Thursday, July 14, 2011

Graveyard of Ghost Ships

You asked for "more horror on the highs seas..." --and you got it. You asked for "more Lou Cameron..." --and you got that too! You didn't ask for a deadly hot ghost girl pirate, but I'm givin' one to ya anyway-- from the July 1953 issue of The Beyond #21!








8 comments:

Turok1952 said...

This reveals two deeply ingrained, DNA-programmed aspects of human character.

One: No matter how much money or property we acquire, we always want more. The Talmud asks us all, "How much money is enough?"

Two: How often aspect #1 blinds us to the fact that others have the same drives we do, and may prepare for it by thinking of cutting us out like both the treacherous sea captain did, and the psychotic Miss Bonney correctly figured her "Bucko" would do the same to her as well.

The sea captain could not imagine the unexpected happening, so he and his thugs died, and justly so.

As for the luscious, naughty Miss Bonney...well, hell hath no fury...

I usually favor the main protagonists, but Gil deserved his fate. What a heel!

goblin said...

Awesome! Thanks a lot, Karswell!

The art here was even better than in the last story. Lou Cameron truly was a master of his craft.

And what about that foxy Anne Bonny, huh? I wouldn't mind spending eternity with her.

Anonymous said...

No complaints here [*for once!:)]. But an observation; wasn't there another story set on the Sargasso Sea that made it here?

DBurch7670

Mr. Karswell said...

>I usually favor the main protagonists, but Gil deserved his fate. What a heel!

Definitely. And I love stories where the evil dead are somehow still around and permitted / able to carry out their dastardly deeds from beyond the grave... not even death can stop them.

>what about that foxy Anne Bonny, huh? I wouldn't mind spending eternity with her.

Yeah, I'm not sure what the problem with her is either... I guess maybe his main complaint was that he probably couldn't get it on with her until he too was someday eventually a ghost. If this is the plan, both should hope that he maintains his youthful vigor and appearence half a century later, like she did.

>wasn't there another story set on the Sargasso Sea that made it here?

There's many stories set in the Sargasso Sea, Jan Potocki's "Saragossa Manuscript" for one is an incredible horror classic... there's also the excellent Jonny Quest episode "Mystery of the Lizardmen" which is set there. For THOIA readers, you can visit this doomed region for more pre-code by clicking this link:

http://thehorrorsofitall.blogspot.com/2010/11/half-creatures-of-sargasso-sea.html

thanks for the comments!

Mr. Cavin said...

This story is driven by my favorite illogical ghost story motif: that living people can't touch ghosts but ghosts haven't the slightest problem touching living people. Or skewering them with see-through blue ghost swords, in this case.

Wow, the art was really playful here. I'd love to see the original pages. There was so much experimenting with transparency and negative values and collage and other, moodier, stuff in this one. I just know it came off way more mind-bending before it was corrupted by the bleeding cheap printing process.

Mr. Karswell said...

You bring up a good point Mr C, I too would give a double peg leg to see Cameron's original roughs and inks... has anyone ever seen anything by him available for sale on ebay or anywhere else?

resveratrol said...

That makes a lot of sense to me. Excellent piece of info.

Anonymous said...

[COMMENT NECROMANCY!] Maybe reading the infamous Escher Girls tumblr has made me more aware of such things, but look at the girl's left foot in the splash. That is one uncomfortable turning-out (presumably done so it wouldn't block or be blocked by the title). Funny thing is, the rest of the pose is downright sand and wouldn't otherwise qualify as an Escher Girl.