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Monday, August 19, 2019

Star Spangled DC War Stories Issue 162: July 1975

The DC War Comics
1959-1976
by Corporals Enfantino and Seabrook

Kubert

Weird War Tales 39

"The Kangaroo Court-Martial"
Story by George Kashdan
Art by Bill Draut

"Appointment with Doom"
Story by Jack Oleck
Art by Paul Kirchner & Tex Blaisdell

"The Spoils of War"
Story by Jack Oleck
Art by Ruben Yandoc

Peter: PFC Arnold Plunkett is Colonel Welles's gopher, lapdog, and errand boy and he sure is getting sick of it. When the Colonel sends Plunkett on a mission with a most important message to deliver to Division HQ, the PFC is captured by the Japanese and threatened with torture should he not divulge all he knows. While in his hut/prison cell, Plunkett is deciding whether to give up the goods to the enemy when a ghostly version of Colonel Welles and an equally spectral tribunal hold "The Kangaroo Court-Martial" for the befuddled private and find him guilty. Sentenced to death, he is run over by a haunted tank and his captors find him squashed on his prison floor, tread marks through his horribly-illustrated mid-section.

"The Kangaroo Court-Martial"

My thanks to George Kashdan and Bill Draut for making my choice for Worst Story of the Year so easy. Seriously, this has to be the stupidest WWT I've read yet and I've read some doozies, believe you me. Plunkett's ghastly fate is nonsensical and unwarranted; is it to be understood from the script that Welles and his lot are heartless bastards, first willing to sacrifice his young life by sending him on the suicide mission and then killing him in a most violent fashion? If these "ghosts" have the power to kill, why not wait a bit and see if the kid cracks? Absolutely daft.

Kapitan Horst Mueller is told by a prophet that "U235" will signal an "Appointment with Doom" for the high-ranking Nazi, but the German laughs it off and prepares for lengthy sea duty. When he is assigned to U-Boat #235, he has a twinge of fear but shakes it off and soon amasses a heavy kill count. His luck runs out when the U-boat is blasted out of the water by an American war ship, but he escapes death by abandoning ship and leaving his men to die. Mueller is picked up by a nearby German ship and transferred to Japan, where he flourishes as a Naval attache... until the Americans drop the bomb on his new home in Hiroshima.

"The Spoils of War"

Our skeletal host reminds us that the chemical symbol for Uranium is U235. A three-pager that doesn't outlive its welcome and contains a nice surprise in the tail, but what I derive most from the Kirchner/ Blaisdell visuals is that these artists truly believed the Germans had the worst teeth on Earth.

While Jack Oleck seemed to have found the perfect length for "Appointment with Doom," he has no such luck with the padded and weary "The Spoils of War," wherein a Naval diver discovers pearls in a small lagoon while laying mines. Rather than set the devices, the grunt decides to sacrifice his comrades and hide the pearls for a post-war return visit. As we know from these WWTs, things don't go well for him on that sophomore trek. Though "The Spoils of War" goes on and on and on and on, it does have a decent twist and some distracting visuals from ace penciler Yandoc.

Jack: Yandoc's art on "The Spoils of War" was the best thing about this issue, though I expected the scene on the cover to play out in the final story! Having skeletal soldiers confront the diver underwater would have been better than what we got. I did not guess the climax of "Appointment with Doom" and liked the yellow panel near the end when the bomb went off. As for "The Kangaroo Court-Martial," I was expecting a Dickensian conversion of the heart after Plunkett was visited by the Ghost of Court-Martials Yet to Come, but instead we got that ridiculous ending. Of interest is the letters column, where the editor admits that issue #34 was a failure and agrees that the last couple of issues were not well-balanced. He claims the ship has been righted, but the contents of #39 don't support that.

Kirby & Royer

Our Fighting Forces 157

"Panama Fattie!"
Story by Jack Kirby
Art by Jack Kirby & Mike Royer

Jack: When an inspector discovers that the mastermind behind a criminal operation in Panama is an obese woman nicknamed "Panama Fattie!," she shoots and kills him to keep his mouth shut. She's so tough that she knocks out one of her henchmen with a punch to the mouth.

Meanwhile, the Losers are pressed into service as Navy men who are sent to drive a truck through the back roads of Panama in an effort to discover who has been hijacking vehicles and supplies for years. Panama Fattie appears in the middle of the road, pretending to be a distressed damsel with a broken-down car; when the Losers stop their truck, the hijackers try to steal what's inside, only to be confronted by men with guns.

A battle with firearms and fists ends when Panama Fattie tells her men to knock it off, and the Losers give her a lift to their club. At the club, she takes a shine to Capt. Storm, who punches Sarge for his insensitivity regarding the lady's weight. Panama Fattie slips them all mickeys and they soon are out cold. While the Losers are unconscious, Panama Fattie sells her supplies and secrets to Japanese Lieutenant Nakamura. The Losers wake up and find that they are tied up. When Captain Storm reveals that he overheard Panama Fattie's transaction, she tells her men to shoot and kill the Losers. To be continued!

"Panama Fattie!"

Our Fighting Forces has published some bad issues over the years, but this has to be the nadir. This issue is one of the stupidest comics I've ever read. Kirby's art is dreadful; if it were in a 1940s' comic it wouldn't even be quaint. The plotting is terrible, the dialogue is wretched, and the character of Panama Fattie is offensive. Can this series go further downhill? We'll see next issue when the "exciting" cliffhanger is resolved.

Peter: This mess just keeps getting messier, doesn't it? I won't even stoop to silliness and call the King "overweight people insensitive" or whatever PC term they use today; nope, my beef isn't with Panama Fattie but with Jack's story and graphics. Every one of these Losers installments follows a tried-and-true formula that breaks every few pages for a Losers fistfight. Those brawls can get awfully confusing when every character looks alike, and Kirby is devolving into a stencil machine with each passing month. Put a five o'clock shadow on Storm these days and he's Nick Fury of the '60s. What a long five years it's been since Kirby wrapped up his Fantastic Four run.

Kubert

Our Army at War 282

"Pieces of Time"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Ric Estrada & Joe Kubert

"I Am Old Glory ..."
Story and Art by Sam Glanzman

Jack: When Nazis perched atop a ravine attack the men of Easy Co., Rock seeks refuge in a cave after being hit with shrapnel. He imagines that he battles a giant German warrior in armor, then a dinosaur, then a giant bird. Snapping out of his reverie, he exits the cave and fights a Nazi with a flamethrower, a tank, and a plane. Rock vanquishes all three and thinks that these "Pieces of Time" now need to be picked up as he leads Easy Co. on its next march.

OK, I get it. The German warrior=the Nazi with the flamethrower, the dinosaur=the tank, and the big bird=the plane. Ric Estrada must have turned in a shoddy art job, because this story is heavily inked by Kubert and still manages to look rough. The story is a page-waster and seems like a retread of the type of story we used to read in the back of the DC War comics in the late '50s and early '60s. Not a good month for our favorite redhead! To confuse matters even more, the letters column says this issue's Rock tale is illustrated by Doug Wildey!

"Pieces of Time"

"I Am Old Glory..." is four pages of Sam Glanzman drawing the U.S.S. Stevens blowing planes out of the sky. Glanzman gives a history of the American flag and at the end admits it's an essay he wrote at the start of WWII. It's about as interesting as it sounds. Other than Kubert's sharp cover, this issue is suitable for lining a birdcage.

Peter: Some of Big Bob's Sgt Rock adventures of late can be accused (by me) of being boring, cliched, or recycled, but I don't think I've used the word "dumb" in my comments applied to the good Sarge. "Pieces of Time" is dumb and nonsensical, a forgettable hunk of tripe that introduces offbeat elements and then offers no explanation, as if the reader is just supposed to shrug and assume "it's just war." Nope, I ain't buyin' it. It's a lazy script and it's got some pretty bad graphics (the panel I reprinted here shows the Sarge with a body approximately 100 times the size of his head). Some of Joe's style shows through here and there (and I'd venture a guess that at least a couple of panels are solo Kubert) but there's not enough to salvage this one from the heap of TNT duds. Sam Glanzman's essay on Old Glory is much better than the Rock misfire, but that may be due to the fact that there are no badly-drawn human characters in the short-short.

Kubert

G.I. Combat 180

"The Saints Go Riding On"
Story by Robert Kanigher
Art by Sam Glanzman

"Baptism of Fire"
Story by Carl Wessler
Art by Frank Redondo

Peter: The Jeb Stuart rolls into another bombed-out Italian village, just after a Stuka has destroyed the town's church. The boys manage to rescue the Mother Superior but, alas, not Sister Angela, who was buried in the rubble. The nun insists that if she is going to be whisked to safety, the boys must carry the statues of the saints to the Haunted Tank as well. Once everyone is seated, the Mother Superior tells Jeb and the boys that she'll be riding on the outside of the tank since the inside is so crowded. No time to argue, since a Panzer squadron has been sighted just outside of town. Unfortunately, the boys can't get to safety before being attacked, but some quick thinking on the Mother Superior's part saves the day and the Haunted Tank survives to fight on. Perhaps in Japan tomorrow? Or Pearl Harbor?

Sure looks like early Miller to me

It really becomes tough to review "The Saints Go Riding On" on the merits of its story when the art is so incredibly bad. It's struck me just now that Sam Glanzman's doodles look like those of early Frank Miller. Incomplete faces. Indistinct backgrounds. Characters who have no distinguishing features. As for the plot, it smells familiar but it's good for a few laughs. Every time Jeb tells the nun they've got to get a move on, she tells him that St. Anthony is looking out for her and then dawdles while death flies all around them in small and large doses. If I'd been Jeb, I'd have given up on the Mother Superior quickly and saved my own fat.

No one in Sgt. Donegan's outfit can understand why the old man is so hard on Private Forbes when the kid keeps showing moxie in the face of danger and death. Well, as it's revealed in the "you gotta be kidding me" climax of "Baptism of Fire," a pop always looks out for his son, even after he's divorced the kid's mom and the son has taken the new husband's last name. Sheesh. And if you didn't get the "twist" by the second panel, ace pulp hack Wessler hands you an awkward expository to seal the moldy deal. Thanks, Carl!

So, it was his son the whole time?
No way!

Jack: I'm not sure what those statues in "The Saints Go Riding On" are made of, but the crew of the Haunted Tank is able to cart them around with ease, tucking them under their arms and wading through a river in one unintentionally humorous panel. The story is not as bad as some of the Glanzman Haunted Tank efforts, which is damning with faint praise. Our old pal Carl Wessler makes a rare appearance in a war comic with "Baptism of Fire," in which Frank Redondo does his best to draw like Mort Drucker, and succeeds to some extent. I guessed the ending early on but the art in this story is easily the highlight of the issue. I am counting on the Unknown Soldier to rescue this month!

Chan

Star Spangled War Stories 189

"The Cadaver Gap Massacres"
Story by David Michelinie
Art by Gerry Talaoc

"Midway!"
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Fred Carrillo

Peter: The Unknown Soldier gets another mission from the "S" File (that's "S" for Suicide!) when a strange and perhaps supernatural weapon used by the Nazis mows a path through American G.I.s in a region of Corsica known as "Cadaver Gap." According to intel, the Germans are doing all sorts of weird experiments in a castle in Austria and that's where US is bound. First order of business is for US to murder and impersonate high-ranking Nazi Major Wollheim. That taken care of, the Soldier arrives at the castle and meets sadistic Colonel Rolf and the father of the unnatural new weapons, scientist Dr. Schopfer, whose young daughter is being held hostage by the Ratzis. Our hero witnesses first-hand one of the newfangled gizmos the doc has whipped up for Der Fuhrer when a group of prisoners attempts an escape and are vaporized by a killer ray emitted from posts around the castle.

Later, while meandering through the castle halls, US discovers a top-secret room and attempts to gain access but is told by a suspicious Rolf that only he, Schopfer, and Hitler are allowed inside the room. That night, US sneaks into Rolf's room with an eye to taking over the colonel's identity but is foiled by Rolf, who was expecting some sort of coup. The Soldier makes quick work of the Nazi and, in order to eliminate any loose ends, makes Rolf up to look like Wollheim and has him executed. Meanwhile, Dr. Schopfer reaches a decision that could kill the Unknown Soldier's secret mission and, perhaps, the Unknown Soldier himself.

Another stellar episode of the Michelinie/Talaoc saga, "The Cadaver Gap Massacres" doesn't spare the excitement and sometimes gruesome violence of its previous installments (US strangles Wollheim with about as much emotion as he would show taking the garbage out) but David manages to work in some humor as well (Wollheim's chauffeur is named "Schultz" and stutters and bumbles exactly like the famed prison guard from Hogan's Heroes). I continue to be immensely surprised at the level of quality the crew ascends to most issues; this series is easily the best in the DC war canon since Enemy Ace. Can't wait to read part two of "Cadaver Gap" next issue.

Archie Goodwin's "Midway!" is like one of those short history lessons Big Bob is known for but, unlike the majority of Kanigher's Laboring Locutions, it manages to be both exciting and informative. There's no real plot but more a snapshot of what American fighter pilots dealt with in the Pacific Theater, and it avoids sentimentality or flag-waving; it does, in fact, end on somewhat of a downer as far as the fate of Commander Haley and his men. Fred Carrillo contributes great art, nicely choreographing those crowded skies. I'll bet dollars to donuts (based on the Michael Bay-esque trailer I've seen) this aces Roland Emmerich's upcoming big-budget tripefest of the same name.

Jack: I look forward to the Unknown Soldier's exploits every month (or two weeks, in blog time) and I love Talaoc's gritty art and Michelinie's thrilling stories. This entry is no exception and I'm glad it's part one of a four-part story; the cliffhanger has me wanting more! I'm not as big a fan of Archie Goodwin's work as you are, Peter, and I found "Midway!" a bit of a bore, despite the nice art. I saw the 1976 movie version in Sensurround and this can't live up to that.

Next Week...
Prepare yourself for what might be
the most off-beat Warren story of all time!

Thursday, August 15, 2019

The Hitchcock Project-Arthur A. Ross Part Five: Triumph [10.9]

by Jack Seabrook

"Triumph" is based on a short story called "Murder in Szechwan," written by Robert Branson and first published in the October 9, 1948 issue of Collier's. The story is told by an unnamed narrator who explains that he traveled to the northern Szechwan town of Hsingping to see a geologist named Hank Tyler, who was prospecting for oil. As he arrives, the narrator sees a man sitting by a grave at the edge of the river; the man is Reverend Sprague, a young Christian missionary, who tells the narrator that his wife died of cholera nearly a year ago. Sprague adds that he wishes that Mrs. Fitzgibbons, the wife of another missionary, were dead and in Hell.

Later, Hank Tyler explains what happened between the Spragues and the Fitzgibbonses. Sprague's wife was young and beautiful, but she died in the cholera epidemic that broke out about six months after she and her husband arrived in Hsingping in 1946. Sprague was away when she died and by the time he got back, she had been buried and the Fitzgibbonses had left.

Tyler tells the narrator that everyone suspects Mrs. Fitzgibbons of having murdered Mrs. Sprague with a hatchet. Reverend and Mrs. Fitzgibbons never returned, leaving Sprague alone to mourn his dead wife. Fitzgibbons had been "'a big jovial Englishman of about fifty,'" according to Tyler, and his wife was "'waspish in both size and disposition.'" She had a phobia about filth and always masked her face in veils that hung from a bonnet whenever she left the mission compound. "'Her only traces of plumage,'" said Tyler, "'were her hair, which was a vivid carroty red, and a string of blue glass beads...'"

Soon after the Spragues arrived, Mrs. Fitzgibbons grew jealous and the wives began to feud. None of the servants saw Mrs. Sprague the day she died, and everyone thinks that Mrs. Fitzgibbons murdered Mrs. Sprague and covered up her crime by claiming that the woman had died of cholera. The corpse was nailed into a coffin and rapidly buried before anyone saw it. The Fitzgibbonses took off right away and never returned. A servant later found a roll of bloodstained bedclothes and a hatchet, but no one told Reverend Sprague.

"Murder in Szechwan" was first published here

A year later, the narrator receives a letter from Hank Tyler, who writes that Reverend Sprague contracted pneumonia in a flood and died. The river also flooded the cemetery, where Mrs. Sprague's coffin was unearthed and the lid battered off. Inside, they found "'some red hair and a string of blue beads...'"

"Murder in Szechwan" is a compact tale with a shocking ending. The key to the author's deception is the bonnet and veils worn by Mrs. Fitzgibbons; they hide her face and allow Mrs. Sprague to impersonate her and escape after murdering her. Reverend Sprague dies without learning the truth: his wife is alive and ran off with Reverend Fitzgibbons, and it was Mrs. Fitzgibbons's body in the grave by which he sat and mourned. The story of two couples is told by an oil prospector to an unnamed narrator, who then relates it to the reader, who is thus three levels removed from the actual events.

In the front of that issue of Collier's, there is a brief biography of the story's author:

"Robert Branson, a fiction newcomer to Collier's with the exciting Murder in Szechwan (sneeze, then yawn) . . . is 25, single, a Battle Creek Michigander. After graduating from Williams College, Branson served 27 months in India and China as a U.S.A.A.F. cryptographer. He was a staff sergeant. After the war, he inspected Latin America, paying special attention to bullfights for travel articles. Running out of money in Barranquilla, Branson worked his way for a time as fireman on a Standard Oil tanker, then returned to his Alma Mater as an English instructor. Last winter he decided to give the Orient a replay and went out to Manila for the United Press. Now he's back in Hyderabad as Bureau Manager."

Despite all of this information, I have been unable to find anything else out about Robert Branson. His short story was reprinted several times over the years, retitled either "The Red-Headed Murderess" or "A String of Blue Beads," but Branson does not seem to have published any more fiction and his fate is unknown.

Ed Begley as Brother Fitzgbbons

"Murder in Szechwan" was adapted by Arthur A. Ross for The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and broadcast on NBC on Monday, December 14, 1964. The show itself is a triumph, with a lyrical script, great acting, fine photography, and an original musical score by Lyn Murray that has echoes of the Far East.

In adapting the story for television, Ross does a superb job of turning narrative into dialogue and action, removing the characters of the narrator and Hank Tyler and focusing instead on the events as they occur rather than having characters relate them after they happened.

As the show opens, Brother Thomas Fitzgibbons and his wife Mary wait by the side of the river for the boat to arrive that will bring Brother John Sprague and his wife Lucy. Mary wears a hat and a veil that completely covers her face. After the Spragues arrive and are taken to the medical clinic run by Thomas and Mary, we learn that Mary despises insects, which explains the veil. From the start, Mary casts jealous looks at Lucy; Mary is jumpy and agitated while Lucy is calm and confident. The first sign of Lucy's dissatisfaction comes in an exchange with Mary:

Mary (referring to John): "'He must be a good man. A very good human being.'"
Lucy: "'Perhaps too good.'"

That night, Thomas trims his mustache in front of a mirror and Mary criticizes his vanity. From her bed, she tells him "'I have loved you,'" and he stops what he is doing, taking this as an invitation, yet when he pulls back the mosquito netting from her bed she stops him, saying "'I don't know if I still do.'" His libido was inflamed by Lucy's arrival but his approach to his own wife is blocked. Mary tells Thomas that she suspects that the missionary society sent the Spragues to test their fitness to continue running the medical mission. He lets it slip that Lucy told him she does not like it there and Mary pounces, trying to cover up her jealousy by saying that she wants to protect him and his reputation. Mary tells Thomas that he is a fraud who would not hold up to scrutiny; instead of welcoming him into her bed, she emasculates him.

Jeanette Nolan as Mary

In the scene that follows, Lucy swims in the river like a carefree nymph. Thomas looks out a window and sees her, yelling at her to get out of the "'dangerous'" water and then ogling her in her bathing suit. Later, the two couples share dinner and Mary discusses the dangers that lurk in the area. They discuss local customs and fears but John is steadfast in his insistence that people are the same everywhere and share "'an overwhelming, abiding goodness.'" Mary comments that "'My husband and I have never had an argument,'" to which Lucy replies, "'Neither have we.'" The subtext is important here: one senses that Mary's comment is a lie, intended to jab Thomas and present a false front to the Spragues, while Lucy's is true yet subtly conveys disappointment in a lack of passion in her marriage to John.

John asks if he can accompany Mary to go marketing; Lucy offers to stay behind and Thomas is delighted. They begin to see native patients and she demonstrates her competence as a nurse while he is gruff and bossy. Mary rushes back into the mission just before she leaves with John and angrily tells Thomas that Lucy will see that he cannot handle patients without Mary at his side. Once again, Mary insists to her husband that the missionary society lied to them by concealing the fact that Lucy trained as a nurse. Mary continues to try to manipulate Thomas, framing her jealousy of Lucy as an attempt to protect their position and standing as medical missionaries.

Another day dawns and Mary announces that cholera has reached the northern villages. She tells Thomas that he can take supplies to those villages and she will stay behind. Lucy tells Thomas that he is too tired to go and Thomas suggests asking John to go in his place. John instantly agrees, glad to be of service and eager to help the sick villagers. Lucy confronts him as he is about to leave in the jeep, asking him if he would stay if she asked him to. He questions why she tests him and she replies, "'I want you to do whatever you want to do,'" yet she seems to want him to stay. He misses the implication and drives off. From behind her veil, Mary again confronts Lucy and Thomas intervenes.

Tom Simcox as Brother Sprague

That night, Lucy sits alone and ventures outside as Thomas and Mary sit in their bedroom, reading. There is a shout from outside and natives bring in a man whose leg has been mangled by a jungle cat. Mary bars Lucy from the treatment room and takes over the situation, telling Thomas that he is not qualified. He gazes out the window and sees Lucy walking alone. Mary brusquely orders Thomas to prepare instruments and wash the patient's wound; she is the doctor now and he is her assistant. After they are finished with the patient, Thomas says that they should ask the missionary society to send someone to take over. Mary tells him that the society sent the Spragues for that purpose and that the clinic, the only thing they have created together, is something she will not let go.

Thomas finishes cleaning up and walks outside, where he finds Lucy sitting in a boat on the river. She laments that her "'husband sees only the good in humankind--only the good.'" Lucy invites Thomas to take her for a rowboat ride and he complies; they ride and talk in the moonlight. She calls her husband "'a wonderful man'" whom she likes, respects, and honors: he is selfless toward her and she admits that "'I could never be equal to such a love.'" Thomas tells her that "'we enslave each other with our dispassionate loves, more than our passionate ones.'" Lucy seduces Thomas with her words and her looks and by the end of the ride he is telling her that, if he were her husband, he would praise her beauty and treat her as a woman. The implication is that Lucy is a creature of the world who is unhappy at being treated as a goddess by her husband.

This scene in particular is a highlight of "Triumph," with great writing, acting, camerawork, and music all working together to create a haunting mood.

Thomas returns home and tries to slip inside quietly, only to find Mary awake, watching, and angry. There is another great scene between husband and wife here, in which Mary is jealous and Thomas calm, understanding her at last: "'You hate her because she's young,'" he tells her. This is the last straw for Mary: later that night she awakens from sleep and checks to see if Thomas is sleeping. She takes a scalpel from her drawer where she had hidden it beneath a comb (hiding an instrument of violence beneath a tool of vanity). Thomas opens his eyes when she leaves the room, showing that he was awake the whole time. Mary creeps to Lucy's room and enters; there is a scream and Thomas bursts in. We see a figure fall on the bed and Thomas drops to his knees in prayer.

Maggie Pierce as Lucy

In the next scene, it is daytime and we see ashes and what remains of a fire outside. John returns from tending to the sick villagers in the north and Ramna, an Indian servant, tells him that Lucy died of cholera the previous day. John is suddenly overcome with emotion, rushing around and finding his wife's bed empty and the Fitzgibbonses gone. Ramna tells him that they left after Thomas buried Lucy's body in an unknown spot in the jungle. He explains that Lucy suddenly took ill and died and that the ashes smoldering on the ground outside the mission are all that remains of her bedding. Jarwahl, another servant, questions Ramna and quickly realizes that Lucy did not die of cholera.

Inside, John stares at his wife's photograph, distraught. He comes back outside and presses Ramna for details until it comes out that something other than death from cholera happened. John forces Ramna to take him deep into the jungle to find Lucy's grave. They locate it and John sends the servants away, using his bare hands to clear away the mound of dirt that covers the coffin. He pries the lid open and looks inside, covering his face in horror at what he sees, something not revealed to the viewer.

John takes Ramna in the jeep and drives to the airport, where he learns that no one has left in several days. He drives to the river landing to wait for Brother Fitzgibbons and Mary, who are coming by boat, since John was away with the jeep when they fled. John takes out his revolver and loads it with bullets, telling Ramna that "'Vengeance is a kind of justice ... biblical law ... triumph of good over evil.'" A boat approaches, carrying Thomas and a veiled woman. John calls out to Thomas and shoots the man as he stands up in the boat. Thomas and the woman fall out of the boat and John shoots the woman as well as she flounders in the water. He wades out to her body, turns it over, and we see that it is Lucy rather than Mary; John touches her face gently, having known the truth since he opened the coffin, and lets her fall back into the water as the show comes to an end. One recalls Thomas's warning to Lucy earlier in the episode that the water was a place of danger, a cautionary statement that proves true in a way he never expected: the danger came from supposedly civilized man, not from the jungle.

Than Wyenn as Ramna

"Triumph" is a hauntingly beautiful hour of television whose title can be interpreted a number of ways. John Sprague mentions the triumph of good over evil as he discusses the nature of vengeance, reflecting an Old Testament view of justice that replaces the more forgiving view he displayed prior to his wife's betrayal. Each of the main characters may be said to have a triumph of one sort or another: Thomas triumphs by exchanging his old, bitter wife for the young, beautiful Lucy; Mary triumphs over her husband in their relationship at the missionary medical clinic; Lucy triumphs over her own disappointment in her marriage by running off with Thomas. Yet, by the end, none of them has triumphed and all their lives are in shambles.

The location, so carefully depicted in the short story as Hsingping in Szechwan, is unclear in the TV show. The two servants, Ramna and Jarwahl, are Indian, suggesting that the story takes place in an Indian jungle. The patients who come to the clinic appear vaguely Asian, though more Filipino than Chinese. Lyn Murray's score strikes decidedly Chinese notes. Fortunately, the vagueness of the setting does not distract from the power of the story.

Branson's short story uses colors in an important way, telling us that Mrs. Fitzgibbons has red hair and wears blue beads and then using those two colorful items to identify her as the corpse in the coffin. In a black and white TV show, this storytelling trick is unavailable, so Arthur Ross has to use other methods to keep the truth from the viewer until the very end, when the camera focuses on Lucy's beautiful face and we realize what has happened.

Ross's script dramatizes the events of the short story and greatly expands upon them, using the characters to explore the psychology of two married couples. Thomas lusts after the newly arrived young woman, while his wife berates him for his incompetence and vainly tries to hold on to their place in the world. John is so good and unselfish that he is blind to his wife's unhappiness, while she realizes that he is a better person than she and targets the older man in her plan to escape a situation she finds unbearable.

Tony Scott as Jarwahl

Harvey Hart (1928-1989), the show's director, tells the story clearly and creates a mood that is at once romantic and stifling, the heat and humidity of the jungle hanging over the characters, trapping them in their unhappy situations. A Canadian by birth, Hart worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Company from 1952 to 1963 before moving to the U.S. and working in Hollywood. He directed, mostly for TV, from 1949 to 1989 and this was one of five episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour where he was behind the camera. Another was the classic episode, "Death Scene."

Starring as Brother Thomas Fitzgibbons is Ed Begley (1901-1970), who was on Broadway starting in his teens before working in radio, film, and television. He was on screen from 1946 to 1970 and appeared in classic films such as Patterns (1956) and Twelve Angry Men (1957). In 1963, he won an Academy Award for his role in the film version of the Tennessee Williams play, Sweet Bird of Youth (1962). "Triumph" was his only appearance on the Hitchcock series.

Able to go toe to toe with Begley is Jeanette Nolan (1911-1998) as his wife, Mary. She started out on stage and was a busy radio actress in the 1930s and 1940s. She appeared in films from 1948 to 1998 and on TV from 1953 to 1990. Among her many film roles were parts in Fritz Lang's The Big Heat (1953) and Hitchcock's Psycho (1960), as one of the actresses voicing Mrs. Bates; she was also on classic TV shows such as Thriller, The Twilight Zone, and Night Gallery. This was one of her five appearances on the Hitchcock show, including "Coming Home," and in "Triumph" her magnificent voice is used effectively, especially in the scenes where she berates her husband or speaks from behind her veil.

Gorgeous Maggie Pierce (1931-2010) embodies the part of Lucy Sprague, a woman who was called "luscious" in the short story. She had a short career on TV and film from 1959 to 1967, appearing in three episodes of the Hitchcock show, including "The Faith of Aaron Menefee." She was a regular on the TV series, My Mother, the Car (1966-1967), and appears to have given up her career in 1967 to marry the wealthy Jerome Minskoff who, among other things, had a Broadway theater named after his family.

Tom Simcox (1937- ) plays Brother John Sprague, going from saintly in the first half of the show to distraught in the second. His work was mostly on television from 1962 to 1991 and he also appeared in The Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode, "Night Fever," as a handsome criminal who manipulates a lonely nurse.

In smaller roles:

Than Wyenn (1919-2015) as Ramna; he often played Indians in a screen career that lasted from 1949 to 1985 and included three episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, as well as appearances on The Twilight Zone, Thriller, and Night Gallery.
Tony Scott (1922-2004) as Jarwahl; he had a handful of credits from 1961 to 1987 and this was his only appearance on the Hitchcock TV show.

Read "Murder in Szechwan" online here. Unfortunately, "Triumph" is not currently available on U.S. DVD or online, but when it runs on television I recommend trying to catch it.

Sources:

Branson, Robert. “Murder in Szechwan.” Collier's, 9 Oct. 1948, pp. 29, 40.

The FictionMags Index, www.philsp.com/homeville/FMI/0start.htm.

Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen - The Private Lives and Times of Some of the Most Glamorous Actresses and Starlets of the Forties, Fifties and Sixties., www.glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen. com.

Grams, Martin, and Patrik Wikstrom. The Alfred Hitchcock Presents Companion. OTR Pub., 2001.

IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/.

Shane, Ted. “The Week's Work.” Collier's, 9 Oct. 1948, p. 10.

“Triumph.” The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, season 10, episode 9, NBC, 14 Dec. 1964.

Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, www.wikipedia.org/.

In two weeks: Thanatos Palace Hotel, starring Angie Dickinson!

Monday, August 12, 2019

The Warren Report Issue 14: September/ October 1967

The Critical Guide to

the Warren Illustrated Magazines

1964-1983

by Uncle Jack

& Cousin Peter

Orlando

Eerie #11 (September 1967)

"Witch Hunt!"★★
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Joe Orlando

"To Slay a Dragon!"★★★
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Jeff Jones

"The Mummy"★★★★
Based on the Universal Film
Adapted by Russ Jones
Art by Dan Adkins & Wally Wood
(Reprinted from Monster World #1, November 1964)

"Berenice!"★★★★
Story by Edgar Allan Poe
Adapted by Archie Goodwin
Art by Jerry Grandenetti

"The Blood Fruit!"★★★
Story and Art by Johnny Craig

"The Monster From One Billion B.C."★★★1/2
Story and Art by Tom Sutton

"Big Change!"★1/2
Story by Ron Whyte (White?)
Art by Larry Woromay

"First Blood"★★★
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Gene Colan

"Witch Hunt!"

Three friends find their friend Glover dead in a swamp, surrounded by poisonous snakes, and they hear the laughter of the swamp witch who has killed every able-bodied man in the nearby village. The survivors have brought in Styron, a witch hunter, to help, but the witch tricks them into splitting up and Bates nearly drowns in quicksand. A flaming cross is fashioned but when the witch appears she summons up a giant swamp thing. Bates is knocked out and, when he awakens, he sees Styron using his powers to destroy the witch. Styron tells Bates that he's a warlock and, now that the witch is out of the way, he's taking over the neighborhood.

Eerie 11 is not off to a great start with a terrible cover by Joe Orlando and an opening story by the same artist who, despite his years of experience at EC, continues to disappoint readers with sloppy pages and nearly incomprehensible attempts at storytelling--when he is actually drawing the pages attributed to him and not letting ghosts do the work. Goodwin's story for "Witch Hunt!" is also confusing, as if he felt the need to throw as much swamp muck against a rotten tree to see what would stick. The surprise ending, where a seemingly good character turns out the be worse than the villain who was just defeated, is wearing thin.

"To Slay a Dragon!"

A knight and his grumpy squire seek "To Slay a Dragon!" It is said that if one bathes in a dragon's blood, one becomes invulnerable, and the knight is determined to test this out. They find the dragon and the knight attacks; after a long battle, the knight succeeds in killing the beast with a sword in its eye. The squire kills the knight and takes his place, bathing in the dragon's blood in order to become invulnerable, but what he didn't reckon was that said bath also makes one transform into a dragon!

I am not overly familiar with the work of Jeff Jones, but this story is well told and pleasing to look at. I have said before that I like spare panels with white backgrounds, and Jones makes good use of the technique here, though some of his humans are a bit lacking in detail. The story would be trite in the hands of a less creative artist.

"The Mummy!"

When "The Mummy" comes to life and finds a beautiful young woman who strongly resembles his lover from thousands of years ago, he plans to kill and mummify her, but when she prays to a statue of Isis, the statue vaporizes her attacker before he can carry out the deed.

I know it's a reprint, but I've not read it before and I loved it, probably because I love the movie. Adkins and Wood use stills to draw from the classic film and the pages look gorgeous. In six pages, they capture the essence of the film, especially those piercing Karloff eyes. Reading this adaptation makes me want to see the film again!

A moody man named Egaeus has a beautiful and carefree cousin named "Berenice!" who is suddenly stricken with epilepsy. She awakens from her trance but Egaeus begins to fixate on inanimate objects. One day, her visit to him causes her to smile and Egaeus finds himself obsessing about her white teeth. Berenice dies and is buried, but Egaeus opens her grave and extracts all of her teeth. Unfortunately for Berenice, she was not dead, but only suffering another epileptic fit.

Leave it to good old Edgar Allan Poe to deliver a story that really is horrible! I haven't read the original (at least, not that I remember), so the ending did come as something of a shock. Once again, I find myself enjoying Grandenetti's surreal, almost Pop Art approach to storytelling. His bizarre panels and lines mesh perfectly with Poe's examination of a tortured mind.

"The Blood Fruit!"

Four grad students travel with Professor Thomas Breen to a South Sea island to gather data for their masters theses. The first night, a student named Jerry snacks on "The Blood Fruit!" that he found while out on a hike, and the sight of the berry reminds Professor Breen that he's visited this island before. Breen digs out his notes and finds reference to the fruit in rituals performed long ago by the now-extinct islanders; it was said that a taste of the berry allowed the high priest to control the people who were sacrificed to a cave god. Better yet, when they ran out of human sacrifices, the islanders began plying the god with treasure!

Breen eats a berry and wishes Jerry dead. In the morning, Jerry is found dead of a heart attack, and the professor believes in the power of the berries. He locates a cave near where Jerry found the blood fruit and sends another student named George in to explore it; a scream soon comes from inside the cave, and Breen and the two remaining students rush in to find Jerry's severed arm floating in a pool of water. Never one to be deterred from his goal, Breen thinks he's found the treasure and tells Jim and Tess, the two students, of his awful plan. They deem him insane and flee the cave, while Breen discovers that the treasure is junk and the cave god is real. Outside, Tess eats a berry and says that she wishes Breen were dead--a scream from inside suggests that her wish has been granted.

Johnny Craig packs a few stories' worth of plot into eight pages and illustrates it with his classic flair, but it's all a bit much to digest. The whole business with the blood fruit being used to control other peoples' destinies is a little shaky, and it's never clear if the deaths are caused by the fruit or just coincidental. Still, it's another enjoyable story in what (so far) is an above-average issue of Eerie.

"The Monster from One Billion B.C."

The rushes for C.B. Goodheart's latest horror flick, "The Monster from One Billion B.C.," are not satisfying the producer, who complains that special effects wizard Fenster isn't on his game and needs to do better. Fenster reasons that it's impossible to be more accurate about a T-Rex, seeing as they've been extinct for "a billion years," but Goodheart demands realism. Little wonder, since Fenster has spent decades providing very realistic monsters for Goodheart's films, creatures he's found or dug up and reanimated. Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, the Wolf Man--all the real deal, and all revived by FX wizard Fenster.

Goodheart bursts in on Fenster and says he's known the secret all along. He demands that Fenster make a convincing giant lizard and so Fenster does what he does best: when the cameras roll, a horrible T-Rex strides onto the set, animated by what's left of the heart and brain of none other than C.B. Goodheart!

It's great to see Tom Sutton at Warren; he's someone whose work I enjoyed at Charlton in the '70s. His work, especially in this story, has an underground comix vibe that reminds me in spots of the work of R. Crumb. Here, he writes and draws a love letter to classic monster movies and the men who created them, although the denouement doesn't make a ton of sense (but then neither do many Goodwin conclusions). How exactly does C.B. Goodheart make a T-Rex more realistic?

Noooo indeed!
("Big Change!")

Con artists Harry and Jane are on the lam from the law in New York City, so they hide out in the small town of Nortonville, where they are hired by disabled millionaire Martin Foster to help out around the house and keep him company. One thing leads to another and Martin marries Jane; Harry and Jane eventually reveal their treachery to the old man and withhold his medicine, allowing him to slump over in his wheelchair, presumably dead.

But wait! He turns into a werewolf and kills them both. It seems the medicine was the only thing keeping him from getting all hairy at the full moon, and the weakness and debilitated condition were side effects. Next morning, Martin is back in his wheelchair, thinking about putting an ad out for new housekeepers.

"Big Change!" does not have a terrible script, but it does suffer from the Warren curse of pulling a classic monster out of nowhere when the script runs out of gas. Larry Woromay's art is really poor, especially compared to what else we've seen this issue.

Peter Grimes awakens from his coffin to discover that he's become a vampire! The last thing he remembers is having been on the way to visit his fiance, Lenore, when he was attacked, bitten, and killed by one of the undead. Now he has long, pointy teeth and a driving hunger. His target for "First Blood" is a young woman walking alone, but the cross she wears on a chain around her neck drives him away. He decides to head for Lenore's house and uses his mental powers to draw her out to him. They struggle and he bites her neck, only to find she's bloodless! She laughs and tells him that she's a vampire, too--in fact, she's the one who killed him! The morning sun vaporizes poor Peter before he even gets to taste blood.

And what of Lenore? Doesn't she get vaporized as well? Another silly vampire story made pretty good by Gene Colan's fine draftsmanship and creative page designs. Still, these magazines are relying overly much on vampires and werewolves and, for goodness sake, they sure could have used a proofreader!-Jack

"Berenice!"

Peter-Though a much better version of "Berenice" will appear in Creepy #70, I'll give Jerry Grandenetti points for his atmospheric work here. Jerry continues to astound my expectations (and, I suspect, those of my compadre, Jack) by riding a Good Art/Bad Art seesaw. The panel of the ghostly Berenice (reprinted to the left) is haunting and effective. Those are two adjectives no one in their right mind would apply to Joe Orlando's doodles on "Witch Hunt!," a truly awful "She's a witch but I'm a warlock" mess; Archie's "shock" ending comes right out of nowhere and makes no sense at all. Orlando quilted together some of the panels and got an extra chunk of change for the wretched cover as well. Gray and Frank had obviously upped their rate by this time.

It's good to see Wally Wood's name back in a Warren zine but only bits of his style bleed through Dan Adkins's cohabitation. Still, this Universal adaptation is oodles better than the follow-up below. I didn't think much of either art or script for "To Slay a Dragon!" but, as I said before, Jeff Jones could be an acquired taste. Johnny Craig's script for "The Blood Fruit!" is a mish-mash of ideas that never really gels and it looks as though someone might have given his pencils a rough inking. The bottom of the barrel we're about to be dumped in gets a good scraping with the odiferous "Big Change!" (penciled by Atlas pre-code mainstay Larry Woromay in his only Warren appearance), scripted by Ron Whyte (who may be the Ron White who delivers a much better script in our next outing). Even amongst this issue's weak offerings, this one stands out like a month-old fish in the fridge. Gene Colan does what he can with the dopey script Archie provided for "First Blood" (if Lenore is a vampire too, how come she's not disintegrating in the climax as well?), fabricating magic with his pen and inks. I love the oddball panel arrangements. Tom Sutton phones in his first script for Warren but, despite the similarities between "The Monster From One Billion B.C." (which would be reprinted the following year in Famous Monsters of Filmland #48) and "Image in Wax" (in Creepy #17, below), Tom certainly knew his way around the classic monsters. I can't be too hard on Sutton for the meandering script since it was also the first pro sale he'd ever made. As I hammer home in my comments for "Image in Wax!," Tom Sutton will only get better.

Frazetta

Creepy #17 (October 1967)

"Zombies!" ★1/2
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Rocco Mastroserio

"Thundering Terror!" ★★
Story by Clark Dimond & Terry Bisson
Art by John Severin

"Mummy's Hand" ★★
Based on the Universal Film
Adapted by Russ Jones
Art by Joe Orlando
(Reprinted from Monster World #2, January 1965)

"Heritage of Horror!" ★1/2
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Norman Nodel

"Image in Wax!" ★★1/2
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Tom Sutton

"A Night's Lodging!" ★
Story by Rhea Dunne
Art by Maurice Whitman

"The Haunted Sky!" ★★1/2
Story by Archie Goodwin
Art by Roger Brand

"Zombies!"

Subtitled: The Issue Where the Wheels Fell Off. Archie's last issue. A gaffe on the splash page of "A Night's Loding!" Cousin Eerie "guest-hosts" "Thundering Terror!" Our first glimpse at a Warren Universe sans Steve Ditko. A reprint from Monster World. Monster World, ferchrissakes! But if you think this is bad, just wait 'til next time.

Harris gets the scoop on the zombie rituals he's been sent to nab but when the natives catch him snapping shots of their ultra-secret ceremony, they come after him. Harris is much too fast but his guide is caught and his heart cut out. The guide then comes to call on Harris in the middle of the night, explaining that the witch doctors seek his company. Harris hoofs it into the jungle and finally to the beach. When he remembers that zombies snap out of their spell if they come into contact with salt water, he wades into the deep. Too late, he realizes he's waded into the Amazon, full of fresh water. The whole set-up of "Zombies!" is ripped off from several pre-code voodoo stories and the payoff is a stretch. That leaves us with Rocco's so-so visuals, which mostly avoid the gruesome and highlight talking heads. Skip this one.

"Mummy's Hand"

Johnny is obsessed with shooting buffalo, to the detriment of his life and relationship with his brother. Even when the herds have dwindled, Johnny soldiers on until he's tracking that one last buffalo. "Thundering Terror!" has a cliched and boring strip with a silly and confused climax but I can recommend it for two reasons: I'm a sucker for a western/horror hybrid and it's illustrated by John Severin. Enough to squeak by, in my book.

Joe Orlando's artwork for his adaptation of Universal's The Mummy's Hand (a 1940 film renowned for little else than being the one that doesn't star Karloff or Chaney and, instead, features a cowboy star as the bandaged beastie) is not bad, but that faint praise is weighted with the knowledge that Joe was basing most of his art on studio stills (I know because I've seen lots of those panels in Famous Monsters at one time or another) and not pure imagination. That half-pager of George Zucco and Kaharis (I have no idea why Orlando chose to pop in an extra "a" in Kharis's name) is pretty sweet, though.

"Heritage of Horror!"

Christine marries John Daxland for his riches and power, despite his shady background and checkered lineage. Daxland's ancestors were executioners, handy with an ax when needed and, after Christine learns all about John's "Heritage of Horror!," she's having nightmares about falling under the blade herself. In the end, John proves to Christine he's no axeman as he raises her high in a noose. Archie's variation on one of those Italian Gothic horrors (usually starring Christopher Lee) falls flat on its unatmospheric face thanks to a predictable plot line and generic art from Norman Nodel. It's hard to feel sympathetic for a woman so stupid as Christine. Is Daxland really an executioner? There's no way of telling what this guy does in his spare time.

Even the Manster gets in on the act
at Renais's House of Horrors!

Image in Wax!"

Gerald Vigo covets the masterful craftsmanship of Claude Renais's waxworks: the artistry, the life-like qualities. Vigo's wax museum pales in comparison to Renais's house of horrors. How does Renais do it? No amount of begging will tear the secret from the master and Vigo is left with only one option: murder. Vigo sneaks in one night and tosses a torch at Renais but the outcome is not what Vigo had imagined. The skin melts off Renais as if he were made of wax! Suddenly, Renais's monsters enter the room and explain that they are the real deal and Renais was the wax figure. Now they need a new housekeeper!

Despite the cliched script and even more predictable "twist," "Image in Wax!" is infinitely more readable than anything else in issue #17 for one simple reason: Tom Sutton. Even though Sutton's genius is still in its infancy (though you can see one of Sutton's "old man" trademarks in panel 2 of page 40), it's clear that this guy was something special. Sutton excelled at the Lovecraftian horror (and he was never more free or fanciful as when he was with Charlton in the mid-1970s), but "Image in Wax!" reminds me that Tom could handle anything. He was the 1970s' answer to Ghastly Graham Ingels and, on a personal note, responsible for my favorite Warren story of all time. But we'll get to that in about six years' time.

"A Night's Lodging!"

After his carriage breaks down, Conrad Ernst is approached by a coven of vampires, hoping to have Ernst over for dinner. Conrad begs for his life, insisting that he, a hotel magnate, will build a fabulous getaway spot where travelers can be served up on a platter. The hotel is built but the fresh blood runs out very quickly and the vampires demand more. Ernst does his best to fill the hotel but visitors dwindle. Then one night, Conrad answers a pounding on his door to discover a whole passel of new guests. Well, actually they're the old guests returned as vampires. If the general plot of this dreary mess sounds familiar to you, you're probably remembering the very similar "The Invitation," way back in Creepy #8. That one also had the central character making a deal for life with a clutch of the undead. Artist Maurice Whitman comes across as a poor man's Pat Boyette to me; there's nothing exciting or imaginative being done here and the finale, in particular, is fumbled badly. Whitman was an artist whose work extends way back into the 1940s (including a boatload of war and western material for Charlton in the 50s) but "A Night's Lodging!" (or "A Night's Loding!" if you believe the splash) was his sole credit for Warren.

"The Haunted Sky!"

Colonel Bryant Clinton breaks all speed records in the experimental RPX-19C jet but then mysteriously crashes his plane. His badly burned body is pulled from the wreckage and the jet manufacturers are able to glean a story from the Colonel before he dies. Unable to resist pushing the boundaries of flight in the RPX-19C, Clinton soars higher than any plane has ever been but then experiences supernatural phenomena. All the dead fighter pilots Clinton had served with in the war float above the clouds and urge the colonel to join them. After Clinton dies, his bosses are informed that there was an audio tape pulled from the wreckage that proves the colonel was not alone in "The Haunted Sky!" A good, solid read with some spare but effective Roger Brand graphics (in his big-league debut). Brand only contributed a few pieces to the Warrens (and his best work arrives next time out), but his stuff was memorable, stark and gripping; it was only natural that his biggest splash was in the Underground. Dan Adkins, in an interview published in Comic Book Artist #14 (Twomorrows, July 2001), revealed that "The Haunted Sky!" was written for him by Archie but a Marvel project took precedence, so he handed the job over to Brand. The splash was done by Adkins. -Peter

Jack-I liked "Thundering Terror!" best out of the offerings in this issue, mainly because of the great art by John Severin, who has become one of my favorites. I also liked that there was very little of the supernatural in the story, other than a ghost and his wagon. It made me wonder if the story was originally done for Creepy or not. Next best is "Image in Wax!" with that nice Sutton art, though Goodwin's script is weak and predictable. "Zombies!" is forgettable, even though it reminded me of the great Night Stalker episode where Kolchak has to climb in the back of the hearse with a bag of salt and sew it into the zombie's mouth.

Much like the Mummy film series, "Mummy's Hand" shows a decline in quality from the Mummy adaptation in Eerie the month before, and "A Night's Lodging!" is yet another vampire story with mediocre art and a puzzling final page that seems tacked on. "The Haunted Sky!" features lettering that looks like what we see in stories by Alex Toth and art that has faint echoes of Krigstein here and there; the story is original though not particularly compelling.

Next Week...
Archie Goodwin returns to Midway!

Saturday, August 10, 2019

The Hitchcock Project: List of All Episodes Reviewed to Date (annual update-2019)

by Jack Seabrook

"Revenge"

An introduction to The Hitchcock Project may be found here. The episodes that have been reviewed so far are listed below. Click on any episode name to jump to the post.