Hangman #8 Stories:
The Gallows and The Ghoul
Wow! Another ghastly tale of a maniacal monster whose brain spurs him to murder completely innocent people, blaming them for his own inability to cope with the everyday trials The World hands out to people. I never knew that MLJ, the company famous for "Archie Comics", produced such gruesome stories during its earliest period. Again, the villain is a madman, and one that could be considered by many as being the embodiment of evil (if such a force exists). Another great splash for the storys opener. As in the other Hangman stories, The Hangman is not really necessary, and seems to be thrown in as an extra figure, who doesn't belong to the story, and actually gets in the way, as a distraction. I see this series as a feeble and failed attempt to bring a costumed crusader for saving the innocent victims, and punishing or retraining and isolating the criminally insane transgressors, so they can no longer hurt society, into a comic book series. But, again I state that such a series could better stand on its own, without the masked crusader taking attention away from the key theme of the series. It would be better, for example, to be called "Tales of The Criminally Insane", and be introduced by a "host", like ECs Cryptkeeper, or Thrillers Boris Karloff. The Hangman does nothing but distract the reader, taking him or her out of living through the continuity of the terror of the story, and ruining the experience the author planned to provide. In this story, it appears that The Hangman has one super power, as he seems to fly out of a window, or up from the sidewalk, to fly under the falling boy, catch him in midair, and, somehow not only impossibly break his fall's momentum enough to catch him, without both people crashing to the hard cement, and being injured (with lots of bones breaking). If he CANNOT fly, then what he did was impossible. If he CAN fly, why is that evident only in this one story? Such an inconsistency is yet another flaw in this series.
The Case Of The Python's Curse
Yet another very memorable opening Splash Page. THIS is the first of the Hangman stories that has a little more to it, given that there is a second plotline in it, dealing with Gorley, who was the main perpetrator of the snake theft, and somehow escaped death, and returned (unbeknownst to his compatriots, and also to the reader). And so, it brought a very late unexpected surprise, and twist ending. Therefore, this is, by far, the best story in the two books, so far (based on story structure), even though the artfully constructed, intense, sinister moods created in the other stories, caused by the insanity of the villains does not appear in this one. The Hangman seems to fit better in this story than in the others, even though it might make more sense for him to just stay in his role as a detective, rather than having the author seem obsessed with a nonsensical desire to make the reader believe that the costumed crusader for justice foiled this criminal based on his wanting fair play for the innocent in society. Making the reader aware that he(the author) is attempting in vain to accomplish that unnecessary feat, just takes the attention and concentration power of the reader away from the story plot and its action, and thus, makes it far less enjoyable than it could be. Of course, the short number of pages makes it difficult for the author and artist to show or tell the reader how the Indian snake owner was able to track down the thieves and fulfill the "curse", helping the snake kill all three.
Pirates Out Of The Past
The opening splash page for this story is not as striking or memorable as the first five I read. Also, it is a weird fantasy tale that goes unexplained, as a little boy and the hangman are transported back in time to the time of the later-middle discoveries of Christopher Columbus, captured by Spanish pirates (who somehow speak English fluently) on a ghost ship. The Captain (Balbo), murders some of his crew members, so no one will know where his treasure is buried. And in the end, they report the crime to the modern police, but then decide there is no point in giving its details, as no one would believe them. It seems like an awkward and feeble attempt to place The hangman and his crusade for justice, in an early pirate adventure, with no real connection to the theme of the series, just to get a bit of change in the type of story, to avoid boredom of the readers.
Roy and Dusty - Boy Buddies
This story is a little better than the one in Hangman 7, but not enough to make it worth reading. It is absolutely unbelievable that a well-meaning reformer planned to get into politics and reform how his city (a large, major one) was run, did not know that it was run by organised crime, and found out that was true just before voting day. And even more unlikely that he would rescind his candidate status before the election, and that would be refused. Also unbelievable that the boys (in their silly outfits, mind you) try to crash a murder scene, just as the police are investigating. It is also awkward that the writer has the two boys discussing action we should see happen in dialogue. In one panel, the perspective is so incorrect that Roy swinging a large, heavy man in the air by his ankle, to knock over another similarly proportioned and weighted man, that the two large men are so much smaller than Roy, that it makes them look like dolls (e.g. the second man is too far away to be hit by the body of the man Roy is swinging, and although the man being swung has always been seen, previously, as a large man, he now is portrayed as light as a feather, so Roy can swing him in the air by the ankle, towards a target). But, there is a slight saving grace, in that the re-election elects the reluctant new mayor, again, against his will. Which is a nicely ironic twist ending. But, again, it is too unbelievable that the populace of a large, major city in USA, would elect an amateur candidate to that office, over a should-be-competent (and at least relatively honest replacement for a previous corrupt candidate representing the interests of the organised crime syndicate of their city). The story is all too ridiculous and amateurish to hold any interest for the reader, other than making fun of it, and marvelling at how desperate the burgeoning comic book industry was for story writers and their material during the early 1940s.
Author
Topic: Reading Group #266: Bob Fujitani's Hangman (Read 4651 times)
