Number 678
Bride of the Swamp Monster
On December 26, 2008 I wrote about writer/director/actor Allen Baron, who made the 1960 noir classic, Blast of Silence (available on DVD).
Baron was a comic book artist in his younger days. In a documentary on the making of the movie, some tantalizing glimpses of original art are shown. I asked if anyone knew where the stories had appeared.
I found one recently, in Forbidden Worlds #9, 1952. "Bride Of the Swamp Monster" is a fairly typical ACG supernatural programmer. Baron's artwork is a bit crude, but not much worse than some other ACG artists.My original posting is an adjunct to Pappy's #442.
This Swamp Monster resembles Jack Kirby's bigger monster GROOT. A younger Swamp Brother if nothing else.
ReplyDeleteThat was fun!
ReplyDeleteThe story was drawn very well, with a director's eye for detail. Least effective part was the actual appearance of the Swamp Monster -- more humorous than menacing. On the contrary, when Lola turned into a tree with a human head, that was horrifying!
Some hilarious bits -- Granny telling Lola "Every generation the swamp monster chooses a bride from the swamp people" -- why, of course! That makes sense. Just like the leaving of the tree stump!
..."with this rotting stump I promise to terrorize you and give you my wood til death do us part...Love, Swampy."
One thing about that Swamp Monster...his 'bark' was worse than his bite!
You guys analyze this stuff a lot better than me.
ReplyDeleteIf you get a chance to see the movie you can see how Baron organizes the visual aspect. Blast of Silence has its flaws as a movie, but it's interesting in respect to his prior career in comics. He gives some credit, in a documentary on the disk, to his comic book work.