Springtime of course means spider-time in my neck of the woods, so let's weave up a creepy crawly, Silver Age classic from the Sept-October 1978 issue of The Unexpected #187. Be sure to slip into something a little more comfortable first though-- todays tale is a real drainer!
7 comments:
Last panel, page 6, should become the new header for this "blog!"
This one has a grisly death for a post code 70s story, but by this time the code was so relaxed and not really enforced that you could get away with terrible spider deaths.
Great art, other than the not very correct spider, but I like her, she is a bit muppet-y.
I like how she bothers putting on the nightgown, just to turn into a big spider, all behind a closed door! It's that attention to detail you want in a murderous lady monster spider.
I don’t know why but I was kind of amused by the Inspector telling his son that the sight of the victim wasn’t nearly so gruesome a sight as it was the other three times it occurred. I’d still say it’s pretty disturbing regardless of how many times it’s happened. Strange that Astrid managed to still attract men in this village even after being married so many times with them all dying on their wedding night. I’m also rather amused by the panel of her telling hubby #5 that she’s changing into something more comfortable and then proceeds to transform into a giant spider while wearing sexy lingerie.🤣 that closeup of her face during her transformation is awesome. What surprised me though was that at the end of the story, both the brand new hubby and Evan actually survived. Especially Evan, who’s been flung around by that thing.You’d think he’d at least have broken something.
Maybe the nightgown gives Astrid the ability to turn into a spider, sort of the way a wolf pelt enabled a man to turn into a werewolf per European legends.
Astrid's biggest mistake was staying in town, moving to a new city or a new country and changing her name would keep the police off her trail.
Tales from the Darkside did a version of this titled 'Black Widows'. Horror comics walked (or shuffled from the grave) so horror anthology TV could fly on vampire wings.
Panel 2 of page 6, the artist suddenly forgot how human anatomy looks. I don't know what's creepier, the spider woman or the peeping police officer.
I'm eternally grateful that this blog is still active, it's definitely the highlight of my week, checking in every couple of days.
Thanks for saying that, Secret Base! And I’m digging your blog as well. I too am a big Poppy Family fan as well… There’s No Blood in Bone was always one of my favorite cuts. It’s like Siouxie Sioux in the 60’s or something :)
Panel two of page six is definitely my fave here. I just love that frowny face on the spider lady. I mean, it sort of amps down the horror in a Krofft Superstars kind of a way, but the camp factor is worth all the trouble.
Mario Sen's colors here tend toward the purples and pinks in a way that suggests he came from the romance mags. Or maybe it was one more way to curb the horrific tone here, done for CCA considerations? I like it.
Since almost the whole world knows that spiders have eight eyes, I wonder why about 90 per cent of horror story ones only have two. (You'd think that eight would only make them more disturbing.)
Even though it doesn't interfere with the scary stuff, Astrid's Marcia Wallace hairstyle gives her kind of a comedy actress look.
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