A not-as-rotten-as-it-seems tale from the madcap March 1954 issue of Web of Evil #12-- one that's a lot more funny than it is frightening. And living dead aside, listening to these two doofuses argue themselves to death is definitely worth the price of admission alone, haha...
Yeah, this one is hilarious. It starts off like any other tale of revenge--the wife is having an affair behind her wealthy husband's back and with the help of the new guy, does old hubby in. Then weeks later, his corpse just waltzes up to the door and politely knocks upon it!Panel six on page 3 has a great close up of John's face. He's just having way too much fun at this point--especially his little dance after Guy attempts to shoot him. I love when he just takes goes to sleep in a grave that night. The best part is that he didn't even have to physically kill them--they did that themselves. The arguing between them is a hoot-especially when Guy tries to sacrifice Alice to John. The fun part is that aside from the "corpse" maybe being a bit too chatty, that ending really isn't seen coming at all. After all, not too many people are lucky when they get pushed off a cliff. How'd he get the bullet-proof vest though?
Unlike glowworm, I saw the scooby doo ending coming, the corpse washing up late is an odd addition that wouldn't change the story if it's a real corpse, so that kind of sealed the deal.
Regardless, this one is great! It's much like "the corpse that came to diner" (or something like that, it was in one of the pre-code books) but it's even more fun as he slowly breaks down his "killers."
First, I love the setup where they have no remorse. Than our corpse just keeps at them until they murder each other in the most satisfying way. Well written and very well paced.
Page 4, panel 2 is great, I just love how happy he looks to cut into that giant ham, and on the next page he gives them a hug! Awww!
Sadly, this plan wouldn't work now-a-days, everybody sees zombie and immediately thinks "shot them in the head."
Brian Barnes--I was thinking of that story too, it's "The Corpse comes to Dinner" From Out of the Shadows #9. The big difference there is that the "Corpse" in question is trying to wreck a newly married couple's happiness by playing a sick prank on them into thinking that he committed suicide and came back from the dead to say hi.
I think my very favorite thing here is the gloating. Usually the villains of these things cackle endlessly over their evil scheme but never actually pull it off, kicking the bucket--"aargh! You fools!"--so the bland protagonists can get on with their happy ending. But then there's this guy, already hooting over his success with his victims in mid-plunge.
I also like the splash. The titular corpse--"aargh! The lies!"--looks better here than he does on the cover if you ask me. Also the colorist was dynamite, though sometimes it's hard to tell because of the usual decades of fading. Well, and also because the effect he/she was going for was mostly the predicable look of fifties domesticity. But you can really see how much work went into the mood of the piece in effects panels like the sixth on page four. And, again, that splash. Lots of subtle color variation--a time consuming detail for someone, or several someones, who likely had a single day to design and separate the colors for every page of this issue.
7 comments:
Yeah, this one is hilarious. It starts off like any other tale of revenge--the wife is having an affair behind her wealthy husband's back and with the help of the new guy, does old hubby in. Then weeks later, his corpse just waltzes up to the door and politely knocks upon it!Panel six on page 3 has a great close up of John's face. He's just having way too much fun at this point--especially his little dance after Guy attempts to shoot him. I love when he just takes goes to sleep in a grave that night. The best part is that he didn't even have to physically kill them--they did that themselves. The arguing between them is a hoot-especially when Guy tries to sacrifice Alice to John.
The fun part is that aside from the "corpse" maybe being a bit too chatty, that ending really isn't seen coming at all. After all, not too many people are lucky when they get pushed off a cliff. How'd he get the bullet-proof vest though?
Unlike glowworm, I saw the scooby doo ending coming, the corpse washing up late is an odd addition that wouldn't change the story if it's a real corpse, so that kind of sealed the deal.
Regardless, this one is great! It's much like "the corpse that came to diner" (or something like that, it was in one of the pre-code books) but it's even more fun as he slowly breaks down his "killers."
First, I love the setup where they have no remorse. Than our corpse just keeps at them until they murder each other in the most satisfying way. Well written and very well paced.
Page 4, panel 2 is great, I just love how happy he looks to cut into that giant ham, and on the next page he gives them a hug! Awww!
Sadly, this plan wouldn't work now-a-days, everybody sees zombie and immediately thinks "shot them in the head."
I loved this one. If it were a sitcom, I'd watch it.
I hope he got reconstructive surgery eventually!
Brian Barnes--I was thinking of that story too, it's "The Corpse comes to Dinner" From Out of the Shadows #9. The big difference there is that the "Corpse" in question is trying to wreck a newly married couple's happiness by playing a sick prank on them into thinking that he committed suicide and came back from the dead to say hi.
>"The Corpse comes to Dinner" From Out of the Shadows #9.
It's in the 2007 archive gang, check here for a second helping:
https://thehorrorsofitall.blogspot.com/2007/08/corpse-that-came-to-dinner.html
I think my very favorite thing here is the gloating. Usually the villains of these things cackle endlessly over their evil scheme but never actually pull it off, kicking the bucket--"aargh! You fools!"--so the bland protagonists can get on with their happy ending. But then there's this guy, already hooting over his success with his victims in mid-plunge.
I also like the splash. The titular corpse--"aargh! The lies!"--looks better here than he does on the cover if you ask me. Also the colorist was dynamite, though sometimes it's hard to tell because of the usual decades of fading. Well, and also because the effect he/she was going for was mostly the predicable look of fifties domesticity. But you can really see how much work went into the mood of the piece in effects panels like the sixth on page four. And, again, that splash. Lots of subtle color variation--a time consuming detail for someone, or several someones, who likely had a single day to design and separate the colors for every page of this issue.
Another wild one from the same issue coming up next, stay tombed-- and as always THANK YOU for the great comments!
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