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The EC Reign Month by Month 1950-1956
6: January 1951
Craig |
Crime SuspenStories #2
"Dead-Ringer"★★★
Story and Art by Johnny Craig
"A Moment of Madness!"★★
Story by Al Feldstein
Art by Graham Ingels
"The Corpse in the Crematorium"★★1/2
Story and Art by Johnny Craig
"Contract for Death"★★
Story by Al Feldstein
Art by Jack Kamen
A man pleads for his life against a night sky--why? He tells his story, about how he fell into a life of crime. When he saw that a millionaire had amnesia and was resting in Saneville Sanitarium, he was shocked to notice that the man was a "Dead-Ringer" for himself! He murdered the man, buried his body in the woods, and took his place at the loony bin, eventually recovering his memory and getting discharged. But life on the outside wasn't as rosy as he expected it to be, since his marriage was a sham and his business partners hated him. When he is kidnapped by three brothers whose father killed himself after being swindled by the millionaire, he pleads for his life and explains who he really is. They shoot him anyway.
"Dead-Ringer" |
The Ingels story is just OK, and it makes me wonder (not for the first time) when Ingels will really hit his stride. The Kamen story is one of those where you know what the end will be fairly early on. Why is Kamen so fond of having his characters look right at the reader?-Jack
Peter: "A Moment of Madness" is an effective little crime thriller with an abrupt but powerful conclusion. Ralph Bently is a member of an EC minority: the innocent protagonist who meets a nasty end. Bently is guilty of nothing but job-related stress and being a bit . . . rude at times (after killing a boy's dog, Bently pays the boy's father for his silence and trots off with a curt, "I'd better be on my way!") and yet, in the end, he takes his own life rather than risk killing the woman he loves. Not your typical EC baddie, eh? The other three stories are immensely forgettable with the only aspect of "The Corpse in the Crematorium" worth noting is that Johnny rips off Louis Pollock's short story, "Breakdown" (later filmed for the first season of Alfred Hitchcock Presents), for his nail-biting finale.
"A Moment of Madness!" |
"The Corpse in the Crematorium" |
Feldstein |
"A Shocking Way to Die!" ★★
Story and Art by Al Feldstein
"Terror Ride!" ★★
Story by Al Feldstein
Art by Wally Wood
"House of Horror" ★
Story by Al Feldstein
Art by Harvey Kurtzman
(reprinted from Haunt of Fear #1)
"Death Suited Him!" ★★
Story by Al Feldstein
Art by Graham Ingels
When mobster James Cooper is sentenced to die, he vows he'll return from the grave to get revenge on those who found him guilty. Coincidentally, a local mad scientist has been working on a theory of how to raise the dead. He seeks out Cooper's fellow gang members and asks if he might experiment on the mob boss after he's fried in the electric chair. Cooper agrees to the plan and, after he's executed, his body is whisked away to a laboratory where the professor, sure enough, brings Jimmy boy back. Cooper shows his gratitude by plugging the prof and then goes on a mad killing spree, evening up the score with the folks who did him wrong. Unfortunately, for Jim, the prof's plan wasn't foolproof and his body begins to rot. His final would-be victim, the judge who sentenced him to death, smashes the living corpse with a poker and Cooper dissolves into rotted flesh and bone. As with most of these early stories, "A Shocking Way to Die" sputters rather than shocks, though Cooper's rapidly rotting features hold the attention nicely. It's laughable how easily the professor and his mobster cohorts steal Cooper's body. The only jolt delivered throughout the narrative would be the mad scientist's murder by Cooper. Nothing else elicits more than a yawn.
Shocking! |
Fresh off a wedding ceremony, George and Ruth stop at a creepy little amusement park, ignore all the CLOSED signs, and enter anyway. They happen upon the one attraction still open for the evening, the Water Wheel Ride and, once again, ignore the warnings (including a very creepy ticket taker). The boat ride turns out to be a "Terror Ride" when the couple discover that the ticket taker has been populating his scary attraction with corpses and plans to add two new figures to his ride. The only thing that saves George and Ruth is a slippery boardwalk. Another groaner, but at least "Terror Ride" is saved by Wally Wood's lovely art. It's not clear why the attraction is open that evening or why the crazed owner is killing his customers or, especially, why Ruth and George aren't holed up in a motel somewhere. Serves them right.
"Terror Ride" |
"Death Suited Him" |
Jack: "Terror Ride!" was my favorite story, and not just for the wonderful art by Woody. I thought the journey on the boat was very entertaining, as the happy couple pass one horrifying scene after another. I liked the ending, too, and thought the plot worked out in a satisfying manner. The living corpse in "A Shocking Way to Die!" decomposes very quickly, unlike the tuxedo in "Death Suited Him," which is in perfect condition after four months underground. I guess an airtight coffin keeps things fresher longer.
John: I'm a sucker for a good reanimated corpse tale. Or, as in the case of "A Shocking Way to Die!," a half-way decent reanimated corpse tale. I just couldn't understand why James Cooper proclaimed his innocence so vehemently before promising to come back and get those who sent him to his death. I might have enjoyed "Terror Ride!" for Wally Wood's art if we were shown any of the terrifying things on display in the dark boat ride. The return of “House of Horror” gives us time to consider why, if you're going to include a reprint, would you pick such a dog. Surely they could have found a better 6-page story to use. I thought “Death Suited Him” was a pretty silly premise to justify grave-robbing, but the twist elevated it above most of the other tales in this generally lackluster issue.
Craig |
"Werewolf Concerto!" ★★ 1/2
Story and Art by Johnny Craig
"Fitting Punishment!" ★★★
Story by Al Feldstein
Art by Graham Ingels
"The Grave Wager" ★★
Story by Al Feldstein
Art by Jack Kamen
"Escape!" ★★★ 1/2
Story and Art by Al Feldstein
Pete Luger has just had a rude awakening. Once a big-shot of the criminal underworld, he now wiles away his afternoons lugging piles of brick in a prison work yard to the jeers of his fellow hoods. All he needs is a getaway, the smallest chink in the prison’s security system to facilitate his escape to the other side. It seems like the only cons who ever make it past the exit are the ones who get carried out in pine boxes. Just like that, Luger has his plan. Securing a position as the jail’s morgue attendant, Luger passes the word to his buddies on the outside that he’ll stow himself away in a coffin to be intercepted by his comrades when the hearse makes it ways to potter’s field. The plan seems to go off without a hitch, but when two cons arrive to pick up the casket they finish Luger’s half-assed job by nailing the lid down and taking it downstairs where Pete Luger gets his second rude awakening: the piles of bricks that they’ve just spent the last few months unloading have been used to construct the prison’s very own crematorium.
"Escape!" |
As clipped and sparse as a James M. Cain potboiler, “Escape!” earns high marks for its assured delivery and the smooth transition of its visuals under Feldstein’s practiced pen. In an issue brimming with ghoulies and ghosties, it says something that the most powerful of the lot is a tense little thriller about a criminal with one too many bright ideas getting one of the publisher’s most blackly ironic punishments to date. It’s a whip-smart climax that could certainly please O. Henry and Roald Dahl.
"Werewolf Concerto" |
Kamen gets stuck with an even staler premise in “The Grave Wager,” another in a line of “bored dilettantes playing ghoulish pranks/initiations” following “Report from the Grave” (VOH #15) and “A Fatal Caper” (TFTC #20), this time focusing on two chums who challenge their cocky friend to stay up all night with a corpse for a cool hundred bucks, only for the circus performer posing as the “corpse” to get up and give the jerk a fright and thus effectively bring about the performer’s death by candle-beating and the jerk’s descent into white-haired madness.
Much better is the A Christmas Carol-by-way-of-pre-code-horror story “A Fitting Punishment.” Ingels definitely seems in his element here as he imbues his illustrations with the craven miserliness of the carrion-esque villain, Ezra Flint (heh heh). The tale’s latter third that has “old, wicked” Ezra convulsing in horror at his fireside from the thumping noises that recall the abuses he dealt to the tortured nephew whom he crippled and later maimed as a corpse to accommodate the short casket he stuffed the body in are pure ghost story gold, recalling the auditory theatricality of classics by Poe and W. W. Jacobs. It bodes well for the future of E. C.’s artist-king of Gothic terror. - Jose
"Fitting Punishment" |
Jack: I was surprised in "Werewolf Concerto!" when Hubert turned out to be the werewolf, but the other revelations were as expected. I do love Craig's art and method of storytelling, though. I agree with Peter about Ghastly's art in "Fitting Punishment!"--it was the best story in the issue and the art fit perfectly. Kamen's streak of mediocrity continues with "The Grave Wager," which is the weakest story, as usual. "Escape!" is fun because you know something will go horribly wrong but you don't know what or how till the last panel. The main character inspired a famous steakhouse in Brooklyn.
"The Grave Wager" |
Next Issue: Meet Lt. Steve Savage Balloon Buster! On Sale Monday, May 23rd! |
1 comment:
The "body too tall for the available coffin, hmm, what to do?" trope had also been used earlier (as the not-very-surprising surprise ending) of an atypical and minor H. P. Lovecraft short story, "In the Vault." / Denny Lien
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