If you remember at the start of this month, we took a look at the superb, early 1940's work that Paul Reinman supplied for the Pep Comics' "Bentley of Scotland Yard" mysteries. And here comes Reinman again, 10 years later and still plugging away as strong as ever for Atlas, with a very unusual, wonderfully written, wildly drawn story via the Dec. 1951 issue of Suspense #12. And despite the somewhat aggravating, off-register printing here, I still freakin' love that odd, final page close-up of the old woman, not to mention that beautifully bleak ending...
Well then, it's a haunted house now.
ReplyDeleteI like this one very much. The idiot criminals, the oh so overconfiding old lady, all of it. Even today this would be a refreshingly good tale.
I love this one, because it has so many alternate takes. For instance, maybe the house was run down (as in the last panel) the entire time, and the old woman is a supernatural entity (and writer!) who drew in her prey and had them under mental dominance the entire time.
ReplyDeleteShe is certainly sinister in nearly every panel. Her smile really is unnerving, and the wild panel at end (which is super striking, especially the coloring) and I want to go with she was a ghost.
Then again, it's a perfectly rational explanation that she was just an old lady mystery writer.
The art here is *much* improved over what Reinman did 10 years earlier (which was fine then.) All the figures are proportioned better, there's a lot of clever art (the splash which has a lot of interesting and impossible angles is great), and the expressions on everybody -- from the over confidence of the crooks to the non-stop smiling of the old woman are on point. Nice to see the growth!
This is a great one.
Now this one is fun. Mrs.Hall has a great design, a sort of mix of sweet old lady with a hint of mischief lurking in that smile and those eyes. I especially like the image of her on the second panel of page 4, just innocently knitting. To be fair, the crooks really did do this to themselves. Thought it was too easy but got too creeped out by Mrs. Hall enjoying it way too much. Smart lady though. Hope her suspense novel sells well.
ReplyDeleteNot supernatural per se… but the plot has a nice macabre “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” type of feel. Reinman’s art here is light years from his Bentley days.
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