Tuesday, February 14, 2023

The Spectral Bride

What better way to celebrate Valentine's Day than by attending a weird wedding! And like our previous post, it too is from the August 1953 issue of Out of the Night #10, with Golden Age great, Art Gates, doing a swell job creating some fast paced, moody, midnight atmosphere. And as we plunge our doomed groom into a cemetery of horror for all eternity, here's hoping every one of you has an equally grave, errr, great holiday! Lots more from THOIA's February Freak-A-Thon throughout the rest of the month too-- stay tombed!

8 comments:

Bill the Butcher said...

Well, now, at least George isn't a skeleton yet and he can look forward to being a free ghost in a year.



Could be worse.

Brian Barnes said...

Talk about a shotgun wedding!

I like the short, urban-legend-y types, where there's not so much a story, or a fight for survival, but just a prescribed fate to somebody not deserving but somebody in the wrong place, wrong time.

And, yeah, so, how does this work? Is George free after a year, or does he have to share the increasingly full grave with multiple husbands? Are the skeletons behind him all husbands? Why did Satan get involved?

There is some fine skeleton art in this one. Pre-code artists much have gotten so good at making skeletons in those short 5 years!

Doc Briar said...

The moral: Don't give rides to strangers? Why did she exact vengeance on poor ol' George? Will he go on to kill a new chick every year? So many questions.

BTX said...

You can tell it’s pre-code… George doesn’t deserve his fate and the Bride’s revenge seems pointless and petty.

Eric said...

Weirdest. Polyandry. Story. Ever.

Mr. Cavin said...

A neat wrinkle in the usual black widow-type tale, all happening from the other side of the mortal veil. Dude only had himself to blame, though. Who does sixty down a dirt road through a graveyard? Well, according to the story, lots of single guys, I guess. That's some shortcut!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Glowworm said...

This one's fun, with a sort of spin on the "ghostly hitchhiker" urban legend, only replacing the title character with an undead bride seeking revenge rather than just a day out on the anniversary of her death. Like everyone else though, I'm wondering, what the heck does she do with all those husbands after she's killed and wed them? I love the entire last page with the reveal of the skeleton bride and her guests ready for a wedding. I especially love the third panel of her beckoning him, a sinister shadowing figure in a bridal veil beneath a blood red sky with black clouds. So good.

John Mc said...

Wonderfully weird one this time. Here I enjoyed the faces art. I postulate that the innocent grooms went on to their rewards after the ceremony. Thus the need for a new one every year.