We have a few more tales to go with our spotlight artist of the month, Bernie Krigstein, and it's time for a unique, psychological doozy from the September 1953 issue of Spellbound #17. Brian will likely comment on the amount of "talking head" panels, and yeah, he's right. But see how Bernie again mixes it up with interesting angles, close-ups, and cinematic style perspectives, not to mention going against the usual Atlas norm here, and delivering the typical big "twist reveal" in the middle of the second to last page-- NOT the final panel, as so often happens in these types of stories. But as we've seen with some of our previous Krigstein entries, --there is always another evil card up his sleeve still yet to play too! YIIIII! This would have made a great Roger Corman quickie starring Susan Cabot as Genevieve, Russ Tamblyn as Herbert, and Richard Johnson as Doctor Hargreaves.
8 comments:
I would cast Vincent Price as the psychiatrist.
Whom *did* he imagine he was talking to on the phone at the end?
I always like to point out the talking head panels because there was a lot of discussion about them between comic book artists -- they are necessary but can be boring -- how to spice them up?
As said in the other comment, again, Krigstein shows a masterclass in how to do this. It's one of the reasons Krigstein was as good as he was; adding some movement to a page of static panels.
One page 2, her head is at a different angle every panel, and each row of panels has a bit of a "zoom" to the camera. Really great stuff.
The splash is great, I love the upwards motion the monster adds.
The ending is fun; it's relatively unique and turns a pretty over-used story (henpecked husband turns into monster) into an ending with a pretty dark gag at the end.
Last page is great; the 4 panel at the top, and the 3 at the bottom (though modified through the phone) sandwiched between a long row.
Great stuff.
The only tiniest critique I have to this story is as follows- had Herbert hid his face behind a book, magazine or newspaper as his wife spoke to him, his transformation to a Mr. Hyde character would have had more of an impact.
Again, that is just a incredibly small detail. Letting the readers see the transformation before the final reveal to the wife was the style of Atlas goodness (or is that badness?).
Bill mentioned Vincent Price portraying the Psychiatrist, as to who might portray Herbert, it is a toss up between Lon Chaney Jr or Paul Naschy, since they both handle the man into beast role so well.
From the old Shadow radio shows, "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men" sometimes it is best not to find out. Let Pandora open the box, I'll pass.
Just for the sake of it, I wish I could come up with candidates for Herbert and Dr. Hargreaves.
For Genevieve, it would be either Susan Cabot as Mr. Carswell says, or maybe Carolyn Jones.
(It could be one of her more serious genre roles, as opposed to Morticia.)
When I do these casting call choices, I usually try to find an actor that resembles how the artist has portrayed them. The psychiatrist looks nothing like Vincent Price to me and to be honest the role is too small for him anyway, where as he looks very much like Richard Johnson and if you’ve ever seen The Haunting, then you’d know that Johnson and his fabulous voice would be perfect in that back up role.
I can't improve on Russ Tamblyn. He'd have been perfect. I might go with Suzanne Pleshette for Mrs. Browne, if for no other reason than I think she'd have the perfect hair for it. And also because I have a crush on Suzanne Pleshette.
The art is this one is a lot different from what we've been seeing out of Krigstein here lately. That stuff has all been really scratchy with surreal shapes, inflamed by urgency and speedy brio. This stuff is cleaner, more careful, and has fatter, moodier brush lines. I like both, but today's style feels more sophisticated, which fits the story to a t.
Speaking of the story: I love the way it takes a beat there at the end. I really felt for all the characters; really liked how they talked to each other like real people. The enormity, the quiet permanence, of the ending really hits home.
I agree about Suzanne Pleshette.
Along with the other casting choices, I have a pretty out of left field one. On Panel 5 of Page 2, Genevieve is almost Shirley MacLaine. (Just give her red hair.)
I don't feel like that's out of left field at all. I think Shirley MacLaine would have nailed it. She had "fashionable young dilettante" élan in spades.
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