Tuesday, August 6, 2013

The Boy Who Cried Vampire / Behold the Beast

Concluding our look into the terrific two-issue series of Archies style teenage terrors, from the September 1972 issue of Chilling Adventures in Sorcery as Told By Sabrina #1DeCarlo and Goldberg seriously had a good thing going here with this expertly illustrated / written series (see our last post as well for issue #2 in its entirety), and it's a shame it ended so soon-- though Sabrina of course continued on well into the 80's with her own fun 'n frisky witch comics! And don't forget to check out the other two stories from this issue by clicking HERE after you've read these two-- hope you've enjoyed this look into a somewhat slightly lighter side of The Horrors of it All!















10 comments:

Dr. Theda said...

Thanks for posting this one good Sir....
We loved this issue as a kid and enjoyed your post as well .. thanks from our "Crypt" ... In a few days we will have been "blogging" for Two Years...!!!
Though we still do not really know how to do things "properly"... but we keep trying ...

Mestiere said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Hey Karswell,
could you please post some more stories from "Ghost Stories 1"? I really loved "Werewolf Wasp" and "Monster of Dread End" and would like to see more of this stuff.
THX

Brian Barnes said...

There's a real Ditko vibe on that first story, especially in the close-ups of the vampire.

Now, where the second story is relatively cliche, the first story is a real gem. It's clever, it's no a "as it turns out" twist, and the whole thing works well, and the more cartoonish art works.

Mr. Cavin said...

"But the world is filled with people whose tolerance is limited to their own image--"

These are just great. I love how the one story is about people tolerating a creepy-looking guy who turns out to be evil, while the other is about people being prejudiced against a creepy-looking guy who turns out to be selfless and kind. That's a very clever juxtaposition. Damned if you do....

Also the covers of both these latest issues have been damn great. The werewolf panel of Sorcery number two is gloriously Ditkoesque, and I'm really digging the Curiosity Kills curse on this one. Lots of elan going on in the imagery here--loose, evocative, filled with verve.

Mr. Karswell said...

Yeah, in fact, there's SO MUCH to like with these SORCERY comics, I'm still findIng the previous comment of "not finding anything to like" completely and utterly baffling. THOIA started out as just a pre code horror blog, over the years I've included Silver Age and Bronze Age stories to give it a little more flavor and variety, showcasing other fun / worthy examples of horror related comics. I am not even remotely content to just posting the same type stuff over and over here (THOIA now in it's 7th year with over 1500 posts), so as we continue on in our next post with a return to the more familiar type 50's horror we started out with here, please know that over the coming year I will also be including many more glimpses into other styles, publishers, and even comics aimed at younger viewers. Maybe I'll go way over the top and post stuff too awful for any age person to ever hope to see too!

As always, thanks for the continued comments, whether positive or negative, it is important for me to hear from people out there! Stay creepy, people...

Brian Barnes said...

Great, my comment got eaten by the system and so Mr. Cavin was able to beat me to the Ditko reference!

Let me repeat what I said in the earlier one: while I find the second story cliche, the first story is great. It's well paced and clever, and the artwork (cartoon-y as is it) works well, especially the Ditko influence.

BTW, sometimes I seem overly negative, but it's really just being over-analytic about the construction of comics. I, and I'm sure everybody here, totally appreciated every second you put into this blog. It's a real gem.

Dr. Theda said...

I know that we really enjoy his great posts here at the Horrors of It All...

Mr. Karswell said...

And now I know it too! Thanks again Doc, and everyone who commented

Pik-Cor said...

Oh wow! I TOTALLY remember this one!!