From 1975,
Tomb of Darkness #13, with maybe a Sal Buscema cover? Anyway, it took me a minute to figure out if we had blogged this one already, since we covered
ToD #9 a few years back, and this issue opens with a
different story with the same title: "The Man in the Tomb!" This one was from 1952's
Mystic #12, with art by Bob Fujitani. A seeming execution, is instead just an elaborate initiation to the local chapter of the Knights of Mystery. (I had a conversation with my mom recently: my grandpa had been in a ton of men's clubs, like the Elks, Lions,
Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes, whatever; and you don't really have that around today. I knew one guy that was a Mason, and I would'a been less surprised if he'd said he was a Martian.) But, a local mobster crashes the club meeting, 'cause his skirt thinks he oughta have "social prestige"...by joining these nerds. The Knights don't want a criminal in their club, but agree to give him the tougher initation, in the graveyard tomb. The mobster will be locked in the tomb, but can reach out and grab the key whenever: the longer he stays in, the greater his rank in the club. Or, that's what the Knights tell him, anyway: they plan on ditching him, moving their headquarters and maybe changing their name, before the mobster even gets out of there. Except, the mobster gets scared five minutes in, and fumbles the key...! (This one vaguely reminded me of the MST3K episode "
Ring of Terror," which also features an initiation that goes bad, with a bunch of frat guys way too old for the roles!)
"Alone!" from 1952's
Adventures into Weird Worlds #9 is a very
Twilight Zone premise, with an execution here they would never have been able to pull off on TV! A spoiled actor hates his fans and the "leeches that hang off of him," and wants to be "alone...really, truly, alone!" As you might have guessed, he gets his wish, as everyone in the city seems to disappear--'seems to,' though. Everyone is still there, as he can see cars and buses moving, but not the people in them; and in a bar he can see drinks and trays moving by themselves, since he can't see the people! Like a lot of
TZ-style stories, this ends pretty abruptly: you got your wish, now suck it. Well, even if he didn't lose his mind completely, he'd probably get hit by a car in short order. (Art by Ben Brown and David Gantz.)
"Stop the Presses!" was also from
Mystic #12, with art by Gene Colan: a reporter is hounded by his cruel editor, until he finally brings him a juicy exclusive. There was going to be a murder, at 8 tonight...right here in this office. Somewhat surprisingly, there doesn't appear to be any moral or anything there, just vengeance.
Lastly, from 1952's
Uncanny Tales #7 we meet "The Gal who Talked Too Much!" with art by Bob Brown. This was another time capsule story, from back in the day where people seemed to be burying these things for posterity like every 20 minutes; I think we've largely accepted now that our culture is crap and given up burying Furbies or
Ed Hardy trucker caps or whatever. Meek local man Simon Graves is not-so-slowly losing his mind, as his wife Hilda seems physically incapable of shutting up for three consecutive seconds. As she yammers on through a local scientist's time capsule presentation, Simon finally goes off on her; and the scientist approaches him later: he had been looking for "volunteers," to live in the time capsule, as examples of humanity that would survive any nuclear war or disaster, with bottled air, food and water. The scientist hadn't had any takers, so he suggests if Simon drugged Hilda...Simon jumps at the offer, but he might not have been the only one given that offer.
I kinda liked this one! My copy's pretty beat up; I'll have to keep an eye out for a better one, if one randomly pops up.
No comments:
Post a Comment