Saturday, December 6, 2008

Chant of the Dead

Here’s a neat little horror murder mystery from the October 1952 issue of Strange Fantasy #2. And according to GCD (here) this tale appears to have possibly been reprinted a number of times in the silver age by Eerie Publications… although only one or two of the synopsises there seem to match, plus the page numbers vary. Anyone care to double check this for us?







UPDATE: As suspected, this is indeed a recycled / retitled story from Superior Comics May 1949 issue of Ellery Queen #1. Thanks to Mike Howlett for the double check and the great scan of the original splash!
TOMORROW: More Strange Fantasy!
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Forrest J. Ackerman (1916 – 2008)

13 comments:

Dane said...

i just love the little peeks at the sociology of the era these comics give us. For instance, look! A healthy male-female relationship with no gold diggers or helpless ingenues!

Anonymous said...

I agree with Dane. It's nice to have likeable protagonists once in a while. I really laughed when everyone thought the weapon was a barbecue fork, i have a fork so dull it couldn't cut through stale bread.

Mr. Karswell said...

Anyone know if this story originally appeared here in Strange Fantasy #2 first, or if this is actually a recycled tale from some earlier golden era Superior detective mag like Ellery Queen or something? Reason I ask is because as Mike H pointed out last month we had the Dead Man's PJ's tale that Superior lifted from one of their other titles and recycled in Voodoo #15... this one to me has the same sort of vibe / characteristics.

Unknown said...

I hate it when I wake up in the middle of the night with blue ankles.

Mike H said...

You got it, Karswell! This was an Ellery Queen story in EQ #1, called "Rest(less) in Peace" I'm sending you a scan of the original splash.

I just want to say that Forry meant a lot to me and I cried a little this morning. He made us all who we are, whether we know it or not! RIP, my friend.

By the way... the GCD is right on... those are the 3 instances that "Chant..." were reprinted in the Pubs.

Anonymous said...

Great dialogue and a nicely unexplained ending and of course there really is no debt like the debt of treason.

sfdoomed said...

"Half an hour from pajamas to corpse isn't bad."

Good story and artwork, except I'm boggled about the corpse reading about the case in the morning papers!

RIP to Forry Ackerman, the godfather of all us horror/sci-fi nerds.

Anonymous said...

CREEPY STORY, I MIGHT HAVE ENJOYED IT MORE WITHOUT THE BAD NEWS ABOUT FORREST J THOUGH....... HE LIVED A COOL LIFE THAT SOME OF US HORROR FANS CAN ONLY DREAM ABOUT.

RIP UNCLE!

Mr. Cavin said...

Pax, Forry.

AndyDecker said...

Nice plot, but overwritten.

RIP Forrest Ackermann. He kept the genre alive in those times it hit a low. He will be missed.

blackwalnut2001 said...

R.I.P. FJA. You brought much happiness to a lot of lonely children.

The NYTimes has a lovely obit on him this morning.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/06/movies/06ackerman.html?pagewanted=print

8thRay said...

Nice cameo by a mustachioed Ed Gein as the cemetary keeper.

Mykal Banta said...

Yep, my friend, I can help you out with that Eerie Pub. request regarding "Chant of the Dead"