Thursday, August 13, 2009

The Forgotten Room

The April 1954 issue of Nightmare #12 contains a wild Joe Kubert cover illustration depicting a sweaty man peering into a torture chamber full of half nude pain and suffering-- it's great! Not so great though is the "In This Issue" cover blurb claiming there's a story called "The Forgotten Man" inside. Oops! The story is actually called "The Forgotten Room" and features some nice and atmospheric artwork, plus a few Ghastly EC swipes.











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Bonus Filler Page

16 comments:

Unknown said...

Harmless, yup yup.

This was a good one.

Horror pariah said...

Swipe or not, that's some damn good artwork.

I also had no idea Emma Peal went through this before working for British intelligence.

Anonymous said...

A beautifully illustrated story in the Grand Guignol tradition. I can't help but think that the artwork is similar to Reed Crandal's.

Tamfos said...

A rather oddly paced story. Not bad, just different from what you normally see in most comics. Would love to know who wrote it.

Mr. Karswell said...

>artwork is similar to Reed Crandal's.

I see what you're saying, could be.

>PS: The "Witches' Sabbath" filler page is fucking INSANE!

I know! What's worse, the frogs getting tore apart or the baby about to get smooshed with a club?!!

Trevor M said...

Art-wise, it's interesting piece -- it kind of comes off as a one-man jam. Besides Ingels, there's some Reed Crandall swipes in there, maybe. There's some good "honest" drawing, and also some bad drawing in it which doesn't fit in! The bottom three panels on the second last page sort of sum it up: Ghastly, Crandall, then Ghastly for the police man next to a badly drawn banister.

I wonder if "unknown" went on to do more comics? He had some talent and it would be interesting to know if he moved beyond the swipe stage.

Trevor M said...

And I love the witches' sabbath piece. That is awesome. Should be handed out as a flier to stir up trouble in Sarah Palin land.

sfdoomed said...

The last panel with the candle light glowing on their faces as they come across the dining room of the dead is astonishing! What amazing artwork, and I can see what people mean with the Crandall comparisons.

The Kubert cover is also great. Kubert was easily my favorite artist as a kid in the 80s. All the stuff that I liked with DC (war and horror, of course)had Kubert covers. His scratchy style brings a sense of realism and grittiness to his drawings.

Thanks for the posts Karswell, your efforts are definitely appreciated!

Anonymous said...

GOOD STORY, REMINDED ME OF A GOOD OLD HITCHCOCK MOVIE OR TV EPISODE! AND I HAVE TO AGREE WITH EVERYONE SO FAR WHO HAS COMMENTED ON THE WITCHES SABBATH ONE PAGER...........THAT WAS JUST OUT OF HAND!!!!

Prof. Grewbeard said...

uh, ditto?...

Kitty LeClaw said...

That Crazy Lou sure knows how to throw a dinner party!

And, what's wrong with sacrificing a child in order to conjure The Dark Lord? Did that go out of fashion when I wasn't looking?

Mr. Karswell said...

Thanks for the rad pile of comments today, it's fun to see more faces and hear your thoughts, please keep them coming!

And Kitty, the child sacrificing memo was sent out on July 17th 2008, I'm pretty sure you got it.

;)

Pappy said...

This could have been drawn by the artist Divers Hands...you know, two or more artists working together to meet a deadline.

The splash panel is excellent; the artist and colorist achieved drama with just a scene of a lamppost, rubbish bin and brownstone. On the other hand the badly drawn banister, mentioned by Trevor M., just doesn't seem to fit in with an artist who could draw perspective like I see in the splash panel.

Good story, Karswell. Seems like I've read it in prose form somewhere but can't remember where. No one in comics ever swiped a story idea before, did they? Nah.

Unknown said...

That filler page looks like Beach Blanket Bingo Goes to Hell.

Mr. Karswell said...

>That filler page looks like Beach Blanket Bingo Goes to Hell.

Haha! Good one Lily!

Corpse Parade said...

Great Witches' Sabbath filler.