Thursday, December 11, 2008

The Ice Monster Cometh

Gene Colan concludes our brief look at freakish frozen frights with a weirdie from the April 1953 issue of Journey into Unknown Worlds #17 ---plus a nifty Bill Everett cover too!







TOMORROW: The Ripper Returns!

10 comments:

blackwalnut2001 said...

Don'cha love a great cover like that? I was always partial to the Atlas covers that had that "filmstrip" down the left-hand side to advertise all the stories within. I wonder who came up with that gimmick; it pulled me in every time!

As to the story... Well turned. Love the way he just shows up in the middle of the night all geared up with no explanation at all. "I came up for the skiiing..." Oh, YEAH? More like moonlight cross-country snowshoe jogging, eh? What is that, an Olympic event, now? Sounds like something only a... an ICE MONSTER would do, YES?

And I don't think I've seen a gal work that fast since Pia Zadora in Butterfly. Even if I was an ice monster, I'd have to wonder if I was getting in too deep, too quick.

Quite a turnabout for the 50s, though. SHE's the one who's pushy at the get-go, and HE's the one who's... FRIGID!

(Sorry. I couldn't resist.)

Mr. Cavin said...

I was pretty surprised by the first three pages. How the story really began to develop a mature narrative: scene, some characters, humor, burgeoning dread. I was also impressed how the story managed to undo all of that in three panels on page four, when comic logic suddenly reasserted itself: a manipulative woman, an incorrectly skeptical cuckold, and a protagonist so dippy that he'll blithely abet a murderous elopement. Well, I guess that last one should read "so canny he makes a willing victim out of the femme"; but then I really feel like the narrative was so under-developed that those last two panels could have revealed any of the characters was really the monster, some with greater plausibility than what we got.

But those first few pages were awesome. And instead of feeling betrayed by the sort of broken promise of the rest of the story, I'd rather appreciate them for their improvement on the norm.

said...

and heeeeeeeeeeeeere's icy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzY2bVsZK5s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sckuqPulRGk

Unknown said...

And instead of feeling betrayed by the sort of broken promise of the rest of the story, I'd rather appreciate them for their improvement on the norm.

Not to mention the townsfolk for once knew what was what.

AndyDecker said...

What Mr. Cavin said. From a great start into WTF territory fast. Here is your dinner, stranger. I have never seen you before, but I love you. Let´s murder my husband. :-)

I am usually not complaining about the print, but here print and the dark colours made some of the panels nearly indecipherable. A shame.

Emby Quinn said...

Great story today, though it seemed a bit rushed towards the end. Fitting demise for Lucille, though. Talk about a cold bitch.

Truthfully, I thought Lucille was the ice monster until the last two panels. It certainly seemed set up that way. Hey, do you suppose that the story originally ended with Lucy being the ultimate Ice Queen, and somebody made the team change the ending? Something to think about.

Kars, I want you to know that I think you're the absolute bee's knees for posting these great stories every day for our pre-Code reading pleasure. You are my hero. <3

Anonymous said...

YOU KNOW THE DAY IS OFF TO A WICKED START WHEN YOU LOG ONTO THOIA AND THERES A GENE COLAN STORY WAITING FOR YOU! EXCELLENT ART AS ALWAYS, I AGREE THE PRINT JOB SEEMS A LITLE DARK THOUGH EMBY MIGHT BE RIGHT TOO, THIS STORY DOES FEELS LIKE SOMEONE PULLED A LAST MINUTE SWITCHEROO OF WHO THE MONSTER IS

NEVER HEARD OF EITHER OF THOSE TCM MOVIES SO THANKS FOR THE UPDATE, I AM ALWAYS INTERESTED IN SEEING FORGOTTEN HORROR CLASSICS...........WAIT, FRANKIE AVALON???

Squa Tront said...

Yep! I guess it's a much better idea to fake-up some prints and blame it on an ice monster rather than a lump of ice just accidentally sliding off the roof. Always a joy to see Gene Colan's work but I agree - a real shame about the murky print quality.

I caught 'Horror on Snape Island' on TV a few years back (under the 'Tower of Evil' title).. highly recommended with a nice cheese n' sleaze quota. And 'Horror House'/'The Haunted House of Horror' is quite a hoot too. Yeah, Frankie Avalon no less!

The Vicar of VHS said...

Well, everyone's pretty well covered everything I could say about the story. I do love that the Ice Monster chose a man's man name like FRED HAMMER for his human alias, though. Much more canny than something like "Brrnard McChillbains," which is probably what I'd have used. ;)

As for the movie announcement, everyone should DEFINITELY check out Tower of Evil/Horror of Snape Island/whatever its title. A cool little chiller, plus plenty of naked Candace Glendenning, of which the Vicar heartily APPROVES. Also approved--the cover of Strange Worlds #1 on the sidebar there--I look forward to a future in which standard interstellar travelling attire is a Leia-Bikini. ZANG.

Anonymous said...

I agree it starts out really well-structured then takes a 90-degree spin into absurdity, oh well at least it KINDA makes sense since he was just planning to eat/kill her anyway. Heck, Lucille wasn't even that good looking to be honest. The last guy i saw who fell for a girl who looked like that got half his face disfigured and killed by a guy in a bat suit.