A very funny Atlas terror tale from the August 1952 issue of Uncanny Tales #2, with Fred Kida's atmospheric art complimenting Hank Chapman's sardonic script. Yes, to be a mad scientist while your better half only wants to help out and make things... umm, "better." Haha, this is the kind of precode story that inspired me to start this blog over 17 years ago, with humor and horror perfectly balanced into one.
4 comments:
I think I've called these stories "freight train" stories because once they get rolling you kind of know the destination but watching it pick up more and more speed is the fun of the story.
I love how Oliver is so .. nonplussed with Agnes. Grave robbing? Eh, woman, get back to the house! Women folk can't help with grave robbing! The way this story is told kind of lays the blame on Agnes but honestly, if Oliver would have just told her what he was up to he could have avoided all of this!
There's 3 great Atlas 4 (or 3) panel sequences, page 1, 3, and 5.
I really like the coloring, normally not a giant fan of the monochromatic panels but when you end one of those panel sequences on a single color, it really helps it stand out (like the top of the last page.)
Nice one!
Along with "WOMEN can't help," I get a sort of schoolboy joke from Oliver. It's like he's almost saying "Go away, you dumb GIRL!"
Besides seeing if his weird experiment works, now Agnes will be even more in his business and I think the dude is gonna snap.
Man, Kida is so compelling to me. It feels like it's been a while since we've seen him around here (really just since June though). He's one of those artists I never paid much attention to till I started reading this blog, and now I regularly rate him as a fave. The first page of this thing is just great.
I think the coloring on this one is really great, too. I assume it's by nimble young Stan Goldberg, who definitely throws a creative punch or two into the mix here. The top row of page three is where the triple threat of this story really got me: The total ick factor of one lovingly-narrated corpse skinning, Fred's wonderful facility with thick and thin lines and weird faces, and that oddball shadow line in the middle frame that echoes the perspective of the rest of the page. Totally rad!
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