Featuring special guest host, John Scoleri! |
The EC Reign Month by Month 1950-1956
10: May 1951
Craig |
"Backlash" ★★ 1/2
Story and Art by Johnny Craig
"Premium Overdue!" ★★★
Story by Al Feldstein
Art by Jack Kamen
"Conniver!" ★★★
Story by Al Feldstein
Art by Jack Davis
"Heads-Up!" ★★ 1/2
Story by Al Feldstein
Art by Graham Ingels
Pulp writer Dave Wilton comes up with what he figures to be the perfect crime, a locked-window and doors mystery that will make him the next Nero Wolfe, but the publishers aren't on the same track and they keep sending his manuscripts back unopened. The light bulb goes on over his head and he comes to the conclusion that writing won't pay the bills so why not try out his scenario and make a bundle? He gets into the home of a wealthy man, murders him, and gets out without a trace. The police are baffled and the public is panicked. A locksmith calls the murderer out, claiming he's built the perfect fortress, but the next day the man is found murdered within his locked home. A burst of conscience hits Wilton and he decides to go straight and pound the typewriter again but a final returned ms. has him spooked. It's from a publisher who's just been murdered in a similar locked-door scenario! As Dave ponders what to do, he's surprised by the murderer, come to kill the final "witness." Many of these EC killers do so for the strangest reasons, seemingly pushed to the brink by the smallest of things. Dave Wilton can't get anyone to buy his story so he turns to murder using the same m.o. that he'd used in his story. Isn't he afraid someone will connect the dots (obviously someone did in the end)? My favorite line of dialogue in "Backlash!" has to be when one cop asks his superior, as both are looking at the bullet-ridden corpse, "Couldn't it be suicide, Chief?" Now, I know we had nothing approaching CSI sixty years ago but three bullets fired from across the room sure doesn't signal self-inflicted to me. Classic Craig splash.
"Premium Overdue" |
So are we! ("Backlash") |
"Heads-Up!" |
Jack: I loved "Heads-Up!" and gave it an A+ in my little notebook where I keep track of everything. Maybe it's because the setting reminded me of Fredric Brown's story, "The Pickled Punks." Fred and Dora are a gruesome pair and the scene where she stomps on the two-headed corpse is particularly horrible. Unlike some prior stories, we get the hoped-for payoff here, in a final panel that reminded me more than a little of Ray Bradbury's "The Jar."
I'm not with you regarding Jack Davis's art in "Conniver!" since it seems muddy to me. I don't think he's quite there yet as of the May 1951 issues. Craig's story is all over the place. When I saw the splash page I thought it was a great use of white space, but as I read on I began to wonder if it was also a sign of laziness or overwork, especially when I reached page six, where the exact same panel is repeated three times with different word balloons! Finally, "Premium Overdue!" is a pleasant surprise, and not just for its use of plot twists from James M. Cain. Kamen really can draw a pretty girl very well and that's what this story requires. I love the hardboiled dialogue, too!
"Heads-Up!" |
Kamen has been delivering some much-needed swagger with his recent pieces, and although Feldstein borrows liberally from Cain you get the sense that he’s finally pegged the type of narrative that works best with Smilin’ Jack. Personally, I found “Conniver” to be a bit of a write-off. Poisoned alcohol is starting to become a worn-out trope, and Davis’s art is nothing spectacular. Not so the contributions of Graham Ingels. While the reader might have the story’s final revelation down pat as soon as they connect the dots between “two-headed freak exhibit” and “scheming lovers,” Ingels enlivens the story with his usual putrid panache. Who else can you depend on for drawing eldritch carnival horrors like four-armed fetuses and floating heads with finger-jaws, transforming buxom vamps into raving maniacs all within the space of a single panel? If I haven’t made it clear in this marathon already, consider me a devout acolyte of the Church of Ghastly.
John: Am I the only one who wanted at least some sort of explanation behind the perfect locked door mystery in "Backlash"? As a result, the final panel failed to impress me. I liked Kamen's art in "Premium Overdue," and thought the story delivered the goods. "Conniver" had little to offer, and even the twist ending did nothing for me. "Heads-Up" was fun tale with some familiar elements. Yes, we get that there's no such thing as fidelity in the circus. Still, the story goes somewhere I wasn't quite expecting with the final twist, so it earns points for that.
Feldstein |
"Reflection of Death!" ★★★
Story and Art by Al Feldstein
"Last Respects!" ★★ 1/2
Story by Al Feldstein
Art by Graham Ingels
"Seance!" ★★
Story by Al Feldstein
Art by Jack Davis
"Voodoo Death!" ★★★
Story by Al Feldstein
Art by Johnny Craig
Carl and Al are driving home after a long night of partying one New Year’s Eve. Al’s so ragged that he can barely keep his eyes open; he trades driving duties with Carl and tries to catch a few z’s before getting home. There’s hardly time for a cat nap though when the rocketing approach of two headlights signals that our heroes are bound for a head-on collision. After blacking out, Al wakes up on the side of the road and tries to hail a ride back to the city. The Good Samaritan who stops for him quickly becomes a Terrified Samaritan upon seeing Al. This chain of events is repeated with a number of other folks, including a friendly hobo and a lady whose car Al borrows (after she faints) to drive back to his place. If the newspaper proclaiming the date to be nearly two months out from New Year’s was bad, then the foreclosure sign on Al’s dilapidated house really throws him for a loop. Seeking Carl’s residence offers a brief glimmer of hope; his old pal shows no signs of the delirious terror that had overcome all the other folks who’ve bumped into Al tonight. When Al tells him the whole story, Carl says he doesn’t appreciate the joke. After all, he knows for a fact that his friend Al died two months ago in that auto accident, the same accident that blinded Carl for life! A quick glance in the mirror reveals Al for the desiccated corpse that he is, much to his mind-numbing horror. But all is well, for this is only a terrible nightmare Al has suffered as he napped in the passenger seat. Carl has just finished comforting him when the twin headlights of another car hurtle towards their own.
Nope, nobody can see me here ("Reflection of Death") |
Tony has come to a lonely cemetery to pay his “Last Respects” to his dear departed Anna, entombed within the Cooper family vault. He presents her casket with a small trinket, a tiny stuffed animal Tony had won for her one afternoon at the carnival. They were so happy and in love then, even if Anna was underage, even if Tony was the Cooper family’s chauffeur, even if Anna’s ratty old uncle would annul their secret marriage in a heartbeat if he were to hear of it. And that’s just what happens when one night, soaked by the rain from rendezvousing with Tony, Anna confesses all to her vicious keeper. Catching a chill, she becomes bedridden with pneumonia and only has the vile ranting of her uncle to keep her company till the day she dies. Tony, banished from the house and shattered by news of his wife’s death, happily announces to Anna’s corpse that he has killed her uncle and that all is well now. Too bad for him that the mausoleum door blows shut, effectively locking him in and stifling all his cries for help. When the police later find him, they’re surprised to discover that Tony’s death wasn’t brought about by want of water or food. The urn of rain water, picked bones in the casket, and Tony’s formaldehyde-poisoned system tell them all they need to know about those final, desperate hours.
"Last Respects" |
Breaking up the impact of the previous stories (and their attendant rambling commentaries) is “Séance,” drawn by the inimitable Jack Davis. Davis had yet to assume the headlining act for Tales from the Crypt at this point—he would later form a “Terror Triumvirate” with Johnny Craig (Vault of Horror) and “Ghastly” Graham Ingels (Haunt of Fear)—and this story is another in a line of Al Feldstein’s try-outs, simplistic stories that would be supplied to newcomer artists who had yet to hone their craft and become identified with a narrative style that would fit their illustrative needs. (Don’t believe me? Check out the high Gothic melodramas Ingels started out drawing and watch as each of his assignments become progressively oozier from there.) “Séance” involves a stuffy head honcho business-type denying that there’s any authenticity to the tableside visitations an employee’s wife claims to have witnessed at her favorite medium’s headquarters. The head honcho stakes his employee’s proposed raise on proving that the medium is for real and, posing as a widower, the head honcho tells the medium to contact his dead wife’s ghost. After a brief moment of spiritual constipation, the medium brings forth the voice of the honcho’s wife. The honcho outs the medium as a fraud but, upon returning home, discovers that his beloved Martha’s spirit had been willed right out of her body. Those expecting to see any of Davis’s cartoonish verve here will have to make do with the sight of a dead trooper’s exploded face.
Blergh! ("Seance") |
"Voodoo Death" |
"Voodoo Death" |
Too much Taco Bell ("Seance") |
"The guy must have been trapped in here! He stayed alive by catching water in this urn..."
"And eating... Oh God, no!"
And, if we didn't quite get what poor Tony was surviving on, the Vault-Keeper provides a bit more detail:
They took Tony away! They put the white picked-clean bones back into the coffin and sealed it up again! Then they closed the mausoleum...
Perhaps out of sentimental reasons, my favorite story of the issue is "Reflection of Death!" (though I'll acknowledge that "Last Respects!" is a better story overall) even though, sixty years on, its impact is muted due to the inferior copies that came later. This is the first of the ten stories that Amicus adapted for the films, Tales from the Crypt (1972) and The Vault of Horror (1973). In the "Reflection" segment (which appeared in Tales), screenwriter Milton Subotsky wisely changes the dynamic from two men to an adulterous man and his mistress (though, for some reason, the dead man is named Carl). Otherwise, it's a faithful adaptation. Again, we see how ruthless these pre-code horror writers could be with their characters since neither Carl nor Al is guilty of anything other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time, so the fate meted upon both is deliciously unwarranted (as opposed to the film version, which provides adultery as a motive for damnation). The climax presents a paradox: is Al a walking corpse resurrected (and if so, did he crawl from the grave and somehow have memory loss until he reached the road he was killed on?) or is he doomed to be caught in the same nightmare forever? Don't think too long; this one'll hurt your brain.
Carl Maitland discovers the truth in Tales from the Crypt! |
"Reflection of Death" |
John: I loved "Reflection of Death!" and thought that the use of POV shots worked perfectly. While another artist might have given us a better-looking rotting corpse, I give Feldstein credit for his (Return of the Living Dead) Tarman-looking dead man. Kudos to "Last Respects!" for going the extra mile, making what would have been another forgettable story into one that will stick with readers long after they finished it. What is up with Jack Davis? The art in "Seance!" is dreadful (the one particularly gruesome panel Crypt-Keeper Jack mentions above notwithstanding). I kept waiting for Bill to suffer the fate of the voodoo doll in "Voodoo Death!" but he didn't drown when he threw it in the ocean, burn when he threw it into the fire, or get torn to pieces. Frankly, by the time it was over, I liked my ideas for the story better.
Craig |
"Sink-Hole!" ★★★ 1/2
Story and Art by Johnny Craig
"Lend Me a Hand!" ★★ 1/2
Story by Al Feldstein and Bill Gaines
Art by Jack Davis
"The Mask of Horror" ★
Story by Al Feldstein and Bill Gaines
Art by Jack Kamen
"Dying to Lose Weight!" ★★★
Story by Al Feldstein and Bill Gaines
Art by Graham Ingels
Shirley is a slim, pretty redhead who likes to wear tight sweaters, yet she can't seem to find a man. She joins a lonely hearts club and receives a proposal by mail from a man whose photo looks good. When she travels to his farm to meet him, she finds that the photo was 15 years old and he's now a crotchety old skinflint who marries her and then makes her miserable. One day, along comes Rick Hudson, the studly young health inspector, and Shirley falls hard. She brains hubby with a skillet and then drives him and his tractor into a giant "Sink-Hole!" After she is cleared at the inquest, she tells Rick they can be together but he replies that he's happily married and he's being transferred to a new territory. Months later, she goes to the well to draw up a bucket of water and the corpse of her late husband drags her down to the depths.
Johnny Craig comes through! |
Dr. Johnstone is a great surgeon who lives by his hands, so when his right hand is amputated after a car accident he falls apart. He decides that he needs a hand from a freshly killed corpse, so he finds a convenient drunk and says "Lend Me a Hand!" Once he grafts the hand onto his stump, his troubles really begin, and the hand ends up leading him to the drunk's grave, digging it up, removing itself from his stump, and strangling him.
The "hand with a mind of its own" was not a new idea in 1951, but Jack Davis does a fine job of portraying the gradually increasing horror of the situation. There's little to surprise the reader here, but it's entertaining enough.
About as good a match as the hole I just patched in a Sheetrock ceiling. |
In a small town, there are several residents whose obesity finds them "Dying to Lose Weight!" Along comes Dr. Perdo, who sells them a costly pill that is guaranteed to help them shed the pounds. He leaves town and his pill works only too well--they lose so much weight that they all die! When Perdo comes back to town in disguise and is discovered, he hides in a mausoleum where one of his victims is buried and is later found to have been devoured by a massive tapeworm. Yuck! Ghastly is really in his element with the awful people in this story, which would have been better with a more graphic payoff at the end. As it is, we barely get to see the tapeworm. -Jack
Trust us--this is the highlight of Kamen''s tale. |
Jose: I, for one, think that “Sink-Hole” is easily one of the best stories we’ve seen thus far in our retrospective. Johnny Craig brings a literary bent and perception of character to his stories that can at times be missing in the more purple-toned scripts of Feldstein. Just look at the effective repetition of the “house where no one lived” descriptor. First, it exemplifies the disappointment of Shirley’s expectations; later, it adds a poignant note to her crime and the renewed life with Rick she hopes to lead; and finally, it adds a grim note of finality to the tragedy, drawing the whole thing to a satisfying close. It’s the rare EC story where the “villain” gets their house style-comeuppance, but one where we feel a touch of sympathy nonetheless. We understand why Shirley did what she did, and it makes her ultimate fate all the more powerful. The cartoon violence that Davis brings to “Lend Me a Hand” may seem more sophomoric by comparison, but it’s a nice, light spritzer to the bourbon-on-rocks reality of Craig’s story.
More giant tapeworm, please! |
John: Put me down as a fan of "Sink-Hole!" Shirley lonely-hearts gets shafted, does something about it and, much to her surprise, there's no chance of living happily ever after with the young Turk she fell for on the farm. Johnny Craig closes the tale out with a fine decaying corpse (topping Feldstein's in this month's TFtC). It's icing on the horrifying cake, as far as I'm concerned. Of course, the dead man's hand is going to try and get revenge in "Lend Me a Hand!" but it doesn't explain why the rest of his body plays along. I don't know what I found less believable in "The Mask of Horror," that after seeing his gal cheating on him he still decides to go to the costume party, or that he finds true love in a mere handful of panels. Add to that a disappointing climax and you're left with a story best forgotten. “Dying to Lose Weight” pulls the punch that would have made it a classic in my book. I really wanted to see the gigantic tapeworm!
Next Week... |
"as opposed to the film, which provides adultery as a motive for damnation."
ReplyDeleteAs much as I like the film, that's always been a problem for me, its puritanical attitude about that character (which is putting it mildly). Especially considering how SAD the character is about leaving his family (Ian Hendry is very convincing when it comes to that).
When it comes to "Sink-Hole," is "Rick Hudson" just a coincidence or a parody of Rock Hudson's name?
I would say it's a coincidence. I don't think Rock Hudson was well known enough to parody yet.
ReplyDeleteThat's just what I was wondering.
ReplyDeleteEven though Ingels covers didn't sell as well as the other cover artists, I love the look he brought to the covers of Haunt of Fear when he finally took over those duties. That being said, Johnny Craig has to be the best cover artist EC had (and that's saying something). Davis's Crypt covers were good but Craig just nailed it every time, and he was very prolific. Love his illustration for "Heads Up!" and the corpse coming out of the well is just a classic. When the Senate Subcommittee went after Gaines it was Craig's covers that brought the heat down, ironically because he was known as the psychological (read: subtle) horror writer (whereas Davis was the gross out artist) and yet his covers were wonderfully over the top.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about Johnny Craig's covers. They do what a comic book cover is supposed to do--make you pick it up and buy it!
ReplyDelete