Fans of a certain devilishly terrific Twilight Zone episode (and Charles Beaumont short story) might find today's post from the January - February 1973 issue of Weird Mystery Tales #4 of howling interest. Highlighted by some truly superb Rubeny illustrations-- even the slight twist Jack Oleck adds to the climax is nicely done. And CLICK HERE after the story!
5 comments:
I really love the art in this thing. I love the orange hard scrabble devil with all his wild hair. Page 7 with the weird paneling and swirls was awesome. And the guy could draw castle walls like a pro!
I have to say, though, this isn't that bad for Philip. He's immortal, and he's got a long time to figure a way out. Immortality gives you a real leg up on finding ways to escape from a cell. Hell, if they fear opening the door, you can just start digging your way out, they won't be able to stop you, and you can take the stress of digging on your immortal body.
That splash, wow. The staging with the (different?) devil ... it's awesome.
To really add to his punishment the devil should have told Burton "The moment you escape the cell, you die! Then your soul is mine forever!" It is the kind of thing ol' scratch would say and do.
They say to live forever is a living death, that would have been a good title for this comic as well.
I enjoyed this one very much. It was new to me. I know that TZ episode well. The ending was a fun unexpected change as you said. I liked the drawing style. So different from early cartooning.
Yeah, this was indeed a pretty nifty new spin on the older story--though I feel like Philip Burton was turned into too much of a mustache-twirling villain, presumably in the way of making his fate palatable as a moral comeuppance. I like that the devil had to wait for the collusion of a very flawed man to escape, but the bit with chauffeur was schlocky and kind of hard to swallow in its own way.
Man this artist draws great faces, gnarly and consistent from panel to panel. I feel like there was some editorial process that fudged-up the splash with too much collage, but the rest of the look here was a real knockout. I agree think every inch of page seven is super duper, and I'm blown away at this extraordinary cosmic devil design. Man, he's convincing! I would lose my shit if that guy walked out of a room at me. And I'm a little shocked that his perverted fleshy tail passed muster under the code, frankly.
While I haven't seen too many classic Twilight Zone episodes,I have seen the particular one that this comic is rather loosely based upon. The background story about the monks having kept the devil under lock and key for centuries remains the same as well as the ending that the prisoner in question truly is the devil and does escape, but the "protagonist" (I need to use this term loosely as well because he's anything but one) has completely different motives from the TZ episode. Here we have the classic story of a dissatisfied wealthy old man searching for his lost youth, a supposedly impossible quest. I love the narration in the story. It's good. I love the transformation panel of the prisoner to the devil and his design is epic. The plot twist that the devil had actually been expecting Philip and grants his wish in a deceiving manner that only the Devil himself could get away with is brilliant. In conclusion, I like that this one is basically the premise of "The Howling Man" but at the same time, it's a whole different animal despite wearing the same skin.
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