page. I applaud the writer for coming up with something different and unique for a change.
ReplyDeleteAs mentioned, hold on to your snakes cuz there's more Streeter up next... thanks for the comments
There are plenty of stories where someone's carelessness helps a vampire, but I can't think of any others where someone accidentally helps him by actually saving his life!
ReplyDeleteMaybe there are others, though.
Nice story where the young handsome doctor is completely useless. "Pit your strength against mine? Chair to the head, loser."
ReplyDelete