The Curse of the Fool Moon

Người đăng: Unknown on Thứ Sáu, 28 tháng 2, 2014

Back in January I posted a freaky Frank Robbins vampire tale (click HERE if you missed it), and now today I have another great one illustrated by him as we kick off March 2014 with a Week of Werewolf posts! Today's terrifically illustrated howler comes from the Feb - March 1975 issue of Weird Mystery Tales Vol. 4 #16, and David Michelinie's story is a bit reminiscent of I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957) --a horror film classic that's a favorite here in Karswell's Kastle!










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Number 1533: I spy, with my little Eye...

Người đăng: Unknown

“The Eye Sees” by Frank Thomas appeared for a short time in Centaur Publication’s* Keen Detective Funnies, and in a couple of reprint issues, Detective Eye. The Eye was a mysterious creature whose origin was never explained, although in one issue the splash panel proclaims, “The Eye! A symbol of the haunting voice of man’s inner conscience! That mystic all-powerful force that causes evil deeds to boomerang and destroy those who plot them!” With that sort of mystical status you’d think The Eye would be an unseen force, but it has a physical presence, as we see in this story (the second published) from Keen Detective Funnies #18 (1940) when it is spotted by one of the gang members plotting sabotage.








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*Centaur has the distinction of being a comic book company that went out of business during comics’ original heyday. According to Wikipedia, “Centaur Publications, Inc. ceased production at the end of 1940, but continued to produce comics under the name Comic Corporation of America. Centaur ceased publication four years later, primarily due to poor distribution.”

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 Here’s the first story featuring The Eye. Just click on the thumbnail:


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The Bedeviled Battalion

Người đăng: Unknown on Thứ Năm, 27 tháng 2, 2014

The fourth and final bedeviling tale in our full issue presentation of the June 1952 issue of The Beyond #12 (see the previous three posts for all of them) --you have to admit, while not the best written stories, these certainly are inspired and over the top, containing really nice artwork (today's story art by Richard Case.) Seems with Ace Magazines, the more bat shit the concepts the more entertaining the issue. This'll wrap things up for Feb 2014-- lots more coming up!








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Those Pesky Asteroids!

Người đăng: Unknown on Thứ Tư, 26 tháng 2, 2014

And comets, meteors and rogue planets! Here's another thing I noticed in my reading of the Action Comics starting with #200. Superman seemed to spend half of his time saving Earth from one asteroid or other bit of cosmic debris after another.

 Action #204:
It took awhile for the next one to come along, but after that it was Katie bar the door.  Action #221:


Action #222:
And #223:
Action #227:
#229:
Action #232 featured not one, but two near impacts:
In some cases, these asteroids/comets/meteors performed functions similar to Red Kryptonite later in the Silver Age.  For example, the comet in #221 imparted to Superman a magnetic power that was handy at times, but gave him headaches in his secret identity as Clark Kent.  The meteor in #232 ended up giving Superman the powers of Superman Junior.  The meteorite in #204 appeared to force Superman to perform all his super-feats while standing on his head.  And the comet in #227 was thought to have caused his X-ray vision to become uncontrollable.

I'll see if there are any further examples of this.  I seem to recall that one of the episodes of the Superman TV show in the 1950s also featured Superman saving Metropolis from an asteroid.
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Number 1532: What about Bob?

Người đăng: Unknown

Bob is some kind of unlucky guy, or maybe he’s just dumb...or maybe he plans it to prove Sheena’s love for him...but I’ll be damned if he doesn’t get in a lot of messes that force her to rescue him. In this case he’s being rescued from a witch doctor’s daughter who gives him a choice of being with her or being stomped by an elephant. I know what my answer in that situation would be, but Bob is more noble than that. Sheena is is his woman, and besides, she rescues him at least every month in Jumbo Comics. Bob, who likes a strong woman, will stick with Sheena.

The witch doctor’s daughter appears to revive the dead, but she apparently also has the power to change her skin color. The splash page and end of the story show her as Caucasian, in the rest of the story she’s not. Did anyone check the colorist’s work before it went to the engraver? That is an editor’s job.

From Jumbo Comics #83 (1946), drawn by Robert Webb:









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More Sheena here. Just click on the thumbnails:



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Trail of the Phantom Gypsy

Người đăng: Unknown on Thứ Hai, 24 tháng 2, 2014

A nice 'n spooky tale full of weird moments and atmospheric art from the June 1952 issue of The Beyond #12. You don't need a crystal ball to see we're in the midst of another full issue presentation here a THOIA-- and one more tale to go! See ya in a few from the bedeviling wrap-up!








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