Thursday, March 20, 2008

Trick the Devil!

As if you haven’t had enough headless horror already this week, here’s another from Vic Donahue. Throw in the devil and you got yourself a typically oddball Harvey terror tale.

From the May 1954 issue of Black Cat Mystery #35




10 comments:

Max the drunken severed head said...

I LOVED this one!

It's a nicely rendered telling of the true story of my great-great-great uncle Aldo.

Except in real life, Satan has never worn purple. It clashes with his crimson complexion.

The Vicar of VHS said...

Wow, another wild one! I love that Aldo's first thought on how to get away with murder is to sell his soul to Satan. You know, too many people spend hours and hours trying to work out the perfect crime, when all they have to do is make a deal with the devil! Saves time!

At the end I was wondering where Aldo's consciousness resided--the Devil implies it's not in the head, but in the body, so that eternity without a head is his torture...but his brain is in his head...ah, my mind is blown!

And I for one like the traditional devil costume. Old school.

This may be a dumb question, but were these Harvey stories by the same folks who did Caspar and such? Some of those demons on the title page (who never appear in the story) remind me of some of the Bad Ghosts from those old cartoons.

Anonymous said...

EEEK! THE IDEA OF LIVING WITHOUT YOUR HEAD WHILE BEING TRAPPED IN A HOLE FOREVER IS CREEEEPY.

Mr. Karswell said...

>a nicely rendered telling of the true story of my great-great-great uncle Aldo

Ha ha, like Uncle like nephew. Welcome back Max!

>I love that Aldo's first thought on how to get away with murder is to sell his soul to Satan

I agree, most people tend to overlook the advantages of Satan in their life (or death.)

>were these Harvey stories by the same folks who did Caspar and such?

Yep. Same 'ol Harvey... alot of people don't realize this but their company was also run by a 6 foot tall, giant invisible rabbit too.

Anonymous said...

No, 6 foot tall, giant invisible VAMPIRE rabbit.

Anonymous said...

So he's not just an ordinary fershlugginer 6 foot tall invisible rabbit?but a VAMPIRE rabbit?....don't show this to Harvey Kurtzman.

Mr. Karswell said...

>No, 6 foot tall, giant invisible VAMPIRE rabbit.

Hey! I was supposed to say that!

Anonymous said...

The panel where he shows up head in hand to claim his girlfriend redeems this otherwise silly story!

Scott said...

"Elfreda! Remember your promise!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

I couldn't have put it better myself. :)

Mr. Cavin said...

And really, that last panel is one of the best things I've ever seen. Normally, and heck, even in this case, I think the Harvey stories are cute-but-mediocre, sort of a B-side horror trifle, but I'd buy that last page in a heartbeat.