OK, so this doesn't really feature the
2000 AD bear (and you should stop reading this and read
Tegan O'Neil's piece on Shako!) but today we've got another random DC horror book: from 1977,
DC Special Series #7--Ghosts Special, featuring stories by Murray Boltinoff, Bob Haney, George Kashdan, Leo Dorfman, and others; and art by Artie Saaf, Jerry Grandenetti, Bill Payne, E. R. Cruz, and others.
I think editor/writer
Murray Boltinoff's gimmick for
Ghosts were that they were allegedly "true" ghost stories: the opening page mentions
Timber Kate, a Nevada ghost story that would've been a little too much for a DC book. Vertigo, maybe...I don't think most of the stories were that researched, though. In Bob Haney's "Beware the Beggar's Feast!" a greedy young banker is told the story of Lady Glynda, the last wife of the
Earl of Lochliamoor, most of whose internet footprint seems to be related to this comic, but not quite all! Glynda was attacked and maimed by the earl's hunting hounds, and he abandoned her; but she was saved by the "Moor People," societal outcasts. Still, the earl died in an 'accident' before he could change his will, so Glynda got everything, and she set aside a trust for a yearly feast for the Moor People and their descendents. The banker scoffs at paying out to the wretches, and tries to debunk Glynda's ghost story so he can keep the payout to himself: wanna guess how well that goes for him? (Somewhat disappointingly, the Moor People don't rend him limb from limb.)
"The Dark Wings of Death" is another story set during the London Blitz, with the added bonus of a young lieutenant's family coat-of-arms trying to kill him. "The Night the Totem's Spirit Talked" briefly features a polar bear, which is shot by an unscrupulous hunter, who then kills a witness, but is later brought to justice when he tries to shut up a totem pole. No, really, that's pretty accurate.
E.R. Cruz draws "Voice From the Grave," in which a noble trucker dies trying to save another, but may leave a CB message from beyond the grave for his wife.
Lastly, "Night of the Vengeful Corpse," wherein two treasure hunters abandon a third to die, as he swears to come back and take them to the grave with him. Perhaps surprising no one, he does! This was a better-than-usual issue of Ghosts than some I've seen; maybe they saved the good ones for the special. Fun aside: Murray Boltinoff was the editor that passed on Nightcrawler for the Legion of Super-Heroes!
7 comments:
I read that piece on Shako- can't say that I agree with her interpretation but it's interesting to see an opposing viewpoint and it's a great story anyway.
There's some discussion of Bill Gaines in there, that I have a hard time with; since I always picture him as how Sergio Aragones drew him...The notion of him, as a person, in front of Congress, hopped up? Hard to reconcile.
I've never seen Sergio's image of him so I can't comment on that, but I've heard enough stories about what went on behind the scenes at Mad to buy that he'd appear before a Senate Subcommittee while strung out.
I bet Boltinoff forever regretted passing on Nightcrawler considering how well he was received at Marvel.
Here's a good question for you; had history gone differently and Kurt was allowed to become a Legionnaire, would that change how much you like him & feel for him or not really?
I might have to read some of these as I finished watching a 2-part documentary on the Golden Age of Horror comics from a Youtuber named In Praise of Shadows.
VERY in-depth on the history of horror comics, especially EC Comics and just how bad the Wertham and those meddling senators & following Comics Code fucked him over royally. Had the publishers agreed to Gaines' suggestion of letting an independent but credible 3rd party like he had suggested (some university in Boston I think) come up with the guidelines themselves, the amount of censorship wouldn't have been so bad. But unfortunately for Gaines, their panic & jealousy of his success let to what happened.
If Nightcrawler had gone to the Legion, he probably would've been either an alien or a devil, which might've limited some of his appeal. He probably would've done well there, but not as well? Or maybe worked the Spock-trying-to-understand-humanity angle. It might be the difference between being a good player on a Super Bowl team, or the best player on the Detroit Lions? Probably no movies, not as many figures, and all that.
Comparing the Legion to the Lions just struck me as super-mean...
Anyway, if you can find it, I want to say it's in the Plop! digest...it's kind of weird, Sergio seemingly bashing his Mad boss while at DC. Furious with his fat, zeppelin-loving pig of a boss, Sergio goes to a gypsy to curse him, to turn him into the most horrible, repugnant thing she can imagine. You might guess the punchline, but it's kind of mean!
I think it's for the best that Kurt ended up at Marvel. He wouldn't have been a good fit for the Legion as far as I'm concerned, even based on appearances (obviously, he would have had a different backstory and personality). He's a bit too 'weird' looking for the Legion. Maybe he could have been a Green Lantern.
Yeah, I can guess the punchline there. Or I might be thinking of something meaner. Anyway, I'll keep a look out for it.
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