“Specialist in Spooks” begins provocatively. The caption in the splash panel asks, “Do ghosts exist? We say NO.” It then goes on to tell its story without trying to disprove the existence of the supernatural. Personally, I say NO to whether ghosts exist, also. That doesn’t stop me from shuddering in the middle of the night — especially after reading ghost stories, then hearing mysterious noises from downstairs. As a human being I am hard-wired for a primitive superstition, deep inside my brain, that there might be something to those stories. It probably comes from ancestors of thousands of years in the past, huddling together around a nighttime fire or in a cave, fearful of the invisible world and things coming out of the darkness.
The Grand Comics Database attributes the art to Charles Sultan. Art on “St. Mary’s Spectre” is credited to Max Elkan.
Do ghosts exists? We say no! Now here's a story with actual ghosts in it!
ReplyDeleteMake up your mind, comic!
Brian, despite the disclaimer it would be pretty dull if there were no ghosts, don't you think?
ReplyDeleteCertainly, but a lot of comics strove to be in the EC mode, even long after EC had gone, and had to have those big scrolls of text at the top, with as many adjectives as possible, and usually with things like "you will believe" or "do you believe" and it is a bit silly sometimes when the story obviously is about the supernatural event!
ReplyDeleteBrian, the short answer would be yes. It is a line the editor should have struck out of the script...except in this case I believe the editor was also the writer.
ReplyDelete