See more Chilling Adventures into Sorcery by clicking HERE, and also at my other blog HERE!
Sunday, October 5, 2014
Bride and Gloom
The final story in the September 1972 issue of Sabrina the Teen-Age Witch #8 looked awfully similar in style to the brand spankin' other new supernatural Archie title on shelves that same month and year-- "Chilling Adventures in Sorcery as Told By Sabrina" (see links below.) And it's no wonder, as this issue used the last 12 pages to introduce readers to a slightly more adult, more terrifying look into the world of Archies Comics, (while also plugging the new series with an ad.) It's great stuff, expertly illustrated and surprisingly grim for the audience it was geared at. Even so, last time I posted stuff like this here, I got a barrage of comments (non published, thank you) from people who assured me that they were much too cool for this sort of thing. Please let me assure you before you bother flapping your heads again, that you are in fact not. And to those of you who understand that this blog is called The Horrors of it ALL, enjoy!
See more Chilling Adventures into Sorcery by clicking HERE, and also at my other blog HERE!
See more Chilling Adventures into Sorcery by clicking HERE, and also at my other blog HERE!
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7 comments:
The ending is a bit abrupt, the corpse should have tossed those annoying pricks right out the window! The story seemed to have some pacing problems with forced a rushed ending.
One thing I just noticed about the art -- and I'm not an expert on anything in the Archie line -- is the size of the text. Captions have lots of empty space and take up lots of the panel. It actually changes the look of the art a lot, it opens it up a bit.
I also just noticed how much Sabrina looks like Cynthia, from DC's the Witching Hour! Did she always have that look? One wonders if that was a conscious effort on Archie's part.
Neat! There was an Archie story I read as a kid (c. 1970) that gave me the chills. Had something to do with a possessed teddy bear that Betty gets hold of (she almost walks straight out an open window). The really spooky thing was how much that stuffed toy looked like MY teddy bear (*shiver).
It's interesting to note when the artists have to fend for themselves outside the parameters of the Archie model sheet. Much of this is in the usual style--or something very similar--but here and there are panels where the rules must go, as the say, out the window. I mean, check out that transgressive reaction shot at page eleven, panel two! Pretty sure that's a far cry from Archie's comfort zone.
I think the vengeful zombies at the bottom of page seven and the top of page eleven are some of the best I've ever seen. Right up there with Powell. Honestly, I wish the rest of the story had been drawn with the same invention.
I get a Jerry Grandenetti vibe from that reaction shot panel, Mr C... reminds me of his 70's DC horror stuff.
I don't feel like the end is abrupt at all, and I particularly like the narrative on the final pages.
Also, forgot to mention the news (since this was the reason I posted this story anyway) about the release of Chilling Advs of Sabrina #1 in stores now-- if you like Afterlife with Archie you're sure to be bewitched by this new spin-off series as well. Read more about here:
http://comicsalliance.com/chilling-adventures-sabrina-archie-review-aguirre-sacasa-hack/
Speaking of Lizbeth resembling Cynthia from THE WITCHING HOUR, she also resembles the Sabrina character herself. Which might have been an inside joke, but almost a bold one, considering what a femme fatale character Lizbeth is.
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