Tuesday, May 14, 2024

Nightmare of Death!

If you enjoyed our recent crime horror mini-fest over at THOIA, prepare for a nightmarish leftover right here at AEET too! From the August 1951 issue of Crime and Justice #3, --yep, better pinch yourself as hard as you can to see if you're dreaming, or are you trapped in a never ending--

4 comments:

Brian Barnes said...

OK this thing has to be traced.

Last panel on page 2, panel 2, 3 & 5 on page 3. The hands are really unnatural on page 3, panel 3 and panel 5 really looks like a pin-up pose than a dead body ... and this is no complaint! It's really fun to see a kind of early tracing going on. I suspect the old light box mirror thing? I had one of those as a kid and loved it!

I actually like the non-traced art, too, it has this rubbery feel to it, which makes it feel more dream like. Don't know about the shaggy dog story (I think you could argue it isn't but I'd verify it as that.)

This is a really interesting curio.

JMR777 said...

This has that underground comix look to it, a loose and unpolished drawing style.

Maybe the artist was close to missing a deadline or it was the end of the day, so he or she made a quick story and left it as is. Considering five comics and a text tale for just a dime, there is bound to be the occasional clunker now and then.



Mr. Cavin said...

"Before you kill me, let me Flamenco dance for a few panels like the old days!"

Polka-dotted blouse and matching midi, grown-out Bettie Page do--you know, dream girl Helene was basically a Frazetta swipe. Pretty realistic touch. Lots of people have dreams like that. The real life Helene on the last page is much more plausible in a waking world kind of a way.

I liked page four best. Whoever drew this, and however they did it, it relies heavily on outlines. That really works well for the forlorn, mostly long shot mud swamp action. The color distribution across the page--yellow blue green red, tied together by that bilious mist--is like a stained glass window.

Mr. Karswell said...

>This is a really interesting curio.

Agree, that's why I posted it, haha

>bound to be the occasional clunker now and then

Boy, you and I have very different definitions for the word "clunker."

>color distribution across the page--yellow blue green red, tied together by that bilious mist--is like a stained glass window

Yeah I thought this one was really well done tbh. The artist knows his limitations but pulls out some great moments none the less. And for a "it was all a dream" ending, I thought it kind of hit nicely at the end all the same with that funny little exchange between the two.