Reading Room / Tales Twice Told BLACK MAGIC "Flying Dutchman!"

Last Tuesday, we presented the 1970s reworked version of this tale...

...today, we show you the original, never-reprinted, 1950s story from Prize's Black Magic V4N5 (1954)!

Illustrated by Al Eadeh, this tale based on the long-established legend of the Flying Dutchman may have been written by Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, or both!

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Simon and Kirby Library

Horror!

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Reading Room / Tales Twice Told WEIRD "Deadman's Ship"

For a change, this week's entry into Tales Twice Told begins with the re-done version by artist Enrique Cristobal...

...from Eerie Publications' Weird V8N4 (1974).

Though the scripter of this re-working is unknown, he/she/they are likely the story's original author, who is probably...nope, not gonna tell you now.

You'll have to come back Thursday to find out!

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Reading Room/Tales Twice Told TALES FROM THE TOMB "Living Corpse"

Last Tuesday, We Showed You the Original Version of This Story!

Now Witness How Another Artist Re-Interpreted It for a Cover-Featured Tale...and Needed an Extra Page to Do So!

This new version of the Simon & Kirby Black Magic story appeared in Eerie's Tales from the Tomb V6N5 (1974), illustrated by Alberto Macagno.

What's odd is that most of the reworked versions that appeared in Eerie Publications' b/w magazines (which weren't restricted by the Comics Code Authority) were gorier than the originals.
Yet this tale would've easily passed the looser Code, then in effect, which allowed "traditional/classic" monsters (Frankenstein, Dracula (and other vampires), werewolves, mummies)...without too much blood!

Heck, Marvel had just released their own Living Mummy series in Supernatural Thrillers!

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Kirby Reading Room/Tales Twice-Told BLACK MAGIC "Alive After Five Thousand Years!"

Only reprinted once since initial publication 70 years ago in Prize's Black Magic V4N4 (1954)...

...here's a tale showing the legendary Simon and Kirby team at their spooky (but non-gory) best!

Just cries out for a sequel, eh?

Sadly, there wasn't one, nor was the story reprinted...until 2014, in Titan's Simon and Kirby Library: Horror anthology (see below).
But, there was a retitled retelling of this tale, in a rather unlikely place, in 1974!

You'll see that version on Thursday!

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Simon and Kirby Library

Horror!

Which reprints this story for the only time since 1954!

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Reading Room / Tales Twice-Told TERROR TALES "Horror Bugs"

Last Tuesday, We Presented a Frightening Future by Simon & Kirby HERE!
Now, We Present Another Artist's Version of That Same Story!

Illustrated by Antonio Reynoso, this retelling from Eerie Publications' Terror Tales V5N6 (1973) of Simon & Kirby's "Slaughter-House" shows the SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) of editor Carl Burgos.

• Find an old story from a now-defunct publisher that hadn't been reprinted since the 1950s.
• Use the original script almost verbatim, usually making a couple of changes in the opening and closing narratives and assigning it to one of the team of talented South American artists hired to work at rates lower than US illustrators!
• "Update" it, making technology and aliens look like what tv/movies were currently showing.
• And, in this case, making one of the primary characters in the originally all-White cast a Black guy!

Curiously, though most of these reworked versions were reprinted throughout the publisher's various titles, usually a year after the previous publication, this story was only run once!

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Reading Room / Tales Twice Told WEIRD "Thing in a Box"

On Tuesday, we posted the original 1950s version of this tale, entitled "Death on the Earth-Mars Run!"!

Here's the re-titled and re-illustrated, but not re-written (except for the opening caption) 1970s version!

You'll note the rich Martian and his adopted Venusian daughter are much more "alien" here than in the 1950s art.

In addition, the ship, technology, and clothing are more in line with late-1960s/early 1970s visualizations of such things.
(No more capes and other fashion elements so prevalent in Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon!)

Sadly, artist Antonio Reynoso's storytelling style isn't quite as sharp as original artist Everett Raymond Kinstler's, with the captions covering story elements the artist doesn't quite get across in this story from Eerie Publications' Weird V6N1 (1972).
As in the case of the vast majority of Eerie Publications' comic magazines, all the stories in this issue were either direct reprints of 1950s comic stories or redrawn (and re-titled) versions of 1950s comic stories.
Remember, at that time, there was no Grand Comics Database...or even a World Wide Web the average reader could access to figure out where the stories, from defunct publishers, originally-appeared!
Nor were there even reference books (like the one conveniently-listed below) which contained such minutia for the serious aficionado of graphic arts!

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Weird Indexes of Eerie Publications

Reading Room: STRANGE WORLDS "Death on the Earth-Mars Run!"

"Murder on a cruise ship" is a classic mystery story trope...

...but transposing the plot from an ocean liner to a space liner emphasized the "trapped with a killer" aspect!

This tale of murder and mayhem on the high seas in deep space appeared in Avon's Strange Worlds #8 (1952) and was rendered by Everett Raymond Kinstler, who eventually left pulps and comics for fine art (including several official portraits of US Presidents).
Unlike most pulp/comic artists who moved into fine art, Kinstler is happy to discuss and display his early work.
You'll note a lot of swipes of Flash Gordon art by Alex Raymond.
This wasn't unusual, since Raymond (along with Milton Caniff, Hal Foster, and Noel Sickles) were seminal inspirations for the first generation of comic book artists.
Note, the writer of the tale is, sadly, unknown.
When the story was reprinted in the back of Skywald's The Heap #1 (1971), the Comics Code forced a couple of odd changes...

Page 3 Panel 1

Making Santley's adopted daughter his stepdaughter and eliminating the "he signed for me" quote!

Page 5 Panel 1

Adding a "Space Police" sig to the note, emphasizing the "official" aspect of the order.

Why did they do it?

I have no idea!
As a special treat, be here Thursday, when we re-present the re-illustrated version of this tale from a b/w horror magazine from 1972!

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