Another 70's comic book that made a huge impression on young Mr. Karswell was the April 1974 issue of Red Circle Sorcery #6. Awaiting readers behind that amazing, Vampira-esque cover design by the late, great Gray Morrow, (one of my most favorite covers ever), was a nifty little tie-in tale about a radio DJ and his #1 deadicated fan in listener land! Even at a a single digit age, I still recognized this spooky Marv Channing / Vicente Alcazar spin on the cool 'n creepy Clint Eastwood cinematic classic, "Play Misty For Me" (1971.) And Gray Morrow wasn't finished with the cover, --also included within this issue was his fun one-page filler "Essay into the Supernatural" about "The Werewolf", which rounds out today's post on a ferocious, snarling high note.
This tale made me think of The Night Galley story "The Flip Side of satan".
ReplyDeleteThe station is a bit cavalier concerning its DJs leaving without a trace, as a matter of fact, so are the listeners. You would think a listener or two would ask what happened to their favorite late night DJ, unless the station manager or station owner have a deal with the vampiress, provide her with food and the rest of the town stays safe.
The one pager is well drawn and gets the story accomplished as a one and done.
Meant to say Night Gallery, sometimes I wish Blogger had an edit feature.
DeleteAlong with "The Flipside of Satan," this reminds me a little of a TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE episode whose name won't come to me, about a girl with a hot voice who keeps showing up on a man's answering machine (?). The voice of the mysterious girl (but not the girl herself) was played by Tina Louise.
ReplyDelete(But anything else would be a spoiler.)
Hmmmm, aside from the DJ / radio station setting, I’m not seeing any real similarities between this story and Flip Side of Satan. Haven’t any of you ever seen Play Misty for Me?!
ReplyDeleteI seemed to have missed seeing "Play Misty For Me". I will have to check it out.
DeleteFor me, the connections between Face of Love Face of Death and The Flipside of Satan are the supernatural angle and the slightly arrogant DJ in both tales.
Works for me! ;)
DeleteWould be interesting to as roofs story from the vampire's PoV.
ReplyDelete*this not roofs, dammit
ReplyDeleteAlcazar turns in some great art for what is basically a talking head story. He likes to draw cars because we get a couple panels of them (and well drawn they are!) and I love the first panel on page 2; this is obviously traced from ads or models or glamour shots.
ReplyDeleteThe mysterious woman says pretty threatening things and demands to be met at a remote location? Yeah, Larry deserves to be a blood bank!
Another fun thing about 70s horror books is how much they are a snapshot of fashion at the time.
Alright, going to be that guy. My favorite comic is Werewolf by Night but that, and this one pager, are wrong. Werewolves are people that turn into wolves. Wolf men are what you want here. Yes, yes I went there!
Bruh, you were always THAT guy!
DeleteSo this vampire keeps catfishing the radio studio to get some DJs to unwillingly supply her with some blood for a while? Wonder why DJs? Maybe because no one will really be concerned if the DJ were to suddenly up and go without a trace one day.
ReplyDeleteMaybe she just likes guys with good taste in music —or who musically taste good!
DeleteI know "Play Misty For Me" pretty badly, but I think I know what JMR777 means. Neither D.J. deserves his troubles, but each one has a negative side.
ReplyDeleteHmm. This is an interesting story of dueling catfishers, actually, as both characters attempt to leverage the situation for their own predatory reasons. Larry's more prosaic evil--sniffing for sexual bonuses in exchange for performing his job--is the more unsettling, what with being realistic.
ReplyDeleteI do think the idea of the local vamp using a radio station's itinerant workforce as her own private menu is a bit oddball. I'd also like to think she grooms the clerks at the used bookstore, the part-time baggers at the grocery, the bus boys at the Red Lobster, etc. Maybe she has a special room in her old abandoned farm house (okay, Alcazar draws this as a barn) for each flavor of employee?
This story had two opportunities to delve into the old "sexy deejays don't look how fans expect them to based on the sound of their voices" thing and didn't take either. I myself was surprised at the vampire's fright wig, though.
For my money, Morrow's werewolf transformation in the first panel of the one-pager is the star today. Wow! That's a Slim Jim wolf-man for sure, you can tell by the smile.