The January 1954 issue of Fantastic Fears #5 features a couple of really hot numbers, including (as some of you may remember) the early Ditko classic, "Stretching Things" which can be found rather deep, deep down in the THOIA 2007 Archive HERE! Well, here comes another atrocity from this issue, with GCD believing this to be the work of joltin' Jack Abel. It's a quick little fearsome 4-pager that actually offers no real escape-- sorry for the spoiler, but OMG this is HELL after all! Yep, Satanic Saturday is back, --and don't be surprised if we hear more from 'Ol Scratch and his minions en masse before the month is out!
8 comments:
I always love the stories where the outright criminal is surprised to appear in hell. I mean, I'd be surprised that it exists, but probably not ending up there!
This is perfect for a little four-pager and I think the art does a really good job except at the height of the mountain. Being zoomed in doesn't quite give it the scale you'd want to make the torture that much worse. Judging pre-code comics, is, of course, the sin that would send me to hell!
I love the little devils. I love the one carrying the torch -- in hell -- already lit by fire everywhere! That's employee of the month material right there!
This devil seems nude with just a cape. That's the kind of statement a devil should make!
Well, that's a depressing one!
On the first page we find out that Richard Benton is evading the forces to bring him to justice, but we never learn what he did to face justice in the first place.
The only hint that Richard deserves punishment is from ol' scratch, saying it all began with his indolence, meaning idleness, laziness or slothfulness. If those things are considered unforgivable sins, then there are a lot of people in today's world who are in for bad time in the afterlife.
I really don't want to know how Jack Chick would have handled this tale.
I took a look on the web and saw Devil's Den in Oklahoma is now privately owned, so the new owners have their own private hell.
Kind of ironic or poetic, in a way.
There is a really obvious loophole our hero should have exploited. Satan didn't specify what *kind* of stone he needed to drag. He should have made sure to be chained to a block of pumice.
I can't think of their collective name, but this reminds me so much of those small BW comics put out by a fundamentalist group. I don't know many first-hand, but I know they had some real scare tactics. and you don't need to be non-religious to dislike that.
So, as Caffeinated Joe says, it's pretty depressing.
And as JMR777 points out, you never hear his sins beyond "indolence." Did indolence alone lead Richard to some "life of crime"?!
Speaking of crime - like everyone else, I guess - I was all ready for some back story of that kind telling exactly how Richard got there.
Even if there had been one, and a violent one, I still would've found four pages of him in hell pretty heavy!
Grant, you’re thinking of Chick Tracts: https://www.chick.com
I mean, yeah, if you're going to buy into the idea of Christian theological punishment at all, then indolence--named sloth--is one of the deadly sins.The fifth, between envy and greed.* Behavior derived from the seven deadly sins lead to breaking the commandments. In Catholic teaching, sloth can equate a refusal of either physical and spiritual effort. So disbelief counts. But also, laziness can lead to shortcuts, expecting rewards without work, cheating, theft, maybe even murder. Schemes. According to the Catechism, it will definitely land you in hell.
I like the bevy of wee devils here--they look like oni!--and I especially dig that delighted looking Satan on page three. And on the subject of looks: The sly looking skeletons on the cover almost feel like Lynda Barry art--man I'd love to see her doing Halloween comics--and the Devil's Den Satan looks a bit like Vin Diesel.
* Just kidding. I'm not sure the sins have been authoritatively ordered or ranked. I just used my own preferences.
Thank you.
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