Thursday, March 11, 2010

Monsters for Rent

Sam and Lorna Cox, aka: "The Dipshits of Disaster." They could surely learn a thing or two about gimmicks from The King, William Castle... unfortunantly for them though it's now much too late.

From the October 1953 issue of Haunted Thrills #3.







12 comments:

Turok1952 said...

I love this story.

What this is really about, I believe, is that one's machinations might easily get out of hand, especially if dishonesty is involved... and there are consequences.

The adults that used to make fun of us kids for reading "them 'dikka-l'us funny books" had no idea that many of the stories were rooted in solid lessons about character.

Prof. Grewbeard said...

ditto! i learned a lot from these tales, namely, adults are evil!...

Michael Wurl said...

Lorna is sure bustin' outta that sweater on page one.

Anonymous said...

Wow. I thought the couple were deceiving but don't know if they deserved death. I mean, they gave the public what they wanted, a sea monster. Orson Wells did much worse than those 2.

Diandra said...

Just what I needed, a sea monster!


I really like that one silent panel.

Mykal Banta said...

I love the final panel, the two monsters "playing." OK. Frankly, the expression of the monster on top indicates some pretty serious play. "Innocent children" my ass. After all, what else can bring an inanimate object to bristling life but the desire to "play?" I love the Castle reference. The great showman would have made customers sign a waver, warning all passengers with a weak heart not to board the vessel.

Great post, sir, and I love that final page of publisher self-promotion. Was this the golden age of pre-code horror or what? -- Mykal

Anonymous said...

GOOD POST, THIS PHONEY MONSTER TRICK CONCEPT SHOWS UP IN MOVIES AND OLD TV SHOWS ALOT TOO AND ALWAYS BACKFIRES WITH A REAL MONSTER SHOWING UP AT THE END.

Mr. Karswell said...

Yes, you can't beat a good monster story, especially when it stars people worthy of filling its beastly belly.

More Iger Shop madness coming up, as well as some relative news that many of you are going to flip out over-- guaranteed! Stick with us...

Mykal Banta said...

In the spirit of Castle, you have baited the trap and held us in suspense! -- Mykal

Mike H said...

I love the Ajax Farrell house ad... I'd have been all over the title "Suspooks"!!

(Interesting to note that STRANGE and DARK SHADOWS was eventually used in 1957!)

Mr. Cavin said...

That first panel on page two needs to be on your sidebar, Mr. Karswell.

Him: "See Baby? Once I get this thing rolled on..." Her: "It's--Ugh--ugly enough."

Anonymous said...

D'awww, frolicking sea monsters. They're kinda sweet.