#659 - The latest Mandrake daily strip reprint - D268r_-_(D221)_The_S._S._Div._-_2013-10-21_to_2013-02-01

Here is the latest reprint of a Mandrake Daily. This was sent to me by Emile.(who else?). I have just removed the Windows non-compatible file from the archive.

Download the full color comic here.

For those of you who would like to download the B/W version, please visit Lothar's Wonderful Mandrake Blog.

Here is the first panel of that strip

Enjoy and shower your thanks upon Emile.

P.S. The regular Hi-Res Phantom strips posting will continue next week.

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Number 1517: Giant zombie and dead husband walking

I like these two pre-Code horror stories for various reasons. The first, “Was He Dead?” from Avon’s Eerie #3 (1951), is a murdered-spouse-returns-from-the-dead story. In a few days I will show a Graham Ingels story where I will expound further on this theme, but for now suffice it to say this is a not-untypical example of that type of horror comic story, with nice yet derivative art by Moe Marcus and Rocke Mastroserio. It’s derivative in that some panels are borrowed from the style of Johnny Craig and Craig’s dripping sweat, as well as some inking inspired by Wallace Wood. A big plus is it’s got a bikini-clad babe!

“The Walking Dead” appeared in Web of Evil #12 (1954), and the artist is unidentified. You’ll recognize immediately that it is a zombie story with a borrowed twist: the zombie is a giant because the story is inspired by King Kong. That classic movie was re-released to theaters in 1952 and was a big box office success all over again, so it was aped (ho-ho) by several comic book scripters. (See the link below today’s two stories.)

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More on the 1952 King Kong re-release in this posting from nearly two years ago:

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Swamp Horror

If you keyword search "swamp" in the THOIA Archive you'll find a bunch of stories set in said saturated Soggsville. They're all pretty fun and weird, but possibly none of them are as disturbing as today's offering, the 4th and final story post from the July 1953 issue of Mysteries (Weird and Strange) #2. I'll leave it at that and let ya'll see for yourself, discuss among yourselves in the comments about motherly love and all that inbred hillybilly stuff, if you please. So yep, another full issue in the can-- with lots more horrors coming up in February-- hold onto your suspenders and we'll see you then!

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MUSIC: The Death Scene

Into snotty, loud as Hell garage punk? Well, here's a quick heads up about a band from Kansas called The Death Scene-- aside from being just totally cool dudes, (as well as being fans of horror comics), they've recently gone so far as to actually adopt cursed Mr. Karswell as their band mascot! You can hear them tearing asses at their facebook page HERE, and find out about upcoming shows in or around your area! RIP The Terminals.

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Number 1516: Avenger’s scarlet “A”

 Casting about for new ideas to fit into the post-Comics Code era, ME Comics came up with superheroes The Avenger and Strongman. Neither of them made it past four issues, but they were an interesting experiment to see if new long underwear characters (beyond the lone remaining, still popular heroes like DC’s Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman) could still be viable despite having been a near-dead comic book genre for several years.

It would take just a few months longer until DC reintroduced the Flash and superheroes began their climb back into comic book supremacy, but before then ME’s contributions to the genre came and went.

These two stories are from The Avenger #1 (1955), drawn by Dick Ayers, with scripts attributed to Paul S. Newman. Last May I showed stories one and four from the issue (including the origin story), and these are stories two and three. So if you want to read those others first you should go to the link below and click on the thumbnail of the cover to see them.

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 Click on the thumbnail to see the other two stories mentioned above:

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Number 1515: Little brain, big body

A week ago I showed the Jack Cole story, “Murder, Morphine and Me” from True Crime #2. It featured the “injury to the eye motif” panel in Fredric Wertham’s anti-comics screed, Seduction of the Innocent. A week later I’m showing you more Jack Cole, and one other injury to the eye panel.

Above is the cover of Police Comics #24, which is yet another example. Kids saw this sort of thing every time they saw a Three Stooges film short. Did Jack Cole have a thing about attacking eyeballs? I don’t know, but if you know of any similar panels in other stories of his let me know.

Eyeball attacks notwithstanding, this is a totally screwball story, which has to be read to be appreciated. You know you’re in the middle of something bizarre when you see a panel where the top of a man’s head is blown off and on the ground nearby lies a waiting brain.

From Police Comics #11 (1942):

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