Brian's rockin' birthday salute in our previous post temporarily interrupted my planned Ripley-O-Rama, so here's the next installment for "Brujday Tuesday the 13th", comin' atcha from the October 1970 issue of Ripley's Believe it or Not #22. Featuring some cool transformation panels from Golden Age great, John Celardo, plus: burning at the stake, holy water in the face, a disintegrating body, tragic madness, and more! Yep, this story has a little bit of everything, including another gaspingly gruesome George Wilson cover painting to totally knock your fuzzy slippers off! A few more choice "believe it or whatevs" on the way too, so stay bruj'd...
That cover rocks! There are two converging lines -- the shading at the top right going about 135 degrees and the figures going the opposite angle both ending at the moon, which lights the werewolf. That is some super fine composition, I love to see stuff like that on covers.
ReplyDeleteInterior art is more workman like, which is kind of how it was at Gold Key. I'm enchanted by page 4, panel 4, the way the woman runs. I don't know why!
I always kind of hated man -> beast transformations where the clothes suddenly appear, though! It really bugs my OCD. I love the last two panels, both really capture "driving insane."
"A mysterious man who appeared almost out of thin air, who no one knows anything about, who wants to court my daughter, I guess there's nothing to worry about." Were Fathers back then overly trusting or just dumb?
ReplyDeleteOn the cover, the large wolfish creature is giving off Night of the Demon vibes.
I wish that the Ripley's Believe it or Not comic book series focused more on supernatural monster tales like these besides all the ghost ones. Just a nice change of pace here. This one is a lot of fun. Love those transformations and the image of the bridegroom becoming nothing more than a pile of dust spilling out of his clothes is awesome. Also, I like how the governess is actually believed and not brushed aside as being insane or lying when she mentions what she saw at night. I also like how the Brujo is a mosh posh of various supernatural creatures. He doesn't cast a reflection, like a vampire, runs around at night as a werewolf during a full moon and can't stand holy water.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I know, there aren't enough weird stories about this period in Mexico. Even actual Mexican horror films - about the only ones I can name are that notorious one called in English THE BRAINIAC (which is also about a male witch who's executed) and one other.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Mexican horror films, it's easy to imagine a filmed version of this with the horror movie queen Lorena Velasquez playing Maria.
They dump water on him and he grows a beard! That definitely makes me want a werewolf Chia Pet. Does anybody make that? Or do I have to do it myself?
ReplyDeleteI like the story. I find the strange folkloric oddity of this brujo becoming a helpless animal in the night to be really appealing, somehow. I also like how he never seems to be particularly dangerous to anybody. I'd like to think that the marriage might have gone swimmingly (during daylight hours, natch) had daddy not dusted the groom.
I wish the animal transformations were handled with as many increments as the transformation back into Juan Lobo on page five. I like what we got, but I want more of it. I also really love the frame that Mr. Barnes mentioned: There's a little bit of Jack Davis-like antics in that lady's cartoony trot: "A werewolf! Feets don't fail me now!"