Most of the great Jack Katz stories that we've featured HERE at THOIA over the years have been devoted to his ominous output for Pines publishing house. So sometimes it's only right to remind everyone that he also did some amazing work for Atlas as well-- like this deadly doozy from the murderous May 1954 issue of Strange Tales #28.
The art is great in this -- dense, layered, full of motion (bottom of page 3, for instance.) I know I harp on the motion, but sometimes artists are good but their art is very static; it doesn't seem like it has an energy to it, or it's in motion. This one, like the one below, is full of motion and action.
ReplyDeleteObviously one of those stories that can kind of cut both crime and horror (but I'd really call it a crime story) it's got a good ending I didn't see coming, and you really feel sorry for the doc -- he was a good guy -- and at the same time it's another 50s tale were "don't get with the hot ladies" is as much a danger as "don't go into the vampire's crypt."
I doubt that lesson sunk in for many of the pre-teens reading these!
So this was 54, right in the middle of the hearings, so it's kind of interesting that we don't see a single bullet wound nor a single spot of blood. Geraldine is supposed to be "sprayed with bullets" and she doesn't even have a spot on her dress (though it's ripped on the bottom!) Guess they were taking it easy in 54!
This tale reminds me of the type of stories broadcast on the old time radio show "Suspense!" Drama that would keep radio audiences silently, but nervously, listening intently as the stories unfolded over the airwaves.
ReplyDeleteThis story's surprise ending would not have been out of place on the TV program 'Tales of the Unexpected' from the UK or 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents'.
As to whether this tale can be considered horror or a crime drama, the borderline between both genres is rather thin. I myself feel this falls into the horror camp due to the twist ending, where instead of saving her life, they both die by his actions.
This was another winner, art and story wise. Thanks for sharing this post with us.
Ken deserved far better than Geraldine if you ask me. Fooling around with gangsters and she has the audacity to ask him to save her after all he’s given up for her? Talk about ungrateful. That last panel hits pretty hard. Not because Geraldine is left alone and dying, but because Ken has a huge smile on his face after stabbing himself. He’s finally free.
ReplyDeleteIt's fun reviewing my comments under the Jack Katz stories you've posted through the years. I guess I started out of two minds about his work, but then quickly came around. That was years ago; now I'm all in. I just love the wild magnitude of his style--all those thick aggressive outlines, the knobbly faces and knuckles. He's got a brute dynamic that fits somewhere between Kirby and Steranko. And while I'm often annoyed by all the roided-out anatomy that has become the style book for modern comics (and Hollywood movies), something about the fact that this existed in the golden age feels outrageous. All these swole bods under tight, bulging clothes, the huge hands and shovel jaws--it all seems so premeditatedly transgressive. And that's friggin' great. I mean, check out the chassis on that doctor! Those Chippendales gangsters! It's all right out of the Tom of Finland playbook and peddled here in the ten cent four-color pop culture. Oh, Rocky!
ReplyDeleteI'm also head over heels for Harry Anderson's freakout of a cover on this ish. What a beaut.