Some of you know about Mr. Karswell's love for vintage department store mannequins, so with that in mind we'll kick off Macabre March Madness 2024 with a lovely little Bill Savage story all about 'em! From the March 1954 issue of Astonishing #31, and guess what? I do believe I have yet another mannequin related bit of mayhem lined up for our next post as well, so stay totally t-t-t-tombed...
6 comments:
OK, as many Atlas stories as you've published, a lot of them have the same kind of "look" to the printing. I don't know enough about the process, and maybe it's down to the colorist, and I can't quite describe it, but there's a real "look" to the Atlas printing. I can pick it out a lot of the time.
I love the splash; I love when the coloring takes the time to halo around the outlines so they don't get drowned out. That's really good work.
I do have to say this story left me a little wanting: I want to know about the dummy maker! He seems just like your regular guy that sets up the twist ending by being a greedy criminal himself but suddenly at the end he seems to be supernatural. He knows the dummies walk! I'll just have to chalk it up to he's Satan, that usually works!
I don't get it. The dummy maker was....an avenger of some sort? But what were the other 19 dummies apart from James? Who were they avenging?
Another question is about those body parts that you see only a glimpse of.
I sort of love the idea that this story's mad man is more of a craftsman than a scientist. I mean, yeah yeah, the Frankenmannequins walk and talk by the end. And sure, we've seen a lot of other stories about fake sculptors who'll just dip a body in wax and pass it off as artwork. But this story would be just as creepy--maybe more so!--if it was all about a guy who cut the best bits out of scavenged cadavers just to make nice clothes horses and sell them at a premium. Sort of a mad entrepreneur. So I'd like to think that this guy is out to exact his own revenge on Jonas--"the dummy elite shunned me, but I'll show them!"--trying to put him out of business by undercutting his sales. I'd like to think that satisfying James' beef with Clem is just sheer dumb luck.
For a tale like this, leave rhyme and reason at the door and just go with the crazy.
"The readers want reason and logic? What do they expect for a dime comic?" asked the writer of this tale.
Anyway, any horror is good horror, even if the how and why are just enough to keep the story moving.
Completely crazy but enjoyable. "Explanations? We don't need no stinkin' explanations."
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