For the forthcoming issue of MONSTER!, just a taste of the article... The sun never shines on Dread End. Not really. Not ever. Something stirs beneath Dread End. Something sinister. Something scaly. Something hungry… The most terrifying monster story of 1962 was not published in a paperback anthology or newsstand science-fiction or mystery pulp or digest. It did not appear in something “presented” by Alfred Hitchcock, and it was not broadcast on television or unreeling in movie theaters or drive-ins. The most horrific monster story of 1962 was published in four colors—in a comic book. It did not appear in a “monster” comic book, nor was it even published by one of the many publishers (Atlas/Timely, National Periodicals/DC Comics, Charlton Comics, etc.) cranking out a plethora of “monster comics” at a rapid clip that fateful year. “Monster comics,” to us kids (I was seven years old at the time), were comicbooks featuring monsters on their covers—including titles like Detective Comics, Batman, Superman, Action Comics, Tomahawk, Sea Devils, Showcase, etc., as well as truly monster-centric titles like Tales of the Unexpected, Mysterious Suspense, House of Mystery (which, at the time, was strictly sf-fantasy in nature), Tales of Suspense, Tales to Astonish, and a new breed of monster comics like Konga, Gorgo, and Kona Monarch of Monster Isle. In fact, the most unnerving monster story of 1962 was published by a publisher whose “Pledge to Parents” had less than a decade earlier promised concerned parents everywhere that their strict policies and devotion to higher editorial principles “eliminates, rather than regulates, objectional material,” concluding their vow with the memorable mantra, “Dell Comics Are Good Comics.” How, then, could it be that Dell Comics published the most deranged, demented, and delicious monster story of 1962, “The Monster of Dread End…”? Furthermore, how was it that such a tale was told by the prolific writer of the beloved Marge’s Little Lulu comic series, and illustrated by the artist whose work dated back to Golden Age titles like Boy Comics, Joker Comics, and Romantic Western? Let’s lift the manhole cover, and see what lies beneath…
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 19:50:46 +0000
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