I remember a hunting trip when I was a kid, to a friend of a friend's cabin, where I spent most of the weekend reading old comics there. This maybe might've been one of them...maybe. From 1974, Black Magic #7, reprinting 1952's Black Magic #11, "Freak!" Maybe written by Joe Simon, possibly written and definitely penciled by Jack Kirby, inks maybe by Mort Meskin.
Sylvia Brewster had a date with Dr. Tony Austin, who sounds like a catch: before they can go out, he has to make a house call out in the middle of nowhere. Sylvia tries to put a positive spin on it all, but refuses to be left in the car in the dark, so she comes in to meet the Sheridan family. Ma and Pa seem a bit tightlipped, but son Bart is fed up that they "coddle and coo over that wretched thing." And on cue: horrible screaming!
Tony explains he gave him a sedative; but before he and Sylvia can get out of there, the storm has washed out the road. Since they weren't married, of course Tony gets the couch while Sylvia is set up in a spare bedroom; but she hears crying from the attic. With her fear momentarily overcome by her curiosity, she heads up to the attic and finds--the family freak!
The freak had grabbed Sylvia, but Bart says it thought she was him. Deciding he'd be better off dead, Bart moves to kill his brother, who jumps him, knocking over a lamp and setting the place on fire. Tony manages to get Sylvia out of the house, as the screams of the trapped brothers fade. Some time later, Sylvia tries to tell her story to the authorities, but the only piece of evidence she has is the freak's collar and chain, which the inspector writes off as probably for a dog. Tony, abiding by HIPAA...about 50 years early...declines to confirm the story, since Ma and Pa Spencer were still alive and he couldn't break confidence with them, and the case is closed.
This seems familiar, but I'm not positive this is the one I remember: I swear the freak was freakier; and there may have been a couple people fleeing in pants-crapping terror from it. I've been flipping through pre-Comics Code horror for a while, but maybe haven't found what I'm looking for yet.
Could just be me, but there seems to be...some parts missing from this story.
ReplyDelete-Why does the brother want to kill the "family freak" now all of a sudden?
-Why didn't the family just sell the boy to a traveling freakshow/circus?
-How the hell do you "upset" a lamp or any inanimate object for that matter?
So many questions.
Ha ha, but you're right, by god Dr. Austin DID in fact abide by HIPAA laws...even though I'm pretty sure a criminal investigation would supercede them.
A good question? Does anyone still use "upset" in the meaning of, to knock something over; as opposed to the more prevalent "I'm upset about something I saw on Twitter..."?
ReplyDeleteLooking at the 'freak' again, he still doesn't seem that freaky. Like he might have not been that bad, before living in an attic his whole life...
Not since the 50's/60's? It's definitely a figure of speech I've never seen before elsewhere, be it in magazines or comics. Just looks weird.
ReplyDeleteNo he really doesn't. Nothing some slight plastic surgery or a lot of makeup and a makeover couldn't fix. Maybe a better diet with more protein. Lifting some weights, something.