Friday Frights time again, and we're turning up the heat with a hot little number from the June-July 1951 issue of Dark Mysteries #1, featuring eerie, early art by THOIA fan favorite, lurid Lou Cameron! Nice atmosphere in this one too, plus attractive "damsel" panels, Lou's trademark use of silhouettes, and other neat little touches like the vanity mirror and lamp etc forming a skull in the 3rd panel on page 3. Disturbing fun with a little bit of something for everyone...
That's ... a really interesting art job! I like it, but it oddly doesn't scream "horror" even though there's close ups of a face with a giant wound! I think a bit of it is down to the coloring which is full of bright greens, blues, yellows and reds. I think the other bit is the constant focus on the good girl art which Cameron does a fantastic job on. You could clip most of the scenes from page 4 and place them in a romance comic!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, page 4, panel 1 is another paging Dr. Wertham panel!
Google doesn't give me anything for Heptomia. Misspelling? There is hepatoma, which is liver cancer.
Page 2, panel 3 is weird, I've never seen that before!
Yeah, Heptomia apparently doesn't exist and hepatoma is not contagious so I have no idea what imaginary illness Leopold had. Also that panel of Vanya dragging Leopold up the stairs in his wheelchair like that is so bizarre. How the heck is that even possible? I do love the foreshadowing of he vanity table as a skull though. That's rather clever.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fab splash! And page three is great, too. I particularly love the way the music plays in a ribbon across the panels like a child's songbook. I can't help imagining the toon version, where the lass is pulled along, ear first, throughout the house. It's music from the grave, Vulnavia!--oops, I mean Vania! Hey, has anybody tried playing that yet? Only takes one hand.
ReplyDeleteTGIFF!
>page 4, panel 1 is another paging Dr. Wertham panel!
ReplyDeleteIt's possible sexy silhouettes might have gone clear over Wertham's lil walnut sized head, but who knows. I'd say that the 4th panel on that page is even more suggestive with a clearly shaped nipple poking through her dress.
>How the heck is that even possible?
We're gonna question that but not how he comes back to life? lol
>has anybody tried playing that yet?
I'll ask Zander to give it a shot, he reads music better than I do. So until then, it's name that tune-- and thanks for the comments! Got another ghost comin g right up, stay tuned... errr, tombed!
"We're gonna question that but not how he comes back to life? lol"
ReplyDeleteCome on, it's a horror comic. We're not supposed to question people coming back from the dead. Dragging wheelchairs--with people in them up the stairs however, is perfectly okay to question.
Gosh, it sure is too bad cremators aren't allowed to check the contents of boxes before they incinerate them. We lose more good unexpectedly alive wives that way.
ReplyDelete