Our hero and heroine, like most ACG couples, overcome the evil by blundering through the situation, yet with intuition know what to do to combat the supernatural force threatening them.
What I can say positive about the story is that I like the artwork by Jon L. Blummer, another early comics journeyman who showed many times in these comics that the story may not make much sense, but his artwork is atmospheric and eerie. Blummer, who had drawn for pulp magazines, was another artist who had a history in illustration before going to work in comic books. He had also drawn a couple of syndicated comic strips in the thirties, including The Lone Ranger, and Hop Harrigan. Unfortunately, Blummer, born in 1904, died young at age 51.
From Skeleton Hand in Secrets of the Supernatural (whose title was almost longer than its lifespan of six issues) #3 (1953):
For a vast source of blistering evil that was our villain, he pretty much tremendously miscalculated with Don. Every new terror just made Don more brave! Has there ever been anything more counter-productive?
ReplyDeleteThese are the kind of "rule based" horror stories you saw a lot of in the early 50s pre-code. You setup how the evil is powered or by what stopped it in the first place, and then it's a race to recreate. Some of them don't even set it up -- it just happens. This one at least pre-announces the rule set, so it gets +1 for that.
Where it loses points is stuff like the old woman illusion -- that side trip does nothing to advance the story.
I love the look of the evil one. It's great! The art saves this one.