Beginning a whole new madcap month of posts here at THOIA, so let's really live it up right out of the gate with this oddball, Ed Smalle, sci-fi horror mash-up from the August - September 1953 issue of Weird Mysteries #6. And to be honest, this feels like something goofy 'ol Ed Wood would've concocted, --and that is certainly not a bad thing! Also not bad at all is that murderously magical, brutal Bernard Bailey cover illustration!
4 comments:
I love how quickly this progresses; our dapper mobster immediately sums up the situation and figures out he's going to take over the world with his 1000 year old gun and ammunition, which is certainly in working order. You can see why he got caught the first time!
You're right about the Ed Wood nature of this, but it's also very much along the lines of mad science from non mad scientists of the 50s, where they just do something ... because. That's not an insult because I'd do the same thing if I developed this technology. You just can't help yourself!
Again: Another reason I love Frankenstein meets the Wolfman.
I like how high color this is, with all the yellows, reds and greens. It really looks like a late 40s comic published in 53.
No comments yet? Then i will start the ball rolling-
The Typewriter looks like he could have been a horror host for either comics or Shock Theater back in the 50's. He has the iconic look of a TV horror host, I wouldn't be surprised if The Typewriter was modelled on a local TV host the artist had seen.
Wouldn't the joke be on The Typewriter when he tried to use his Tommy-gun only to find it was empty, or the gunpowder in the rounds had deteriorated after so many decades?
The idea of returning the dead back to life through scientific means, first conceived in Mary Shelly's Frankenstein and its many reboots, to Dead Heat co-starring the immortal Vincent Price, is a trope that will, much like Frankenstein's creation, never really end.
I have less trouble imagining that anybody would have buried The Typewriter with a loaded Tommy gun than I do that it would have stayed buried there longer than later that same night. I mean, sure, you could get those things from the Sears catalog (or the like), but they weren't cheap back in 20th century money. If I was one of Dr. Hollis' friends I'd have eBayed that thing while it's owner was still waking up. Goldmine.
Like everybody, I really dig the design of this desiccated gangster. He's like a zombie waiter or riverboat gambler. I also love the space car Dr. Hollis' assistants took to the cemetery. Lastly, I think that (nearly) black and white electrocution panel at the end is really effective, too.
I like it, but I'm a little disappointed that it isn't longer.
Speaking of Typewriter's appearance, I agree that it's catchy, but I'd kind of like him to have a regular look, then escape and cause a lot of trouble in the future by blending in TOO well. It'd be like the movie TIME AFTER TIME and a lot of similar stories.
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