Werewolf Wednesday is extra weird this week! And it's so weird in fact, that today's second story in our ongoing Double Feature series this month isn't even about werewolves! And you'll have to dig deeply into it to see just how exactly weird it really is, as Chuck Winter assumes nobody has ever seen a mole before! But worry not, cuz it's still a wild one, via the March 1954 issue of Journey into Unknown Worlds #25! But first up, Ed Robbins gives his wack-a-doodle wolfman the hideous head of a bat --yep, it's a terror tale that's just as beastly bonkers as it is totally batty! From the October 1954 issue of Journey into Unknown Worlds #31. And if that isn't hairy-scary enough for ya, be sure to head over to AEET and check-out another weird werewolf mash-up HERE!
Panel 2 of Page 3 is kind of a surprise. I've never seen one of those posses of monster hunters in such good moods.
ReplyDelete> No Place to Hide
ReplyDeleteI absolutely adore this werewolf. I like how on the splash the shadow is a werewolf but he's actually more of a wolfman crossed with Mr Hyde. He's so dapper! And of course, he's the most handsome man in the town as a human.
There's some great images - running with the cloak, jumping through the window, he squat face. He's so huggable!
It's a good setup, too. They play with the "seek safety become a human" a couple times as setup, before he gets trapped with the wolves.
> From Under the Earth
This is a fun one. It's got some fist fighting, some fun morals on greed and how relative "worth" is to a society. I love that the mole men have a giant society with big buildings and cool cars yet ... steal grass and weeds? Well, it's a morality tale so I'm not going to look to much into it.
Love the werewolf-y moleman design, and I love Clem and his final articulated skeleton grasping gold.
To be fair, Mole-Men don't actually HAVE to look like moles. These guys live deep beneath the earth and tunnel around. That fits the bill for me. Gotta love how Clem actually fights back with his pickaxe and shovel and fists until he's finally captured. The twist to this one is good. That last panel is a riot. The first comic is fun too. Love the design for the werewolf.
ReplyDeleteI second, or rather third, the design of the werewolf in No Place to Hide. I wonder if the title was meant to be a sort of play on words concerning the Jekyll and Hyde nature of the werewolf, bestial by night, suave and respected by day.
ReplyDeleteSecond page, middle panel, the werewolf is a mix of wolf, man and what looks like the nose of a gorilla. I think Ed Robbins was having fun drawing this wolf man.
From Under the Earth it was a great adventure type story- hand to hand combat instead of running from the underground creatures, making a deal with them to escape his doom and the twist ending. "I'll keep digging until I find gold...or drop dead" well he ended up with both in the vault of Fort Knox.
Neat bit of trivia, metal detectors for treasure hunting and possibly searching for gold deposits in mines first became commercially available in the 1950's with the Fischer M Scope and Detectron model 711. Clem should have saved up his money and bought one of those units to improve his chance of finding the mother lode, though I have a feeling Clem was too stubborn to do things the easy way.
These were howling great tales Karswell.
Conspiracy type stories, with characters terrified of underground civilizations partly because they "know too much" about them, seem to be very popular in the Atlas-Marvel comics.
ReplyDeleteAlthough in this story, instead of trying to warn the world about them, Clem tries to make a deal with them in order to survive. But it's hard to blame him.
Of course, that underground world subject also shows up in paranormal books, like the famous Richard Shaver stories - they appeared in "Amazing Stories," but he claimed they were true.
Between Richard Shaver and the comic stories, I can't seem to get enough of the subject.
Editors note: There is absolutely nothing wrong with the title "From Under the Earth!"--unless you are selling a story that can be entitled VEGETARIAN WEREWOLF MOLEMEN ATTACK FORT KNOX instead, in which case, go with that one. I'd definitely shell out all the money in my wallet for the mag that has werewolf molemen on the cover.
ReplyDeleteI hope somebody teaches those guys the principles of economics at some point soon. Because I don't seen any reason why they should have to skulk around being sneak-thieves. One doghouse-worth of gold bricks would pretty much purchase them all the weed they can eat.
The werewolf in the first story is so great. I agree with everyone, about the design and also the way it evokes a more Jekyll-and-Hide-style presto-changeo manor-monster. I like the way the debonaire Otto Roznick loses his brainy forehead when he transforms into the brutish wolf. The animation in the way he darts around in his cape and dinner clothes is pretty sweet.
Reminds me of a story I wrote when I was in middle school (it was junior high back then), about a werewolf who is out running and hunting and mischief-making. Then, a lunar eclipse begins to wane the moon again just as he's defending his kill against a pack of hungry lobos who are down form the mountains and stocking up protein for winter. Knowing me, the whole pack was rabid, too. Anyway, the balance of the story is a man-vs.-nature tale that plays out over the next hour or so till our finally escapes back into civilization--it was the eighties, so lets say a shopping mall arcade or somewhere--only to turn right back into a werewolf in the final paragraph as the eclipse ends. Wah wah!
...he darts around in his cape and dinner clothes
ReplyDeleteThat reminded me of the music video Werewolves of London. It figures I would think of that video well after my first post.