Monday, May 19, 2025

The Case of the Missing Tombstones!

Well, Tombstone Tuesday just moved to Monday, all apologies folks! My pre-planned schedule has been thrown off since the big 'ol storm that blew through the midwest a few days ago and knocked out our power for a spell. But everything's slowly back to (ab)normal around here, and since nothing else could possibly go wrong (could it?), how about something a bit more fun yet still equally abnormal with a kooky spooky Inspector Klooz case from the Oct. - Nov. '46 issue of Young King Cole V2#2. Fans of silly slapsticky horror, as well as Terrytoon's Heckle & Jeckle will surely enjoy the distinct illustrative stylings of Connie Rasinski / JAC / Jason Comic Art.

6 comments:

Bill the Butcher said...

That last advert begs so many questions. Whose satisfaction? The buried person's? What happens to the tombstone if it's not satisfactory? Sent back and reused? Whom does the dissatisfied ghost vent his dissatisfaction on, the tombstone company or the person who ordered it? Someone ought to do a comic on that.

Brian Barnes said...

This is absolutely fantastic art. I love the elongated rubbery limbs (like panel 1 and 4 on the last page), I love the expressions and how every figure stands out against every other one.

I love Creech and his looming shadows and twisted fingers. Page 2, panel 6 is just a great exaggerated form, with the large hands and face.

The art is so clean and precise and at the same time crazy and gooey. Also: Great looking comedic skeleton!

JMR777 said...

This was a fun horror comedy (horridy?) Replace this panicked private eye with Abbott and Costello, Laurel and Hardy or The Three Stooges and you have a howling good horror comic.

"If they catch me, my skin isn't worth the paper it's printed on!" A bit of breaking of the fourth wall there.
After his stint as a henchman, Zombo gave up his life of crime, changed his name to Zomboo and became a horror host.

I wonder if any of the tombstone ads ever ended up in the ad section of a horror comic by accident.

Mr. Cavin said...

All I know is that I would have been combing every comics ad page at the newsstand looking for tombstone clip art featuring my own name (or the names of my friends). Calhoun and Childs were the lucky readers this week.

As has been mentioned, the art here is wonderful Just amazing cartooning, filled with wit and brio. It's always great when animators grace the comics page. Not only are they experts at staying on-model, but the work really does project a notion of arrested movement. I really like the fifth panel on page two. That's a great cartoon figure in a cartoon landscape.

Was Connie the only comics content artist at JCA? He's the only one I see mentioned, but it sounds like a shop (and it's named "Jason" for some reason). Is this a mystery?

Mr. Karswell said...

Not a mystery at all, there is tons of info at GCD here: https://www.comics.org/creator/6052/

Mr. Cavin said...

Excellent! Thanks.