The DC Mystery Line 1968-1976
by Peter Enfantino,
Jack Seabrook,
&
Jack Seabrook,
&
John Scoleri
Bernie Wrightson |
"Bat Out of Hell"
Story by Jack Oleck
Art by Nestor Redondo
"The Fantastic Wishing Well"
Story by Uncredited
Art by George Roussos
(Reprinted from House of Secrets #14, November 1958)
"Countdown"
Story by Uncredited
Art by Ralph Reese
"Things Old ... Things Forgotten"
Story by Uncredited
Art by Bernie Wrightson
"Who Am I?"
Story by Uncredited
Art by Bernard Bailey
(Reprinted from Tales of the Unexpected #11, March 1957)
"Trick or Treat"
Story by Uncredited
Art by Michael W. Kaluta
"Bat Out of Hell" |
The pretty average "Fantastic Wishing Well" |
John: Fantastic art by Redondo highlights this so-so tale. Whenever a character is so uniformly evil, beating women, children and animals, it’s a forgone conclusion that they’ll get their just desserts. It’s never a question of if; only when. Funny thing is they ask us to accept the existence of a giant bat that would give Man-Bat a run for his money. Other than that stretch of the imagination, sadly there’s remotely nothing supernatural about this one.
Peter: A counterfeiter discovers "The Fantastic Wishing Well" where all his wishes come true as long as he drops nickels in. I can't work up much enthusiasm for this but that's okay since the writer and artist obviously didn't have much either.
Jack: How did this guy survive the headfirst fall into the well? I have to wonder if this was done in Kirby's shop, because there are some real Kirby touches here. I know Roussos was inking Kirby at Marvel a few years later. What I really want to know is why this story was resurrected from the archives. It should have stayed buried in the well of history.
John: We’re treated to not one but two installments of Sergio Aragonés single panel Cain's gargoyles comics. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, he’s one of the most entertaining cartoonists to have graced the pages of a comic book. Even today, his Sergio Aragonés Funnies is one of the most consistently entertaining comics being published.
"Countdown" |
Jack: What just happened? Did Jason's ghost take his revenge? This is not a bad little story for three pages, but the story ends too abruptly. The artwork by Reese is very slick and reminds me of what Mike Grell would be doing later in the '70s at DC.
Peter: Despot Igor Lazlo strives to rule over all of ancient Europe but to do so he must cut a path through "the old hills" and sneak up on his enemies. Lazlo soon finds that these woods are protected by "Things Old... Things Forgotten," creatures who will not stand by as the madman destroys all around him. What a treat we have: a well-written fairy tale illustrated by the uncanny Bernie Wrightson, whose "moss beings" are clearly a warm-up for the artist's moss-terpiece only a handful of months down the road.
Wrightson continues his reign of terror |
Jack: Ten pages of vintage Wrightson is fine by me! Too bad we don't know who wrote this, because the story is good and it serves as a springboard for some really nice pictures. The first sight of the creature from behind resembles Swamp Thing, but the subsequent panels of it and its fellow creatures look a little chubby and cuddly and not so scary. Still, Bernie is in full Ghastly mode here, with characters' mouths filled with lines of spittle, so I enjoyed it.
"Who Am I?" |
Jack: While I respect Bernard Baily for his Golden Age work, this tepid story from 1957 has all the hallmarks of a post-code DC dud. The "I didn't know I was a robot" plot has been done to death and there is nothing fresh here.
Peter: A mysterious twosome get set to unleash a deadly virus that will leave the entire world at their command. The only setback? The virus becomes worthless if mixed with water.
Jack: Early Kaluta is neat but a page and a half? This is hardly worth the trouble. This issue is an interesting mix of very strong new stories and weak reprints, hardly justifying the expanded page count and higher price.
Peter: I think you're being hard on Kaluta's "Trick or Treat" (dumb title though), Jack. I liked it, page count be darned, and that last panel (Spoiler Alert!) made me chuckle (even though it's been done countless times before and since). Kaluta's art is gorgeous and I really hope we'll be given something with meat on its bones before too long.
Nick Cardy |
"Where Only the Dead Are Free!"
Story by George Kashdan
Art by Bob Brown and Frank Giacoia
"The Vengeful Ghost of Glenville Gap!"
Story by Carl Wessler
Art by Sid Greene
"The Prisoner of a Dead World"
Story by Uncredited
Art by Nick Cardy
(Reprinted from House of Mystery #94, January 1960)
(Originally titled "The Prisoner of the Wizard's Coin")
"The Haunted Violin"
Story by Uncredited
Art by Doug Wildey
(Reprinted from House of Mystery #89, August 1959)
(Originally titled "The Enchanted Violin")
"There's More Than One Way to Get Framed!"
Story by Jack Miller
Art by Bernie Wrightson
Jack: On the run after escaping from prison, Mr. Horne falls down a hole set as an animal trap and finds himself in a place "Where Only the Dead Are Free!" He is held prisoner by an old man who is confined to a wheelchair, but who has a giant servant named Munjo to do his bidding. Horne lusts after the diamonds that the old man says came from a nearby diamond mine, but Munjo makes sure that Horne cannot escape. He eventually is put to work in the mine and tries to escape but finds himself right back in the old man's home, this time to be chained for good. Bob Brown and Frank Giacoia can be counted on for art that never gets above average.
"Where Only the Dead Are Free!" |
John: What are the odds that you’d find a diamond mine adjacent to a prison; a mine run by an invalid and his 12-foot tall faithful manservant. So when our unwitting escapee finds himself a prisoner of said neighbors, I guess we’re supposed to find this silly tale ironic. While I have to admit, I was surprised when the story ended abruptly, I can’t say that I was disappointed it was over.
"The Vengeful Ghost of Glenville Gap!" |
"The Haunted Violin" |
John: A by-the-numbers tale that wants us to believe a killer sentenced to die came back to exact his revenge. Yawn. Just what I’ve come to expect from Unexpected.
Jack: "The Prisoner of a Dead World" packs more story into its eight pages than some new stories manage to cover in twenty! Even better is "The Haunted Violin," which features some impressive 1950s-era art by Doug Wildey.
Peter: The art is good enough on both of these but the stories are silly and unengaging. Definitely not my cup of tea.
John: If you find yourself asking, 'How bad could a tale of a violin that turns water to fire, or causes structures to melt be?', the answer is, bad enough to find itself right at home in the pages of Unexpected.
Wrightson |
Peter: Nice, now and then, to get an EC-type horror story that actually works on both levels, story and art. Yeah, the reveal is another one of those we've seen a zillion times before but it's nicely handled and there's just the hint that Ivan's wife, Sybil, may not be as daffy as she seems.
John: As Unexpected stories go, this one is above average. The only thing I would have preferred is if it were clear that the old man’s wife trapped him in a painting on purpose…
Nick Cardy |
"Death's Bridegroom!"
Story by Geoff Browne (Leo Dorfman)
Art by Jim Aparo
"Ghost in the Iron Coffin"
Story by David George (Leo Dorfman)
Art by Sam Glanzman
"The Tattooed Terror!"
Story by John Broome
Art by Carmine Infantino and Sy Barry
(reprinted from Sensation Mystery #112, December 1952)
"The Last Dream!"
Story by John Broome
Art by Carmine Infantino and Sy Barry
(reprinted from Sensation Mystery #107, February 1952)
"The Spectral Coachman!"
Story by Leo Dorfman
Art by Tony deZuniga
"Death's Bridegroom!" |
Peter: You're so right, David... I mean, Jack! It might just be me but there's a definite homoerotic vibe bubbling just under the surface when it comes to the relationship between Ron and his... best mate, Cy. At one point, David even calls his partner "baby." Not that there's anything wrong with that! As far as the story itself goes, it's a dreary one-noter stretched out to nine pages but Jim Aparo's art is nice to look at, a precursor to his fine work on Brave and the Bold, beginning just a few months later.
John: This one was saved by Aparo's art, but rendered unnecessary when they give it away in a single panel—twice!
"Ghost in the Iron Coffin" |
Peter: It's not bad but, just like the first one, it's bland and overlong with the art being the highlight. If I didn't know better, I'd have said this was a 1950s reprint. Why didn't Kollmer's ghost wipe these Nazis out on the first page? Why toy with them?
"The Tattooed Terror!" |
John: Aside from the lead story, I would have pegged the entire issue as a collection of reprints.
Peter: I loved "The Tattooed Terror" for what it is: kitsch nostalgia. One of the most meandering, nonsensical tales I've read in a long time. Are we to believe that Jorgens not only steals into Forman's bedroom nightly and tattoos the man without waking him but also has orchestrated several near brushes with death as well? And what's with the climax, where we see the final tattoo on Forman's back (Jorgens' grinning face)? "Now do you believe in the supernatural?" the narrator asks us as we exit the final panel. Not if Jorgens was responsible for the artwork, I don't. Check your brain at the door and you'll love this dopey slice of DC's Golden Age. "Tattooed" and "The Last Dream" (about a centuries-old family feud carried on by a ghost) have some belief-stretching moments but they're both much more enjoyable to read than the previous two stories.
John: Wait—tattoos hurt?
"The Spectral Coachman!" |
John: But Jack, like they told you right on page one— Abraham Lincoln believed in ghosts... Arthur Conan Doyle believed in ghosts... Mark Twain believed in ghosts... and Peter Enfantino believed in ghosts...
Peter: I think this was the best story of the issue but, like Dorfman's other contributions, I could have whited out the captions and word balloons and looked at the pretty pitchers. DeZuniga has a natural flare for western creepiness and he would go on to perfect that style with Jonah Hex (which debuted in March 1972's All-Star Western #10), a series that often blurred the line between horror and western. DC's second supernatural title to debut in the 1970s, Ghosts would have a healthy run of 112 issues published from October 1971 through May 1982. By the time Ghosts was put to rest, the only mystery title left standing was House of Mystery. The majority of stories in the first dozen or so issues were written by Leo Dorfman, a writer who came up through the ranks writing Superman in the 1950s. According to Mark Evanier (on his website, as noted on Wikipedia), Dorfman was writing and selling stories to both DC (for Ghosts) and Gold Key (for Boris Karloff, Twilight Zone, Grimm's, and Ripley's) at the same time.
John: I just have one final question. Jack, do you believe in Ghosts?
Jack: Stop torturing me!
2 comments:
Keep up the blog entries.Its a title I cannot comment on due to not having the run but I do enjoy reading it. I hope your gentlemen have a great 2014 and drop by DCU Guide Forums sometime.
Thanks! We'll drop by!
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