Sometimes these older precode horror tales feel extra mean spirited and grimy, as well as unintentionally hilarious. Take for example this "Tales of Terror" entry from the June 1946 issue of Yellowjacket Comics #10. Alan Mandel's artistic action blend of amaturish awkwardness in the character posing adds a sort of surreal edge to everything, whether it's slapping, kicking, bashing, or doing whatever. And that goofy lookin' horror host hag is a truly horrible hoot too!
5 comments:
They’re siblings?….. Ewwww…. Maybe there were times the code was a good idea….
Um...odd choice to make them brother and sister? Let's just call it "odd".
It reminds me of a Robbin Williams stand up joke I heard many years ago-
"My mammy and pappy were brother and sister but that didn't effect me none." I forget the name of the stand up video, but the joke referred to the claim "Alcohol is a crutch but Jack Daniels is the wheel chair"
RIP Robbin Williams, you were one of the greats.
Concerning the story-
It is great to see the old witch again in all her horrible glory. Somehow I get the idea for this story was either lifted from a crime does not pay story or a reworked radio drama.
Seeing the witch dancing near the cauldron while gold drops from her fingertips, now there is a sight to behold!
I'm going to assume the witches come from the same radio plays that gave Gaines the idea for EC, and I also bet at that time there were lots of really dark, depression era plays that were pretty bleak.
I think that all mixes together in a tale like this that is just mean; mean in intent, mean in execution, and nihilistic to its bitter end. The very amateurish art makes it even more nihilistic and hopeless because everything feels so inhuman.
And as mentioned, I suspect the brother/sister thing is some kind of editing error?
I love the bizarre curse at the end, more goofy than threatening and yet comes absolutely true, to the delight of our crackling witch.
Hmm. Brothers and sisters go out dancing together all the time, especially in small and socially conservative areas. It doesn't mean they're getting married. What, is the women supposed to boogie with every caddish rake in the crowd? It's pretty clear she's never met anyone in the world outside her terrible family.
I dig the art, which strikes me as making up in fine art sensibility what it lacks (or ignores?) of the same 'ol tropes we're used to seeing in commercial comics illustration. This stuff seems to me like the kind of angry figures you see in murals or woodcut prints detailing the histories of revolutions. The splash reminds me of Dave McKean; the third panels of both pages three and four are like sticks of dynamite placed just where they need to go. Everything about page six is grim and brutal and really sells the story.
I also love that first panel of dad counting his money. It's super. On one hand, Mandel is saddled with a frame loaded with running dialog. In allowing that clue to the character's madness to marginalize him in the frame, he really turns what would be a liability for a lot of illustrators into a character-building image. Pretty canny.
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