NEXT: More Wally Wood! But if you can't wait, check the THOIA Archives from May 2008 for-- The Thing from the Sea!
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Part Two)
It's strange to think that in all the years of managing THOIA this is only my third Wally Wood post. I assure you this will be rectified throughout 2010. And now the exciting conclusion to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (originally featured in the May 1950 issue of A Star Presentation #3.)
Wood's really cutting his teeth here~ but the faster looser feel works well for this genre.
ReplyDeleteITS LIKE YOU CAN ACTUALLY SEE WOODS ART GETTING BETTER PAGE BY PAGE. VERY GOOD VERSION OF THIS STORY KARSWELL, AND A GREAT POST!!!
ReplyDeleteKarswell, you are the MAN!
ReplyDeleteOne reason you aren't going to post a lot of Wally Wood here is the simple fact he didn't do a whole lot of horror, aside from a few like this from his formative years. His horror comics at EC were very few and far between, as he found a better niche in the Science Fiction genre.
I liked this one, never saw it before.
Thanks!
Thanks Karswell, this was really spectacular. I've always loved Robert Louis Stevenson's story of human duality and the bestial heart lurking within the pleasant veneer of society. Or, if you prefer, his take on the evils of drink. Or perhaps the perils of technology and the fate of humanity as a bride of science.
ReplyDeleteIn any event, as an amateur werewolf scholar, I've always loved this. This is the tale that finally stripped much of the medieval provincialism from the werewolf folk tradition to create, in one fell swoop, the string of motifs present in the modern tale. Some of the particulars are still waiting to be introduced, of course. But a good man with an uncontrollable and violent persona physically raging to the surface to methodically destroy his own life? Check. The loss of primary identity, the question of embracing moral turpitude, the fight between ego and id, and the ultimate sacrificial act of self-censure? Check. Dishonestly maintaining a relationship as the very last act of preserving a doomed and innocent past? Check. A final confrontation with a father figure (or someone equally empowered to pass social judgment)? Check, check, check. So what if the full moon light is corked into a graduated glass, and the usual contagion has been replaced with the protagonist’s complicity--these throwaway details morph and change with time and telling anyway. But the furry soul of a good werewolf tale, those things that cannot be discarded, are right here--many of them for the first time ever.
And this a pretty sweet--and maybe even a little bit frenzied-looking--version of the story is so awake to that fact that they've gone ahead and made a honest hairy monster out of Mr. Hyde, bless their hearts.
Outstanding analysis from Mr. Cavin, himself a super artist!
ReplyDeleteGood riddance to Annabelle.
Oy vay. Poor Flo!
>Outstanding analysis from Mr. Cavin
ReplyDeleteYep, Mr C definitely adds some insight to our posts that I could never hope to bring... he's as essential as the chills around here.
So as mentioned, more Wally Wood coming up next, and also a submission bonus (not by Wally Wood) sent in from a THOIA reader! See it this weekend, and thanks for the 6 comments...
Add another comment, I loved this adaptation!
ReplyDeleteDid you ever see the 1990 Classics Illustrated version of Jekyll and Hyde illustrated by John K. Snyder III? Very vivid and stylized.
ReplyDeleteDr.J &H is always a safe choice to do a comic storyline on, as noone really takes the original story to directly or literally. Heck, many do not even remember the original novel. This allows for a greater degree of creativity in the comic book presentation.
ReplyDeleteCheers!
Steven G. Willis
XOWComics.com
While I have never read the original story, I have seen quite a few film adaptations over the years. John Barrymore, Fredric March, Spencer Tracy, Michael Rennie, Jack Palance, Anthony Perkins, and others. The fascinating thing is how EACH version changed the story and interpreted things differently. For example, in the Fredric March version, his future father-in-law feels he's "too wild" for his daughter (a commentary on the growing censorship movement?). But in the Barrymore version, his future father-in-law actually says he's not man enough for his daughter yet, and "needs" to go out and have some wild times with a lot of women so that he'll then be a more "proper" husband for his daughter. Totally nuts! I believe Jack Palance's version had him trying to eliminate evil from man's soul, but the results werten't what he wanted. That one was directed b Dan Curtis, and like his FRANKENSTEIN, was one of the more powerful versions I've seen.
ReplyDeleteWood's art definitely seems more "Eisner" than "Wood" here. I suppose if Mike Ploog had done it, we wouldn't have been able to tell the difference.