Vintage Comics - Black Magic, Issue #2: I've Seen You Before, Yesterday You Died (Pg. 27 - End)

This first story in the final portion of this Black Magic issue reminds me of a Hammer Mummy movie, with its tendency to give innocent characters the darker fates that they don't quite deserve. It's fantastic, actually. One of my favorites I've shared so far. The second is oddly reminiscent of an old radio show I can't quite recall the name of, with the singular reminder that one can never truly escape or prevent their fates (or the grisly future of another.)

Vintage Comics: The Beyond #2: The Mystery of Lunablanca & The Ghost who Stole a Body (Cover-Pg. 15)

Coming close to Halloween! 2 more days! So why not journey back to one of the first comic series I shared here, 'The Beyond', and continue on into their 2nd issue? I am still fascinated by the glorious colors in this series, and pleased with how the color correction came out this time around. Yes, I do moderate color correction on these comics sometimes when the yellow balance is too high.

Absolutely adore the villain-esque designs of the Countess Sinestra 'transforming' from a bat into a bat...woman...vampire-thing. I have a feeling if this had ever been adapted to the screen, Barbara Steele would have been ideal for the roles of both women.

As for the second story, the ghost art was absolutely stunning, with much heavier ink lines than we normally see in these comics. Perhaps a little dialog heavy, most of them are, but well worth the read just for the gorgeous panels alone.

Vintage Comics: Nightmare, Issue #3: The Wonderful Wizard, The Quivering Brain, The Witches Sabbath, etc. (Pg. 14 - End)

With so many stories packed into so few pages, I was unable to fit them all in the title, so the additional two at the end of this comic are: 'Charles Fort, The Supreme Doubter' and 'Crafton's Curse'.The first story here seems to have far too much stuff packed into each page for the reader to follow the first time around, and there's an additional character drawing eerily reminiscent of Peter Cushing (but just a little too early for that to be anything but a coincidence.) It's actually the 'true story', albeit brief, of Daniel Dunglas Home, a man reputed to be able to fly, levitate objects, contact the dead, and predict the future. I can't imagine what a show by that guy would've been like, and I definitely plan on doing a write-up of him in the future. I mean if you look up photos of him, the guy's as magnificent as Oscar Wilde in his famous leaning portrait.

The next story gets points just for the title alone. THE QUIVERING BRAIN. You're also required to always scream a title like that, announcer-style. It's impossible not to. It's a bit melodramatic, I'm not going to lie, but I think the concept alone makes it one of my favorite stories I've featured on this blog so far. Then we're lead into a disturbing summary of what constitutes a proper witch's sabbath, a summary of a historically influential skeptic named Charles Fort, and another story about a mobster getting his just desserts.

All-in-all, not an incredible issue, but some of the concepts are at least ripe for modern revisions.

Vintage Comics: Nightmare, Issue #3: The Werewolf of Washington Square, Cup of Moonglow (Cover - Pg. 13)

Whew! Almost mid-October (happy Friday the 13th, and I hope you're enjoying a bit of Jason slaughter today!) The posts are warming up, and so is my grad school homework. Still, I've found time to upload yet another vintage comic. This one is in far worse shape than the others I've managed to scrounge up, but the art is - - well, how should I put it? Cartoonier? A little more offbeat? Somehow, at the same time, certain elements of these stories are also pretty detailed towards realism. In fact, the werewolf face is remarkably similar to Dr. Hyde in the '31 film. 21 years after the fact, I can't help but wonder if the artist sourced a lobby card or old poster, perhaps?

Following on the tail-end of the glory days (pre-code horror comics), I sort of appreciate the pulp-ish inspiration they clearly drew from on the cover art. It's also a victim of radio-style dialog, per usual for the earlier stuff, but there's a certain charm to that too. The first story is...well...I mean it's a basic werewolf plot. Incredbly basic. Bare bones down to the character name (Eric Lupin.) The second story proves yet another age-old fact. You can't trust men. You can't trust women. You definitely can't trust gigantic Amazonian witch snakes.