in house dollar bill thumbnail
 Total: 42,991 books
 New: 161 books




small login logo

Please enter your details to login and enjoy all the fun of the fair!

Not a member? Join us here. Everything is FREE and ALWAYS will be.

Forgotten your login details? No problem, you can get your password back here.

Week 87 - Dark Mysteries #1

Pages: [1]

topic icon Author Topic: Week 87 - Dark Mysteries #1  (Read 4527 times)

MarkWarner

  • Administrator
message icon
Week 87 - Dark Mysteries #1
« on: September 02, 2015, 07:04:51 PM »

I really enjoyed last week's book, Mad Hatter #2, as did most of the group (up to a point). It also sparked a fair bit of analysis. Which just goes to show that the reading group are smart critters and not just pretty faces!

So let's see how the reading group pinups do this week. I think it's been a bit of time since we had some horror, so this week's book is Dark Mysteries #1,  https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=34756. The story we are concentrating on is the first one "The Curse of the Sea Witch".

ip icon Logged

Lorendiac

  • VIP
message icon
Re: Week 87 - Dark Mysteries #1
« Reply #1 on: September 05, 2015, 12:48:37 AM »


I have just read the first story, and I'll take the plunge by being first to comment on it.

The dialogue and the artwork were okay, but there were two problems that kept the story from really engaging me.

The first problem was the vast lack of any "sympathetic character" whom I could really care about in the part set in the "modern day." (Modern when the comic was published, anyhow.) Sure, I could feel mildly sorry for the original Ira Sumner, but he's already been dead for a century or so before we ever learn about it in a flashback, so it wasn't as if I were thinking: "Gee, I sure hope he survives somehow!" Besides, he was only onstage for a few panels; not long enough for me to be enthralled by the guy's charm or anything. (Then his ghost comes back on the final page of the story, but is such a nasty and unjust customer at this point that any faint sympathy I once felt for the living Ira Sumner is suddenly eliminated from my mind, never to return.)

The second problem with the story was the vast lack of any modern-day "evil character" whom I really wanted to see suffer and die in the part set in the "modern day." I sure didn't like the mid-20th-Century Caleb Dodge (descendant of his murderous namesake), but I didn't hate him with a burning passion and want to see him die a terrible death. After all, he isn't to blame for the terrible choices made by his great-grandfather, is he? And he wasn't committing any crime, was he? He just had a forceful personality and he didn't believe that any supernatural "curse" was responsible for fatal injuries to some of his workmen. But I didn't see him holding a gun to anyone's head to keep that man from quitting if he was scared of ending up the same way. (There is one panel in which the possibility of "shanghaiing" is mentioned, but no hard evidence that this ever actually occurred. By the mid-Twentieth Century, it wasn't easy to get away with that kind of thing, was it? And when the refurbished yacht finally is ready to sail, the captain offers triple pay to men who then choose to sign up despite the perceived risks.)

With only seven panels left in the story (bottom right corner of the next-to-last page), we are suddenly told that the murdered Ira Sumner has a distant descendant of the same name who wanted to get revenge. Since there was no hint of the existence of any such character until after the fellow was caught red-handed, I didn't feel nearly as much interest in this "revelation" as the writer apparently hoped I would.

What do I care if a Total Stranger, suddenly popping up out of thin air and promptly getting captured, is named "Ira Sumner" or something else entirely? It's like having a murder mystery say: "The butler did it!" when the butler has gotten no character development until that moment. (Although we usually at least knew there was, in fact, a butler in the house.)

Then we are told that Modern Ira wanted to kill Modern Caleb in reprisal for what Old Caleb did to Old Ira. (I had to invent these names to make it clear what I was talking about.) That makes Modern Ira a bloodthirsty villain or lunatic himself (since the only man who ever killed a member of his family already got his just desserts a hundred years ago, and Modern Caleb has never harmed any member of the Sumner clan in any way, so far as we can tell!). Which means I don't shed any tears over the revelation that Modern Ira was babbling like a lunatic when the authorities found him later.

Likewise, I found it hard to love or hate Captain Snow. So it all comes back to what I said at the beginning -- I didn't much care about any of the major characters in the story, so it scarcely mattered to me which ones lived or died!

I've seen horror stories in which a fairly nice person suffered (or narrowly avoided) an utterly undeserved horrific fate and so I felt shaken by what had just happened. I've also seen horror stories in which the protagonist is such a nasty, cold-blooded creep that I end up feeling a smug feeling of satisfaction, as in: "Yup, he brought it upon himself!" when he dies in agony (or whatever nasty fate befalls him). But this story falls somewhere in between, with death and insanity only being visited upon people who didn't get me very passionate about them in any way!
ip icon Logged

Morgus

  • VIP
message icon
Re: Week 87 - Dark Mysteries #1
« Reply #2 on: September 05, 2015, 02:51:34 AM »

Thanks for picking this one. It was a nice way to end the summer. Nothing like a vintage horror comic before Labor Day. Okay, NOT the best stuff Wally Wood ever did, and THIS time I sensed a rush job, but I still like to look at his stuff even when it's not top tier. And Lou Cameron around too! Funny thing, the art on the first few pages sort of reminded me of Alex Toth's at Standard. Not a masterpiece, but it would have been fun to have as a kid, and it would have kept me interested all the way through..what more could you want?...good deal for a dime..and now, thanks to Dean Ross Piano Studios, I can be POPULAR...i just need one of those gnarly bow ties...
ip icon Logged

Mazzucchelli

message icon
Re: Week 87 - Dark Mysteries #1
« Reply #3 on: September 05, 2015, 02:54:39 PM »

I got quite excited when I saw the comic of this week. Being a big fan of old horror comics and especially with a cover by Joe Orlando, a brilliant artist that always amazed me with his work on EC Comics.

The expectation of having a pleasurable reading like the one that only good old EC Comics can provide was not fulfilled though.

This comic book has its ups and downs, but I am afraid it has more
« Last Edit: September 05, 2015, 07:32:58 PM by Mazzucchelli »
ip icon Logged

Lorendiac

  • VIP
message icon
Re: Week 87 - Dark Mysteries #1
« Reply #4 on: September 05, 2015, 06:20:10 PM »


I got quite excited when I saw the comic of this week. Being a big fan of old horror comics and especially with a cover by Joe Orlando, a brilliant artist that always amazed me with his work on EC Comics.


After I had read and reviewed the first story, I went through the rest of the comic. I agree with you that it was a good cover -- but near as I can tell, the situation depicted thereon had nothing to do with any of the stories inside the comic book! That disappointed me considerably.

The second story
ip icon Logged

Mazzucchelli

message icon
Re: Week 87 - Dark Mysteries #1
« Reply #5 on: September 05, 2015, 07:10:51 PM »

You made a good point Lorendiac!

Vania was the dumbest
ip icon Logged

SuperScrounge

  • VIP
message icon
Re: Week 87 - Dark Mysteries #1
« Reply #6 on: September 05, 2015, 09:53:36 PM »

The Curse of the Sea Witch - Ehh... Odd that the great-grandchildren would have the same names as their great grandfathers.

The Corpse's Embrace - Uhhhhh... yeahhhhhh... This script could have used a rewrite or two. The heptomia bit came out of left field and her feeling the need to hide in the box just felt forced.

Horror of the Ghostly Recluse - Meh.

The Ghoul of Death - So, instead of brain surgery they just needed an exorcist?

The Nameless Terror of Twin Dunes - Bait and switch. The skeleton with wings seemed like an interesting idea, but it was just there to entice people into reading a lame story about a vampire curse in that had next to nothing to do with the skeleton.

Some nice ideas, but overall a very disappointing read.
ip icon Logged

crashryan

  • VIP & JVJ Project Member
message icon
Re: Week 87 - Dark Mysteries #1
« Reply #7 on: September 05, 2015, 10:01:07 PM »

I was most interested in the art in this book. This comic is like an episode of  "Someday they'll be good." Wood shows moments of his later brilliance but he sloughs off a lot of stuff. It could be deliberately rushing the job, but it also looks as if he emphasized the things he drew well (like heads) and hurried through stuff he didn't draw so well (like ships). He's still developing. Same for Lou Cameron. From this story it's hard to believe he became as good as he did. Most of this stuff is plain awful. (He makes up for it with one of the more luscious nudes of the Golden Age.) Goldfarb and Baer were never top-tier talent, but they got much better than this. I get the feeling Goldfarb used this story to practice drawing hands. The exception to the "get better" trend is the last story. If that really is Bill Fraccio, he unlearned what little he knew by the time he moved to Charlton. Fraccio was one of the sloppiest, corner-cutting holdovers from GA comics.

Oh, and the cover is really good.

All the stories are pretty obvious. The only surprises are things that come out of left field, like the great-grandson in the first story (what the hell is that all about anyway?) and the old man's horrible disease in the second. I wonder if the crazy huge images in the final story--the knife through the hand and the monster head--were called for by the script of if Fraccio just wanted to enliven the page.

Some nice moments in the Wood story; otherwise meh.
« Last Edit: September 05, 2015, 10:04:05 PM by crashryan »
ip icon Logged

mopee167

message icon
Re: Week 87 - Dark Mysteries #1
« Reply #8 on: September 06, 2015, 01:17:19 PM »

Does anyone know if any of these stories can be attributed to Lawrence Sanders? Sanders was
the author of The Anderson Tapes (1970), and over 35 other crime and mystery novels. He was
the editor of this rag... er, mag.
ip icon Logged

Morgus

  • VIP
message icon
Re: Week 87 - Dark Mysteries #1
« Reply #9 on: September 06, 2015, 05:58:26 PM »

GOOD EYE Mazzuchelli!! I did NOT see that little nudism detail when I read it...me? All I saw was the vanity at the right with the two lights that seemed to me to copy that old optical illusion of a skull my dentist had up in his office when I was a kid...hey, could TERRROR OF TWN DUNES have been a cut and paste? Either recycling a story, or padding one to be longer? Especially if you figure the first page was there to link with the front cover...and...another thought...the last page of COPRPSES EMBRACE looked a lot better then the rest of the story...was that done first...and the rest of it piled on to get the Happy Couple into the box?? But yes, a fun read.
ip icon Logged

narfstar

  • Administrator
message icon
Re: Week 87 - Dark Mysteries #1
« Reply #10 on: September 07, 2015, 03:13:40 AM »

Good cover and the splash page of Sea Witch looked good. The rest of the art in Sea Witch was rather mundane. The story was even worse. I kept thinking that they would throw in some kinda twist and they did but very minor and not at all exciting. Fraccio was good but admitted to turning out quick crap later.
ip icon Logged

MarkWarner

  • Administrator
message icon
Re: Week 87 - Dark Mysteries #1
« Reply #11 on: September 09, 2015, 01:12:04 PM »

It's been a bit of time since the reading group has had a horror title to read, so I am quite looking forward to this.

The Curse of the Sea Witch - This is standard comic book horror fare, but I rather enjoyed it.

The Corpse's Embrace! - Vania got what she deserved, but I would guess living with a one armed pianist "let me play my concerto for right hand again for you" might get a tad tedious. I liked the art in this one.

Horror Of The Ghostly Recluse - Was really quite a good text story apart from the Monty Python sounding "The Sacred Society of Grombies".

The Ghoul Of Death - The moral of this story is don't mess around with evil killers brains. Surgeon Barton Hastings really ought to have known better. I just feel sorry for poor Nurse Celia. 

The Nameless Terror Of Twin Dune - The weakest story a very predictable vampire story, where not much actually goes on.

Verdict: A hit. Good old-fashioned comic book horror, but nothing for Dr Wertham to get his knickers in a twist about!
ip icon Logged
Pages: [1]
 

Comic Book Plus In-House Image
Mission and Disclaimer: The mission of Comic Book Plus is to present completely free of charge, and to the widest possible audience, popular cultural works of the past. These records are offered as a contribution to education and lifelong learning. They are historical documents reflecting the attitudes, perspectives, and beliefs of different times. We at Comic Book Plus do not endorse the views expressed in these, which may contain content offensive to modern users.

We aim to house only content in the Public Domain. If you suspect that any of our material may be infringing copyright, then please use our contact page to let us know. So we can investigate further.