Valentine's Day is finally upon us, but we're far from the bitter end of our doomed love stories fest for the morbid month of February. And it doesn't get much more doomy than a whirlwind romance that suddenly turns murderous and suicidal in the simple span of 5 comic book pages, but here ya go none the less. From the December 1951 issue of Chamber of Chills #4, PLUS! a real gem from the Karswell Kard Kollection-- aka the saddest sunken lunk Valentine of all time! And if you're still hangin' around after that, an appropriate, though not very Valentiney, one-page bonus "True Tale of the Supernatural" from the Sept. 1950 issue of Challenge of the Unknown #6.
5 comments:
I like it but the story is all sorts of weird. Why did the ghost disappear? She was still around! Why didn't she appear at the grave? Why didn't she tell Steve what was up? How the heck did she stay at a hotel? Her motivations are completely bizarre, whatever they may be!
The real question is where can I get the same happy skeleton picture the doctor has in his office?
Steve's a murderer who deserves his fate but I have to admit the story makes me feel a bit sorry for him. Again: no excuse, but the poor sap.
There's some good graveyard art here!
Now I've never been haunted by spirits but if they have no physical form (wait, now they have no physical form?) Wouldn't you get used to them eventually?
BTW the sister was 10 years old and he couldn't tell them apart?
OK I liked this, I did, but man, the story on this!
Yeah, this story starts out strong but after Laura literally ghosts Steve at their wedding, it all falls apart. The twin sister twist comes out of nowhere and far too fast to even register. Laura never appears in the flesh again either, only as a ghost along with her sister to haunt him down. Yet the police never show up to arrest Steve? Come on now! I can accept some comic book plot holes but this one really loses its plot. Not to mention, Laura owed Steve an explanation,
Btw, the suicidal skunk valentine reminds me of the classic MGM short by Tex Avery, Little Tinker, about a skunk looking for love.
love the art on page four, especially that last panel. So goth!
I am definitely intrigued by the idea that the ghost of Laura has gone on vacation, checked into a hotel, left her home address address, etc. I'd like to think this is some kind of ten-year bonus one gets while living the afterlife. A nice vacation or a gold watch. You choose.
But no, I guess it was some kind of Vanishing Hitchhiker thing where Laura is trapped in the idyllic resort where she met her fiancé ten years before--only to die in some elaborate and tragic kerfuffle on the way to the altar. Now she must Groundhog Day that terrible event whenever an eligible young man happens to check in....
But no. That doesn't explain why Laura has set up her sister from the afterlife. Maybe she was shuffled off to this country resort by her conniving twin, who was having an affair with Laura's cheating husband. Then the illicit couple donned disguises and followed blameless Laura to the hotel where they headed her off at the nature trail and left her cadaver in an idyllic ravine. Now her ghost sends every unstable young man she encounters back home to revenge her. In the sequel she targets her widower.
I also found the wedding on page three very amusing. Who are these guests? Steve's friends and family? Professional extras? They sure are weirdly mean. Maybe one or all of them were also left at the altar by this ghost in turn, and they just stick around the country resort to see what's going to happen next? Maybe they are all dead. Such a haunted and unkindly place doesn't seem like a great place to prescribe to nerve patients, so I suspect whichever one of these plots is correct, Steve's doctor is in on it.
Oh PS, hope everybody had a great Valentine's Day!
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