No need to rot your teeth by eating candy stolen from your kids’ trick or treat bags. Rot your mind instead with a fifties horror comic. In this case it is Dark Mysteries #18 (1954), and stories with similar titles but completely different plots.
“Terror of the Stolen Legs” is like an attempt to see just how weak a comic-book horror story could be. The final come-uppance for the villain is that he's watched by a skeleton and that a meal is ruined.
Two fun tales with an awful lot of hoop jumping to get to the ending.
"This skeleton keeps stalking me, I know, I'll destroy it's legs!" Evidently, the first evil Nazi to only do something half way!
Two tales where the old "kill for a younger woman" was used as short-hand to get the story going. Some great art, and the skeleton re-animating from ashes was relatively original.
I like Daniel œconomist's idea of writing a horror comic to see how weak you could make it. It COULD be quite funny —throwing in any number of clichés without making them quite effective.. This "Legs" story could provide something of a blueprint... At least we have skeletal corpses ambling in both stories —and enjoyable artwork. Thanks for the Halloween treats, Pappy!
Daniel, Brian, 7f7...you all focused on "Stolen Legs" as the more ridiculous of the two stories. I re-read it and all I can say is that of all the horror stories I've read where the dead come back to life to wreak revenge on their killers, this at least gives some sort of explanation...a "serum" to revive the dead. Shades of Herbert West, Reanimator!
“Terror of the Stolen Legs” is like an attempt to see just how weak a comic-book horror story could be. The final come-uppance for the villain is that he's watched by a skeleton and that a meal is ruined.
ReplyDeleteTwo fun tales with an awful lot of hoop jumping to get to the ending.
ReplyDelete"This skeleton keeps stalking me, I know, I'll destroy it's legs!" Evidently, the first evil Nazi to only do something half way!
Two tales where the old "kill for a younger woman" was used as short-hand to get the story going. Some great art, and the skeleton re-animating from ashes was relatively original.
Happy Halloween, Pappy!
I like Daniel œconomist's idea of writing a horror comic to see how weak you could make it. It COULD be quite funny —throwing in any number of clichés without making them quite effective.. This "Legs" story could provide something of a blueprint... At least we have skeletal corpses ambling in both stories —and enjoyable artwork. Thanks for the Halloween treats, Pappy!
ReplyDeleteDaniel, Brian, 7f7...you all focused on "Stolen Legs" as the more ridiculous of the two stories. I re-read it and all I can say is that of all the horror stories I've read where the dead come back to life to wreak revenge on their killers, this at least gives some sort of explanation...a "serum" to revive the dead. Shades of Herbert West, Reanimator!
ReplyDelete