Tuesday, January 22, 2019
Witch's Wish / Trapped from the Grave
Jack Katz pulls out all of the trash splash stops with a wild, witchy tale from the Oct '52 issue of Out of the Shadows #6. Seriously, ain't that a beaut?! And then "hang" around for a chilly little bonus one-pager (from the same issue) to wrap up our sensational summit with the supernatural!
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7 comments:
That is a beaut! Also I really like page five. Rarely does a whole page came together so well. The blue-green-yellow of the countryside pop with the flashes of red roadster. And I'm a sucker for nine-up panel configurations, anyway. I think the format enriches the story by presenting more steps--greater narrative resolution?--and the thinner panels tend to mean dialog can be paced throughout the action. It certainly works for me here.
There's a lot to like in the art. It's scratchy and grotesque and just right for this kind of tale. The story moves at an unbelievable pace and I like the visual of the witch.
That said, I can feel the author trying to make me like/forgive Mad(e)lyn ... uh no. She sent a guy to HELL! For doing his job! And the poor kitty!
The last page is great, big stuff happens nearly every panel, everything is bathed in dark shadows (it's a bit Kirby-ish in places) and you even get the required bats and cobwebs (panel 6, background.)
The 1 pager reads like the kind of stuff you'd see in "true ghost story" books.
Wow what a washed out witch you found. I have to agree about page 5. I got to the bottom and noticed the eyes in that three panel sequence. From the skull eyes in the terrific splash to the "she's dead Jim", this one to me is about the eyes. Be careful what you wish for everybody. Thank you Mr.K.
I absolutely love the design for old Tess the witch.
The one thing that bothers me of course, animal lover that I am is that when Madlyn realizes that she suddenly may have magical wishing powers, the first thing she does to prove it is to wish that an innocent stray cat dies. Of course, both the narration and Madlyn agree that the idea is horrible--but it is a way to be certain. Yet, there are plenty of other ways to prove it--such as the panel where she wishes for untold for wishes.
Also, I love how unlike a lot of experts on the supernatural who even scoff at the notion of ghosts and monsters themselves, Doctor Fells not only dives into this case right away, he even assures Madlyn that she's not crazy and conveniently knows everything she needs to know about Tess.
Jack Katz could draw some strange, wild looking eyes in his characters.
Concerning the tax man, "Oh, go to Blazes!" Madlyn isn't the first person to say that.
Great find as always Karswell.
If it means what it usually means, I can't help wondering about the tax man - instead of being killed like Jim, he seems to "go to blazes" alive (like a lot of people in religion and mythology, like Hercules in that one story). So he's kind of a plot hole.
Dr. Fells actually seems like one of those parapsychologist / psychic detective main characters (like the Werewolf Hunter below, or Dr. Graves), except that he just enters the story without the story explaining that.
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