Weird Fantasy (1950 - 1954)

EC's sci-fi and fantasy line of comics have delighted me since I first discovered them via the reprints (thank you Russ Cochran) I began buying back in the 1990s. I recently re-organized my bookshelves and, like any other well-adjusted 44 year old out there, put all of my ECs (and my Bongo Comics, but that's a story for a different post) above the computer for easier access. 

If you're unfamiliar with EC, I implore you to google or otherwise explore the subject. It's such an important and entertaining chapter of comic book history. All I intend to do here is share some panels that caught my eye over the past few weeks. Chances are you don't need any of this, but here's the broadest of backgrounds:

- When Max Gaines, one of the big comics guys of the Golden Age of comics, did and left his company to his son William, Gaines the Younger William immediatel sets about publishing a crazy run of kick-ass awesomeness, including but not limited to Mad, Weird Science, Tales from the Crypt, and Vault of Horror. Light years ahead of the rest of the market and widely imitated.

- Tying the proliferation of violent comics to the rise of adolescent crime - and fudging his statistics to prove it - Dr. Fredric Wertham earned the enmity of generations of comics-readers to come for successfully getting Congress to do what Congress does best: ruin everything for everybody. The newly established Comics Code made most of the EC's comics unpublishable, and the company became a one-magazine (Mad) operation. 

Oh, so much more to the story, but moving on to:

1.

SOME VISUAL ATTRIBUTES OF EC

Here let me switch from EC in general to Weird Fantasy specifically. Here are some of the things you find in damn near every story of the series.

Short skirts (and not just for the ladies) and bug-eyed monsters. And other you-know-what-you're-getting-into illustrations.

Word balloons or captions that push everything else out of the way.

And finally, the twist, ironic ending.

The twist ending is of course no invention of EC's, but the company employed the technique so memorably (one might even say pathologically) that the AV Club once had a game of guessing the ironic twist at the end solely from the first few panels. They weren't the only ones; the two are tied together in the popular imagination. Or so many learned people have said. (If you want to know what unlearned people say - one in particular - then read on, Macduff!)

I bring all this up only to say: there are certain trade-offs a modern reader has to make to engage with any Golden (or very early Silver) Age material, even stuff so ahead of its time than EC. 

Enough blather? Good! Let's move on to:

3.

SOME TITLE PAGES

I'll do a cluster-credit at the end, but this is obviously Harvey Kurtzman.

There's a lot of Stephen King on this page.

Not the Steve Coogan/ Rob Brydon show. Or the Peter Fonda movie. Or: any other Trip.

4.

These two stories need to be read to be fully appreciated. "A Man's Job" imagines a future where a radical feminist movement so profoundly rocks the order of the world that men undergo a biological change.

...

It's all such a twisted parody of 2018 that I don't know what to say. Not so much "The End" but it treads a similar path through suddenly explosive political terrain. A passing comet renders every man sterile and every woman barren, so in a last-ditch effort to save humanity, the men open a portal to the past, picking Grand Central Station in 1950 as a logical enough point to snatch folks.

But, their calculations are (gulp!) ten feet off.

I wish this story had been brought up more during the Great Bathroom Wars of recent memory. "Don't you realize we're committing suicide?! I'M NOT MAD, I'M FROM THE FUTURE!!"

5.

Damon Knight's short story "To Serve Man" first appeared in November 1950 of Galaxy Science Fiction. The Twilight Zone episode adapting it came out in 1962. Weird Fantasy #7, which featured "Come Into My Parlor", came out in 1951. It is by no means an adaptation of "To Serve Man," but the similarities are unmistakable. Of course, both have their roots in the sort of devil comes to town, grants wish, but with a twist the protagonist only learns at the end in innumerable other tales.

This guy's instant reaction is great.

OH BUT IT IS, STEPHEN.

6.

SOME RANDOMS

~

I'm not quite sure why I 'capped this one.

~

Nor these. Sheesh. My screencapping ethos has failed me. All the weirder because there are a dozen more sci-fi-y panels I thought I'd grabbed but apparently did not. I probably saved them to the wrong place. Kind of kills the whole "Scenic Route"ness of the entire post, doesn't it? Nothing but the best here at Dog Star Omnibus, Inc.!

7.

FOUL PLAY

I pulled my copy of Grant Geissman's Foul Play ("the art and artists of the notorious 1950s EC Comics!" Side note: I always bristle when people say "EC Comics." I know it's more or less entered the lexicon that way but it's like when people say "MLB Baseball." The "Baseball" is already in the "MLB," Jerk!) off the shelves. Whereupon I realized that the softcover binding is already starting to come undone on this thing. Ditto for my other EC book that I bought at the same time maybe 10 or 11 years ago. What the hell. I have softcover books of comparable size from the 1960s that are still together. Let that be a lesson to me: always get the hardcover.

Still two wonderful books, though. Loaded with interviews, behind-the-scenes (and some exclusive) artwork, essays, you name it.

The two sections on Joe Orlando and Wally Wood - who were friends and collaborators and two of the brightest stars in the EC-and-especially-Weird-Fantasy firmament - are especially great.

A painting by Joe that hung in the EC offices for years.

Bill Gaines was a generous boss, and he organized yearly trips to exotic locales for his regular MAD contributors. As a thank you, Joe painted this street scene from Port-Au-Prince and added his boss as a vendor hawking busts of Alfred E. Neuman and back issues.

Revisiting this book reminded me of the powerful "Judgment Day" story, as well as the even more powerful behind-the-scenes stuff behind it. First some panels from the story - if I did my job right, there should be no plot summary required.

The tour eventually goes to the "blue" robot factory.

I love the gold robot's reaction. Probably a familiar refrain in the early 1950s from certain quarters.

I just want to say a couple of things about the above. Notice how it's straightforward but not particularly heavy-handed (for 1950s comics context, I mean - basically, all caption-writing in the Golden/Silver Age was as over-the-top as possible.) It's morally courageous - particularly for the early 50s, when Jim Crow was still the law of the land - without being shrill or obnoxious. It's basically the most Star Trek-y episode ever. 

Compare/ contrast to any similar tale told since the turn of the century. It's so ridiculous how this topic has become just a blunt instrument with which to bludgeon your political opponents and endlessly trigger your fellow travelers. Indeed, a comicscube tribute - typically, for that site - does just that under guise of celebrating it.

Now (to further contrast then and now) here's how that went down behind the scenes. (For the full story, see here.) After the whole brouhaha with Congress and Wertham, the industry was now under the thumb of the Comics Code Authority, led by Judge Charles Murphy, who, to put it mildly, really had it in for EC. When the story was submitted to the CCA, Murphy said forget it, you've got to change the last panel, the astronaut can't be black. Feldstein said the last panel was "the whole goddamn point of the story." Murphy said sorry, change it (and don't curse at me.) Feldstein, keeping his cool, said, Judge, it really seems you're not listening here; we were promised a fair hearing when we (EC helped set up the Comic Magazine Association of America, the immediate forerunner to the CCA) agreed to this. Murphy said "There's nothing to discuss here; change it." Feldstein wouldn't give in and went to Bill. Bill called Murphy on the phone and threatened to hold a press conference; there was absolutely no way they were backing down. Murphy said okay, fine, but you have to remove the perspiration in the last panel. We can't have "black skin glistening."

Bill stared at Al; Al stared back at Bill. They both stared at the speakerphone. "Fuck you," he said and hung up. EC published the story with no alterations, but the victory was somewhat Pyrrhic. After standing up to Congress and realizing this sort of fight would be replayed every month he was in business, Bill cancelled the entire EC line except for Mad. 

If anyone is confused, the Judge Murphys of the world not only still exist; their objection (and their censorship) just seems to have become preoccupied with the skin color of the creators of the comic, not the astronaut in the last panel. 

And to them - and to the Judge Murphys - I have similar sentiments to Bill and Al. Ray Bradbury said it best:

Happy Halloween, kids, and long live EC.

~ 

Some Halloween Viewing

Okay, so October isn't over yet. But the Red Sox are in the World Series, and I think I may have wrapped up my movie-watching for this Halloween season. I could always sneak back for a round two if such a thing materializes. For now, though, I wanted to put up a few quick (downright evasive in some cases) remarks on some of the Scary Season viewing I've done over the past few weeks. 

Let's take this in the order I watched them.

1.

I was inspired by The Truth Inside the Lie's October watchthrough of the Halloween franchise to revisit this one, which I hadn't seen since it first came out. I remembered hating it. This time, I did not hate it. I didn't really like it very much, but I had fun with it. For one thing, there's a Not-Dawson's-Creek vibe going on with the four teenage leads (well, one kind-of lead, one Not-Joey-Potter, one Just-Wanna-Get-Laid-Bro! cannon fodder, and one Not-Jen-Lindley-But-It-Is-Jen-Lindley love interest) that amused me throughout. ("This is the class trip... that Michael Meyers... never had... until NOW.")

Really, as 80s slasher films go, H20 is perfectly credible. Alas, it seems to be going for more of a post-Scream kind of sensibility instead of a 80s slasher film one, so that kind of works against it. Does it matter? Not really. There's lots of dumb things like Laurie shooting the gate controls or what not ("MIII-CH-AEEELL!!") and the ending corpse-napping, but I couldn't summon the vitriol for it I once had. I'm getting old.

2.

Summer of '84

(2018)

I had a recent work trip to Normal-Bloomington, IL. This was playing at the theater next to the hotel where my work conference was.

Cute little college town.

I didn't see it in the theater, but I rented it when I got back home. Meh. This review from RogerEbert.com sums it up pretty well. "We’ve seen so much of (this) before. Davey has three friends who hang out in a clubhouse to speculate about girls, about whether Ewoks could defeat Gremlins, and about the local mystery—boys their age have gone missing. One of Davey’s buddies is a tough guy in a leather jacket who talks about sex a lot but does not talk about the domestic abuse in his home. Then there’s one friend with glasses so we know he can look things up on microfilm. And there’s also a fat kid because there is always a fat kid. (...) The script stays on the surface, imitating thrills, not delivering them, with too many fake-outs and an unearned zigzag at the end."

3. and 4.

(1972)

(1973)

Now these two were lots of fun. I'd seen neither before. Dr. Richard Daystrom plays Prince Mamuwalde, who is converted into a vampire by none other than Dracula himself. Resurrected into 1970s Watts, he wreaks a little havoc, chases a woman who may or may not be the reincarnation of his eternal love, and inspires a memorable raid on a warehouse.

Scream, Blacula, Scream - a title which makes little sense given the plot but is pretty damn cool, and which I keep hearing in my head a la Springsteen's "Dream, Baby, Dream" - is for my money better than the first. Both are fun (and no one should be going into these expecting high cinematic art or anything, but I doubt anyone needs to be told that) but the second blends its sensibilities into a more flavorful brew. 

5.

The Exorcist II: The Heretic

(1977)

 
Here's another one I never saw. Hey now! Pretty bonkers and very entertaining. This Bloody Disgusting write-up captures it pretty well. "While the film isn’t a great sequel to The Exorcist, it is a GREAT continuation of the daring career of director John Boorman. In a single decade, from 1972 to 1981, Boorman directed the backwoods terror of Deliverance, the trippy sci-fi of Zardoz, the New Age spirituality of Exorcist II: The Heretic, and the decidedly offbeat King Arthur film Excalibur. His dazzling visual style, insistence on unconventional stories, and narratives about men in spiritual and existential crises makes the second Exorcist film a perfect fit for his filmography."

Quite true. But beyond that it's a great 70s film. Or at least a compelling and watchable and wonderfully weird 70s film, if not great. Not by definition American New Wave, but it sits quite comfortably - if psychedelically - under that umbrella. 

Apparently, William Peter Blatty hated the 2nd Exorcist so much that he was inspired to write Legion, which he brought to the screen himself as:

6.

The Exorcist III
(1990)

Also one I'd never seen before a few weeks ago, and also a very impressive affair. I have to tip my cap to Blatty. I haven't seen his other directorial effort (The Ninth Configuration, also an adaptation of his own novel) but I was impressed enough with this that I will definitely be tracking it down. This has what I'd call an author's pace more than a director's, particularly with all the Brad Dourif scenes - and while we're here, top-notch-Dourif, this - but it works.

This purgatory scene is pretty jarring and unexpected, even without Fabio.

What a wild ending. Definitely glad I watched this. And the 2nd one, too. This October has caused me to completely re-evaluate my estimation of this original trilogy of Exorcist films. (I think they hang together enough to call them a trilogy, even if the 3rd does its best to ignore the 2nd outright.) Compare to the first three of any other horror franchise, and you can see what I mean: this is a remarkable and unique trio of films. 

(Had Rob Zombie been given the chance to remake Season of the Witch after H2, I bet that trilogy would be the only exception to this new Exorcist rule.)

7.

Mandy

(2018)

"Panos Cosmatos deftly weaves in and out of genres to execute a vision that is completely his own. Part fantasy, part science-fiction, and part comedy mixed with a generous helping of horror, Mandy is set in the primal wilderness of 1983. Red Miller (played by Cage) hunts an unhinged religious sect who burned the love of his life to death right in front of his eyes."

That's from this interview with the director, who is the son of Cobra and Tombstone (DVD residuals for which funded Panos' first film) director George P. Cosmatos, who really brings the lysergic pain here in his 2nd feature. I have not seen his first (Beyond the Black Rainbow) but after seeing Mandy, I definitely will be. What a wild ride. My buddy Jim described it as "Holy Mountain meets Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2." That's probably accurate, although even before I knew the director I felt a Cobra vibe, too. Cosmatos is definitely both cine- and smash-and-trash- literate.

A lot of 21st century horror films get too extreme for my tastes. Mandy hits all those boxes but brings the kind of aesthetics to get a viewer like me over the hump. I was very impressed with this film - just the right mix of details, just the right mix of genres. Nic Cage (and everyone else in the cast and crew) wins the Dog Star Omnibus Award for Halloween 2018.

8.

Little Shop of Horrors

(1986)

Sometimes I must give the impression that if it came out in the 80s, I'll find something to like about it. That is not always the case. Take this one, for example. I remember liking it fine enough back in the day and thought myself clever for unpacking the (perfectly obvious) subtext. But this viewing was painful for me. My apologies to its champions, but I found it kind of dreadful. 

I do still like the dentist tune. Steve Martin - those Father of the Bride paychecks aside - never does wrong. Everyone else, though, sheesh. I never quite got Ellen Greene either - not just here but everywhere I've seen her. It's difficult to describe, but it's a specific type of performance/ character she's doing. It's like she's a woman playing a drag queen - not in a derogatory way. I just can't think of any other way of describing it.

9.

(1954)

A well-deserved classic. I don't know how many times I've seen this over the years, but I think only two or three times have I deliberately set out to watch it. I'm always impressed with the quality of the underwater photography and the general atmosphere.

I apologize for not googling the subject thoroughly, but this time around I was struck with how Queer Theory everything seemed. (Is this still a term? It's likely been changed and "Queer Theory" is now a thoughtcrime term. Who can keep up with our enlightened gatekeepers of the media-academe? I submit to the Will of Landru.) The Creature is a manifestation of the two male leads' desire for one another, which is sublimated a million different ways throughout the movie.

If Camille Paglia hasn't written an essay on this movie she should. (And ditto for Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.)

All that aside, it's a fun movie, too, I'm just saying.

10.

The Omen III: The Final Conflict

(1981)

Often referred to round the Dog Star Bullpen as "The only Omen worth keeping." Which is meant to be amusingly overstated but comes across as unnecessarily harsh to the first two Omens. Really, what it comes down to is: The Omen III was the one I saw as a kid (had to totally sneak it, and it messed me up for weeks). 

Here's some of my notes from this Halloween's rewatch:

- These first couple of murders are quite memorable. (The former US ambassador is supernaturally driven to rig himself a shotgun suicide, and a would-be antichrist-killer is suspended and swung through some tarp or something that immediately catches fire to a chorus of screams.)

- Goldsmith's soundtrack echoes Alexander Nevsky. I swear, that thing is always popping up.

- It's just too bad no one in this We Were Created For One Thing... Priest League has any kind of rifle with a scope.

- "Slay the Nazarene, and you will know the violent raptures of my father's kingdom."

- Another one: "Your son has become an apostle of the antichrist." Oh man! The ultimate doctor's appointment. "Only time will tell, but it looks like your son has a condition we call 'Under the Thrall of Satan.'"

- The murdering babies montage is pretty wild. So many Satanists! But, this all happens in a week? From birth to this, in a week? We see one Mom all dressed up and in church getting the kid baptized. Which admittedly isn't the most unheard of thing in the world, but all in all, it's a bit of a stretch. But hey. 

- The film really stitches together some horrifying sequences and covers a lot of ground. I mean, the second coming of Jesus is a plot ploint. Sodomy, deeply evil beagles, stars aligning, the prophecy of birthmarks (always a wtf), deeply evil rotweilers, steam-ironing baby's faces (off-camera, alas), and way more. Kudos to all involved.

11.

(1980)

Like a lot of people my age, I saw this as a kid and it freaked me out but good. My mind kept working on it to try and figure out the mystery of the images. It was a very scary riddle to solve. In many ways, repeated viewings of Watcher in the Woods in the 1983 - 1984 time range probably taught me more about both ghost story tropes and the vocabulary of cinematic narrative (the stuff we all take for granted but basically learning how to watch a movie: it's a process many don't examine. And hey, that's cool - this isn't a dis or anything. Sheesh.) 

Anyway, after watching it a dozen times in the 80s if not more, I saw it once in the 90s and all I could see were the cliches and the tropes and the rather one-dimensional performances from Lynn-Holly Johnson et al. I think I caught just enough of it somewhere or sometime in the 00s and thought Oh I was just being douchey back in the 90s; this is fine. This time around, I think it's more than fine. From the very start you know what's going on and what's going to happen - or nearly. It's all intentionally very familiar. But it builds upon itself very satisfyingly, there are some genuine scares and memorable imagery:

And even when the big reveals begin to happen, they still manage some shocks and twists that don't feel schlocky. YMMV, but I give this one a solid "A" or "A-." 

And is this the coolest lightning sound on film? Possibly.

12.

In the Mouth of Madness

(1994)

John Carpenter's wild ride from Halloween through Ghosts of Mars * includes two legitimately unsung horror classics: Prince of Darkness and this movie. Horror fans have always loved them, I just mean the world at large. 

* The fertile crescent of this initial run is undoubtedly only through They Live in 1988, but I'm being generous. Besides, Ghosts of Mars is wonderful, awful fun.

On previous rewatches, I had a nitpick here and there. This time, though, everything hung together much better for me. Am I a better viewer now? Have my senses been dulled by the onrush of middle age? Do I just know more about Lovecraft on this rewatch than I ever did? I think it might be that last one. Nevertheless, an impressive achievement. I'll take it over revisiting much the same concept in "Cigarette Burns." 

And finally:

13.

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

(1966)

With the kids. Good times as always. That Snoopy vs. Red Baron stuff and subsequent plot development is all just too great. I've got Snoopy vs. the Red Baron for the PS2 (perhaps I should have prefaced this by saying "I've still got a PS2") but haven't been able to tempt my girls just yet. But I think we made some progress towards that with this season's viewing(s) of Great Pumpkin. 

~

Happy Halloween, all!