Let us now kick start Fearbruary into ghoulish gear by picking up right where we left off last month with another double feature of g-g-g-ghost stories! And this time we'll be visiting two Gold Key classics, the August 1974 issue of Grimm's Ghost Stories #18, as well as Grimm's Ghost Stories #28 from December 1975. Both tales fall into our lurid month-long look at love and other monstrosities of matrimonial madness 'n mayhem-- though I may sneak something non-Valentiney into the mix occasionally too. So hands up, who thinks the guys in both of these stories each got a raw deal in the end?
8 comments:
> The Ghost Maker
It's a horror story but it goes sci-fi really fast. There's no spiritual explanation for the ghosts; instead a scientific (sounding) one about vibrations, and a very "parallel" dimension type plot and there's even a sci-fi gadget to project stuff from the other dimension (which really needs a chainsaw, it seems.)
It's hard to say if Fred got off easy or hard on this one. He didn't get killed, he now has positive proof ghost exists, and basically just wrecked his car. He was being pretty much an prick, though, so he did deserve something.
I love how 70 all the fashion and styles were in this!
> Fun Tricks
I actually had the 7 foot tall monster (basically a really thin black plastic like poster -- mine was a skeleton, I think!)
> He Couldn't Live Without Her
That's kind of an awful story. Why the hell would Abby do that? I know I waffled about the first story but boy did Harry not deserve that! And Grimm just crackling away at it all is pretty dark!
At least the artist got to go all out on that train panel!
In "The Ghost Maker" Fred was more than insensitive in creating 3D images of the deceased couple. Fred was just begging for it, since those on the other side sometimes have a temper when their rest is disturbed.
I thought the restless couple would do to Fred what happened to them, turn him into a resident of the land beyond.
In 'He Couldn't Live Without Her' Abby could have been passively aggressive towards Harry during their time together. One partner doesn't have to be forceful in order to be dominant. For those who have seen the movie "Only the Lonely" starring John Candy, the mother character in that film is occasionally passively controlling her son, the same thing could have been going when Harry met Abby and afterwards.
The first story would have made a decent tale for Circle of Fear/Ghost Story, the second one an episode of Tales of the Unexpected or some other British anthology TV show.
Thanks as always for the posts
The first story kind of feels like a stand in for how AI is used today to the point where things look way too real--especially in videos. While Fred didn't cause their deaths, he's still super insensitive by bringing their images to life with his new technological toy. I'm surprised all he lost was his car and not his life. Then again, Fred was simply being taught a lesson. This wasn't a revenge tale. The second tale feels really abrupt. Abby suddenly has to head off to care for the children of her ill sister. She and Harry have never been separated before. Suddenly, Abby is dead from an accident. They never said what kind, just an accident. All Harry wants to do is travel for once. There's nothing evil or diabolical about it. Abby's being the selfish one here by literally pulling Harry back from doing something he always wasnted to do.
I have to say I'm a little surprised. I've had friends who have died. I have photos of those people--and in one case I even have some video. If someone I knew had a special fantastical holographic gadget that would project realistic 3D images of those pics or video, well, I would welcome that like a birthday present. So I didn't understand the reactions of Fred's friends in the first story; to me it seemed abnormal, almost like a guilt reaction. Then I wondered exactly why this couple was dead. But the story then went on to punish Fred, and the comments here make it clear that people really do feel like he did something wrong.
If there is some guilty backstory weirdness behind that first story, it really doubles at the fourth panel of page five. Whoa, what's that ghost chick even talking about? Is a playful love triangle the reason everybody got together and sacrificed the newlyweds on a windswept slab just one hour after their marriage? Maybe Fred didn't even know!
(Aw, I miss magic rocks! I should track some down.)
While I'm just making up backstories, I think I'll imagine poor Abby innocent of the presumed selfishness of killing off her longtime companion in a fit of FOMO. I mean, train accidents are... very thorough... and it takes a long time to sort everything out. God knows if all the parts in that box they buried belonged to the same old lady. I suspect she accidentally got the hands of a killer in the overcrowded basement of the county morgue--it's happened before--and that accounts for everything we see here.
Agree, not sure why anyone would be so mad about the 3D projection. Aside from the boring tennis photos, I imagine his entire plan for the party was to show off the dead couple whom they clearly all miss. I’ve been to many funerals where a monitor was set up in the corner of the parlor with old photos and film footage loops of the deceased… how is this so different?
I really like the hands of Orlaka twist, Cav! hahaha
Oh before I forget, I have another ghostly Grimm projection up next —stay tombed!
To be honest, I've always been a bit creeped out by wakes. In my religion, we have a closed casket funeral so the idea of seeing someone propped up looking like they're about to wake up any minute in their best clothes, kind of disturbs me. In this case, I think Fred should have let everyone know about what he was doing beforehand before bringing those images to life.
I'm definitely with Glowworm - at the very least, it shouldn't have been SPRUNG on the others like that.
And like Mr. Cavin, I wonder about that love triangle reference - "Why, it's just like our 'other' days -- with me between you boys!"
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