An old family curse comes full circle once more, in this chilly, atmospheric entry from the December 1952 issue of Weird Horrors #5, --and thus proving again that sometimes love actually won't keep us together. Anyone recognize the artist?
An old family curse comes full circle once more, in this chilly, atmospheric entry from the December 1952 issue of Weird Horrors #5, --and thus proving again that sometimes love actually won't keep us together. Anyone recognize the artist?
Does the model come with the Be An Artist order?
ReplyDeleteThe funny part is that until the end of the story, it’s never really explained what’s become of the cursed Coultons. It’s also strange that the circle of trees is both a way of preventing the spirit of Jeremiah from harming the cursed yet at the same time causes their downfall if they decide to step inside it. I do love the images of the trees with faces on them though. They are very whimsical and cute. So, does Emily end up taking the money after all and marrying again? Hopefully a much nicer husband who will actually listen to his wife and heed family curses?
ReplyDeleteEmily was smart, she stayed just outside the circle of trees. Even though she wasn't a direct descendant she was smart enough not to tempt fate.
ReplyDeleteThe innocent victim in all of this is Emily, first for marrying ne'er do well Stacey, most likely not knowing of his conniving ways until too late, and having to wait seven years until both Stacey and Uncle Parker are declared legally dead before she can sell the property and get on with her life. Hopefully Emily's family can offer her a place to stay until the estates are settled.
The Coulton family as a whole were not too smart to begin with, why not sell the land and house and move to another county? If not that, have all family members pledge never to enter that circle of trees or forfeit their inheritance. Of course, there would always be one or two who would tempt fate and find out the hard way about the family curse.
Neat detail in the art, the cars have steering wheels on the right hand side which is the norm in Great Britain and most nations in the British Commonwealth.
I don't believe in spooks, but if I was told this story, then my uncle mysteriously disappeared from his death bed to the sound of unearthly screams and a wisp of smoke and then I saw a grove of trees full of trees with obvious faces ... I think I'd stay outside, just in case.
ReplyDeleteI mean, if I was greedy and thought the money was there, I'd just hire a non-Coulton to go dig it up. How complicated are spectral curses, anyway?
I like the art in this one -- the art process ghosts, the Wizard of Oz-ish trees, some mild good girl art, the red eyes of greed, Rasputin stepping in for the uncle.
I also like stories where the dude that gets it is an absolute dope. He willingly walked off that short pier into the deep water.
Also: $60 in the 50s? People were hard-up for pin-ups, I see! And here you go giving it away for free on your blog!
ReplyDeleteOne more detail of worth mentioning on page five, on the middle right and bottom right panels, it looks like the tree branches are reaching out to grab Stacey, as if to make him realize there is no escape from his fate. A bit of foreshadowing perhaps?
ReplyDeleteThis was another great addition to THOIA's tales of a wraith's revenge, terrible trees and greedy gits.
It's funny to see Robert's son being such a sensible character, and by doing the actual "exorcizing." These stories have a lot of kid characters investigating the weird stuff, but I don't know how many of them solve the problems by themselves.
ReplyDeleteStacey's face at the top of Page 6 is pretty comical. All that's missing from his eyes are the dollar signs. Or pound signs, I guess.
The ghostly copse of hexed cedars is really pretty spooky, especially since they are obviously dead.
ReplyDeleteI like how the curse mechanism here is battling it out with an anti-curse mechanism. That's a pretty neat touch. I also like how the ghost teases and terrorizes his victims for a while before taking them out. Well, everybody but Stacey for some reason. And that guy! He saw the revengeful apparition disappear back into the trees hours before he walked into the circle himself, but could not believe the evidence of his own eyes--a trait he seems to share with many people.
But hey, it's probably very nice to be a dead evergreen. Somebody might come along and make a closet out of him.