The DC Mystery Anthologies 1968-1976
by Peter Enfantino
and Jack Seabrook
and Jack Seabrook
Nick Cardy |
"The Edge of Madness"
Story by Bill Dennehy (Murray Boltinoff)
Art by Jim Aparo
"The Diary of a Dead Man!"
Story by Carl Wessler
Art by George Tuska
"Experiment 1000"
Story Uncredited
Art by Nick Cardy
(reprinted from House of Secrets #6, October 1957)
"The Sorcerer's Handcuffs"
Story Uncredited
Art by Mort Drucker
(reprinted from House of Secrets #1, December 1956)
"Death Watch!"
Story by Murray Boltinoff
Art by Rich Buckler
"A Will To Kill"
Story by George Kashdan
Art by Jerry Grandenetti
Never wear a miniskirt to babysit in the snow. |
Peter: Yet another silly, disjointed tale. So, if you're a young girl and someone appears at the window on a cold, lonely night, the best plan is to grab the baby and head out into the snow. The cemetery, after all, is the best place to hide! Much safer than indoors. Sheesh! Sometimes, especially when we're talking about Unexpected stories, I think the writers cobbled together two or more disparate plot threads they had lying around and counted on the kind and lazy red pencil of Murray Boltinoff.
Pop quiz--identify the facial feature most associated with the work of George Tuska. |
Peter: The story's really not that bad, Jack, and I didn't see the twist coming (a rarity, I assure you). There will be no argument on the art though and that's to be Expected.
Jack: On the real reprint front, we get "Experiment 1000," about a gorilla who learns to think and is killed by a greedy scientist. My favorite line: "'Any gorilla on the loose is bad enough . . . one with intelligence can be a hurricane on two legs!'" We lifelong DC fans know that whenever there was a way to shoehorn a gorilla into a story, they'd do it, and if it could be smarter than the humans around it, all the better. "The Sorcerer's Handcuffs" is a neat little tale about a pair of manacles enchanted by an ancient sorcerer. Mort Drucker's art is impressive, though it's odd that his credit on the first page states that he's "currently of Mad Magazine." Not so weird when you realize they were owned by the same corporation.
"The Sorcerer's Handcuffs" |
That's some hand! |
Jack: Best thing in this issue was the hubba-hubba cover; worst thing was that godawful Tuska artwork.
Peter: Kudos to "Experiment 1000" and No-Doze to everything else.
Neal Adams |
"Sno' Fun!"
Story by Sergio Aragones
Art by Wally Wood
"He Doomed the World!"
Story Uncredited
Art by Jack Kirby
(reprinted from My Greatest Adventure #17, October 1957)
"Snow Beast"
Story by Lynn Marron
Art by Rich Buckler
"The Whole Ball of Tin"
Story by Len Wein and Gerry Conway
Art by Bob Oksner
"The Haunting Wind!"
Story by Jack Miller
Art by John Glunta
(reprinted from The Phantom Stranger #2, November 1952)
Peter: Dr. Wallace B. Peterson has a dream: he'd like to be the scientist who discovers an ancient city buried far beneath the Antarctic. The trouble is that Dr. Strauss has discovered it first. Peterson politely pushes Strauss out of a window and suddenly the funding for the expedition is all his. Once there, the mad scientist is lost in a snow storm and falls into a trench, a massive hole that happens to be the gateway to Peterson's lost world. Peopling that world is a race of skeletal creatures who must stay put or melt. After a long and arduous stay, Peterson decides "Sno' Fun" and escapes. He's rescued but diagnosed with a rare malady. His only resort is to retire to the House of Mystery, where he lives out his life until one morning he melts. It's amazing that any of the scientists in the DC mystery world ever got work done since they're always busy knocking one another off. The Wally Wood art is gorgeous and Aragones' story has enough macabre touches to keep our interest. That finale is a lift from Lovecraft's "Cool Air."
Jack: This is exactly the kind of story I would like to see more of! I could count on one finger the number of stories we've seen to date by Aragones, but this one has just the right touch of horror and glee, and I love that Cain is actively involved. The art by Wally Wood is wonderful and reminded me of his work on The Spirit on the moon series in the early '50s. The art also reminded me of EC, which is always a good thing.
"Sno' Fun!" |
Peter: Kirk wants the gold that stuffs the mines he co-owns with Sam so he dresses up like a "Snow Beast" to create chaos. Unfortunately for Kirk, there's a real monster loose in the area and the two get to meet in the end. They really made fabulous costumes in the Old West. Kirk dresses up like a bear and magically adds at least three feet to his stature. The art, by personal fave Rich Buckler, is the only saving grace of this dismal mess.
Jack: Ouch! That was a stinker. The dialogue is awful: "Forget about Kirk . . . I love only you!" Buckler's art is passable in that early '70s fan-turned-pro way, and he can draw some good cheesecake, but for the most part this story is a real mess.
"Snow Beast" |
Peter: J. Frederic Brown has never wanted to anything but collect tin. Then, one day his trouble-making son pays him a visit, admitting to a murder and asking pop to help him cover it up. Knowing his son will never amount to anything, J. Frederick finally finds a use for all that tin: he wraps his son up in "The Whole Ball of Tin" and dumps him in the river. I'm not sure if Wein and Conway (two writers I have nothing but admiration for) thought they were working on the Great American Novel and wanted to preview a chapter for us but we're not the richer for it. Pretentious, nonsensical and, in the end, a total waste of paper. And what the hell does "the folds of midnight sleep over the water's edge" mean?
Jack: Any story starring an old man named J. Frederic Brown is okay by me. The real Fredric Brown died in March 1972, a month after the cover date of this issue. Perhaps it was because the cops caught up with him after he dumped his son in the river? Nah . . . that would be too UNEXPECTED.
"The Whole Ball of Tin" |
"He Doomed the World" |
Jack: I was really enjoying "He Doomed" until the cop-out ending. I guess I was just in the mood for Kirby today. The art is pretty standard '50s Kirby, very blocky. The story was picking up some good suspense but then it went nowhere, and the end was just silly. As for the second reprint, three and a half pages is very short but Giunta's art is impressive. I did not know that the Phantom Stranger started out in the early '50s! I thought he was a late '60s invention.
Jack: Best of this issue was easily the Wally Wood story; worst was the mess about the snow beast.
Peter: I'd agree with the Wood choice but opt for the Wein/Conway nonsense as worst.
"The Haunting Wind" |
Nick Cardy |
"Death is My Mother"
Story by Leo Dorfman
Art by Tony De Zuniga
"The Magician Who Haunted Hollywood"
Story by George Kashdan
Art by Leonard Starr
(from House of Mystery #10, January 1953)
"The Dark Goddess of Doom"
Story by Leo Dorfman
Art by John Calnan
"Station G-H-O-S-T"
Story Uncredited
Art by Ruben Moreira
(reprinted from House of Mystery #17, August 1953)
"Legion of the Dead"
Story by Leo Dorfman
Art by George Tuska
"The Screaming Skulls"
Story by Leo Dorfman
Art by Jerry Grandenetti
"Death is My Mother" |
Peter: Lira turns out to be a pretty nasty mother, drowning son Dennis to spite her husband. That's the only interesting aspect of this story, one deserving of a place over at Gold Key's Ripley's Believe It Or Not! Tony De Zuniga once again proves he's a good sport by providing the dress for the pig.
"The Dark Goddess of Doom" |
Peter: I liked the dialogue between the club's staff after they discover the Kali statue is missing:
Nameless Spectator #1: Mr. Morton's statue--it's gone!
Nameless Spectator #2: Someone may have stolen it!
The story is about as amateurish as you can find in a comic book and the art is strictly grade school. It'll be hard to pick my worst story of the year.
Tuska strikes again! |
Peter: I don't believe in Ghosts anymore.
Jack: France, 1932, and Perrault ignores the warning of the old woman who tells him not to use stones taken from the resting place of the dead to build his mansion. Troubled by "The Screaming Skulls" the workmen uncovered, Perrault faces tragedy when his wife is injured in a fire. Only when the skulls are returned to their rightful spot does Mrs. Perrault recover and the nightmare end. For Perrault, that is, but not for us, not as long as Jerry Grandenetti wields the pencil!
Peter: More fabulous writing: "The skulls... I hear them laughing! B-but how can that be? It's some omen of horrible evil--I know that now!"
Our skulls are screaming too! |
Nice of the squaw to strike a cheesecake pose while leaping to her death. |
Peter: "The Magician" is really silly but at least it's a better read than most of the swill served up this issue. I hate those "Here's how it was done" expositories and we get a doozy of one here. The art by George Kashdan is nicely done. "Station G-H-O-S-T!" is a goofy and confusing mess. That 1967 reference makes no sense whatsoever in a story originally appearing in 1953 and reprinted in 1972. Eddie's confession in the final panels gave me a headache. So he played a prank... oh no, he didn't... well, maybe he did... but not really:
Spoiler alert--he does not fry! |
Andy (laid up in a sanitarium bed, mind you): Thanks for telling me, Eddie... but what about the ghost I saw? Was that also you?
Eddie: No... that wasn't me... and I'm not joking this time!
Andy: Then... then maybe it was the ghost of Timothy Gill I saw that night! I suppose I'll never know it was just a figment of my imagination... or whether there are things on earth that we mortals never believed existed... like ghosts!
Jack: Best of this issue were the reprints; worst is--once again--Tuska's contribution!
Peter: I'm not playing this game with you, Jack.
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