We have witches and warlocks on Walpurgisnacht, --oh my! Yes, it's a double header of hellacious proportions as we traverse the terrifying hallowed halls of Hades in search for the perfect bday gift for Mr. Karswell, --who turns yet another year older tomorrow! Both tales today are illustrated by Gene Fawcette, with an awesome assist by Vince Alascia on inks, plus two truly gorgeous black and white illustrations by the great, Everett Raymond Kinstler! And as if that's not enough, head on over to AEET HERE for yet another wild tale of creepy cursed witchcraft! Burn the midnight fires this evening, my friends, we'll see you in May for more!
From the December - January 1953 issue of Witchcraft #5.
6 comments:
First, Hoppy Bathday.
Second, did the writer and artist run out of pages in the Manescue story and have to wrap it up in half a page? All that build up, characterisation, and then it ends in "he thrust a burning stick in the warlock's face so the castle fell down". Sad!
These are real downers! In Shadow Glen, the normal "love conquers all" doesn't conquer anything, and in the second one the sister is not only not saved, but transformed into a Nightmare Before Christmas figure!
Oh, and egg shell boat? I suspect that comes from somewhere that I've forgotten but I love that little detail out of nowhere.
I wonder if the B&W illustrations were created without the stories being completed, ala Atlas cover blurbs.
The splash on Shadow Glen is great, I love all the elongated demons.
Happy Birthday, pal!
The ending of Page 5 of "Shadow Glen" reminds me of a joke I heard only days ago in an episode of "The Film Crew" (the MST3K variation). In their version of the movie KILLERS FROM SPACE, Peter Graves wakes from a nightmare and says to his wife "I dreamed we were sleeping in the same bed!"
I'm a little surprised that even a post-Code horror comic would need to go in for that "separate beds for married couples" tradition. And is this even a post-Code one?
These comic tales predicted the downbeat endings of 70's movies.
Sometimes the knight slays the dragon, sometimes the dragon slays the knight.
Kudos for digging-up an actual Walpurgisnacht story! I do so wish it had actually been titled The Dingle of the Friendly Witch, but oh well. I also kind of wanted Bob Franklin to burn to death at the end. I mean, the poor woman suffered at many hands over the course of that story, but Bob's predatory romancing bit--pester the girl until she lets you in her house and then pooh-pooh her innermost secrets--skipped right over injury into pure insult from the top of page two. At least she eventually gets away from his, rather less one house. I love the splash and all of page four, especially the latter's Häxan-like color scheme. I don't know if the story looks like this because of fading or what, but I really dig it. I've spent the better part of this week at Heritage Auctions (dot com) looking at famous people's inking styles, and I have to say that what Gene Fawcette has done here is very strange and compelling.
The second story feels more hurried to me, but that serves to keep the photo-referenced images flush with the rest of the work. In the first story some of that stuff stood out more than I wanted it to. I also like the whimsical demon designs quite a lot.
The cover of this ish is totally amazing. Love that landscape of bones.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY again! Happy May Day!
Happy Birthday, belatedly.
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