Here's a dark, antebellum tale written by George Kashdan with artwork (pencils and inks) by the prodigious Lee Elias, who did tons of classic horror in the 1950s for Harvey's Black Cat comic. This tale easily demonstrates Elias still had is chops into the 70s and, not for nothing, drew an extremely attractive Cynthia, who was the witch co-host of stories from The Witching Hour; along with her less attractive (depending on tastes) witch sister, Mildred. Cynthia was the cool sis, too, speaking always in hipster jargon (a strange meld of beatnik and hippy talk). Oh, for those interested Hag Zebulah's snaky chant, "Obsurum per obscurius . . . Ignotium per Ignotius," is latin: "The obscure by means of the more obscure. The unknown by the more unknown." Who ever said comics weren't educational?
From The Witching Hour No. 46, Sept. 1974. Cover by Nick Cardy.
Beautiful art, as expected, but why do so many of these stories hinge on somebody being an ass in a way that seem petty? He obviously owns a ton of land and money, just tear up the deed! I'd be dubious, too, but it seems like such a little thing!
ReplyDeleteAnd, here's a better deal, if you can turn into a beautiful woman during the day, and want to hang out with me? Hell, I'll tear up the church deed!
Brian: I know! I thought the same thing. Creepy old woman who runs a Pentecostal church, can chant in Latin; and carries around live snakes like accessories - hmmmm. Just tear up the lease! Elias sure could draw beautiful women.
ReplyDeleteI love these issues! I am actually going to be featuring one on Sequential Crush hopefully next week. Many of the same artists that were working on the romance books did these as well -- Elias included! Another favorite genre of mine!
ReplyDeleteI'll be watching, Jacque. I can't wait to see what you have in store.
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