We made a bunch of macabre monsters in our previous Landor post HERE, and now --with the help of Boris Karloff-- it's time to make another! But be warned, if you choose to play a monster, be extra careful that you don't actually become one, too! I love a good stormy night of horror inside an atmospheric, seaside cliff mansion! From the June 1972 issue of Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery #41, with story art by Hy Eisman, and cover painting by the great George Wilson.
8 comments:
This was absolutely hilarious. Is Ron modelled on someone real? He looks nothing like the generic faces of the comics of the era.
I wonder what would have happened had Ron managed to go through with his plan and revealed the hoax. His guests might have beaten him to a pulp in revenge. Now that would be a great ending to his novel.
When I see a lot of Gold Key horror covers, I always felt they reminded me of something and today it clicked -- it reminds me a lot of the "Three Investigators" books I read as a kid. Same kind of cover. If you take the cover to this issue, replace the victims with the Three Investigators and entitle it "The Mystery of the Shocking Conclusion" then we'd be golden!
This is an interesting art job; the inking is pretty dark and the art is scratchy but it works pretty well for the tale. I like the concept that if I dress up as a monster, I just have to kill somebody (not even intentionally) and I get to be that monster. Need to start working on my werewolf costume!
Poor Ilda, she really didn't deserve to get throttled by the newly minted creature.
By the way, the monster's mouth on the cover is certainly.....suggestive.
This story checked many of the boxes of a good horror comic tale,
old dark mansion-check
raging storm outside-check
stranded guests-check
legendary creature-check.
There are many tales in the archives of THOIA of a make believe horror that becomes real, leading to the doom of the antagonist.
This one has a faint Night Gallery vibe to it, maybe it is due to the monster costume. It is the type of horror costume that would get a pass by network censors back in the 70's.
I always like Gold Key horror, it was like 1970's TV horror, scary enough to be allowed but not over the top to get parent groups up in arms.
For me, the idea that Ron immediately sprouted the features of that Star Trek-style monster suit he was gussied-up in is exactly one bridge too far. But I think the idea is wonderfully chilling: The shame and guilt over killing his friend snapped his mind and he sank fully into the monstrous persona he'd created. So he dons the mask once more--once and for all--to hunt down and kill off anyone foolish enough to have ventured onto this island-lake-island (or wherever this takes place), starting with the rest of his friends and continuing for thirteen wilder and wilder sequels. If they'd been able to include the part of the story they only allude to at the end of the last page, this would count as a kickass proto-slasher.
I'm so glad my mom didn't name me Ole Tim.
Wow. It wouldn't have occurred to me, but now that you say that I can absolutely see it. I read all the Three Investigator books growing up. Their hidden clubhouse was amazing.
He looks like a dozen character actors I've seen, but almost none I can name.
"Poor Ilda, she really didn't deserve to be throttled by the newly minted creature."
If only Ron hadn't gotten a little lazy about getting his "realistic reactions," he, Ilda and Henry would've all ended up all right!
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