Thursday, October 27, 2022

The Haunting of Mildew Mansion

Here's a funny little 5-page 40's filler light-fright from the debut issue of Major Victory Comics, starring long forgotten "Red" Herring and his chubby best friend Flash --who actually has the red hair. It's your typical silly shenanigans in the 'ol abandoned spook house set-up, complete with the ding-dong daddy and tough talkin' flatfoot characters, --and yes, the real highlight here is the fantastic, old-timey cartoon work from Joe Beck.

3 comments:

  1. There's some great comic art in this!

    Page 2, last panel: I love that run, that would make a great animation cycle with legs spinning around!

    Page 4, panel 3 is so expressive with the sneaking walk and of course, next panel, it never gets old: the hats flying off the head, and then repeated in the very next panel!

    Last page, panel 5, I'm surprised everybody didn't die from that fall! That basement looks to be 20 feet tall, and I'm sure pop should be a bit more angry that they sawed a hole in the floor of the house he's trying to sell!

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  2. I'm pretty much reading this as warning against Halloween apples. Never mind the razor blades, kids. You just might find yourself embroiled in some real estate fraud! Gasp choke.

    I feel like page four, panel three is a missed opportunity: This scene would play better with all three shadows already on the wall. I dig the thirties strip art on this one just fine, but I wish it had a little more room to breathe, story-wise. If it had been written John Stanley, it would have included much of what this guy left out: The adults helpfully foiling the kids' plans at every turn, the set-ups to the knock-downs, etc. If this comes off as extra madcap, it may be because it's nothing but punchlines. Still, if you want to include a little something extra, madcap's not a bad thing to go with.

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