The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 2265: Skull #6, 1972

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Yet more EC-inspired creepiness in today's issue. The story actually reminds me a lot of Lovecraft's "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward," albeit with a bit more sex and violence. It's a full-issue story, written by Tom Veitch and illustrated by Greg Irons and Richard Corben. Mr. Veitch originally came to my attention as the writer of Animal Man after Peter Milligan's follow-up to Morrison's glorious run. His work on the title, incredibly ably assisted by Steve Dillon, is sadly amongst the more forgettable parts of the series. That said, it's been ages since I've read it, so perhaps it would read better now that I have some idea of where Mr. Veitch cut his teeth. I'd be ecstatic to see some underground influence in his tale of Buddy Baker returning to the life of a stunt man.

As for the story, the more I think about it, the more it really is Charles Dexter Ward's story. A warlock in the past figures out a way to inhabit his ancestor in the future in order to continue his arcane researches. Inbetween we have the unfortunate story of the woman who is impregnated by the warlock and who, at least on the surface, serves simply as a device to carry the story forward. There is a nice little twist at the end, however,  that redeems her somewhat.

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In the couple of months I've been away, I've continued reading for the project, making my way through my "A" publishers. I'll continue on with that tomorrow, having exhausted my new pile of undergrounds.

More to follow.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 2263: Slow Death #2, 1970

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 I really love Dave Sheridan's work. He illustrates the first tale in this issue and, if I'm to be completely honest, it's the way he illustrates naked women that really gets me. They're just really well...rendered.

As with yesterday's Skull, this issue, and perhaps series, takes a good deal of inspiration from the old EC horror comics. I continue to be amazed at the influence that this relatively short-lived run of horror comics has had on the industry even to this day. Amazed, but not surprised. I've read enough of them to know that, literally, they're some of the best comics to have been produced in the West, despite their subject matter which might not sit well for all readers. Apparently it did sit well for the creators of these underground comix.

Further to that, the undergrounds themselves are hugely influential, highlighted in R. Crumb's dubious recognition as an American artistic icon. For my own education, then, I wonder if it behooves me to find out what it was that was influencing the writers of the old ECs. I've tried going back and reading some of the venerable newspaper strips of the time, but they don't really do much for me. It could be that the comics of 100 years ago don't speak to me the way they did to the artists they influenced, I guess.

Of course, I ought to mention Richard Corben, or Gore, whose story in this issue contains his trademark large boobs and disgusting revenants. A neat little horror tale that looks a little too close to home if I think about it hard enough.

More to follow.

Further Reading and Related Links

 As I was searching for links, I found out that Mr. Corben died in December of last year (2020). As if it wasn't a bad enough time. Check out his official website, the digital ghost that lingers from his passing.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 2262: Skull #5, 1972

 For information on stopping the spread of COVID-19, and on what to do if you are quarantined, have a look at the World Health Organization site.

  When I picked this comic up, I had no idea that it was a collection of adaptations of Lovecraft's tales. Though I'm having a bit of a tough time with old HPL these days, given that his work is just brimming over with disgusting racism, but it's undeniable the influence he's had on writers and artists in the 100 or so years that his work has been in publication. And, in the fifty or so years since this comic was published, the ways we think about, and recognize, racism have become much more sophisticated.

That said, not many of the gross parts of Lovecraft's stories, ideologically speaking, show up in this comic. In fact, they're all pretty excellent adaptations, the Larry Todd "Shadow Out of the Abyss," an adaptation of "The Shadow Out of Time," is definitely the stand out. I've always liked that story. It also turns out that, potentially, the previous issue of this series is the first appearance of Cthulhu in a comic book. That basically immediately shoots it to the top of the hunt list. Always a good feeling.

For those, like myself, who may be wrestling with Lovecraft's racism, here's one way of doing it. I find such attitudes thoroughly repugnant, so when I read one of his stories, because it is undeniable that there is something brilliant and incredible about them, the layer of racism actually ads a level of horror for me. Rather than simply being scared or titillated by the actual events of the story, the added inflection of racism, when it becomes apparent, makes the stories even more horrifying. The excellent Internet critic hbomberguy does some cool stuff with Lovecraft, including talking about being queer and liking HPL's work. In the final analysis, he suggests also that it would thoroughly piss off the old racist to know that we're reading and talking about his work the way we are. And that's what racists deserve.

More to follow.

Further Reading and Related Links

Check out the rest of hbomberguy's stuff on YouTube.

Unsurprisingly, Lovecraft shows up quite a bit in my writing. Shocking, I know. 

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1958: The Adventures of the Little Green Dinosaur #1, 1972

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For the first time in about 6 months, I got out to Purple Gorilla Comics yesterday and dropped some cash. This was the most expensive of the things I picked up, a lovely little underground from the early 70s. It's got everything you could possibly want in an underground comic - humour, satire, drugs, sex, and a lovable, cartoonish focal character who stumbles through a series of magic carpet directed adventures. I wonder if it's worth looking at the picaresque in terms of underground comics? 

 

I can't find any information on Johnny Chambers, who is primarily responsible for today's comic. He's ably assisted by Bob Inwood, credited with "atmosphere," and each of the dinosaur's adventures certainly has a very different one, both thanks to Inwood's backgrounds (I think) and Chambers' story.

 

There's something about a lot of the underground stuff I read that seems very naive now, but, really, everything does with the benefit of time. This comic is almost 50 years old. When I think of that number, I do a good job of showing where in time I myself have become stuck - to me, the 1950s are 50 years ago, not the 1970s. And if I think about the attitudes, even the most liberal ones, expressed in much literature from the 50s, it, too, sounds naive. Just as we will in 2070. If we make it that far. What's interesting is that attached to the naivety is also a crudity of language. This is not to disparage the writers, of course, but just to note that our language has evolved significantly in the last 50 years, and, as the Disney+ warnings tell us, sometimes we're going to be exposed to archaic ideas that we find distasteful. This, sadly, is the price of reading older works, be they comics, magazines, or paragons of literary achievement. I'm reading a book about Lemuria from the 1930s right now, and the use of the terms "superior" and "inferior" races is just awful.

 

I tell myself that they didn't know any better. But, y'know, they should have.

 

More to follow.

 

 Further Reading and Related Posts

 

 I am slowly discovering the undergrounds - they're weird and angry and psychedelic and I love them. But they're definitely not comics for everyone.