Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Don’t Kill Me Twice!

Day Two of our Journey into Unknown Worlds Week, featuring a very different kind of horror / sci-fi tale… it’s a wild one for sure, with some interesting twists and super fabulous artwork. Enjoy!

From the Feb ’52 issue of Journey into Unknown Worlds #9








15 comments:

silvano said...

Wonderful example of "Twilight-Zone-like" comic ;fifties' SF really beautifully drawn ( by the way , I only saw a few stories of the Human Torch, but this doesn't look like Burgos )
Thanks for sharing

Mr. Karswell said...

>this doesn't look like Burgos

It's not Burgos, credits on the Atlas site say Werner Roth. Burgos was merely a candidate for the COVER design.

Unknown said...

That's scarier than most of the monster stuff.

Mr. Cavin said...

You know, I'm familiar with the concept of sympathetic magic, but does this qualify as sympathetic science? I understand how beaming into the past can mess up the present and the future; and I imagine that promoting the past into the future-present can mess up the future or the future of the future. But none of this explains the need to kill these guys in the same way they should have died in the past. Nothing explains the invisible murderer on page three.

I liked a couple of the panels (the swirly death quartet flash forward on page two, and the yellow gyro escape at the beginning of page five), but found most of the art kinda plain.

Anonymous said...

Very creepy today - a new twist on a death sentence.

AndyDecker said...

Another quite innovative tale.

You know, those 50s tales are growing on me. Frankly I always thought most of them were in the vain of those Stan Lee/Jack Kirby monster tales they were always reprinting, charming on one hand, naive and well, quite dumb on the other. Kid´s stuff.

But a lot of this Atlas stuff is rather well-written and drawn and manages to be readable even today.

Anonymous said...

VERY COOL STORY AND NEAT TWIST AND I REALLY REALLY LIKED THE ART, THE SPLASH IS BAD ASS, AND THE THICK OUTLINE STYLE APPROACH, ESPECIALLY OF THE GIRLS MOUTH IN PROFILE IN THE FIRST PANEL OF PAGE 3 FOR EXAMPLE REMINDS ME ALOT OF FRANK ROBBINS LATER STYLE.

Tenebrous Kate said...

2,000 years in the future and we still have to deal with pennies? What a pain!

Great story, awesome art--love the red and green "limbo" panel especially.

"In the Folds of the Flesh" sounds entirely relevant to my interests. Gotta see if I can nab a copy! Good lookin' out, Mr. K :)

Patrick said...

"When it comes your time to go, ain't no good way to go about it, ain't no use in thinkin' about it, you'll just drive yourself insane..."

-Shut Up and Get on The Plane
-Drive By Truckers

This is almost a horrified version of "Groundhog Day". Having to repeat your death would really suck! Really nice artwork here, great perspective and unusual angles on that splash page!

Anonymous said...

really fine story

wasnt there a twilight zone episode like this?

The Vicar of VHS said...

I really dug this one, although the story's an old saw by now, the pseudo-science time-travel twist was a cool one. Love those futuristic flasks...

Some other fave bits...

* Some great writing in this one, especially at the top of pg. 2--but I didn't know the Grim Reaper was a chimp! ;)

* LOVE Casper's stache

* "We even found an autogyro!" Pretty sweet, but it's no JEEPLANE!

* "There's been a GRAVE mistake!" HAW-HAW!

The logic doesn't hold together as others have pointed out, but still, it's a fun well-written tale that worked for me. Good stuff, K!

Adriano (Adrio) Petrucci said...

hi! really interesting and amazing these pages! I love these fantastic histories! I have answered you on my blog. hi

Zen Wizard said...

Clearly, he had to go back to 1951--so he could introduce the deep-V-neck shirt.

Mr. Karswell said...

More sci-fi horrors tomorrow as we continue our look at Jounrey into Unknown Worlds. And just cuz it's Hump Day we'll make it a double.

See ya in the mourn,
---K

Ger Apeldoorn said...

I didn't supply the credit to Atlas Tles, but I would have guessed Werner Roth as well. Great story, by the way. But the science seems a little bit off. Wouldn't grabbin gsomeone just before he dies be the only way to prevent a time paradox from being created?