After last month's string of hellish hero horror tales, it's definitely time for a serious change of screamery! Say, how about a nice relaxing boat ride to clear our heads? I do believe some fresh sea air will do us all a world of gook-- err, I mean, good. Yes, that's exactly what I meant. From the May 1952 issue of Mister Mystery #5, and art by Tony Mortellaro.
7 comments:
I don't know why, but this story is giving off "The Last of Us" vibes.
Considering how red tide is harmful to sea life and human beings, along with that brain eating
amoeba found in warm water, a sea-based menace of this kind could be used in a horror story or horror movie today.
What do I love most about this story? The captain with the pipe stuck in the middle of his face? The failure to take the elementary precaution of withdrawingafter meeting the half eaten duo? The total lack of any attempt to spell check with a dictionary?
It sounds like something by the horror writer W.H. Hodgson. I barely know him, but I do know that he liked writing about things that are somewhere between living and non-living (especially in the water).
Ooh, early model Trypophobia. Always so effective. I want to think Junji Ito read this as a wee lad.
I like the art a ton. And the gratuitous color job was already delivering the exciting seafarin' long before the story served up these eye-popping (mostly) dead sailors on page three. Even the crummy registration has an appealing pulp aesthetic, the grindhouse feel of old periodicals. This was a delight from beginning to end.
This is a fun one. There's quite a few mobious loop horror stories out there, and they are all pretty effective. Add in an intelligent blob and you've got a real rip-roaring tale.
I'm not sure about the coloring, the orange zombies, the blue and yellow people, it's very comic, and very of the time, but it is also a bit less striking as an image. Page 3 is a good example of that, panel 3 with the half flesh sailors and green and blue teeth is cool; the next panel looks like a black light poster which is also cool but distracting.
That said the guys on the last page getting covered in dots? Yeah, that's scary!
As mentioned by Grant, definitely William Hope Hodgson inspired. Also, the sailors are such stupid boneheads, they're only fit to be slime kibble. Great fun.
I'm with Bill about the failure to even care to spell the title right. Oh, Mister Mystery: you were a cad, but you were our cad.
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