Thursday, October 17, 2024

This is like the third issue of this we''ve blogged; why am I still surprised it was a reprint book?

From 1974, Black Magic #6.
I had to check Mike's for the newsstand situation in July 1974, and there were a fair amount of horror books there, new and old. Marvel's Crypt of Shadows and Dead of Night were on the racks then as well--wait, they also had Weird Wonder Tales, Where Monsters Dwell, Uncanny Tales, and two issues of Vault of Evil. All of those were pretty consistently reprints; rarely if ever new: Marvel did have a magazine, Haunt of Horror, but other books like Fear or Supernatural Thrillers were de facto superhero books, featuring Morbius and the Living Mummy, respectively. DC would've had Ghosts, House of Mystery, and House of Secrets; and those were probably all-new. Anyway, back to the comic at hand, I guess: "The Thirteenth Floor!" from 1952's Black Magic #11, art by John Prentice. Clement Dorn just wants a little privacy for his suicide, but instead finds a departure area for heaven and hell, on the thirteenth floor. No spoiler to say, he's talked out of it.
"Satan's Sister!" from 1951's Black Magic #3 has pretty much the same twist as the middle story of Karen Black's Trilogy of Terror, so if you've seen that, there you go. (Art by Bill Draut.) "The Girl Who Walked on Water!" is also from 1952's Black Magic #11 and is another Joe Simon/Jack Kirby number. Two guys try to make it rich with young Anna Marie Kunowski, an ordinary young woman...who could walk on water, up walls, whatever. How? The guys think, it might just be because she thinks she can, so she can. It's all fun and games, until a young man is injured trying to walk down a wall like she did. Her big break then breaks, as she learns fear, and loses her ability. Aw.

1 comment:

Mr. Morbid said...

That first picture is what is feels like to join an app like Bluesky, at least in the beginning.

Ok so what’s the twist on the 2nd story? That the “good” sister was secretly the one worshipping Satan all along?

The ending to the 3rd one definitely makes sense & has been used before as an ending, in that the main character has special abilities but it’s only when they begin to question them does it all go south for them & they lose said ability.