Rollin' out with THOIA's March Madness 2023 Edition, and like our last hilariously macabre post, this terrific Atlas tale also comes from the March 1953 issue of Journey into Unknown Worlds #16. I have a lot of gruesome great stuff lined up all this month, so stayed supernaturally tombed in for all the precode horror (and beyond) that you can handle! 'Nuff said!
6 comments:
Man, I love that screwball twist beginning. There's just something about sports horror anyway--creatures and ghosts in football getup especially--that trips the ol' MAD Magazine receptors in my brain. I also really dig the last two panels on page three--this story gives great headstone for sure, and the art with Carvel reaching for the phone is so good it feels like a Will Elder assist or something. While we're at it, the car panels on page four are also pretty great, though I think the car is pointed the wrong way in the first one.
Viva March!
This one was pretty funny. I would totally read a story about a football (that's football, not American "football", which I do not understand) game between ghosts and vampires. Would werewolves serve as the referee and linesmen?
One of the favorite complains of horror comics fans is the "vampire / werewolf mash-up" at the end of a story being such a cliche. And of course this one is nearly in that category. But it also makes fun of the idea from the start, though for almost the opposite reason - that instead of being a CLICHE, it's too CONFUSING. Either way, that really surprised me.
Another in a long line of horror writers stories, and one with what should have been an obvious ending but one I didn't get until the last page, so bravo there!
I love the splash; in a lot of these types of stories you just get talking heads explaining the script the writers bring in but this is fully illustrated and what an illustration it is. Ever ghost/vampire is great, the coloring and the inky shadows, and I especially love how the artist makes sure that all eyes on on the ball.
Why it seemed like it was going into henpecked territory, it is super nice to see our couple actually not killing each other or fighting except for that one moment. They are a happy couple! And the wife got a snack!
I adore this one. It's weirdly happy!
That splash of the vampires and ghosts playing soccer with a mortal's head felt very EC with the puns and macabre outcome. This story is fun because it has a ghost married to a vampire--rather than the usual cliche of a werewolf married to a vampire--and both are unaware of the other's secret. The only question is why would a ghost need to make a *ahem!* living? also, if the story was accepted, how would that stop his wife's hunger since she's a vampire? I digress, it's still a fun story regardless of some loopholes--Herbert is easily grabbed and yanked around by his boss in the beginning of the story, yet when the reveal comes into play--he can't lay a finger on him.
For me, the best thing about the story is the implication that Herbert is writing nonfiction.
Which means the first page is something that actually happens at least once and possibly all the time.
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