Friday, March 01, 2024
A mirror, a zombie-Frankenstein type, a girl in distress; I don't think the interior stories have any of those!
Reckon horror comics live or die (or un-die...) on the strength of their covers even moreso than other comics; and this one's got a pretty good Gil Kane/Tom Palmer one: from 1975, Tomb of Darkness #14. But how are the stories?
"Vampire" is a 1951 Marvel Tales story with George Klein art: a man gets the chair, for killing his brother, but he had to, to save him from becoming a vampire, because he caught a vampire bat that turned into a hot vampire woman, that wanted his brother instead of just drinking his blood...? Feels like that kind of rejection would sting.
"The Trap" is time-travelling nonsense from Strange Tales #5 in 1952; which feels like a weaker Twilight Zone story. Then "Wish You Were Here!" from Marvel Tales #159 is another one where an artist gains power and completely abuses it. (I feel like that was done more than once, but they probably also did ones where the writer messed up, so the artists shouldn't feel picked on!) "The Strange Power of Mr. Dunn" is early John Romita art, from 1957's Astonishing #57, in which a circus's star attraction is a giant, who's really a scientist who used his own formula to make himself big and help out his pal the owner for his kindness. He'll shrink himself later, but for now, their act was a hit!
Not the best crop of reprints this time around, the cover got me! And I don't think any of the interior stories tie into it in the slightest.
What a minute. Is it at all possible that the circus giant was an inspiration for Hank Pym just a couple years later?
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