Another Toby tale shambles forth from the ominous ocean, via the January 1953 issue of Tales of Horror #4. Pro team pals, Ben Brown and David Gantz amp up the atmospherics, with supernatural scare settings on SUPER SOAKER, as a cute blonde reporter on vacation finds herself in the middle of some rather sinister, seaside shenanigans! Also of interest: this tale was reworked for Road to Disaster (1982), one of the many wild Gredown horror reprint one-shot mags from Australia, and retitled, "The Slimy Haunt." As much as I'd love to see that, I'm actually much more curious about the cover story, "Supper in the Graveyard" (aka, "Michael's Last Supper"), you must see the last scan below-- I love that crazy cover!
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Ship wreckers, also known as the wreckers were landlubber pirates. Before modern navigation, ships would steer as close to the shore as possible to reach port as quickly as possible. The wreckers tied a lantern to a horse and lead it along the beach, causing the captain to think another ship was closer to shore and it was safe to sail in closer. The goal was to cause the ship to hit the rocks, subdue and take whatever valuables from the crew (living or otherwise) then take the cargo to sell on the the black market.
The guy has a chest of gold coins in his house, reminiscent of the 1950's Mickey Mouse Club TV show segment "The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure" where the Hardy Boys try to locate the missing treasure of the ancestor of the last pirate- it was the fifties, just go with the fifties crazy.
The lead villain wants to marry the reporter after only meeting her a short while ago, lucky for her she is no gold digger or she would end up drowned like Kim Craven.
If Kim had been smart he would have lived in the desert like Al Forbes did in the end of the story "Ship of the Dead" featured here back in May 13, 2010.
It is hard to drown when you live miles away from water.
Horror stories that deal with the shoreline or the sea are always the most chilling, since, even today, mankind's knowledge of the waters of the world are so limited. Bermuda Triangle anyone?
"There is no safe haven
for him whose name is Craven"
Wes Craven better watch out for himself.
Haha, well unfortunately his ship sailed off this mortal coil back in 2015!
I like the horror stories where there is a defined set of rules, and the gimmick is how somebody trying to defy the rules still get caught in them (i.e., drowning in the rain.)
One bit of this script I really like: Kim's family used fake signals to draw ships to their doom and he uses a fake signal (the letter) to draw in our beautiful reporter.
One thing I have to ding this story on, though, is Linda has absolutely no agency. The only thing she does by herself is go to a house after a scream. After that, everything is done outside of her. She's saved by the old woman, she's saved by the ghost, she's tries to give up but is tricked by Kim, and everything just solves itself with ghostly vengeance.
There's a very subtle nod that I don't know if it was done intentionally or not. If so, it's really clever, but on page 5, panel 2, when Mary tells Linda that no one believes in ghosts and witches these days, there's a broom in the foreground. I do like that the twist on Mary isn't supernatural at all. She just happens to be the ghostly captain's very live daughter. I'm also tickled by Linda saying that she's going back to writing about simple kinds of murders.
Liking the sort of dismal looking art styling here. All that black texturing accumulating at the edges of the panels. Could Gantz use a thicker brush for the wrinkles and folds in clothing? Everybody already looks drowned.
I love the three treasure chest panels at the top of page three, with their radiating circles of color, and those solid looking rays filthy lucre. But my favorite panel is probably Captain Billy walking through the yellowed town in his wet boots at the bottom of the following page. That's one of the rare instances in which I kinda wish I could see a panel with out the word balloon.
This was a great ghost story.
I wonder if any reporter (or detective or spy) has ever actually gotten all the way through a vacation!
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