Friday Frights goes way back this week to the very first issue of Marvel Tales, when Atlas switched the title / theme from their beloved superhero driven, Marvel Mystery Comics, into a sci-fi / horror anthology series of awesomeness. And this is a fun one about the petrifying perils of antiquing, a problem I have yet to run into in all of my years as a collector / junker. No clue about the artist here though, but it's from the amazing August 1949 issue of Marvel Tales #93.
Well now that's a horrible little tale! Did Camille really do anything to be given that fate? Vain, sure, but it seemed like it was all under the sway of the devil, and poor Pietro, well, deserved none of this. That frankly sucked for him!
ReplyDeleteAnd that's a real horror story! There's no equivalence here, just cursed object -> pain, suffering, eternal torment.
The art (and the coloring) are a bit amateurish, obviously Atlas got much, much better over the long haul of the zillions of horror comics they put out. That said, I liked all the laughing and the devil was a pleasant fellow!
Yeah, Friday Frights!
Boy, I don’t agree with your “amateur art” comment at all.
ReplyDeleteThis might be some early work of Tony DiPreta. He's listed as an artist on Marvel Tales. His newspaper strip art is much slicker, but I see a similarity in the women character's faces. Just a guess.
ReplyDelete"Hawhaaaa!"
ReplyDeleteLike, for a minute there I thought the devil was one of the Blackhawks. But no, I get it. He's just got a dorky laugh. Everybody in hell seems to. There's always somebody around, somebody with an weird, loud, dorky laugh. According to this comic, those people are hell-bound. Or maybe Hee Haw. That's a real horror story: Buying a cursed Hee Haw mirror.
I liked the art, too. Very chunky and brutal. I like how the artist didn't go crazy making Camille hideous or demonic at the end. Just weird enough looking to be unsettling. After the pages previous, it was interesting to see a light touch applied there. Effective.
SALUTE!
>This might be some early work of Tony DiPreta
ReplyDeleteThat's actually a pretty good guess, Doc. Lots of DiPreta in the THOIA Archives if anyone else wants to compare: http://thehorrorsofitall.blogspot.com/search/label/Tony%20DiPreta
>I liked the art, too. Very chunky and brutal.
I think this story contains some of the coolest art I've ever posted, especially the surreal, and very Dali-esque Hellscape panels on the last 3 pages.
Thanks for the comments!