Wrapping up the month of June 2024 with one final weird wedding ceremony from the May 1953 issue of Mister Mystery #11. This copy had some unfortunate water damage, hence why the scans don't look the greatest, but I think you'll enjoy this one all the same-- especially that charming "happy" ending! There are more jittery, jolting tales of terror on the way for July, so stay tombed with the vroom-vroomed!
No joke, this one was floating around in my mind lately--just the punchline I remembered though, not which comic it was from. I'm kind of amused about Trenton New Jersey though because that's where my grandparents used to live. This one's kind of weird and jumbled but the images of Nick becoming an undead corpse were pretty awesome. Also, I honestly don't think his punishment was justified. His father was a violent drunk and he killed his twin brother. Also, that punchline about Nick not having read the fine print or rather the missing page is a bullseye. So did the professor know that Nick was dead all this time?
ReplyDeleteWe've read any number of stories where somebody -- who is listed as the greatest researcher in some field -- seemingly misses an important second page and whoever wrote the book was a troll who didn't point out at the beginning to "read the whole thing first." Hell, the last piece of furniture I put together said that!
ReplyDeleteSo on tales like this, I wonder what the artists that got the job felt like? I mean, it's their job to draw, but these scripts are text heavy and 90% talking heads. You can tell the fun that went into drawing the splash and the zombie heads on Nick. Was it all kind of the same for them? I'm a terrible artist but I'd rather get a script that was wall to wall skeletons. If you switch out the guy really being dead and just him getting hit in the head and thinking he was dead, this could be a romance comic plot.
BTW I adore the ending they are *so* cute!
I can't help liking Dora's "Concentrate on something living" line on Page 3.
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of the wife in THE TINGLER. Even though she's the villainess of the story, I like it when she tells Vincent Price that her fooling around at least puts her in contact with LIVE people, unlike his work.
I can't tell if Professor Dillon is the evil twin of Mister Weatherbee from Archie comics, or Count Robespierre from Dread of Night posted here back in August 4, 2017.
ReplyDeleteI do feel bad for Dora, losing her life for a false-hearted dead man. Sometimes in horror comics nobody lives (or dies) happily ever after.
Kind of a weird Beauty and the Beast sort of thing, where the gotcha fine print is a reversal of fortune, but, you know, not for the cursed guy. Can you imagine the Beast winning Belle's love through fine wining-and-dining only to see her also become a beast? Actually, I like that better than the original story. Still, what a way to get outed over your insincerity. "Nick, why am I a skull Blonde in the mirror?" "Oh shut up Ellen, I only married you for you love anyway."
ReplyDeleteI like this art. He really fills the frame up. Many illustrators might find that claustrophobic or labor-intensive, but not Milt Knoff. He draws all the way to the corners of nearly every frame, really crowds the detail in. The man's got a work ethic.
Am I missing why Nick came back to life and died again? I don't see that spelled out in the book. Then again, I guess it would be awkward if she suddenly died, and he were back on the market.
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