Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Poe 1952, Pt. 4

(Continued from Poe 1952, Pt. 3A)
 

BEWARE  10 
"THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM"

Following in the footsteps of TALES FROM THE CRYPT, we begin a whole series of Poe adaptations that appeared in short-lived "horror" comics.  While the hysteria of parents & censorship groups apparently knew no bounds, as we'll see here, there were many comics of artistic and literary merit wiped out in the ensuing storm-- EVEN those of the "horror" variety.

Youthful was a publisher that specialized in non-superhero titles (horror, westerns, humor, romance).  One of their notable titles was CAPTAIN SCIENCE, which became FANTASTIC, BEWARE, and finally, CHILLING TALES.  Many comics publishers discovered they could save a lot of money in 2nd-class mailing permits by simply changing the name of an existing series while maintaining the numbering.

Our latest offering:  "THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM".

     This is the 4th comics version of this story, following...
Charlton's YELLOWJACKET COMICS #3 (Nov'44),  
Gilberton's CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED #40 (Aug'47), and  
Marvel's SPELLBOUND #2 (Apr'52)
     ...the last only 2 months earlier!  As it happens, there would be 3 different versions in 1952 alone!!

This particular entry came as quite a shock to me, as it features the art of one of my favorite people who ever worked in the comics biz-- Doug Wildey.  He was apparently the main artist for Youthful, his work appearing in nearly every one of their titles!  This is without doubt the earliest example of his work I've ever seen, and his style definitely evolved over time.  I'd never have guessed this was from the creator of JONNY QUEST-- if he hadn't actually signed it!

Meanwhile, I had not been able to find any info on the 2 artists who did the following cover... suffice to say, they are not the musician and CIA operative known these days.  However, Mort Todd passed on the following:

"Ed Goldfarb & Bob Baer worked for various companies in the 50s: Fiction House, Atlas, Charlton, Avon. Don't remember seeing a story where one didn't work with the other!"  (Thanks, Mort!)

BEWARE  10
cover by Ed Goldfarb & Bob Baer   (Youthful  /  June 1952)
"THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM"  /  Version 4
Adaptation & Art by DOUG WILDEY  /  Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Crazy enough, the cover of the issue after this one apparently depicts a scene from "Pit", and has nothing to do with any of the stories inside.

BEWARE  11
cover by Ed Goldfarb & Bob Baer   (Youthful  /  August 1952)
REPRINTS:

O TERROR NEGRO  83
cover by JAYME CORTEZ   (Editoria La Selva  /  Brazil  /  October 1956)
CONTOS DE TERROR  54

cover by ??   (Editoria La Selva  /  Brazil  /  September 1958)
TERROR NEGRO  5
cover by DOUG WILDEY   (Editora Trieste  /  Portugal  /  November 1968)
O TERROR NEGRO  1
cover by ??   (Editora Trieste  /  Brazil  /  January 1973)
Copyright (C) the various publishers.

Scan of BEWARE #10 from the Heritage Auctions site.
Scans of BEWARE #10 interiors from the Comic Book Plus site.
     Special thanks to "Movielover".
Scan of CONTOS DE TERROR #54 (1958) from Ernie Laczo.
Scan of TERROR NEGRO #5 (1968) from the Nostalgia Du Terror site.
Scan of O TERROR NEGRO #1 (1973) from the Guia Dos Quadrinhos site.

Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa

For more:
Read about Edgar Allan Poe at The Poe Museum site.
Read about Edgar Allan Poe at the Biography site.


Read Youthful Magazines comics at Comic Book Plus.
Read about Doug Wildey at the Lambiek Comiclopedia site.
Read about Doug Wildey at the Comic Book Resources site.
See more Doug Wildey work at the Comics Art Fans site.
See Jonny Quest production art at the Classic JQ site.

Read about THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM at the Spark Notes site.
Read about THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM at the Cliff Notes site.
Read about THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM at the Shmoop site.

Read the complete story at the Poe Stories site.
See the PENDULUM Gallery of Illustrations.

     Audio / Video:
Hear the Basil Rathbone PIT AND THE PENDULUM recording!
See the Vincent Price PIT AND THE PENDULUM performance!
Hear the Henry Hull SUSPENSE episode!   (ep. 24  /  1-12-1943)
Hear the Jose Ferrer SUSPENSE episode!   (ep. 273  /  11-28-1947)
Hear the Vincent Price SUSPENSE episode!   (ep.724  /  11-10-1957)
Hear the Raymond Burr SUSPENSE episode!   (ep.805  /  6-7-1959)
Hear the Tony Roberts CBS RADIO MYSTERY THEATER episode!  (3-4-1975)

     Comics:
Read the Gus Schrotter PENDULUM adaptation!
Read the August M. Froehlich PENDULUM adaptation!
Read the Russ Heath PENDULUM adaptation!
Read the Doug Wildey PENDULUM adaptation!
Read the Everett Raymond Kinstler PENDULUM adaptation!

Read the Gedeone Malagola PENDULUM adaptation!
Read the Frank Bellamy PENDULUM adaptation!
Read the Ruben Lara Romero PENDULUM adaptation!
     See the Pablo Marcos PENDULUM tribute!
Read the Ricardo Villamonte PENDULUM adaptation!
Read the Jose Ortiz PENDULUM adaptation!

Read the De La Rosa PENDULUM adaptation!   (coming soon!)
Read the Guido Del Carpio Rivera PENDULUM illustrated story!
     (coming soon)
Read the Rudy Mesina PENDULUM adaptation!
Read the Gerry Talaoc PENDULUM adaptation!

     Misc. / Youthful Magazines:
Read the Doug Wildey PENDULUM adaptation!
Read the Vince Napoli METZENGERTSEIN adaptation!
Read the E. Allgor MANUSCRIPT adaptation!

See the CHRONOLOGICAL list of Edgar Allan Poe stories!
See the ALPHABETICAL list of Edgar Allan Poe stories!

(Continued in Poe 1952, Pt. 5)

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