Well, I'm a bit saddened by the lack of response in our previous crime horror double feature, especially considering today's pre-planned post is a fine "told in pictures" pulp magazine follow-up to both of those tales. Yep, Hollywood Detective, Dan Turner returns, but this time he's in the Queenie Starr story,"Starring: A Corpse", (minus lil Queenie - see the previous post if you skipped it for whatev reason), and this time the setting isn't a mad science, stabby coffin, torture dungeon film set, it's an eerily exotic mummy movie location complete with a spine piercin' sacophagus! It's interesting to compare all the fun original art and various ideas here with the later 50's re-do, not to mention the hilariously snappy, tough guy banter. And boy, Barreaux could sure draw a gorgeous mm-mm-murdered mummy, even though I guess I like both versions of these about equal. From the January 1943 issue of Dan Turner - Hollywood Detective V1#6 (cover art possibly by Saunders?)
6 comments:
OK this is super interesting. The story is very close, other than the swap of Queenie, the addition of a male character to handle some Dan things, and a bit more punching action. I think the Queenie version works just slightly better even though the changes are minimal.
The maid making a break for it seems to be the same, but in the Queenie version the camera pulls -- just a little -- in closer for at least one panel of the chase / tackle and feels a little more dynamic. That seems like such a small thing but minor things like that are what makes good comics great. It also pre-announces the gun (you can see it from behind the crate.)
Again, minimal changes and it certainly helps to add more good girl art, but I think the 50s job is just slightly a better comic job.
Also, "Talk or I'll kiss the beekeepers out of you!" would get you arrested now-a-days!
I'm not sure why there's not a lot of comments on the last post, but I think the crime stuff is a good side alley for the horror stuff and I appreciate the posts.
This is funnier than the other version, despite the much simpler art. However, the reason I didn't comment on the previous post still holds: I couldn't think of anything to say that ignores the gigantic gaping holes in the story.
Ha ha I just noticed that autocorrect put "beekeepers" instead of "bejeepers" and I think I like "beekeepers" better!
Technically, you may be right, but actually your comment here has more holes in it than the post.
Its interesting to compare the two stories and spot the differences between the two, but I prefer the Queenie story over the original.
With this being the official/unofficial end of summer, it is possible some posters are enjoying the last few days of warm weather or are squeezing a last week of summer vacation before October begins, and with it posting is taking a holiday.
Sometimes, for some of us, there just isn't something clever, interesting or worthwhile to post, I get that way myself on a few of the stories. I like them all, of course, but there are times when its hard to decide what to post that isn't repetitive or that adds to the story. I find myself at a loss for words at times, I guess many followers of THOIA reach that point from time to time.
Like Mr. Barnes, I think I like the graphical narrative stylings a little better in the Queenie story. But I much prefer the drawing in this one. It's clean and sophisticated (and I still dig that secondary splash on page three). The whole things feels quite a bit like a newspaper strip.
Of the two stories, this one makes a lot more sense simply because it's Dan Turner, whose character development is a detecting style in which he accuses people until someone finally incriminates themself. That seemed strange in the Queenie story, but now it's a Dan story, that fits right in with everything I know about the guy. Very consistent. In this telling, Dan pulls his gun on six innocent people!
But his accusation is never gonna stick. Dan totally missed the big clue that proves the costar did it, and somebody on set is going to figure that out to the tune of an acquittal.
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