It's time for a terror packed tale from the shivery swamps of the supernatural! And no, it's not Swamp Thing, because this is Marvel / Atlas. And before you jump the ol ghoul gun, it's also not Man Thing! You know what? Just read the darn thing, already-- you'll see EXACTLY what it is in no time, okay? From the thankfully hero-less, October 1949 issue of Captain America's Weird Tales #74.
7 comments:
This one's pretty odd as it honestly doesn't really go anywhere aside from explaining to the main character just what his curse is. I wanted to watch him go on a rampage and maybe kill his psychiatrist friend. Or discover that his friend was actually a descendant of Peter's. I kind of love the deranged design of his ancestor when he ends up becoming a "swamp monster." Panels four and five of page five are my favorite. How does the spirit of Peter know that John is the last of the Vandivers? The curse simply states that it will affect only the oldest son, so there could be more sons or daughters in his family. I do love that the spirit basically left him a book to tell him about his curse though.
I love the complexity of this curse. I've never been murdered by drowning in a marsh, but I doubt I could in my last moments come up with a curse as convoluted as that.
In a way it has a "Shadow Over Innsmouth" feel to it, which is a good thing.
Or a little like those sequels by August Derleth.
I'm with Bill. If I ever happen to be drowning in a swamp, I figure I'll just be wishing painful, embarrassing death on my good friend Pete--instead of some kind of generations-long doom scenario that needs an instruction manual and lots of collateral fatalities. On that last thing: It's kind of hard to accept Peter as any kind of good guy. I mean what's the deal? "Ha ha! I curse you to murder total strangers! That'll show everybody!" Kind of a jerk move. And while were at it, I see that hand sneaking down outta the frame at the top of page three, buddy.
This art is neat. I love the huge eyes and the thick, black border shadows that make everybody look spot lit. I agree with Glowworm about page five, but I think I like the part with the window best. Either way, that splash of blond in the middle of the page is a great visual.
Good comments every one, thanks for dropping in! A visit from the Spider Man is up next, but not exactly who you're thinking!
I'm late to this one, so I'll point out this is certainly an early Atlas horror work, so it's really a prototype of what was to come. It reads a bit like an old radio play (where a lot of these would originate) and it kind of wanders about and is, in a way, very specific about the curse!
The art is great, though! For an early horror story, it's not very static and has a lot of movement. That's really good for the genre at this point.
This is the first story I've seen from when Cap's mag translated to a horror book. Thanks!
@Brian
Posted another one just last summer here:
https://thehorrorsofitall.blogspot.com/2022/06/the-frozen-ghost.html?m=0
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