In just a few short weeks we'll be halfway to Halloween! But as everyone here already knows, everyday is Halloween at THOIA, so let's unleash a couple of ghastly old g-g-ghosts to further p-p-prove my p-p-point! Bob Powell, (as promised in our previous post) returns to warm up this haunted house of horrors with 10 atmospheric pages of pure nightmare fuel! From the June 1952 debut issue of Strange Suspense Stories #1 --and check out that bone-chilling cover by Sheldon Moldoff! Also, if it's just too scary for some of you, how about a cute Droopy Dog bonus page via Laffy-Daffy Comics #1 (1945.) We can't let Yogi have all the fun, now can we? And okay, this isn't quite the same Droopy that some of you are likely already familiar with, but it's still a nice little chiller ghost filler! BAARRF! ARF! Give that dog a warm bone!
On behalf of the scaredy cats, we thank ye for the Droopy dog bonus :)
ReplyDeleteHaha, you are very welcome... I bet ya still got scared though, didn’t ya? ;)
DeleteOK this is pure grade A Powell here. He's not being asked to ape another artist (which he could be incredibly well) and he works the very tense script excellently.
ReplyDeleteYou can really feel the terror building in this one. The only minor nitpick is I don't think the author was sure how to end this one as it kind of hand wipes it away at the end, but that's a minor nitpick. We do get the menacing shadow!
The images of the two dead sisters are sad and sinister at the same time. Again, this is a fabulous job by Powell. Our hero gets more and more disheveled as he pulls his way through the house, until the last page breaks the tension.
This is the kind of stuff we see in a 50s horror comic when every cylinder is firing.
Extra shout out to the colorist who also does a great job here.
Now this.....is how horror should be done. Rising dread, and not actually showing the menace so the reader's imagination does the job. Obviously *someone* must have paid the old man all these years and who *that* was is as much brilliantly left a mystery as the mystery of what happened in the house.
ReplyDelete10 stars out of 5.
Clearly the creepy old recluse twins murdered the myopic dullard that worked for them and then fled to Europe to escape the short arm of the local law enforcement. Since then the ghost of the caretaker has flitted along the walls of the empty old house, spinning phantasmagorical revenge fantasies. And paying the the guy who runs the furnace, of course. I can't decide how I feel about the undeathliness of utility bills.
ReplyDeleteFor me, the story here goes on a page or two too long, but I'm always happy for an excuse to see more of Powell's work, so those extra pagers are still appreciated. The final panels of pages six and seven are particular favorites, both for the fine drawing and the excellent coloring (as Brian noted).
The Droopy story is a hoot. I love the way the ghost has no feet until his sheet gets yanked off. I also love that Moldoff cover, something that should go without saying, except I wanted to applaud the rainbow psychedelia of those cobwebs. Chef's clap! Don't miss the Laffy-Daffy Comics cover either, folks. That whole run (both issues!) has amazing funny animal cartooning by somebody.
Glad everyone agrees that this Powell classic is a hit. I'm at a loss for words about how we ever left it out of the Bob Powell's Terror hardcover collection, --though no doubt there was still plenty of room left for subsequent BPT volume potential, if we had stuck to it. RIP to the Chilling Archives of Horror Comics!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of nitpicking, this is my big case of it. Is the special night that the cop mentions ever named?
ReplyDeletePresumably it's either Halloween or Walpurgis Nacht, judging by the witch costume at the start.
It is indeed Halloween
DeleteThqank you.
ReplyDelete