We be inchin' closer and closer to the night of witches, --so time say we now be unleashing a double feature full of 'em! Stuart Taylor and company travel back in history to sinister Salem, --nearly making a macabre mess of their masquerade party plans! From the January 1944 issue of Jumbo Comics #59, and highlighted by some eerie fine early Iger Shop artwork. But first, let's dig back into the April 1953 issue of Mysterious Adventures #13 for a brutal lesson in just how evil the bloody, beating heart of a wicked witch can be! THOIA pays a terrifyin' tribute to the witchier ways of ominous October, with many more cantankerous old crones a'creepin' up and a'conjurin' on the way, --stay a'tombed!
Regarding the first story, there apparently really was a Tituba during the Salem Witch trials who was one of the first to be accused of witchcraft during said trials. She was never hung though because she confessed to her crimes and provided "evidence" of two other supposed "witches" Someone eventually paid her jail fees and became her new owner although what happened to her afterwards is unknown. As for the story itself, I love panel 4 on page 4 of the doctor proudly showing off the witch's heart. Also the way of destroying the witch is pretty unique. A stake to her heart is nothing new--except that here, her heart is separated from her body and being stabbed miles away in Boston. That's kind of brilliant.
ReplyDeleteThe second story had me worried for a second that the time travelers were going to be forced to watch an innocent woman be burned to death for witchcraft. (A lot of times, you're not supposed to meddle with the past, regardless of what is to occur.) Not to mention, Stuart is more worried about Laura than the poor victim's fate. I will admit that I love the cartoonish looks of Prudence and her father, not to mention being amused by Prudence's remark about Laura's "scandelous" costume. I also love that the captain totally trieds to defend his wife only to get knocked out. I am relieved that Yvette is rescued at the end, although I kind of wonder that the crowd actually listened to Laura--who is running around in non-time period accurate clothing and chains and is a total stranger to these parts over the accusers who are well known in the village. These villagers will believe anyone!
> amused by Prudence's remark about Laura's "scandelous" costume
DeleteThat gave me a chuckle as well. I always wonder what people from the past think of future time traveler clothing, in films too
I agree with Glowworm. There really was a Tituba, but this story inexplicably makes her the prime villain. Great panel of her being hanged, though, that's actually superb art. The second story reads as though it was written with at least 10 panels more in mind but the creative team was ordered to cut it short because the comic was running out of pages.
ReplyDelete> second story reads as though it was written with at least 10 panels more in mind
ReplyDeleteJust like 95% of all supernatural themed golden age back-up filler stories, cool you noticed
Witches never die: the hanging panel on page 4 is pretty stark for 53, you'd see panels like this but this one is full on face first close up.
ReplyDeleteI like the art in this, the dark shadows and the muted colors. I love how Tituba flies around and it has one of those weird kind of horror endings where the monster gets killed from a great distance by unconnected characters. Again, this is another character that sort of did have a reason for revenge. She obviously ran away from being sacrificed and didn't do anything to really hurt anybody.
Stuart Taylor is just great! I love old time travel stories where there's no thought to meddling in time and they just go back and start actual sword fights with random strangers!
The art isn't the greatest and some of the panelling is way to weird (page 2 for instance) but it's got great characterization and I like the fat father and super skinny daughter / bad guys.
I also love going back in time and immediately getting involved in nonsense. It's just a fun little superhero tale with the twist of time travel. Also, Laura really serves up the good girl art in this one. It's why they took her along!
Laura travels along on nearly all of their adventures, and yes, she absolutely provides a great deal of the better visuals
DeletePfft, I said, rolling my eyes. There aren't any volcanoes in Haiti. Somebody thinks every island nation is just like Hawaii. But then I thought, well sure, Hispaniola really does have a history of tectonic activity, earthquakes and the like, so maybe...? I looked it up. Turns out there are a number of extinct volcanoes on the western side of the island, but there has been no volcanic activity since the Miocene Age. As you know, the late Miocene is when our ancestor hominids evolved the ability to walk upright. But it's hard to imagine them handing down a fear of volcanoes to their mid-century Haitian descendants. So, assuming this story is the thoroughly researched document that it seems to be, one must conclude that Tituba's community had grown wary watching the eruptions of the Lesser Antilles Volcanic Arc on the southern horizon, and their plan to protect Haiti by appeasing the gods had been working like a charm for a million years.
ReplyDeleteSo Captain Harris not only brought a killer witch to Salem as a nanny for his children, he also likely doomed a bunch of Haitians to pyroclastic graves by stealing their sacrifice.
Favorite panel: That last one on page one. There's lots of good art in this story, but this is the only one I want to airbrush on the side of my VW surf van.
My favorite panel of the second story is also on the first page. Nothing says Halloween louder than skeleton tights and a jack-o-lantern head. That's just magical.
Time travel stories are always so funny. I am very provoked by the idea that time passes in the present and at the destination at the same pace. I know they were just joking about getting back before the party starts, but lots of stories feature that kind of thinking without joking at all. Even here I can't understand why the time travelers didn't just dial back the clock so they could follow Laura and see what happened to her. Like, is there some law that they can't keep on time traveling even while they are in the middle of time traveling?
There are so many “what if” variables to time travel, —my favorite example is the film Primer which never fails to completely break my mind by just looking at the chart someone put together to explain what actually happened in the film
DeleteUh-oh. I'm going to have to see that. Looking online, I note there are actually quite a few different charts. That's... intriguing. People definitely seen engaged.
DeleteYou will def be obsessed with it for quite sometime after —trust me
ReplyDeleteLaura's "scandalous" clothing reminds me of a few Vampirella stories (including time travel ones?), where her costume is just taken in stride no matter where (or when?) she appears.
ReplyDelete